A MOMENT OF REST
Leonel met the gaze of the old woman and didn't even flinch.
"Just a moment of rest," he said with a peaceful smile. "I will be back to it very soon, I apologize for the inconvenience, my body isn't as strong as I would like it to be."
"Oh? I think that it's actually very strong. I've never seen someone in the Fifth Dimension as strong as you are."
Mo''Lexi didn't hold back her praise in the slightest, and if Leonel didn't know better, he would have thought that she truly cared quite a bit for him. It was just a shame that what she was more excited about was locking him in a Zone and ensuring whatever secrets were on his body were immortalized for the Cult's future use.
Whether he died now, or died later, it didn't really matter much, now did it? The most important thing to her was that Leonel would be in her palms.
The more she observed this boy, the more she felt that she had won out even though she didn't get to personally select anyone else.
"Where's the little girl?" Mo''Lexi asked, seemingly only now realizing that Aina wasn't present.
"She's doing her own work," Leonel said with a bright gaze as though a boy madly in love.
Mo''Lexi shook her head and sighed. "I would keep that treasure of yours capable of storing life as secretively as you can. The fact that it can work in a Complete World like this one is quite the shock."
Leonel's eyes widened in shock as though he was surprised that Mo''Lexi knew.
"Haha, little boy, not much you can do can escape my sights. Be a little more careful in the future."
Mo''Lexi vanished again, and Leonel hurried to stand with an embarrassed expression on his face. His acting, given his Control Ability Index, was entirely unmatched. There wasn't a single aspect of his expressions that he couldn't control with perfect ease.
He continued to go about his work as though he couldn't feel Mo''Lexi's gaze on him at all.
...
'Hm? What was that? Did I imagine it?' Mo''Lexi mumbled to herself.
She had felt Leonel's Dream Force quite clearly before. In her opinion, he had managed to break into the Impetus State after hearing her true name, and that was the reason his emotions became a bit fussier to her.
As expected, after she began to focus a bit more on him, there was no aspect of himself that he could hide from her. She could read him like an open book.
But just now, she felt a flash in the Dream Plane and it caught her off guard. She had been on edge these last few days and completely focused on making sure everything went perfectly.
However, those demons... Their ability to use the Dream Plane was far beyond her own and it made many things tricky. It also didn't help that they were also relying on ticking time bombs like the Variant Invalids to get things done. It was a nightmare through and through.
'It must have been the demons again. Are they investigating what we're doing to such a thorough extent? If they're able to penetrate our world already, their understanding of the seal has already deepened considerably. We need to hurry...'
Mo''Lexi's gaze flickered. It might be time to move up the timeline of events. But first, they would still need to stall a little bit more.
The truth was that even with the seal protecting the human worlds from the other Bubbles shattered, the seal was still having a hindering effect on the demons.
The combination of Anarchic Force and the trenches of the seal was muddying the teleportation pathways and making it difficult to secure a line to enter the human Bubbles.
However, with the demons investigating and doubling down on their efforts, and even succeeding in breaching her Dream Plane realm for a moment, she realized that there truly wasn't much time left.
This would decide the fate of humanity and she had no intention of becoming a slave for the rest of her life.
All the while, Mo''Lexi didn't even consider the fact that Leonel had entered the Dream Plane because even she could not enter the Dream Plane. Her Dream Force had yet to enter the Life State! Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
Her so-called Dream Plane realm was just a protective measure that most learned about as they moved up in the world, it made it difficult for others to breach their and their subordinates' minds and learn of their plans ahead of time.
Mo''Lexi had been able to cut off the connection before it solidified, but who said she would react fast enough next time? And what about the time after that?
There was simply no time to lose.
...
Leonel's gaze turned cold when he felt that Mo''Lexi had truly left.
He was conflicted and not sure of what to do.
If he really escaped, then what about the other humans of the Dimensional Verse? What about his cousin, if he was still alive?
He didn't have any love lost for many of these individuals, but the shift in his perspective made him hesitant to just abandon them all.
At the same time, he knew he wasn't strong enough. His mistake just now had hurried along Mo''Lexi, that he was certain of. Escaping would be easily ten times harder than it had been in the past.
'I need a plan...'
Leonel's mind churned, but he shut down everything he thought of. These plots would be good enough in the Incomplete World, but this was a completely different ball game. He would be playing with fire trying to outsmart everyone here.
He had to finally admit that he wasn't the smartest in the room anymore. There were plenty of people with the capability of outthinking him, whether that be due to experience or sheer Dream Force.
If he wanted this victory, he needed to think outside of the box...
Leonel grit his teeth, then his mind suddenly wandered to his Spear Domain Ring and his gaze narrowed.