Dimensional Descent

Leonel, obviously, wouldn't neglect his brothers. But the changes that he could make to a talent of Earth already within the Seventh Dimension were minimal.

However, what he could do was greatly improve their foundations and affinities by allowing them to swallow demon pills.

His brothers had their own thoughts on things and Leonel didn't underestimate the progress they had made on their own. He no longer tried to guide them, he simply gave them resources and they used them as they deemed fit. Leonel had quite a lot of trust in them and he believed that they would give him a pleasant surprise when the time came.

He gave them all Focus Crystals which could help increase their affinities. Then he scheduled time for everyone to use the Perfection Stone.

Now that there was only a small amount of time remaining, Leonel reminded them to train hard, but to also think of rest. When there was only a month remaining until the Heir Wars, he wanted everyone to focus on relaxing first, and worry about everything else later.

With everything on the right track, Leonel prepared to enter seclusion himself to wait for the tribulation to begin. But before he could, his cousin came to visit him.

Leonel smiled. "Noah, I'm glad you're doing alright."

Noah smiled a bit bitterly, but he still shook his head. "I should be thanking you and saying that. It's good that you made it out of the Zone, I wouldn't know what to do with this guilt if you hadn't."

Leonel laughed. "It's not that big of a deal, that Zone wouldn't be able to hold me for long anyway. So what brings you here?"

Noah's expression turned serious. ''I wanted to tell you personally that I won't be able to help you with the Heir Wars. I've committed to staying on Earth and dealing with anything that might come. Imperial Grandfather can't always take action personally for reasons that I'm not sure of, but I trust him enough that I know he has good reasons.

"I'm not as good as you, but I still have an obligation to Earth and its people first."

"Oh, is that all? Why do you sound so solemn, I understand," Leonel chuckled.

Despite Leonel's demeanor, Noah sighed in a hint of relief on one end, but a hint of bitterness on another. Somewhere deep inside he wanted Leonel to want his help, but Leonel's confidence in moving forward without him left him feeling complicated.

Noah shook his head. His thoughts right now were childish, they were both grown men now, and although their relationship had started off a bit rocky, it could be considered to be in a good place now.

Noah hadn't had many true friends growing up, but Leonel could truly be considered one now.

Noah nodded heavily. "Then I'll stay here and protect our Empire on this front, and you can go out there and show them who's boss."

Finally, Noah smiled, a rare thing from him, but a genuine thing nonetheless. He felt like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders.

Leonel grinned. "Of course."

**

Leonel saw Noah off and finally got some time to himself. Now that everything was set, he felt a bit odd. He wasn't used to being so... prepared. Things usually came flying at him from all directions, and he was forced to deal with them while more things were coming in overhead.

It could be said that a Leonel with preparation time was exceptionally dangerous. Too dangerous.

Leonel closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation. He calmed his breathing and allowed his mind to rest for the first time in a long while.

Leonel didn't know how long had passed, but when he opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting on an elevated platform in the depths of a force. When he tried to stand, the platform vanished and he was gently deposited onto the ground.

"It started just like that? Not even a hint of warning either.'

Leonel looked down at his hand and he found a familiar wooden spear in his hand. It was the very first spear he had ever gotten from the Spear Domain ring and one he thought had long since been destroyed. It was the somewhat crooked and hand-crafted wooden spear of the primitive man.

Leonel looked down at himself and he found that he was almost naked outside of a beast skin skirt that allowed a decidedly clear draft up and between his legs. He could feel his manly bits dangling about in the wild. Clearly, whoever crafted this beast skin skirt had no sense of modesty.

Leonel shook his head. Did he get transported into the body of another primitive man?

No, that shouldn't be right. He was definitely in his own body, he would be able to tell the difference. It seemed that he was just transported to an odd time.

But what was the most peculiar was that all of his strength had vanished. He couldn't' access the abilities of his metal body and his skin's defenses weren't much different from a normal man. Whether it was speed or strength, he was within the realms of a Third Dimensional man now. In fact, other than his mind being somewhat sharper, his Ability Index seemed to be restricted as well.

Leonel looked around, wondering when the other foot was going to drop. Where was the danger? The challenge? The enemy he had to face?

But even after several seconds of standing around doing nothing, nothing came.

'So this tribulation isn't a challenge like the Emperor's Might tablet, for example. It's more like a Zone?"

Leonel frowned.

The trouble was that he didn't have his silver dictionary, and none of his treasures were with him. And, with his Ability Index all but gone, he had no way of sensing the rules and restrictions of this Zone via normal means...

Leonel looked in a certain direction and moved toward it. Since there was nothing to go off of, he couldn't just stand in place and do nothing.