Dark lce
The Ore Leonel laid his eyes on an Ore that seemed to flicker between a crystalline blue and a deep abyssal black depending on what angle you looked at it from. The container around it was made out of a very special Sixth Dimensional glass material, and yet even it still fogged and allowed crystalline sheets of ice to form on it from time to time. While this might not seem like a big deal on the surface, it very quickly became one when one realized that this Ore was only of the Fifth Dimension!
This Ore was known as Dark Ice.
The description of this Ore was quite eerie. It was known for its ability to freeze over even space itself, causing reality to solidify before cracking it apart like glass.
Leonel had been reminded of this Ore while watching Karolus fight. Karolus' space affinity ability was destructive, but it was a kind of beautiful demolition to watch in real time. When Leonel watched spiderwebs of space spread through Karolus' attacks, even while he did something like walking through the air, her felt his Dreamscape tremble.
When he connected that feeling to his memory of this Ore, something seemed to click into place.
Leonel had already decided the path of his Divine Armors, and that was Spatial Affinity. The Space Element was far too versatile and useful to him. It was already too late to just pivot to another approach, just like how he couldn't just change the formula of his Metal Body's needs either. His path was set in stone.
As such, Leonel could only build up from his current starting position. The problem was… he kind of regretted it.
The Spatial Element had been greatly useful to Leonel. It was because of it that he was able to defeat the Puppet Master, someone far beyond him at the time, successfully. Since then, he had relied on it heavily, especially when he had to fight those stronger than himself.
It was only recently, when Leonel began to battle Sixth Dimensional existences and entered a Sixth Dimensional world, that the Spatial Domain of his Divine Armor became useless.
But… Observing Aina made Leonel realize that he was stretching himself too thin. He had too many strengths, he couldn't possibly maximize them all, at least not within a short timeframe. He felt like what he should do is focus on his greatest strength—his Innate Node—and build everything around it.
If Leonel could use his Innate Node freely and without consequences, he was certain that there might only be a handful of people capable of matching him at his Dimension level, and all of these people would either have to have outstanding abilities or control over an Innate Node on the same level as himself.
Leonel had already maximized his Metal Body's foundation to accelerate himself toward being able to use Scarlet Star Force freely. He used Star Core to build a sturdy base, and then he picked Ores that maximized his ability to withstand Forces of the Light and Fire Elements.
Leonel felt that he should have done the exact same with his Divine Armor, but he had been too naïve to think that he could have a little of everything, and it was causing his overall battle prowess to suffer.
The bad news was that there was already no going back. Leonel couldn't just undo what he had done without causing great harm to himself. However… What he could do was pivot and begin to slowly build a counter to his problems.
The solution Leonel landed upon was Dark Ice.
Rather than damaging his foundation to restart, Leonel instead chose to build upon it and synergize with it in a way that would be conducive to his goal. As such, he turned toward an Ore that could both build upon his Spatial Affinity, but simultaneously deviate toward something that could help manage his Innate Node.
Leonel chose to approach his problem from two sides.
On one hand, his Metal Body would lay a strong foundation, growing steadier toward a day where it could withstand his Scarlet Innate Node.
On the other hand, his Divine Armor would begin to build a strong affinity toward the Ice and Water Elements, not to mention the opposing Darkness Elements, to balance out the damage inevitably left behind.
Leonel's ultimate goal was to build his final Divine Armor with the core of an Element that stood on the same level as his Scarlet Star Force…
Void Star Force.
Top ten in Star Forces. Top three in Darkness Forces… Top one in Water Forces.
It would become the perfect counter to Leonel's Scarlet Star Force and a Divine Armor constructed by it would complete the cycle Leonel had planned for him and maximize his strength to an extreme in the future.
Of course, there were too many things Leonel had no idea how he would do. For example, was it even possible to make a Force the core of his Divine Armor instead of an Ore? Would he have to create a forging technique capable of infusing a Force into a metal and changing its properties? Truthfully, he could already posit a few potential theories on how he would do this. But, that still left the largest elephant in the room unquestioned…
How the hell would he find Void Star Force to begin with?
It didn't need to be explained just how rare Forces on the level of Void and Scarlet Star Force were. Leonel could spend a lifetime looking and still never find it.
Still, Leonel chose to push this away into the future. If anything, this was the least ambitious of his goals. If he could unite the Dimensional Verse, why would he fear finding the source of a single Force?!
Leonel reached out his hand and grasped the Ore.
He didn't mind anything about the future as he stepped into his Segmented Cube. All he could see was his Force Crafter's Bench, his mind enraptured by the designs swirling about his Dream World.
This… This would be his greatest craft to this day. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.
His fingers crackled and popped, his gaze turning a frightening cold. And then, he began.
He had no idea that a certain Bronze Tablet in the Luxnix family's territory was glowing a shade brighter than it normally did.