Dimensional Descent

Leonel looked up, seemingly having no intention of standing from his location. 

”Ah, Elder Beinala. What brings you here?” Leonel smiled lightly. 

Arte stood in the middle, at a bit of a loss in what to do. He could feel that there was something off about the current atmosphere, but he had no way of understanding why that was. And, for some reason, he also found it much too awkward to try and leave at the moment. In fact… He didn’t quite know how to leave, there wasn’t exactly a door. He assumed that Leonel would have to send him out, but he was clearly occupied at the moment. 

The room was split into several workstations and had a very open atmosphere. Usually, one would be able to choose whoever they wanted to work on their treasure, but, obviously, Jac didn’t have such a thing. 

Jac snapped out of his stupor, finding Leonel smiling back at him. Though he as an elder smiled back, he still felt somewhat stifled. 

After being allowed in, Jac thought that he would be able to directly enter the shop’s first floor and view the items. Yet, instead of that, he was sent here. Any thought he had of saying a few casual words to sow some doubt was thrown out of the window immediately. 

”Ah, Leonel is it, right?”

Leonel smiled. ”I’m honored that you would remember my name. Yes, I am Leonel.”

”Good, good.” Jac chuckled. ”I was very much looking forward to seeing your shop, but have you brought me here to see repairs instead?”

”Ah, yes. You actually came at a good time. I just finished a repair for Arte, here. He was just about to test it out.”

Leonel turned his gaze toward Arte. But, by now, the latter was drenched in cold sweat. 

After years on a battlefield, he felt that he was somehow in the heat of another one despite the fact no one had drawn a blade. 

On one side, there was a Fifth Dimensional entity he couldn’t hope to defeat. Even if Beinala was a Crafter, there was no doubt he could crush him with a finger. Worse yet, he was Valiant Heart’s best Force Crafter. 

On the other side, there was an existence that might not have been in the Fifth Dimension, but he was just as impossible to defeat for Arte. He felt that Leonel was an insurmountable mountain he couldn’t see through in the slightest. And, to make matters worse, he was the only affordable Crafter in Valiant Heart. 

He didn’t know what was going on here, but he knew that he didn’t want to get involved. 

”This… Right… I was going to head out to test it a bit. After all, I wouldn’t want to break anything here…” Arte chuckled a bit awkwardly. 

”There’s no issue.” Leonel said with a beaming smile. ”This entire shop is constructed of Twice Refined Diamond. Even if a Fifth Dimensional existence wanted to cause some damage here, they would have to go all out.”

Arte’s lip twitched, trying to look toward Jac out of the corner of his eye. Wasn’t that a very clear provocation? 

”A sturdy construction, indeed.” Jac said with a smile, seemingly not having picked up on any sort of threat. ”I say, how did you manage to accumulate so much?”

”Oh the Twice Refined Diamond? It was just a bit of luck.” Leonel chuckled. ”Two days ago a group of freshmen, including myself, found ourselves being hunted down by a group of Oryx and ended up escaping through some mine tunnels. I ended up taking advantage of the situation and making a small bit of profit. Luckily Valiant Heart is good to us freshmen in some ways despite shafting us in most others, so I was able to keep my profit without reporting.”

Leonel had nothing to hide so he laid everything bare. 

”I see, I see.” Jac stroked his chin. But, as though a light bulb had gone off in his head, his eyes widened before his expression suddenly turned to one of worry and concern. ”You say that all of this happened within the span of a day?”

Leonel’s eyes narrowed into meaningful slits, his smile becoming almost demonic. 

”Yup!” He replied cheerily. ”Just a day was enough. Luckily the shop was quite small. If not for these limitations, I might have added a third floor.”

Jac sighed. ”Leonel, oh Leonel.”

Jac shook his head as though lamenting something terrible. 

”What is it Elder, is something wrong?” Leonel asked with concern. 

Jac looked up toward Leonel and sighed again. 

”You might not know this because you are just a freshmen, but there are certain rules that come with owning shops. One of these rules is that outside resources cannot be used regardless of the circumstance. Whether it be the shops construction, maintenance, management, or its merchandise, it all must be the product of the student’s own hand and created from the resources of Valiant Heart Mountain. 

”The shops were created to promote competition amongst students, not the families that back them.”

Jac sighed again. He pulled off his concerned elder face very well. However, Leonel didn’t miss his emphasis on the word merchandise. It seemed that among other things, Jac seemed to believe that the Tier 7 weapons below were brought in by Leonel from outside sources. 

”Oh? Really?” Leonel said somewhat stunned. 

”Yes.” Jac shook his head. ”I can help you by not reporting this, but it will be necessary for you to take all these things down. If you donate these Ores and weapons to the elders of Foundation Peak to be repurposed into Valiant Heart’s strength, this can easily be swept under the rug.”

”That’s good then.” Leonel continued. ”Considering I did all of this on my own, there shouldn’t be a problem. Elder doesn’t have to worry.”

Jac’s smile froze before he forced out a laugh. 

”Don’t joke around, Leonel. I am trying to help you. Even I couldn’t accomplish so many things in just a single day.”

”It’s a good thing, then, that I’m better than you are..” Leonel replied plainly, his smile fading.