Dimensional Descent

The current situation wasn't bad, it could even be said to be quite excellent.

Due to Keiza's actions, Leonel had gained himself around 200 000 beasts. The beasts didn't have great combat prowess, but they did have great speed, and their strength was at least enough to match up to Bronze-Grade threats. Those that had crossed the Tier 4 barrier could match up against those of the Seventh Dimension.

In reality, these beasts were quite pitiful.

The gap between the Tiers of the Seventh Dimension should be enormous. The gap between Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension and Tier 1 of the Seventh was only a precusor to what one might find on the other side. Someone like Leonel and Aina who could battle across that barrier could only be said to be monsters.

As many of their number was already in Tier 6, they should have been the strongest creatures of the Heir Wars, and yet they were already now on their third owner without any ability to resist.

This was also the reason why, though Leonel took this gain as a positive, it was only a slight one. He didn't expect these beasts to cause a game changing event unless he used them with exceptional cleverness, though he wasn't unique to such things.

Ironically, Leonel's strongest fighters were probably those of the Cloud Race, specifically Mae. If he fought her while holding back, the odds of him winning were next to zero. She was a tier of strength beyond even James.

However, he had oddly chosen to sideline her into an odd position.

The rest of the Cloud Race in general were exceptional. Even the weakest of a Gold Grade threat while most were beyond and could face an Heir-Grade threat on their own. It was almost a shame that Leonel only had control over a few thousand of them.

Leonel organized these thoughts as he moved through the water with great speed.

Soon, he had reached the region of the first Heir-Grade threat.

In truth, Leonel didn't have to go through all of this trouble. He had already thought of the golden scaled koi fish in his possession. So long as he released that annoying little guy, a storm of Force would form quite quickly that would catch the attention of all the oceanic beasts.

This was the very same tactic it had used when it caused that oceanic beast flood all those years ago. It would benefit Leonel quite greatly to use it to his advantage now, or so it seemed.

But there were many issues with this approach, the first of which being the fact that there wasn't enough control. That insane method only worked when your goal was to destroy everything, Leonel didn't want to do such a thing. The effort for the reward wasn't worth it.

It had to be remembered that for the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge, there would be 10 million Gold-Grade threats matched with 100 Heir-Grade generals.

There were already quite a number of Heir-Grade threats just in this region alone. If Leonel really used the koi fish, he would end up facing a threat even worse than the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge. At that point, he would be digging his own grave.

There was, of course, another problem as well, and that was alerting his enemies to what he was doing. The commotion of such a method wouldn't be small in the slightest, so this was his best choice.

That said, Leonel wasn't here to gather a measly 100 000 points. Rather, while everyone else was focused on clearing the challenges and the dungeons, he was focused on clearing these Heir-Grade ocean monsters.

As for why? The answer to that was obvious.

He wanted their soul constructs.

At the same time, this location was a convenient time to test the changes in his Void Star Force.

Leonel extended a hand and grasped at the water, bringing out his black rod. At the same time, his first tier Divine Armor covered his body as five Stars appeared to his back. Vital Star Force flooded the peaks and crevices of his armor, lighting up the dark depths of the ocean.

In the distance, an enormous shark beast finally noticed Leonel's appearance. Its menacing teeth bared and it swept its tail out just once. This simple action shot it forward like an iron ball from a canon, the water gliding against its slipper skin as it grew to double its size in Leonel's eyes in an instant.

Leonel's pupils constricted. 'Fast.'

He hadn't expected the jump to Heir-Grade would be so enormous. He had experienced the jumps from Sub-Grade to Bronze-Grade up to Gold-Grade and he had thought he had a solid understanding by now, but just this movement alone let him know that he was very wrong.

BANG!

Leonel blocked the charge of the shark, feeling his organs jar as he was sent flying backward.

His gaze narrowed.

It was harder to produce force under water, but after you had succeeded, the impact of that force was much greater. Flying through the air was one matter, but being sent flying through water, especially at great speed, felt like he was being hit with a freight train again and again.

"Alright, fair enough," Leonel balanced himself as the shark beast charged again.

He took a deep breath. Even under water, he wasn't impeded at all. At his level, he didn't see objects like he had back in the Third Dimension, especially not after comprehending a bit of Force Manipulation. Items weren't just themselves, they were also the sum of the Forces that summed them up.

Separating out the Water Force and only absorbing the Wind Force that carried the oxygen he wanted was all too easy for the current Leonel.

Leoenl wasn't enraged that this shark beast was powerful at all, in fact he was happy. The more powerful it was, the more worthwhile this would be. He even hoped they would get stronger.

Rather than switching to his second tier armor or activating Star Fusion, Leonel's body relaxed and he brandished his spear as the shark appeared before him again.

This would be the only remaining time he had to do this before he was embroiled in battle after battle again. He wanted to see how much more room he had to improve his Void Star Force.

The two dark blue Stars to his back glowed, the ocean waters suddenly trembling.

'Show me what you can do…'