Dimensional Descent

Leonel allowed the three women to have their fun. He was a bit curious about which stream Savahn and Yuri had chosen, but not enough to interrogate them about it. He’d find out soon enough.

He kept a part of his mind focused on them in case anything went wrong, but honestly, he knew that he was just being paranoid. Even so, better paranoid now than regret later. There were some things that simply couldn’t be reversed after they were done, and he wouldn’t play such games of probability with his wife’s life.

The rest of Leonel’s mind, though, paid closer attention to the city than he had before.

Truthfully, he wasn’t planning some great scheme, he was just truly taking a look at the city planning and learning quite a lot as he did so.

The city was a delicate balance of advancement and nature, but what was odd was that it didn’t feel like there was very much “nature” at all.

There weren’t trees or grass, and yet just the smells alone made him feel like he was in the depth of a forest of purity.

As Leonel observed, he realized that the entire city was arranged into something that almost felt like a Natural Force Art, but wasn’t quite. That single half-step it was missing was a huge chasm that was nigh impossible for most to cross.

So you can plan a city like this, huh… I wonder what would happen if I filled in that half step? Would I create a city beyond this one?

This was probably one of if not the best city of the Owlans. Just by virtue of this, it was bound to be one of the best cities in existence beneath God Cities.

It definitely opened up Leonel’s eyes to certain things… he had always thought of Force Arts like runes drawn of Dream Force… but that wasn’t exactly entirely true.

The Magic System of Camelot drew Force Arts with other Forces and formed them into spells. That was another branch of Force Art usage.

Then there was the Luxnix Force Art Language that could form constructs that looked like real, living, breathing beings.

It wasn’t just Force Art Languages themselves that he could tweak and create at will… but couldn’t he also decide the medium the Force Art was formed from as well?

As Leonel walked, wisps of Auspicious Air formed and fused around him, leaving a trail of an intoxicating scent and bronze tendrils.

It was just a subtle change to his perspective, but he felt like it had opened up a new door.

Hadn’t he already known all of this? What were teleportation platforms if not ores infused with Spatial Force that were refined into Force Arts? Wasn’t a city just another example of this?

No.

Three dimensional… Leonel thought, his mind a bit absent.

Those casual words were thrown to the back of Leonel’s mind. It was something deeper than that. He had seen three-dimensional Force Arts before; they were quite complicated, but overall less special than they seemed.

After a certain point, a Crafter’s mind was so sharp that even analyzing such Force Arts was easy.

And it also wasn’t like a teleportation pad at all. There were no grooves for Force Art lines in the city, and even if he shot into the skies and looked at the city from above, he doubted that he would see the obvious arrangement of a Force Art either.

It wasn’t the streets, it wasn’t the formation of the buildings… and yet it was also somehow both.

Leonel grasped at something that was slipping through his fingers and then he suddenly smiled.

He thought of the Ancient Earthen concept of Feng Shui. He wondered, what decided the affinity of a world? Was it its world spirit? But what decided the affinity of a World Spirit? Was it coincidence?

That sounded silly.

Air flow. No, Force flow.

BANG!

Leonel felt like something exploded in his mind, a whirlwind of Force spiraling around him as he walked down the busy streets.

Several people were alerted instantly, but he didn’t seem to notice at all. The buildings were so sturdy that even their glass hardly flexed beneath the Force of a mere Fourth Dimensional existence like Leonel, so he didn’t even worry about being blamed for damage. His mind was entirely occupied by his thoughts.

He finally understood why this city felt so special.

It wasn’t just the buildings or the streets and their patterns, but rather what their position did to the Force in the air. It was the way they forced the Force to move and flow that gave the city its hints of specialness.

In that way, it was very much like an application of Simplicity, but on an entirely different level than what Leonel was capable of… or had been capable of… Until now.

Leonel’s lip curled. “Thanks for the lesson,” he said in a soft voice.

The flow of Force…

Leonel changed the arrangement of his Natural Force Art and it seemed to evolve into an entirely different level. At the same time, he could feel that his Constellation Realm had inexplicably entered the Black Grade due to a breakthrough that seemed entirely unrelated.

But how could they ever be truly unrelated? If they weren’t, then why were they part of the same list of requirements his father had for him?

Leonel looked up to find that several people were looking at him, but he just smiled. He continued walking until he found a shadow blocking his path.

He looked up… or, rather, a little less than down. It was weird, this man cast such a large shadow, but he was actually an inch or two shorter than he was.

This man was none other than Talon of the Barbarian Race. He was looking at Leonel as though he was a juicy piece of meat, Leonel could almost swear he saw some drool coming from the corner of his lips.

“And you are?” Leonel asked with a smile.