Dimensional Descent

Leonel opened his eyes, feeling a strong surge of power flooding his body. The odd part was that he didn't feel as though his strength had changed a great deal, but for some reason he still felt far lighter than he ever had before.

He didn't know what to say about that matter, but he slowly made his way out of the pool.

Unfortunately, because he had spent so long out of the pod, he didn't gain the 100 days others likely had. But even so, he felt that it was worth it. After some thought, he had finally touched upon what that odd feeling was.

It was like his body was a treasure and it was being slowly refined toward the Life Grade. It was like his body already had all the building blocks, but it was missing the impetus to fuse into a perfect product, becoming one.

Leonel had experienced this before, this was the feeling he had had before he succeeded in Crafting his first Life Grade treasure. When he connected the two, he was quite speechless. It felt quite crude to think of his body as though it was some kind of inanimate object. But when he took a step back... wasn't it exactly that?

Earth had a dividing line between inorganic and organic materials, and the body was obviously formed of the latter, but higher in Dimensions, that line blurred more and more. Plus, Leonel had already had a huge breakthrough in his Earth Force that was caused by his realization that the body was quite reliant on Earth Force to survive, or else where would the important minerals that kept them healthy come from?

Everything had a balance to it, and there was no reason to treat his body any differently than he would a treasure. In fact, his body was almost irrelevant, what was most important was its use as a medium to allow his soul and Ethereal Glabella to display their strength to the greatest degree.

As expected, Leonel's body didn't reach the level of perfection that he was looking for, but the change was still quite substantial.

There was still quite a long process left. He would have to be patient, waiting for his cells to turnover and then undergo the process again. The more times he did this, the better his body would be at producing cells that were closer to perfection, and the closer to perfection he would be overall.

His Force flowed through his Force Nodes much smoother.

At that moment, Leonel looked up, only to find that Aina had suddenly rushed in. He smiled.

"What's wrong, you're actually in such a rush?"

"Cleansing Waters," Aina suddenly said. "I think it would be very useful for this!"

Leonel smiled meaningfully.

"You already figured it out?"

Leonel chuckled. "Sort of, it was a bit of an accident. But it's crude right now. I'm only able to do it by breathing the water in, someone else would end up drowning themselves. Do you have a better method?"

Aina nodded. "I can use the Cleansing Waters as a binder in a Force Pill to amplify the effects. The other materials would just be supplemental to act as a binding agent to allow it to pass into the blood, the organs, and the cells effectively. It would take several treatments, but it should have a strong effect given enough time. The results would be better the more pain someone is willing to withstand."

Leonel's eyes brightened. "We'll revisit this after this war."

"After?"

Aina's brows shot up. Why did Leonel sound so confident? It didn't seem like they were in a very good situation right now. It would probably be better if they held back now and only came forward when they had all their ducks in a row.

When one took a step back, what were they worth in the face of the whole Human Domain? A billion warriors? That was a drop in the bucket. It might be enough to target a solar system, but even if one's target was only a galaxy it wouldn't be nearly enough, let alone a Sector or facing off against several Domains at once.

Leonel grinned. "Don't you think this is a good opportunity?"

Aina's expression changed.

She understood what Leonel wanted to do. The Heir Wars put Leonel on the map, but if he performed well in this war, or if he actually won it for the Human Domain, how much easier would it be to unify it in the future? In fact, he might even succeed before the Heir Wars were even through.

It was a wild plan, that was all she could say about it. She couldn't help but hesitate. Was Leonel doing this because of her words about wanting their children to be royalty? But...

Aina's eyes wandered, feeling nervous. She couldn't just take these words back now, or else the weight of her words in the future would diminish. She also didn't want to see Leonel without drive and ambition, she felt that the world deserved to know his talent.

In her stupor, she didn't even notice Leonel lean forward and kiss her forehead.

"You should trust your husband a bit more."

Aina frowned, responding subconsciously as she wiped her forehead. "Who's my husband? Why don't I see a ring."

Leonel grinned. "A ring, you say?"

Aina's heart skipped a beat, her frown suddenly vanishing into a panicking expression. However, it didn't last long because the mood was interrupted by Leonel's wheezing laughter.

Aina turned beat red, her fists suddenly beginning to rain down. Usually she held back, but Leonel truly felt the pain this time.

"Mercy! Mercy!" Leonel howled.

"Obediently take this beating! How dare you tease me about this!?"

Despite his cries, Leonel was practically grinning ear to ear?

A ring for his wife? How could he give her something casual? His aspirations were grand.

What was a diamond before the keys to the Void Palace? What about the head of a Spiritual? Or maybe he would make the Dimensional Verse kneel at her feet.

Leonel suddenly sprang up and wrapped an arm around Aina's waist, lifting her into the air and planting a kiss on her lips.