Dimensional Descent

Leonel and Aina quickly made it to the location of their first mission. They chose to get the easier one out of the way first just so that they could get used to what was happening. Then they would tackle the Void Mission.

Missions were separated into a few categories, but the main ones were land missions, Zone missions, and Void Battlefield missions, and finally, outside missions.

Land missions were missions that took place on Void Palace land itself. These could range from anything like Dmitry's job to clearing Cursed Beasts.

Void Battlefield missions spoke for themselves while outside missions were like what Leonel's mother had undertaken to oversee the Selection.

Finally, Zone missions happened to be the category both of their couple's chosen missions fell under. These were Sub-Dimensional Zones that were opened in Void Palace territory and those that fell under this umbrella tended to be the most complex to deal with.

Of course, all of the Sub-Dimensional Zones of the Void Palace had long since been cleared, they no longer needed to worry about their lands being swallowed or dissolved by history. However, there were many Unique Zones that the Void Palace kept open with methods similar to what Valiant Heart Mountain had done. The only difference was that the Void Palace did it on a much larger scale.

It had to be remembered that Unique Zones were defined as Zone that had been influenced by outside factors. This could range from anything like outsiders entering when they shouldn't, outsiders influencing the timeline of events, and even up to keeping Zones that should have been closed long ago, open.

Unique Zones that fell into the third category were used for their continual supplementation of resources. However, the issue was that the longer these Unique Zones remained open, the more twisted their inner worlds became and the more difficult they were to deal with.

In order to keep the Zones within manageable levels, missions were released to the disciples. So long as these missions were completed within a timely fashion, everything would be fine and the Void Palace would be able to continuously mine resources.

However, in case of failure…

Well, there was a reason why Void Missions were so dangerous.

Due to their inherent qualities, Zone missions tended to become Void Missions far more often than missions of other categories. And, likewise, they also tended to be the ones that most often became Death Void Missions as well.

Knowing this, it was no wonder that Dmitry had had just a fierce reaction.

Still, Leonel and Aina had made the decision and it was already much too late to back out now.

"Hello…" Leonel gave a small greeting to the senior manning the Zone and handed over their mission plate.

With a nod, the senior slotted in the Force Crystals necessary and opened the pathway.

"You have a week before the Zone closes. Be sure to complete the mission before then."

Leonel nodded and took Aina's hand as he jumped in, the portal swirling close after them.

The senior manning the post couldn't help but blink and shake his head, trying to rid himself of the daze he fell into after noticing Aina.

…

When Leonel's vision cleared, he found himself in the depths of a familiar forest. The soil was still a greyish-black, the surroundings were still layered in a dense fog, and the Anarchic Force was still thick. The only difference was that the trees were all burnt to the ground, leaving a thick heat and smell of ash and soot in the air.

Up ahead, there was a looming castle built right in the face of a wall. Several sentries marched along and patrolled the area. Considering the situation, it wouldn't be long before he and Aina were found out. However, Leonel wasn't worried. This mission was the easier of the two and was only a Level 1 Galaxy Ranked mission.

The good news about this was that thanks to the mission details, Leonel didn't need the dictionary to find out what they had to do to clear the Zone. In fact, they even got a history of the situation.

Many of these Zones were back before the Humans conquered this region.

The Void Palace was located on the frontier of the Human Domain. So, as one might imagine, it wasn't always in human hands. In order to claim it and push back the line of defense to the Void Battlefield, many other races had to be cleared away first.

This mission targeted one of these former races and also happened to be related to the goblin race he and Aina would be facing in the Three Star Void Mission he had chosen.

The so-called 'goblin' race was just a nickname given to humans and it was honestly quite derogatory, though Leonel wasn't aware of this. The true name of the race was the Dwarven Race.

However, the Dwarven Race was unlike what Leonel was used to, they simply referred to small humanoids. Their females were known as Pixies and their males were known as Sparrows.

They had skin ranging from dull grey to dark green, transparent wings that seemed too frail to carry their weight, and they ranged from three to five feet tall upon reaching maturity. They were well known for their speed, cunning, and their ability to build into natural barriers and constructs.

This race was especially troublesome to deal with, especially when they had time to prepare. This was why the timeline of this mission was a week instead of just a day despite the fact the goal was very straightforward: kill.

Leonel exhaled a breath as a blaring horn sounded. It seemed that he and Aina had been found.

He subconsciously flipped over a palm, but he shook his head in the end.

His bows were in the Segmented Cube before the incident and his spears were all locked away thanks to the volatile atmosphere in the Spear Domain ring.

Readjusting himself, Leonel flipped a palm again, a familiar spear landing in his hand. This spear was the very same stinger-like spear he had gained after becoming a woman during his Spear Domain trial. He couldn't help but laugh when he remembered the ridiculousness of the situation.

Since then, he had experienced becoming a woman more times than he could count, but now was the time to linger on that.

It was time to see how this "new" body of his performed.

He turned to Aina and grinned before they both bolted forward.