Dimensional Descent

With the change to the Segmented Cube, Leonel felt as though he could finally breathe. It was as though he had been taken half breaths all this time, slowly suffocating, and he only now became aware of just how much oxygen he had been missing out on.

He didn't realize how much he had missed high densities of Force until now. But, more shockingly, he hadn't realized just how good just breathing in a density of Seventh Dimensional Force felt.

With a thought, Leonel's mind reached out to the golden scaled koi fish and had it begin to work. Still scared from its previous failure, the little one was a bit hesitant at first, but quickly acclimated once realizing that the air had been thoroughly cleansed.

Leonel watched this scene intently, not taking his eyes away. The True Selection had suddenly taken a backseat for a moment. And to Leonel's shock, just moments later....

The golden scaled koi fish opened its little mouth, its fins still gliding through the water like thin strips of white silk. A strong surge of Force formed, radiating outward with a purity hardly seen. The entire lab was covered in a pure white fog that almost made Leonel moan. And then, it happened…

The Segmented Cube whirred to life under Leonel's command. The white fog concentrated, and almost instantly began churning out Pure Force Crystals. In just a moment, a pile of ten had formed and it showed no signs of stopping.

There was no cohesive whole it at all. Leonel could see Crystals of all sorts of Elements within. He knew that depending on the subject he wanted to clone, he would need to make the golden scaled koi fish focus on very specific types of Force which would likely slow its progress greatly. But, this did nothing to dampen his mood at all.

Just two seconds to form ten Fifth Dimensional Pure Force Crystals! Two seconds! At that sort of pace, it would only take just two to three days to form the million needed to clone one low level Rapax!

After a surge of excitement, Leonel forced himself to calm down. Things were finally slowly coming together, but he still couldn't get ahead of himself. There were many things that needed to be worked out. In addition, he still wasn't sure if making a bunch of clones was the best use of his resources right this moment.

While it sounded like a great idea, clones were a hassle. Setting aside the moral dilemma, they had short lifespans and would require constant command to show their true potential. In addition, it had to be understood that the Pure Force Crystals needed to create them was just an initial investment.

Every clone formed would manifest at Tier 1 of the Dimension they were born into. If Leonel wanted to grow their strength, he would have to feed them more Force Crystals. In addition, even the highest constitution the tentacle womb was capable of reproducing right now couldn't break through Dimensions, meaning they would never be able to reach a new level… At least not at the tentacle wombs current level.

There were all sorts of other small problems that Leonel couldn't even bothered to deal with right now.

"It would be better if I invested everything into evolving the tentacle womb and koi fish now, leaving cloning until later. I have a feeling that Fifth Dimensional Clones wouldn't be helpful to me in the slightest, and I wouldn't be able to form Sixth Dimensional Force Crystals until the koi fish entered the Sixth Dimension, likewise for the tentacle womb. It can't form Sixth Dimensional beings until it too enters the Sixth Dimension…"

Leonel was under no illusions that Fifth Dimensional backers would be enough to win him the Heir Wars. Not only would he need strength well into the Sixth Dimension, so too would his subordinates. If he got greedy now and lost his patience chasing numbers, he would be handicapping himself.

Luckily, Leonel had only wanted a proof of concept for now. And… He had a much better idea for what he should be focused on right this moment.

With a thought, the Silver Tablet appeared once more.

Within this thing, many outstanding talents were slumbering. Not to mention Leonel's Generals and especially Goggles, Leonel often found himself thinking back to the Speedster and his former fiancée. Leonel had already decided.

On the outside, his brothers would build up their strength and charge their way into the Void Palace. And, on the inside, the core of his faction would begin with himself, Noah, Aina, the others and the geniuses slumbering within this Silver Tablet.

It was about time that Leonel unleash Little Blackstar. He had been sitting on the little guy's Ability Steal powers for long enough. First, it was because he didn't want his closest friends to lose their personalities. But now that he had the Silver Tablet, that was no longer a worry.

Within the walls of the Void Palace, with so many geniuses around and so many chances to kill them, what better place could there be to steal abilities?

"Goggles, I'll awaken you first."

With a thought, Leonel had the golden scaled koi fish focus on gathering Pure Neutral Force. Suddenly, the large and daunting amount of Force he needed to gather to resurrect his brothers felt so small and insignificant now…

Feeling this change, Leonel couldn't help but sigh.

What was life, exactly? If you could just stuff someone's soul into a tablet and resurrect them on a whim when you had enough energy, what was life worth? Was he wrong for believing it had any intrinsic value at all?

And what about Camelot's existence? Did mere words on a page really give life to living, breathing people… With thoughts, emotions, and aspirations of their own…?

Leonel remembered how lost he had felt when he realized what secrets the Silver Tablet was hiding. They were emotions that he had yet to resolve even now… But the question itself was too profound. It made Leonel feel as though there were a large pair of hands hanging over him above, pulling not just him, but everyone along at its leisure…

Leonel exhaled a long breath, his gaze flickering with resolution.