Dimensional Descent

"I see…" Aina said lightly.

Her brows became extremely focused. It seemed that this matter would be more dangerous than she thought, but she was still quite confident.

"I should be able to minimize the Anarchic Force to the smallest extent. With my current abilities, I think we'll be able to eat around 10 of these before we start experiencing some of the adverse effects. If we have your Cleansing Waters, so long as we meditate within it for about an hour, we should be able to eat 10 more without issues."

Leonel sighed. Cleansing Waters? He didn't have access to that right now, and in this situation, there wasn't much he could do about it.

"How great do you think the improvement will be with 10?"

"I…" Aina's frown deepened. "… It will probably depend. This Fiend Class demon, for example, has an exceptionally strong body but really no other attributes. It's probably one of the best options for those foundation improving pills you were talking about. But if the next one we run into isn't like this and doesn't have great affinity with us, if I have to filter everything else out, it will greatly weaken the pill as well."

Leonel nodded.

Despite not knowing anything about refining demons before this, once Leonel had given the framework, her Ability Index already kicked into high gear. With these parameters, she was easily able to see through the uses of this demon and the types of refinement she could force it to undergo.

"It also might be a bit dangerous. If I refine this Fiend Class demon into a single pill, it might very well cause us more damage in the beginning than we can handle. If I refine it into two, it'll be difficult and we'll probably be bloated for a bit, but it should still be manageable, albeit painful.

"However, I think it will improve our base strength by at least 10% if split in two. If formed into a single Force Pill, the improvement would probably be closer to 25% for one of us."

Leonel's brows shot up. Such a large improvement? If his body's strength increased by that much, then didn't that mean that the limits of his Metal Body would also increase. If that happened, then didn't that also mean that he would be able to absorb even more Metal Essence per a given level?

That would essentially increase the strength of his Metal Body without mutating it at all. If he could increase the Metal Essence he could absorb, his foundation would undergo a qualitative change. At the same time, he would also be able to gain a greater affinity per absorption as well, helping him with his Vital Star Force.

Leonel paused when he realized something. 10% times two or 25%?

"Why the increase?"

"There'll be some yield lost if I split it into two pills, it messes with the efficiency. If I try to push it, the Anarchic Force will be in too high concentration and the rewards won't be worth it. So it's better to give up a greater percentage in exchange for better purity."

Leonel nodded. "Okay, I'll protect you, then."

"It probably won't take long…" Aina said lightly. "… At least not with my method…"

Aina reached out a hand and all the blood within the demon's body was suddenly rushed upward. With its consciousness already faded to black, there was nothing to fight back against her. It was as easy as breathing to do this.

Very quickly, the blood formed a sphere half the size of Aina's body.

Her eyes became unprecedently focused and her irises flashed with a blinding golden color. For a moment, it felt as though an Empress had descended, the laws of the world bending to her whims.

The Blood Force rushed back down and enveloped the dried carcass of the Fiend Class demon. In the blink of an eye, the sickening sound of crushed bone rang out and the humanoid form of the demon was compressed into a small ball half the original size of the ball of blood.

Aina closed her eyes. Her cherry lips separated as she exhaled.

A crimson glow wrapped around her body and her throat moved slightly, a low hum coming from her lips.

Leonel's brows shot upward. He had been mostly paying attention to the surroundings, but when he heard Aina begin to hum, he felt his heart shudder.

Her looked toward his girlfriend's side profile, not knowing what to think for a long time. As he was in a daze, the ball of blood continued to condense, the resonance of her hum seeming to coax it gently into a smaller and smaller form.

When it halved in size once more, it began to glow a radiant energy and there were even some Runes that began to appear. It only too Leonel a single look to realize that these Runes were actually the ones that had given the demon strength throughout its life.

According to what he had read, only the best Force Pill Crafters were able to recover these Runes after the death of a demon, and usually it took several days of patient refining to reach this point. But how long had it been exactly?

A few minutes? Maybe three or four at maximum?

Leonel was someone that was very hard to impress. The only person who had thoroughly gained his acknowledgement in his life was his father. He found it hard to place anyone else on the same pedestal, even if it was himself.

He couldn't remember having ever been awed like this by anyone else.

However, Aina had somehow taken a concept of resonance and music, one that he hadn't even fully grasped yet, and incorporated it into a medium it seemed to have no business being a part of. It was as though she was always able to seamlessly apply anything she learned in countless facets of her life.

And as shocked Leonel was, those who still remained in the clouds above were even more so. Their minds went completely blank.