Dimensional Descent

Leonel suddenly ruffled his own hair, his dazed eyes regaining focus. But, the moment he did, fatigue overtook him and he collapsed into a deep sleep, not waking until two months later.

Like that, 12 total months passed.

Leonel blinked awake, his head snapping up. Surprisingly, though, his first instinct wasn't to leave, but rather to reach for the mallet that sat on the table. He had grasped calligraphy now and could even paint stories with nothing more than his words, but it was still lacking.

Sniper Archer – 0.79; Explosive Archer – 0.78; Strong Spearman – 0.70; Flexible Spearman – 0.73; Mixed Fighter – 0.71; Speed Fighter – 0.77; Fire Mage – 0.79; Defensive Mage – 0.73; Combat Mage – 0.72.

The closer the number got to 1.00, the more exponentially difficult it became. The fact that there was such a large improvement just went to show how shocking Leonel's improvement had been. But, Leonel realized at the end of the tenth month that he had already pushed poetry as far as it could take him. He then understood why his grandfather had added in music and painting as well.

Leonel had a feeling that only by also bringing those two to the same level as his calligraphy and poetry could he possibly reach the ever elusive 1.00. But, somewhere deep inside, he felt that even that wouldn't be enough. He would need to take that final step beyond to cross that threshold.

However, just as Leonel grasped the mallet, he froze.

How long had it been?

His eyes blinked, his internal clock catching up and his eyes widening when he realized what happened.

After a moment of shock, he jumped to his feet, his heart sparking with flames. He had actually left that woman off for so long?!

In his agitation, Leonel suddenly heard a giggle. His head turned to find Aina and that alone seemed to make his flames douse themselves in cold water, only for the heat to return from a completely different place.

However, Leonel didn't even get the chance to think whether he should act on it or not when the door to the training room opened.

Montez looked Leonel up and down as though he wasn't surprised that the latter had awoken. But then his lip curled up into a sneer.

"Still with the Fifth Dimensional Spear For—"

Leonel's fingers suddenly pierced forward, a blinding golden light threatening to split Montez's forehead in two.

The Spear Force tore through the Anarchic Force that flooded in through the open door as though it wasn't there at all, shattering its very being as though it stood above it.

Montez's armor flashed, a barrier appearing that blocked Leonel's Spear Force.

BANG! BANG!

Montez raised an eyebrow, his figure not even shifting, let alone taking a step back. In reality, he could have dodged, but he chose to let it hit him to see how strong it was to the deepest level possible. Leonel's Spear Force was so constrained and tidy that even Montez couldn't see through all its secrets at a glance, forcing him to take this approach.

"Huh, not bad. I guess you're quite ambitious to not break through yet."

Montez was very good at keeping a straight face while his heart was busy rolling in waves. He had never felt such a powerful Fifth Dimensional Spear Force before. The only Spear Forces he had ever felt were anywhere near comparable were Spear Forces which had already surpassed the Fifth Dimension, but were constrained by their users to a lower level on purpose.

When Montez thought to this point, he realized the only Fifth Dimensional Forces he had felt were comparable were from elders of the Morales family who had already long since grasped Seventh Dimensional Spear Force.

What was most shocking was that Montez was sure that this Spear Force only embodied the word Swift. What if Leonel had used Forceful instead?

Leonel clicked his tongue, shaking his head when he looked at his uncle's armor. Now that he thought about it, this golden armor was probably his uncle's Divine Armor.

"Uncle Montez, is there a reason you always have your Divine Armor activated?"

"Why do I always have it activated?" Montez raised a brow.

Rather than answering, he simply allowed it to vanish. The moment he did, it was as though rain had begun to fall.

A splash of water landed in a pool at Montez's feet and Leonel realized that his uncle was drenched from head to toe in sweat. With the disappearance of the armor, Leonel could even hear the wild beating of his uncle's heart. It was so loud and forceful that Leonel took a step back beside him, not out of fear, but because the sound wave alone was too strong for him to handle.

Leonel's expression flickered, but he didn't know what to say.

Just as quickly as the armor vanished, it reappeared and Montez continued to act as though nothing had happened.

"You're not the only one who knows how to work hard, kid. In fact, from what I've seen, it feels like you haven't worked nearly hard enough. There are people out there who are far more talented than you and they also put in more work than you do. You'll need to shape up if you want to leave a mark on this world."

Leonel's gaze narrowed. He didn't say anything for a long while, calming himself.

He found it very easy to lose himself in something he was fascinated by or interested in, but as he had realized about him before… He found too many things uninteresting.

However, at least when it came to this path, he had found a bud of something interesting within it. Leonel felt that if he followed this path to the end, let alone his Spear and Bow Force, even his Crafting would become unmatched.

"Uncle Montez, I've been meaning to ask you. I can probably walk deep into it again now that I've improved so much, but there's a bit of a problem with it and I'm not sure what's wrong…"

Leonel explained matters to Montez and earned quite the frown from the latter.

"Something has agitated the Spear Domain. Usually it waits until its owner has mastered every Third, Fourth and Fifth Dimensional weapon before levying the first of three tribulations. But, for some reason, your tribulation is already on its way."