Stone

The groans resounded throughout the Segmented Cube to Leonel's laughter. He was quite used to his teammates groaning like this, but usually it was thanks to the expert hands of a beautiful masseuse. However, this time, it was for something much less satisfying… And rather than groaning, it could be said that they were screaming.

The Bone Burning Rose was truly working its magic and because Leonel hadn't allowed them to heal even the smallest bit, the results they were gaining were excellent.

As though that wasn't bad enough, Leonel had thrown them all into the Sixth Dimensional Cleansing waters at the same time. And, in a feat of true sadism, the Bone Burning Rose concoction that Leonel had given them had Cleansing Waters as part of the ingredients, making it feel as though their throats, stomachs and intestines were being burned from the inside out.

Not only were the impurities of their bodies being weeded out one after another, but their foundations were being strengthened inch by inch.

If Leonel wanted to help his brothers blaze through the Fourth Dimension, he didn't need to go through all these problems. After all, with the Silver Tablet, he could loosen any bottlenecks they faced.

However, Leonel knew that the Silver Tablet wouldn't be able to help them to the very end. After all, even now, it had its limitations.

For example, the amount of energy it took for Leonel to undo a bottleneck versus someone far less talented were vastly different. The less talented a person was, the more energy it would take. After a certain point, the effort put in wouldn't match up to the rewards gained if things continued like this. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

Thus, the best course to take wasn't relying solely on the Silver Tablet, but rather instead combining its use with natural treasures that could keep their foundations firm and steady.

Leonel had learned first hand the benefit of patience and consolidation. After staying in the Third Dimension for so long, his foundation had greatly benefited and his strength displayed that in spades. He wanted the same for his brothers so they would have to experience a bit of pain first.

After checking that their situations were stabilized, Leonel nodded to himself.

Under lesser circumstances, the harsh reality was that his teammates would be in danger of dying. But, with all the equipment of the Segmented Cube, Leonel didn't feel the need to worry about this at all. There were too many fail safes in place.

'It seems like Franco will gain the greatest benefits from this, but that makes sense. His ability is physical and he really pushed himself to the limits. He'll probably be the first to break into the Fifth Dimension…'

Leonel swept one more gaze before walking away and entering a different lab.

The Segmented Cube had so much space now that Leonel hardly knew what to do with it all. The Lab Setting was more like several Lab Settings with technology from civilizations Leonel had never even heard of, let alone would understand how to use.

He decided to keep things simple and stick with what he knew.

Not long later, he found himself standing before the tentacle womb whose wounds were still slowly healing. Leonel had plans but a lot of it would revolve around this tentacle beast, the koi fish and the Segment Cube working in tandem. However, currently, the tentacle womb was the weakest link.

While it seemed like its abilities were astounding, when Leonel really thought about it, it wasn't all that impressive. Considering the resources he would need to pour into it, he might be better off just pouring it all into his Crafts. It was easier to make, say, an automated machine gun.

The worst part about the tentacle womb was that its energy consumption didn't stop at just its creations. After all, what it produced were living, breathing creatures. They would need to be fed and taken care for.

Even though the Segmented Cube had more than enough room to accommodate such things, whether it was worth it was an entirely different question.

Simply put, using the tentacle womb to spam out weak creatures was a waste of time and resources.

Just take the swordfish as an example. Leonel could create a gun and hundreds of bullets in less than an hour that could take out an entire school of them. The best part about this gun with his current skill is that it could be wielded by a human not even in the Fifth Dimension yet.

When things were put into this frame, it could be said that the tentacle womb wasn't as ground breaking at it seemed, nor was its ability particularly unique either.

Just from a cursory thought, Leonel could already think of two people with semi-similar abilities to the tentacle womb. One was Aphestus and his swallow ability. He was able to ingest creatures and make their abilities his own if he ate enough of them. A second was Simeon who could genetically modify the ability of both people and creatures.

If Leonel wanted to make this tentacle womb a trump card, it would have to be far stronger than it was now, and such a thing would take time and patience.

However, he had a trump card in this regard: The Silver Tablet.

If there was anything that could help this tentacle womb evolve, it was the Silver Tablet. The key to unlocking this path, though, would most definitely be the golden scaled koi fish.

**

A far distance away from the pressure cooker Earth was becoming, a murderous aura hung, sinking deep into the walls of the office space.

Rychard sat at his desk, his hands clasped before him and his face expressionless. But, the bulging veins on his forearms painted a completely different picture. It was clear that he was pissed off, and how couldn't he be?

It had been two weeks since he met Aina in that odd state and he had immediately guessed a few things. He had tested his conjectures on multiple occasions and concluded that he was about 90% correct while the remaining 10% were miscellaneous details he would never grasp unless Aina herself told him.

He took advantage of this opportunity to try and court Aina, but despite receiving no resistance from her father or her friends, he was stone walled time and time again…