Dimensional Descent

The closer Leonel got to the finished product, the paler he seemed to become. But, even then, his gaze glowed brighter and brighter.

It was working, it was truly working. Leonel's breathing was heavy, but his vision suddenly started to go black.

…

"—Leonel! LEONEL!"

Leonel shot up, a spurt of blood coming from his nose and dripping down his lips. He quickly wiped it away, his head behind swallowed up by a mind splitting headache.

It took Leonel several moments for his eyes to focus, but when they finally did, he expression twisted into a frown.

He had failed.

"Are you okay?"

Aina looked Leonel up and down, only sighing in relief when he seemed to be intact. But then, she too, began to frown.

"I told you it was dangerous!"

Leonel shook his head. "I was never in danger of falling into a Dream, the problem is something else. I just tried to reconstruct a Force Art that was beyond me. If it wasn't Seventh Dimensional, then it was definitely near the peak of the Sixth Dimension. It's beyond me to reconstruct something like that, not until I step into Sixth Dimension."

In truth, Leonel had been close. But, in this case, close wasn't close enough. With the way this ability of his worked, or rather, Dream Rewind, if he reached a barrier he couldn't cross, then nothing he could do now would allow him to cross it.

He had been too ambitious and picked inappropriately. It was already difficult to keep Starry Spirit Domain fully active. To layer Dream Rewind on top of that was like asking for pain. He could only admit that he had done this to himself.

Eventually, Leonel chuckled. "Don't be like that, you know it wasn't that dangerous. It's just a bloody nose and a light headache, it'll be gone in half an hour or so. Instead, we should focus on finding things that we can take advantage of. I bit off more than I can chew, but there definitely are things here that we can benefit from.

"Think about it. The Dwarven Race, despite being physically weaker than maybe even humans, have been able to defend themselves for so long. They definitely have a lot of things that we can learn from."

After reading all those Fourth Dimensional books of the Void Library, Leonel's foundational knowledge didn't lack to most anyone. Not only was he now aware of more intricate details, he was also now aware that the term 'goblin race' was derogatory, so he took heed to not use it.

If there was anything his stint in the Rapax Nest had taught him, it was that even if other races thought differently from humans and had their own cultures, they were still living beings with the same amount of sentience as humans.

There was, of course, the question of beasts. But Leonel didn't feel that he was ready to go vegan just yet.

Aina shook her head. This man was pale faced and looked like he had a foot in the grave, but he was still talking about such nonsense. If she had a mirror right now, she'd definitely stick it in his face and tell him to take a nice long look.

"Don't give me that face, let me lie here for a little longer."

Leonel rested his head on Aina's lap again, dozing off. Toward this, she could only helplessly remain silent.

…

An hour later, Leonel awoke, feeling energized.

"Again!"

This time, since Aina understood the process, he didn't have to take her hand. Part of the reason he failed was that he had to process her thoughts as well. And, because she had access to his ability, she had been thinking no slower than him.

However, despite this, Leonel didn't try the same Force Art again, he knew it was beyond him. Aina or not, he would have still failed.

Instead, he targeted something simpler. Using his Dream Simulation, he separated out powerful Force Arts from the weaker ones. If he was correct, there was a chance that he could go back and try the complicated one later.

Ultimately, the reason it was so difficult to complete the high level Force Art was that he had no experience with Dwarven Race Force Arts. He started from zero, trying to build the very top of a skyscraper.

However, if he started with weaker Force Arts first, there should be some portions he would be able to fill in without relying on Dream Rewind, thus taking the brunt of the pressure off of the ability itself and making the process easier.

"Here, found something."

Leonel found the scraps of what was once a tome. The elaborate cover was still intact, but when you opened it, there was nothing more than a pile of ashes. Clearly, the pages had combusted and destroyed themselves.

'The Dwarven Race is truly ruthless with their stuff. So much destruction, and not a single one is identical. But, that much is fine… This is the perfect target. I'll start with just the first page or two. As it builds up, it'll naturally become easier to complete the latter portions.'

Leonel took a breath, focusing his mind.

Then, he began once more. This time, he was determined to succeed.

Dream Rewind.

Leonel had four more days left in this Zone. Even if he had to take a few hours' break between each use of Dream Rewind, he would still be able to gain a lot.

The truth was that Leonel wasn't doing this to gain strength. He hadn't even touched a single percent of the knowledge the Void Palace had to offer him just yet, he hadn't even learned about the God Path! It didn't make much sense, then, for him to be so obsessed with the knowledge wells of other races when he hadn't even fully understood humankind.

However, the Dwarven Race had fascinated him. And, if there was anything Leonel was good at, it was obsessing over things that fascinated him.

What he didn't know was that this fascination on his part would earn him a clue toward stepping beyond poetry and grasping the faint truths of music, a secret that the Dwarven Race had done too well in hiding.