Dimensional Descent

Despite the fact he had concluded that the ability was useless, Leonel was still fascinated by the feeling. There was something especially immersive about having all of his ideas and thoughts floating around him, it made it all more real, more tangible.

Although Leonel had always been able to sink into his Dream World whenever he wanted, the disconnect between it and reality was such that he was always keenly aware of his real body's place in the world. Because of that, he could never fully enjoy himself.

As such, he had always kept his Dream World to the bare minimum. White walls, pale and transparent Dream Clones, even his Dreamscape was nothing more than a skeleton of ideas, like jotted down notes only he could understand.

When things were like this, though, Leonel felt more license to have fun.

The world became overlapped with the vastness of space. His Dreamscape became like constellations in the skies, its ideas connecting to form fantastical images and gorgeous picturesque scenes of legends gone by. His thoughts became organized into planets and their ecosystems, the trees carrying his thoughts, the waters carrying his streams of consciousness, the clouds becoming as fleeting and numerous as his daydreams.

Leonel smiled. He didn't know why he hadn't done this before. Like this, everything seemed so much more beautiful. It connected in a way that surpassed what it had been capable of before, making his cold calculation feel a lot less like work and more like the masterful strokes of an artisan.

Leonel became so lost in it all that his concept of time warped.

It was only when he finally snapped out of it that his expression changed.

How long had it been since he paid attention to what the Spiritual had been doing?

Just because the Spiritual had powerful soul attacks, that didn't mean it was all they were capable of. They could just as easily attack with their bodies, or even make use of another one of their powerful abilities: elemental manipulation.

Leonel's eyes snapped open, trying to find the Spiritual.

Wait, weren't his eyes already open? Hadn't he been observing his Dream World being projected onto the real world? Isn't that why he was so confident in losing focus a bit to begin with? After all, if his soul was useless, the Spiritual couldn't do much that Leonel wouldn't be able to react to. After all, the both of them were in the Fifth Dimension. If the former had to attack physically, Leonel was sure that he could at least do something about it.

But if his eyes had always been open, why did he suddenly open them? Wait, if he had opened his eyes, then why was he still seeing the same thing?

Leonel's gaze turned cold.

He should have known this would happen. His Dream Force couldn't affect others, but it could definitely affect him, that was the main purpose of his Ability Index to begin with and precisely why Tier 4 was called Control.

The fact that he couldn't control the outflow of his Dream Force should have already told him that it had surpassed the barriers that his affinity could control. However, he had actually been slow in realizing such a simple fact.

The situation wasn't entirely bad, though. When others were lost in Dream Force, the most dangerous part was that they would become unaware. The fact that he knew that something was wrong already proved that he was beyond most people. The trouble was… Even knowing he was trapped, he still couldn't separate Dreams from Reality. He couldn't even tell whether his eyes were open or not.

There's something else here, something that he needed to deal with before he could find his way out.

…

The situation outside seemed to only be getting odder. Leonel hadn't moved in several minutes but the trouble was… neither did the Spiritual.

And it was then that it happened.

<Tenth Floor Cleared – First Clear Event – Leonel Morales 00:06:19>

This sent waves through the crowd, but the picture above was still frozen in place. Could it be that there had been a glitch in the Void Tower system and Leonel was actually just fine?

Aina sighed a breath of relief. She had been worried that the run in with the Spiritual had affected Leonel's real body.

Her worries weren't unfounded. The reason why the Spiritual was in the Fifth Dimension despite the fact that Leonel had already stepped into Sixth Dimensional floors was because the elders of the Void Palace were worried that the shock would be too much otherwise.

So long as it was just a simple image glitch, she could accept this. Now, she just had to wait patiently for Leonel to come out.

However, what happened next was somehow even more astonishing than a first clear event.

<Eleventh Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:02:21>

Heavy Gravity – First Attempt – All Time

<1. Leonel Morales 00:02:21>

<2. Samael Morales 00:03:39>

Hadn't Leonel just been tired? He had already been on his last legs, on the verge of collapsing. How did he clear the eleventh floor? And setting a record that beat the previous by more than a minute?!

<Twelfth Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:02:32>

<Thirteenth Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:02:49>

<Fourteenth Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:03:02>

The crowd didn't know what to say. Cornelius didn't know what to say. It felt like they were the one stuck in a dream, unable to extricate themselves.

<Twenty-Third Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:07:11>

…

<Thirty-Seventh Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 00:04:55>

…

<Fifty-Second Floor Cleared – New Record Set – Leonel Morales 01:03:42>

…

Floor Fifty… Floor Fifty… Floor Fifty was where the Seventh Dimension began…

…

<Sixty-Third Floor Cleared – Leonel Morales 03:28:31>

…

<Seventy-Fourth Floor Cleared – Leonel Morales 22:44:52>

…

The doors of the tower opened on the dawn of the third day.

A young man stumbled forward, but he lacked the strength to do much of anything.

He tripped, his body falling forward. However, before he could hit the ground, a rush of fragrant wind assaulted him and swept him into a soft embrace.

The young man didn't say a word, collapsing, his light snores ringing out just moments later.

Aina held onto Leonel, her brows furrowed.

Tears of blood ran down his face and caked his scalp, giving his hair a dark, redder hue than it usually did.

His fingers dripped with blood. Slung over her shoulders, she could still hear the pitter patter as they hit the hard ground.

His chest was practically a gaping cavity, his ribs torn open and his beating heart thrumming for the world to hear as pulsing Golden Runes laced around it.

None of this made any sense. The Void Tower was a simulation and nothing more, your real body never entered. How could it leave Leonel's body in such a state? What had happened to him?!

However, maybe the most shocking part was that his right arm was out of its sling… Somehow perfectly healed.