"Yip! Yip!"
Leonel felt as though a boulder had slammed into his chest. He had barely stepped into the region when a familiar blur of black assaulted him.
He fell to the ground, his face suffered an attack from a wet mass of pink. However, what should have been a soft tongue made Leonel feel as though layers of his face were coming off piece by piece.
Leonel laughed. Little Blackstar had never licked him like this before. It seemed he had left the little guy alone for too long, only to come back and find that the little mink had become a dog instead.
Leonel peeled Blackstar away from himself, holding the little mink up. He couldn't help but be surprised by what he saw.
Little Blackstar had moved so fast previously that he hadn't gotten a good look, but the little mink had gone from fun sized to massive. The Blackstar Leonel knew was barely over a foot long, but this Blackstar was easily three feet long and three times as thick as well. Though the not as little guy could still easily rest on his shoulders as usual, he was much larger than before.
Leonel could even see a hint of maturity behind the little one's eyes, something that made him sigh. Little Blackstar was just a baby when Leonel met him, but now he was grown.
Actually, if Leonel thought about it, Little Blackstar was only about as old now as he himself was.
Of course, it didn't make much sense to look at things like that. After all, the lifespan of Third Dimensional minks versus Third Dimensional humans was easily a ten times difference.
But luckily, Little Blackstar was now well into the Sixth Dimension. In fact, it probably wouldn't be all that long before the little one entered the Seventh. Lifespan at this level wasn't really much of a worry. In fact, for beasts, they tended to outlive humans because their bodies carried much more strength and vitality.
Leonel grinned.
He was honestly a bit worried. After 20 years, who knew what could have happened. Luckily, Blackstar still treated him just the same.
Suddenly, Little Blackstar vanished from Leonel's hands. Before Leonel could be confused, he heard some laughter coming from his back and realized that Blackstar had actually abandoned him in search of brighter, greener, and definitely much softer pastures.
Leonel rose to his feet with a smile to see Blackstar snuggling with Aina.
In truth, the relationship between the two had been quite estranged. During the matters of a year ago, Blackstar had obviously stayed with Leonel. It seemed, though, that the senses of his partner were quite sharp since he flipped a switch so easily.
"You didn't bully Blackstar, did you?" Leonel looked toward Wise Star Order.
Currently, the group was still within the large forest. It was so vast that Leonel still couldn't quite wrap his head around what he was seeing. But while it was vast, it was also quite empty. The Segmented Cube might have nearly become a sustainable world of its own, but it didn't have the ecosystem to match it.
Even the trees and vegetation were very simple. They couldn't be considered to be high class Force Herbs and were, at best, just some plants with longer lifespans and stronger bodies than normal.
"Bully? You should thank me. Whether it's the little mink, or those other two kiddos, I definitely treated them well."
Leonel suddenly frowned. This was actually something that he was worried about. Wise Star Order couldn't harm him now, but that didn't mean Candle and Vice couldn't. Those two Savants have been given two decades to grow… Just how powerful had they grown?
Seeing Leonel's expression, Wise Star Order sneered as though he couldn't wait for something. But, the little girl, or rather, Anastasia, as she wanted Leonel to remember, didn't let him have his fun for long.
"Don't worry about this one, he's just blowing his own trumpet. He only helped because there was nothing better to do in this place. For someone who's lived so long, he completely lacks patience. All he's good at are little tricks, but he's too stupid to make them any good."
Leonel rolled his lips over themselves when he heard this. It took everything he had not to burst out in laughter, but the amusement in his eyes was all too clear to Wise Star Order.
"To think that the mighty Wise Star Order would have such a day too."
Wise Star Order glared at Leonel. "Just because she looks like a little girl doesn't mean she is one. She's an old mon—"
Wise Star Order quickly cleared his throat, feeling a glare that could ruin him.
The truth was that during the event that caused the Segmented Cube to dislodge from its original coordinates and separate from its vessel, Wise Star Order had almost died. As for the reasons why, they had little to do with the Segmented Cube itself and everything to do with that event.
His life was going to be snuffed out, but Anastasia felt that he was more useful alive and actually tethered his existence to the Segmented Cube. That action actually led to the pendant that Leonel had becoming useless and that was the reason why Leonel couldn't make any use of it.
Unfortunately, this also meant that Anastasia had absolute control over him and his life and death was at the whims of this little girl.
Knowing this, it was no wonder he was so obedient. But his hatred of Leonel had increased manifold. It was just too bad that he couldn't do anything about it.
For some reason, though, neither Anastasia nor Wise Star Order seemed to have any intention of telling Leonel about these matters. So, when asked…
"What exactly happened that caused the Segmented Cube to separate from its vessel? I only woke up from a coma one day and you were all gone."
"Don't ask for the answers to questions you can't know the answers to."
The harsh reality is that telling Leonel the truth wouldn't be too much of an issue… if he was a normal person. However, Leonel was simply too intelligent, even the most benign of clues might lead to a disaster. Anastasia wouldn't allow this to happen.All content is property © .