Dimensional Descent

”What are you talking about?” Leonel chuckled and shook his head.

Though he could make a few guesses, he still didn’t jump to any conclusions. Who knew what this girl was asking to see?

In truth, Leonel knew that he was a bit too casual with his treasures. He didn’t put enough effort into hiding them. A portion of the reason why was because he didn’t have a good frame of what was rare and what wasn’t, but another was definitely that he was just a bit careless.

The more powerful Leonel became, the more he felt that the people of this quadrant were actually quite… weak. He felt like the difference between him and them wasn’t very far apart even while he was in the Third Dimension, let alone now that he was in the Fifth. Even Elder Isoltihne who had experience two watersheds of the Fifth Dimension wasn’t able to make him feel any pressure.

However, Leonel’s experiences in the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world showed him that it wasn’t that the world was weak, but rather that his scope of the world was too small. Even while so heavily suppressed and with himself having every advantage, he had still lost so miserably to Amery.

If it was just this, things might have been fine. After all, Amery was in the Sixth Dimension while he hadn’t even truly stepped into Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension. However, Leonel felt that if it wasn’t for the suppression of the trial, he wouldn’t have stood a chance against Kira while he had been at the Peak of the Fourth Dimension. Even beyond that, he didn’t believe that defeating even the likes of Rychard and that other man would have been a simple matter either.

If there was anything that trial taught Leonel it was that he shouldn’t underestimate this world. There would be nothing simple about achieving his goals.

This was all to say that he felt that if he was going to really do this, he had to learn to be a bit more cautious about some things. So, he didn’t immediately guess at what it was Anya wanted to see.

”Don’t be like that!” Anya said with an almost pleading tone.

”You know, just because you heard my last name, are you really sure of my origins? Can’t there be other people with the Morales name that aren’t from where you think I’m from?”

Anya pouted. ”Isn’t the fact you said that enough to prove that I am right? Then again… Only ignorant people say stuff like that, maybe you really aren’t from them…”

Leonel’s lip twitched. He was finding it harder and harder to get a read on this girl. Was she mischievous? Introspective? Empathic? Or was it just that she enjoyed pointing out his flaws so much?

Seeing that Leonel wasn’t reacting as fast as she wanted him to, Anya shook her head and turned toward the elders.

”I can vouch for Leonel. His skill in theory is maybe better than mine. I don’t come from a family of Crafters, but his family is one that can ignore even the main branch of the Force Crafting Guild and not suffer from it. In fact, the main branch was only created so that other families would have a way of countering them. Good enough? Okay. Let’s move on to the application part!”

Hearing these words, the elders froze, looking toward Leonel with incredulous expressions.

By now, though, Leonel was certain that what Anya wanted to see was Little Tolly. If not for this, she wouldn’t be so eager to move on to the application portion of the exam. As for the reaction of the elders, he didn’t particularly care.

Leonel knew that he didn’t have much relation to the Morales family. For all he knew, they were quite hostile to him.

Of course, this wouldn’t stop him from participating in their Heir Wars. And, it most definitely wouldn’t stop him from allowing these elders to misunderstand. This was an opportunity to save himself some trouble, so why wouldn’t he take advantage?

”This…” Elder Isoltihne wasn’t sure how to accept this information. 

On the one hand, she didn’t want to believe it. But, on the other, she couldn’t refute this young girl either. Even if she reached out and said that she wanted half the resources of their branch, Isoltihne would just have to accept it.

Engnaril stood a distance away with his face also having frozen. But, there was nothing he could do either.

”Then…” Isoltihne cleared her throat. ”… We will begin with the spirit control portion of the exam.”

A strong pressure descended after Isoltihne clapped her hands. However, Leonel felt that his body was perfectly fine. If there was any change at all, it was a slight sluggishness in his Soul Force.

That was when he understood. This pressure was supposed to make it more difficult for you to use your Soul Force freely. This sort of control was invaluable for a Crafter.

Two sets of rings appeared before Leonel and Anya, stretching out a ten meter distance from them. There were just a pair of rings before each of them, one within arm’s reach and the other exactly ten meters away. However, somehow, this ten meter distance felt like infinity.

”Take control of your Familiars to travel the distance between these rings. A minimum travel distance of one meter is necessary to pass. Please begin.”

”One moment.” Leonel suddenly called out. ”I have a question.” A ll N OVE L FU LL . c 0m

Isoltihne, who still couldn’t stand the sight of Leonel’s face, still had no choice but to accommodate him for now… At the very least, she had to until they could corroborate Anya’s words. It was obvious that Anya had just met Leonel, so how could they take her words for fact? Especially when they didn’t want to believe these words to begin with…

”Yes?”

”Is it only possible to become a Tier 1 Bronze Crafter during this exam? What do I need to do to aim for a higher certification?”

Isoltihne’s expression darkened. ”We can certify up to the Tier 3 Bronze Grade. However, that requires a minimum of three meters crossed for this test.”

She truly felt like her time was being wasted.

Leonel shook his head. Was there that much of a difference between Tier 1 and 3? If it wasn’t for the fact he needed the resources of this place, he wouldn’t even bother.

”Alright.” Leonel nodded.

Flipping his palm over, a smooth ball of silver appeared, bobbing up and down above his hand.

Anya’s eyes lit up. However, when the elders saw it, their gazes lit up with something far different than an innocent curiosity.