GODLEN CODEX
Leonel stood in silence. Material © .
The concept was quite simple. Target a technique with a vibe that matched with your path, then attack it. Once you attacked it, so long as your attack met a certain standard, the technique would break open and the contents would be given to you to rent for a time.
This was far more annoying than what Leonel was expecting. He hoped that he could just pick up and scoop everything into a bag and make out like a bandit. But since when were things in his life ever so simple?
He sighed. Maybe he should just try and find some techniques that were actually compatible with him. If he released Blackstar and Aina as well, maybe they would be strong enough to steal some techniques that would make the Godlens feel the burn.
Leonel shook his head. Not good enough.
"Leonel, Noah was just brought out of his room. I'm a bit worried about what's happening."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, but that Head Researcher looks stressed about something and like she's in a rush. Amery was brought out as well, it feels like they're doing something big."
Leonel fell into silence and looked toward the vault door behind him. He cursed under his breath. No matter what, he wouldn't be able to leave this place until that elder opened the doors again unless he was willing to be exposed.
He couldn't interact with the world while he was in the Shadow World, that was why things phased through Little Blackstar when he entered this state. So, he obviously couldn't open the door and hide at the same time. But he could slip out of the door mostly undetected if it was opened for him.
Now, however...
Leonel's frown deepened.
He had been waiting for Noah to be taken out of his room because he had a feeling that he had been too reckless the first time he entered it. But now he was in a bit of a predicament.
As strong as Eduardo was, that old man would definitely make him look like a child. There was no way Leonel could escape if he exposed himself like this, and there were no air ducts here to take advantage of.
Trouble came knocking on his door again.
What Leonel didn't know was that Liana was taking Noah and Amery out at this time because of him, or more accurately, because of Vivak's slip of the tongue. This was part of her preparation to dissect his corpse.
"Is there anything you can do?" Leonel asked.
"Nothing," Anastasia replied with a frown. "Nothing that wouldn't make it obvious there was another expert in their midst. You're barely skating by when they don't know they should be looking for you, if they were aware you would be finished. The only reason I didn't stop you from coming here was that I could tell you were frustrated, and Vivak does indeed have a method to look into Noah's room."
Leonel's gaze flashed. It was as he thought.
"You have 17 minutes," Anastasia suddenly said. "You're going to have to figure something out. From what it looks like, they might attempt what failed on you on Noah instead."
Leonel's gaze flashed with a suffocating coldness. Vital Star Force had taken the edge off of his temper, but these human powers were slowly chipping away at that again. He was finding it very hard to not spin out into a rage again.
17 minutes. He didn't ask Anastasia how she came up with the number, but he trusted it.
Somehow, he had to get out of here in that time, but there was still more than 50 minutes until the doors would open.
The more pressure there was, the calmer Leonel seemed to become. The calmer he became, the more tranquil his gaze was.
At that moment, his hair and eyes began to give off a silvery starlight. When he inhaled, the air moved and when he exhaled, a foggy breath would come with it, sparkling with more silvery stars as though the air was frigid.
'I got it.'
Leonel pulled out the silver tablet and approached the first technique.
If these floating orbs were just normal balls of Force, then it wouldn't be able to read and react to the proper style of combat. How could it know the difference between a fist attack, or a spear attack, or a sword attack?
Clearly, they weren't just balls of energy, they were complex, interconnected networks of Force Arts.
Leonel didn't have the time to sit here and analyze every single one, but he had a cheat code now.
The Silver Tablet analyzed and absorbed the essence of each Force Art.
'I was right...'
In order for these Force Arts to have such character, they had to be left behind by an expert. Only someone familiar with the technique and understood its core could put up a proper barrier test for it.
In doing so, the Force Art would have some spirit of its own, almost like a soul. And because of that, the Silver Tablet could latch onto it, analyzing it like it did Ability Indexes and Lineage Factors.
The actual Force Art didn't need to come from a living being, so long as there was some small connection of Dream Force that Leonel, or the tablet, could pull on.
Leonel's gaze flashed like lightning as he memorized every one of the Force Arts. It was as though he was staring at a series of locks and he just needed to pick them.
He grabbed the first Force Art, then grabbed a fist-related Force Art off the shelves. He shed the fist Force Art of much of its properties, leaving behind a tiny sliver that was barely a fraction the size of the lock it was trying to unseal.
Leonel slammed it into the lock Force Art, and as expected, it crumbled at the slightest touch.
Leonel pulled his mind out of the Silver Tablet and flung the small Force Art toward the technique and it shattered into a rain of motes of light.
His speed was fast. He repeated this action again and again and again. Even as the locks became progressively more difficult, he seemed to only become faster, as though he was improving even faster than his mind and hands were moving.
Suddenly, only the last few remained.
Leonel swung out a hand and they were all shattered at the same time.
The entire Godlen compound was lit on fire.
This was a momentous occasion. Someone had unsealed one of the Godlen Codex techniques after so long. No, someone had actually unsealed all three of them!
A fire was lit in their souls.