Dimensional Descent

Leonel's eyes snapped open.

It was probably a common occurrence among normal people to be partially confused about where they were, or maybe forget about what had happened recently, especially after being asleep for so long. But while the events of his transformation were blurry to Leonel, it was much less so than it had been in the past. In addition, his mind was far too fast to fall into such a trap.

In the end, he remembered it all instantly. He didn't get the hope of a few seconds of bliss; the instant his eyes opened, he was plunged into a pit he didn't know how to get out of. He simply stared blankly at the ceiling. But even this was short-lived.

Not even a few seconds later, Leonel stood to his feet. He had work to do.

He didn't contact Aina, he didn't go to see how his mother was doing, he didn't even try to communicate with Anastasia despite the fact he was already aware that he was within the Abode Setting. Instead, he directly entered the lab and pulled out three blueprints.

His mind's capacity was far beyond what it had been in the past. As such, the gap wasn't as exaggerated as it had been back when he had first entered Void Tower, and he was able to remember bits and snippets. At the same time, his more enlightened self had been ready as well, sealing off much of what it could and leaving behind only what he felt that the current Leonel could handle.

As such, Leonel remembered the most important points.

He remembered the blueprints, whether that was his Divine Armor or that of the modifications to the Starship. He also understood some of the changes that had been made to his body and he was aware that he had awoken two new Lineage Factors, though they now seamlessly acted as one. He was also aware that he needed to pay more attention to his Mage Core in the future and understand it to a greater degree.

But for now, he was focused on these blueprints before him.

What astonished him was how simple the materials were, and the path they took was even more curious. There was very clearly a heavy emphasis on his new Lineage Factors, namely the Golden Tiger and Death Pulse Deer Lineage Factors, but it hadn't completely abandoned the path of vitality that he had laid out either.

It used concepts of Death and Life to find greater life and vitality than even Leonel thought possible. At the same time, it opened up a door toward a fusion of his talents that Leonel had never considered before.

The way Leonel saw it, Aina had always been able to keep up with him because her ability to focus her talents into a single path was simply unmatched. Even without much effort on her part, all of her skills, whether it was Ability Index and Lineage Factor all came together seamlessly. In fact, there was a very long time where Leonel couldn't even tell where her Lineage Factor ended and where her Ability Index began.

His more enlightened self had seen through this problem clearly and gave him a solution: his Divine Armor.

Now, his Divine Armor, or more accurately, his Metal Body, though even this wasn't wholly accurate any longer, could accommodate both an armor and two weapons. This gave him a level of flexibility that hadn't been there before.

This added flexibility opened a door of possibility that if he should walk through, he would be able to become an entirely new person, one that could stand toe to toe with Aina in terms of how streamlined and perfectly meshed his talents were in one.

There was some bad news, though, unfortunately. As great as an idea that this was, there was a huge elephant in the room: his Spear and Bow Sovereignty.

In the past, it was his Spear Domain Ring that didn't allow him to touch inferior spears. He had never even attempted to Craft a spear before because it would have been a useless effort. He didn't quite understand where that kernel of "worthiness" stemmed from.

It made sense that he was confused. After all, the Spear Domain Ring was filled to the brim with swords of all kinds, from those formed of the most inoffensive and cheap wood, to those constructed of the holiest and most precious materials known to man.

There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it outside of a mysterious something that set them apart from everyone else.

One might say that Leonel no longer needed the ring; he could just set it aside now that he had Sovereignty of his own. Plus, the spears within were useless to him as they wouldn't mesh with his Divine Armors perfectly. It would be better to set them aside.

However, therein lied a problem. Because he didn't need to rely on the ring anymore, the source of the trouble was no longer external. If he tried to Craft an inferior spear now, or even an inferior bow as well, for that matter, the result would be the same.

Failure.

It wouldn't be a ring that destroyed the spear anymore, but rather Leonel's aura itself.

The only past this was to figure out what that kernel was, and finally forge a true spear for himself. But all he had here was a blueprint, and he didn't even need to try to know that just following it wouldn't be enough to reach that standard.

It was almost too silly. He was a Spear Sovereign, a True Spear Sovereign, and yet he had no confidence in forging a spear.

His gaze turned colder and colder, until it reached such an abyssal absolute zero that he couldn't quite even see clearly anymore.

He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. This sort of agitation wasn't helping him in the slightest; it was only wasting his mental strength on useless emotion.

When his eyes opened once more, they were several fold sharper.