Dimensional Descent

Up ahead, what must have been at least a dozen kilometers, Leonel caught sight of the faint luminescence of another road. It was a bit of a jump for him to assume that there must be others due to this alone, but the angle of approach the light road was taking was far too damning.

From what Leonel could tell, both his road and the other were converging toward one another. But, what was particularly interesting about this was that they were converging toward the star.

If this was simply another road for Leonel to take, why would it have the same destination as the road he was already on? There were only two possible explanations for this.

The first was that there were multiple potential starting points of this trial and he just so happened to be given a Memory Ore tied to this road as opposed to that one. In that case, it wasn't necessarily true that there was someone else over there.

The second option, though, was that he was never alone to begin with and the roads were just so far apart that even with his senses, he couldn't spot them until now.

It didn't take long for Leonel to realize that the second was the answer.

By the time he crossed the dozen of kilometers that separated him from the distant road and he could finally see where and how the two roads of light connected, his gaze couldn't help but narrow.

In the distance, a young lady sat cross legged with her back facing him. However, something told Leonel that she had already sensed his presence long ago. Not just that, but the strength she radiated made Leonel's skin tingle. It didn't take Leonel long at all to realize that she was the most powerful individual he had ever met…

Whether or not this was true, even Leonel had to admit he wasn't certain. It might have been more accurate to say that she was the most powerful individual he had ever met… who also had limits he could actually sense. These two statements were very different from one another.

Leonel eventually came to a stop when he was just about a hundred meters from where their roads met. Something told him that there weren't any more spirits to worry about, at least not until he passed her…

At that moment, the young lady placed a hand on her knee and pushed herself up. She had a graceful bearing that made it almost a shame that she wasn't raring a dress, but rather a tight fitting flexible armor that clung to her curves.

Despite the well defined outline of her silhouette, her clothing didn't seem raunchy or overly sexual in the slightest. One almost couldn't see even a single hint of her skin, it was to the point where her flexible armor rose up from her collarbone to form a half mask that revealed nothing but her eyes and her forehead.

She had deep, warm blue eyes and delicate brown skin that looked smooth even under Leonel's scrutiny. It was almost a shame that the only piece of it available for observation was on her forehead.

"I don't know if I should thank you or hate you for making me wait two months."

The young woman suddenly spoke, her voice sounding far louder than anything Leonel had expected. Every stereotype he had formulated about this woman seemed to fly out of the window in just that single instant of time alone. He had expected her to not talk at all, or even if he pressed her to, that her voice would either be cold and detached or soft and restrained. And yet, it was none of those things.

Loud really was the best way Leonel could describe it, almost to the point of being grating on the ears. It wasn't that her voice sounded annoying, but rather that it was hard to appreciate it when she put so much power behind it. It was like Leonel was listening to a speaker with the volume up so high that the sound distorted.

"Two months?" Leonel blinked.

"I guess it makes sense now, though. You actually entered this place at the Fourth Dimension… Who are your elders, exactly? What were they thinking? You know, you only ever get two chances at this.

"Forget it. This is good news for me. I got to rest for so long amidst such revitalizing Star Force and I get an easy ticket out of the first round."

The young woman blinked innocently. Even though Leonel couldn't see the rest of her face beneath that mask, he still felt that she seemed quite adorable. As for being angry at her words, he really didn't feel bothered at all. If anything, he took it as a joke.

He was much more interested in getting information out of this woman.

"First round?" Leonel asked.

The young woman blinked before shaking her head.

"Oh, you poor poor child. You must be one of those stragglers that stumbled on one of the map pieces, right?" The young woman shook her head before freezing. "Wait, if you're one of them, then how did you solve the puzzle? Are you trying to feign ignorance to get me to lower my guard?"

The young woman looked at Leonel for a moment before bursting into a boisterous laughter even more booming than her voice.

"Never mind, never mind. I guess if you have a strong Soul Force type ability or Lineage Factor, the Peak of the Fourth Dimension might be barely enough to stumble through the puzzle."

Leonel's lip twitched. Why did it seem like this woman was perfectly content having a conversation all by herself? He could hardly get a word in, but her assumptions were only getting wilder with each passing moment.

"Anyway, I don't mind telling you about it so that you don't waste your second chance. Next time, enter at the Peak of the Fifth Dimension if you can help it. In fact, the Sixth would be even better. Though you'll have to restart from the beginning, [Dimensional Cleanse] is worth it!"

Leonel blinked, feeling more confused than he ever had before.