Missed Chance

Wise Star Order was really his unlucky star. Leonel rarely experienced embarrassment in his life, and he definitely didn't feel it to a deep degree even when he did. But, now, this was already twice in just a few days he had.

There was no coincidence, he blamed the old bastard. Unfortunately, he didn't get to linger on these thoughts for long because almost the exact instant Aina left once more, a loop of pain and relief seemed to take Leonel's life over completely.

In the Third Dimension one formed their Nodes, and the Fourth not only did you strengthen the body, but you also forged Nodal Pathways. After the initial Third Dimension, there were only the bare bone connections between your Nine Nodes, so it was up to the individual to complete what was essentially a new organ system.

Leonel had, of course, done this long ago. He had spent many months in the Dimensional Cleanse trial world and had taken the time to finish there. But, those new pathways had never been used at all.

The good news was that as Leonel's body grew stronger, so did they. The bad news was that the sudden and novel feeling sent his body into a state of shock that was hard to recover from.

When the pain reached its peak, the Cleansing Waters would see to take action and Leonel would find himself on cloud nine, only for the pain to cycle back again. It was almost like having a pulsing migraine that tricked you into believing that it was gone every few minutes, only for it to come back the moment you shifted your head the slightest bit.

All this time, Wise Star Order had completely tuned Leonel out. Even now, he was in a state of shock.

'Stealing energy from the Regulator… They always theorized that this was the only way past the glass ceiling, but no one had ever succeeded. It really took a brat who didn't know the word fear to do it… How many geniuses are rolling in their graves right now…'

Wise Star Order knew Leonel had done it completely by accident… Or had he?

'His father…'

Wise Star Order's gaze narrowed. Was it really luck?

He had never heard of someone being able to regrow an Innate Node. From the very beginning, an Innate Node wasn't something normal people should have. This was why a birth was followed by a Phenomena. If Leonel's father wasn't as powerful as he was, Leonel would have been smited the moment he was born.

Innate Nodes were already at the limit of the Regulator's tolerance, and that was especially so for Scarlet Star Force in specific. So the question was…

How the hell could you regrow such a thing?

'There's one more variable in all of this that I didn't consider. I dismissed it because he called it something as ridiculous as a 'vomit brew', but what if the trigger for this wasn't his stupidity, but rather his father's genius?

'Regrowing an Innate Node should be impossible. But, if I had to speculate about one thing that would be capable of doing so… It would be the energy of the Regulator.'

Wise Star Order's mind spun. He was a man who had seen so much of the world and yet he still had fear for Leonel's father. After all the crap he had spoken about how weak the Human Domain was, he still felt this way. Leonel was simply unaware of the kind of man his father really was, and what it was that he represented.

As the hours waned, Leonel's labored breathing didn't seem to slow.

True to her word, Aina did return with dinner as dusk approached, but when she saw Leonel still unmoving, her brows furrowed lightly. By this point, the basin which had once been filled with clear water was now filled with a thick, violet liquid that gave off a foul smell that had ruined the ambience of the entire room.

Aina was instantly able to tell that it was impurities and waste. But, that should have been completely black. This dark purple didn't make sense.

But then it hit her. 'Blood…'

Leonel had actually bled to the point of turning the entire basin of water from a pitch black to a dark violet. She had no idea what he was doing, but a tinge of worry couldn't help but flicker in her eyes.

Aina used her Blood Force affinity to form Leonel's blood into a vessel to shuttle the water and impurities out. It was only at that point that she noticed that Leonel had actually been using Cleansing Waters, something that only left her more baffled.

Cleansing Waters were among the purist substances in all of existence. Even when her curse was acting up, it had evaporated in these waters as though it had never been there. Logically, with the self-cleaning ability of Cleansing Waters, something like what was happening now shouldn't have been possible.

Still, Aina didn't stall. She found the Segmented Cube to the side and filled the basin with Cleansing Waters once more. After another look toward Leonel, she left silently. Maybe she didn't even realize how unbothered and unfazed she had been by his naked body.

What neither Aina nor Leonel knew at this point, was that Wise Star Order was truly speechless by this point. He could hardly wrap his head around just how lucky this body was.

He should have known that stealing energy from the Regulator wasn't so simple, it seemed that there had indeed been ill effects. However, because Leonel made the choice to seal his Nodes away, it had never taken deep root.

That foul energy that was able to make even Cleansing Waters murky was known as Anarchic Force. Though it had a name that could be considered quite interesting, it was nothing but a death sentence.

Anarchic Force didn't follow the laws of the universe as it should. It was considered to be the throw away Force of the universe, the Force that had no use other than to take up space, stir chaos and act as a leech. In the simplest terms possible, it was unusable energy and it was a cancer.

All Force tended toward Anarchic Force and there were even theories that once all Force had reached this state, the universe itself would die. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

For a Force user, having this stuff in your body was like a human suffering radiation poison.

'Dammit. I missed another chance to kill him.'