BAD TASTE

Leonel opened his eyes slowly and exhaled. His strength hadn't improved in a tangible way, as he was still in Tier 1. But if one was to say that his power was the same, they would be sorely mistaken. In fact, he felt that staying at Tier 1 was the far better decision as well. If he could, he might even choose to return to the Sixth Dimension. He had been too hasty in progressing.

The more powerful you were in terms of Tiers, the more difficult the hurdle to clear was if you wanted to improve your Forces. Leonel could also feel that within [Dimensional Cleanse], the best state for him to improve his body the most would have been in the Sixth Dimension as well. While he could still feel large progress in the Seventh, he felt that he would have gained even more had he been weaker.

There was no use in regretting it, but it was something that he kept in mind for the future. It would be a harder path, but he could still reach the end.

He also couldn't help but note that the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] hadn't given him the Eighth Dimension Layer or the Ninth Dimensional Layer. The meaning behind this was obvious; he wanted Leonel to deduce the rest just like he had the first several layers. It would benefit him far more to do this.

Leonel stood to his feet. To his surprise, Little Tolly reacted, squirming up his arm and spreading across his hand, wrist, and up his shoulder and even part of his chest. He coated Leonel like a sleeve, turning his left arm into a gorgeous pattern of silver and white gold.

A slight smile spread across Leonel's face. He could feel that the little guy was trying to say sorry; it seemed that it was still forming more and more complex thoughts. He felt like a parent watching his little toddler grow up.

After a while, his expression grew more serious and his gaze became cold. He could feel the Forces singing around him, so he also knew that this world was going to collapse soon. The unfortunate part was that he didn't know how to go back.

He had to actively enter this space by clearing the puzzle, but when you were sent out, it was automatic. There obviously wasn't the same clear process. He had to figure something else out.

Suddenly, he felt movement from Little Tolly. The little guy was just messing around, feeling happy that Leonel didn't blame it. But the movement and the strong connection between the two of them made Leonel suddenly realize something.

'I'm thinking faster, but my Dream Force didn't increase. The only explanation...'

Little Tolly was acting like something akin to an Innate Node, but this time for his Dream Force.

Leonel's eyes widened, and he suddenly remembered something. That was right, one of the paths for Metal Spirits was related to Crafting Stamina and helping their partner to be able to craft for longer periods of time.

But this felt like it was beyond that. Leonel subconsciously felt that it wasn't just Crafting stamina that Little Tolly could help with, but there was a noted improvement to all of his Forces. Though not as exaggerated as improving an entire stage, this was surprising.

Leonel knew that helping Little Tolly breakthrough like this would give him access to all of the Spirits' Paths, but what he didn't expect was that the power would be so immediate.

Taking this path was supposed to be like making your Metal Spirit a jack of all, and master of none. But for Leonel to be able to feel this change so intimately, it felt more like... Little Tolly was already a master of all.

'It could only be that beast, that's the only explanation.'

Leonel shook his head. He had to think about this less and more about how to survive. From .

The obvious answer was to reverse the chemical structure he had used to get here, but that was stupid. He knew it was, so he didn't even try it. He didn't even know what "reverse" would mean in this context. What surface would he use to reverse the chemical structure? Up and down? Left right? Across all planes? He didn't even know.

The truth was that returning would likely have its own unique chemical structure, one that he wasn't strong enough to even begin deducing. There had to be something else.

Leonel's gaze flickered again and again. How to return home, how to return...

Suddenly, Leonel's left arm raised into the air on its own and tapped. Little Tolly did a small happy dance in him mind as though it had done something great, and Leonel's brows raised.

'Well... Even if he leads me into the middle of a blackhole, I might be able to live a few more seconds.'

Leonel jumped into the portal, but to his astonishment, he stood right where he had left, right beside El'Rion, and the latter even seemed to still be talking.

"-I'm not sure why you did that; quartz has an interesting structure, yes, but it's ultimately still a Third Dimensional material without any Force to speak of. It's only useful here because the target is Earth itsel..."

El'Rion trailed off, looking at Leonel for the first time since he began his "payback." He could feel just how different Leonel was, and when he looked at the silvery white gold sleeve on his left arm, his pupils constricted.

From his words, it was clear that El'Rion was most definitely not a Crafter. But he was still a Pluto. He knew the aura of an Infinity Beast when he saw it.

No, it was more accurate to say that those of his family line would. Even weaker Pluto, though still far beyond the human race, wouldn't recognize what they were seeing. That was because the Infinity Beast... was the rarest creature in all of existence.

But how did Leonel change in the blink of an eye? And that quartz crystal... Wasn't it just in his hand; where had it gone?

"You..."

Leonel gave the boy a glance. At this point, that was all he could be bothered to see him as.

"Your Pluto Race is quite strong, right? Then you should probably be able to understand what's supposed to happen in this Zone. How about you tell me?"

El'Rion's brows shot up. He almost subconsciously answered as though he owed Leonel a response. This sort of feeling shouldn't come from a human. And why did him saying the Pluto Race was powerful leave such a... bad taste in his mouth?

"Of course, you could not tell me. But then I'd make repaying this favor of yours impossible," Leonel said with a bright smile. "How embarrassing would it be if the mighty Pluto Race couldn't repay their benefactors?"

El'Rion's expression darkened.