Leonel made a move to hand the tablet over to Aina, but she actually shook her head.
"Learn it."
Leonel's brows shot up. Learn it? What was she talking about?
Was this the time to even consider something like this? And even if it was possible now that Aina's strength had taken such a large leap forward and they could afford to take such a risk, there was still the issue of his affinity.This material belongs to .
Leonel had planned to try to complete as many Runes of his Void Star Force as he could before he even made the attempt so that he could lower the difficulty and minimize the number of variables.
If he casually tried to learn these new Lineage Factors, there were too many potential issues that could arise. For example, he wasn't even sure if the two Lineage Factors would clash or not. The only way he could be certain that no issues would arise, or at the very least that he could deal with them if they did, was by raising his Dark Force affinity as high as possible.
So long as his Dark Force affinity was high, it would be easier to read and react to the exact changes his body was undergoing. If worse came to worst, he would be able to use his Tier 4 Control Ability Index to suppress or even outright cage this new Lineage Factor, something that would be far more difficult if he didn't have a high natural affinity to it.
Aina, though, only tilted her head in confusion when she saw Leonel hesitate.
"What are you hesitating for? I'll protect you."
Leonel explained his thought process, but Aina's expression only became weirder.
"Your Dark Force affinity is low? I don't think that's true."
Leonel blinked. What was Aina talking about? Even Valiant Heart Mountain had been able to tell that Leonel's Dark Force affinity was low.
Back then, the overseers of the affinity test for Valiant Heart Mountain hadn't spoken Leonel's affinities out loud because they were scared of exposing his identity, but Leonel, himself, knew his own affinities well enough. In addition, though he hadn't seen his affinities written out that day, he was sure that Dark Force wasn't on there.
Leonel was correct, but this wasn't surprising. His memory was impeccable and understanding of his own body was extraordinarily deep.
"No, I'm certain. Your Dark Force affinity is very, very high."
Leonel didn't even know what to say. If it was anything else speaking these words, he would have directly ignored them. He was too confident in his own deduction abilities to listen to the deductions of someone else not named Velasco Morales. He didn't even normally like to explain himself, so he very clearly didn't care for the input of others.
But Aina was different. Even if he didn't agree with what she was saying, Leonel also didn't believe that she was a fool. In fact, in many aspects, she was sharper than even him due to her instinctive way of doing things. There were many things it was quite safe to rely on her for.
"I sensed it myself, I just had a lot of your blood. Not only did it make my Abyssal Panther bloodline grow stronger, it raised my own Dark Force affinity by several levels. But even then, I'm pretty sure that it's still far weaker than yours."
Leonel blinked. He trusted Aina and he had never seen a single instance where her objective instincts were wrong. If they could be used to concoct complex Force Pills, analyzing something as simple as what level an affinity was at was even easier.
'Did my Dark Force affinity increase because I formed two Void Star Force Stars? It's possible that the synergy between that and my Divine Armor had a stacked effect, but…'
Leonel's brows furrowed. He really didn't feel like this was correct at all, there was definitely something wrong here.
Leonel took a breath and shook his head.
"Alright, let's say that you're correct. Why do you want me to start training in this right now? What's the connection?"
"Ah, right. That's because the reason my strength experienced such an explosive return isn't just because I drank your blood, it's more so about the synergy.
"I can feel the faint Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor within me right now resonating with my Abyssal Panther bloodline. Instead of antagonizing each other, they seem to be almost fusing and strengthening as one.
"If I'm correct, this Lineage Factor has a Light Star Force and Dark Star Force side for a reason. They were likely always meant to be put together, so much so that even when the Light Star Force meets a normal Dark Force Lineage Factor like my own, it still experiences the same large boost."
Leonel's eyes widened, Aina's words only now truly getting to him.
The Abyssal Panther bloodline could be considered half a Lineage Factor that Aina had gained thanks to a Zone of Terrain. It was only a Fifth Dimensional creature, so the strength she got out of it by this point was quite minuscule. In fact, Leonel was always telling her that she was wasting away her ability to absorb bloodlines by limiting herself like this.
Truthfully, if Aina took her Blood Sovereign abilities more seriously instead of always running away from them, she'd be hundreds of times stronger than she was right now.
The fact that synergy with a mere Abyssal Panther bloodline and part of his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor had actually allowed Aina's power to increase so explosively…
Leonel wasn't even quite sure what to say.
He stared at the bronze tablet for a very long time. It seemed that this really was the best choice to make.
With the pace the event was moving at in this Sector, it seemed that it would take much longer to complete than the others had. If he didn't take advantage of this, he would be wasting a potential chance.
Leonel looked at the tablet and exhaled a breath.
"Alright… I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'll try. If I feel like I'm getting stonewalled, then I'll just stop. Don't let me meditate for too long."
Leonel sat down and enveloped the tablet with his Starry Spirit Domain.