Dimensional Descent

In the blink of an eye, Leonel had suddenly left Aina far behind. However, she had a bright smile on her face and didn't seem fazed by it in the slightest.

She was quite happy and content if Leonel was stronger than her, not because she wanted to be protected, but because it would be easier for him to protect himself. That way, she would have less to worry about when it came to him.

At the same time, though, it lit a fire within her. Knowing Leonel, if she fell too far behind, he would use it as an excuse to keep her out of the loop, that was something that she couldn't allow. But this was a good opportunity too.

"Since you're so big and powerful now, I can officially be the passenger princess I was always meant to be. Let me ride on your shoulders, I want to meditate on the Blood Sovereign Tablet."

Leonel laughed. Aina wanted to be a passenger princess? As if he would ever believe something like that. It was more likely that the final thing she said was what she truly wanted to do. Now that she didn't need to worry about Leonel anymore, she could take some time to grow stronger.

As of right now, it wasn't a top priority to refine the demon corpses instantly. Aside from pausing to refine the Force Pills she and Leonel would consume immediately, she wouldn't need to pause her meditation at all.

"You don't have to ride on my shoulder, you can ride inside with me. I have absolute control over the gravity inside the panda construct. I can probably extend that outside too, but the tradeoff in stamina drain usually isn't worth it."

Aina's eyes lit up. That was even better.

She dispersed her blood armor, only to suddenly remember that she was half naked. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for one man's eyes in particular, it was already too late.

Leonel blinked, his eyes roaming.

"My eyes are up here," Aina said with a cough.

"… I know where they are…" Leonel mumbled, somewhat out of it.

Aina giggled before covering her chest with her arms. "How about you make me something to wear with that new ability of yours?"

"Ah, right…" Leonel shook his head, his eyes becoming clearer. "I don't think I can do that. Another difference between the Tier 5 Ability Index and what I can do is that my constructs are not permanent, they only last for as long as I sustain my Yin-Yang Domain.

"But, I think I have a work-around… Probably, it's a bit of a work in progress but I think it should probably be possible if I manage to do a few things."

Aina nodded, understanding. There had to be some drawbacks, copying the abilities of a Savant couldn't come without certain costs.

It was unfortunate that Little Tolly wasn't here, because then Leonel could just make new clothes for Aina. Neither of them seemed to have come with an extra pair. In fact, right now, he still had a huge hold in his pants from where she had ripped it. But luckily, it was quite easy to hide since they were so baggy to begin with. Just a few binding lines of thin metal were enough.

But Leonel couldn't just allow Aina to walk around like this, he definitely wasn't willing.

'Hm… Easy enough.'

Leonel reached a hand forward and placed a palm on Aina's breast, not the one that was exposed to the air, but rather the one still hidden behind her leather and plate armor.

As the foundation of his Metal Body was improved and strengthened, he also felt that his control over the Earth Force had increased as well, especially toward Variant Earth Force and metals.

Although his ability to mold them to his will wasn't as great as when he had Little Tolly by his side, it stll wasn't too bad.

The plate armor that had covered Aina's chest thinned and began to spread, stretching across her body and forming a band around her chest.

Leonel continued to manipulate the bits and pieces of metal that were left just like this, and when he ran out, he even manifested some Fifth Dimension Star Core to fill in the gaps.

The end result was a half fabric, half metal bodysuit that covered and suited her quite well.

Aina smiled. "Perfect."

Leonel nodded, sweeping her up into his arms and forming the panda construct once again.

Aina sank into his lap and had already shut her eyes. Leonel was already more comfortable than any seat she had ever sat upon, and her trust in him didn't need to be explained, so she almost instantly sunk into a state of meditation.

With a wave of his hand, caused the Force Pill Aina had concocted to shoot upward and into his panda construct's palm. This should be what remained of the high Fiend Class demon's corpse. Aina must have refined it while he was testing out his new abilities one by one.

As usual, it was extremely heavy, but it might as well have been as light as a feather in the hands of Leonel's construct.

​ 'She left it for me…'

Leonel smiled lightly, looking down at Aina who had already taken his chest as a pillow and his thighs as arm rests. In fact, before she closed her eyes, she even made him wrap an arm around her like a true passenger princess.

Leonel felt a calmness in his heart right now. Those days of him willingly giving her up felt so far and distant. And for a moment, he felt a sinking feeling that he would never be able to do that again. He didn't even know how he had managed the first time.

The more powerful he became, the stronger the pull became, the more impossible it was for him to escape it. He just… couldn't leave her side.

Somehow, though, this so-called "sinking" feeling only made her heart lighter and the path ahead all the brighter.

Leonel lightly touched against the barrier of the Natural Light Realm, although for now, it was too vague for him to even sense.

This was the Natural Light Realm of the Dimensional Verse… But rather, the Natural Light Realm of this Zone…

Leonel wrapped his arm slightly tighter around Aina's waist, as though to reassure her that he was here, and that he would never leave again.

With the other hand, he swallowed the high Fiend Class pill, allowing it to crash into his stomach like a mountain colliding with a tranquil lake.

A rush of strength poured into his body, his Bronze Runes lighting up once against and quickly beginning to grow in size once more.

When the process was finished, Leonel's Bronze Runes had grown so thick that they no longer looked like Runes. In fact, because they were so thick, it felt like Leonel's skin had become the Runes instead.

'Just a tiny sliver away, but it feels like such an enormous canyon to leap over. Even a high Fiend Class Tier 2 demon wasn't enough…'

Leonel relaxed as he felt his Metal Body plummet down once again to Tier 4. It had fallen from the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension down five entire Tiers, and yet it wasn't satisfied yet.

Leonel smiled. 'Let's go on a bit of a rampage, then.'

The panda construct charged, but not a single sound made it in as Aina seemed to continue to sleep in absolute tranquility.

By this point, though, Leonel's point totals had begun jumping with enough regularity that others had taken notice. 

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