Dimensional Descent

If the Dominion Disciples who had taken an interest in Leonel's stint at the Void Library could hear his words now, they would have been astonished. They were already aware why the Void Library and Void Tower placed so much emphasis on Dream Force, but they had already been in the Void Palace for decades, many over a century…

How long had it taken them to piece information even close to this together, let alone finally be told by others and let into the fold?

And yet, Leonel had been here for barely over a year, most of which was spent locked in a room ruminating over poetry, and yet he had already begun to draw such conclusions? In fact, it was correct to say that Leonel had figured this out almost the exact moment he woke up from his small coma.

"You… Want to use Dream Force to peer into the Dwarven Race's secrets?"

Aina frowned, she wasn't a big fan of this. She already knew by now that Leonel had gotten stuck in a dream before. Though she didn't understand everything, she had her own deductions.

Back then, Leonel had been stuck in a battle with the Spiritual, and he was trying to use the opportunity to strengthen his soul. But, the reality was that Leonel's soul hadn't even gone into the Void Tower, so how could this happen?

Aina believed that Leonel was more aware than most others would be that he was in a virtual world. While others might be consciously aware that they were in the Void Tower with their minds and not their bodies, they still wouldn't feel any different.

Leonel, however, should have been keenly aware of this difference, almost like a lucid dreamer. No, even deeper than a lucid dream, more like that odd state of wakefulness and sleep where you could still slip back into a dream whenever you wanted.

Aina believed that because Leonel was so aware, he had ended up playing with fire. Fiddling around the connection had caused a catalyzation of Dream Force which even Leonel couldn't handle.

Such a catalyzation would have led to an overload of sorts. On one hand, it would easily explain how Leonel had managed to make it to Seventh Dimensional floors. After all, with the Dream Force being distorted, anything could happen. This would also explain why the Void Tower was perfectly fine and no one else was implicated. eeeovl*

On the other hand, it could also explain Leonel's injuries. With the line of reality and dream blurred, Leonel likely accidentally caused these injuries to him.

Aina knew that she didn't have the whole story, because none of this could explain the massive changes to Leonel's Mage Core, or his sudden evolution into a Starry Tailed Fox, but she believed that this would describe at least 70-80% of what happened. As for the remaining 20%, maybe they would never know.

It was precisely because of this, though, that Aina was worried. If Leonel started playing around with Dream Force again, what would happen this time?

Before, it had been the Void Tower controlling the flow of Dream Force and Leonel was overwhelmed. How could he match up to Dream Force controlled by an entire Zone, then?! One was only capable of projecting a fake world, while the other was as real as it could get. You could even take things out of here!

Of course, this was only the case if Leonel's deductions were correct. If Zones had nothing to do with Dream Force at all, then there would be nothing to worry about. Leonel would just fail again and they could be on their merry ways. But if he was correct…

"Yeah, don't you think it could work? Just imagine it. If my Dream Force affinity is high enough, then I could dig up any secret I want from a Zone!<novelnext> pan(da-n0vel.c)om</novelnext>

"There's already a precedent for this as well, no? Remember the Silver Empire? And how do Empires like them have to distort their Zones so that their enemies can't use them to dig up information about their secrets?

"Theoretically, if I can hone a technique capable of seeing through Dream Force distortions, then even such powerful families and Empires couldn't hide anything from me so long as I can enter one of their Zones.

"It's beyond that too. At a certain point, I'd never need to worry about failing a Zone again. Even if I can't take control of the Dream Force outside of my body, just being able to see through it would make a lot of Zones easy to clear."

"Leonel, stop," Aina said seriously.

"Hm?" Leonel blinked, realizing that Aina was upset. "What's wrong?"

"You just got lost in your Dream just a year ago, and that was just to the Void Tower. It's way too dangerous for you to be playing around with this stuff. What if, this time, you don't wake up?"

Aina's voice was quite stern, but it still carried its usual enchanting air. It was just that, this time, this air was tinged with the hint of a sob as though she was trying not to choke up.

Leonel sighed before frowning a bit. It was hard to explain, but he felt very confident in doing this. He had already used the previous Zones they had entered as a measuring stick in order to check a few of his hypotheses.

This was why explaining things was such a headache, now, he had worried her for no reason. Wouldn't it have been easier for him to just take on all the burden and show her the good results?

Leonel scratched his head, the familiar sheen of sweat moistening his palms.

Leonel was correct. It wasn't the Void Tower at all that had pulled him into such a state, it was something different. He and maybe the Void Elders were the only ones who knew this. But, it was difficult to explain in words, and it was another thing entirely if Aina would believe him.

The exasperated side of Leonel just wanted to do it anyway, but he shook his head. If he kept doing this, then the rift between them would never fully close.

Then, his eyes lit up with an idea.

Without allowing Aina to protest, he took hold of her small hand.