DROPLETS

"Anastasia, lead to the node nearest second nearest from the walls."

"There are several that are equidistant."

"Show me the landscape around them."

Leonel's mind began to be flooded with images.

"Alright, show me the path to the second one."

After some thought, Leonel picked and then slipped into the shadows once again.

He knew quite well that being near any formation nodes right now was highly dangerous. But so long as he picked his spot well, it would be a simple matter for him to hide, in his opinion. As the saying went, the safest place was often the most dangerous place.

Plus, he didn't particularly have a choice. He had to study the nodes one way or another, and without proper comprehension of the path of Crafting, there were some details that he would need to see that Anastasia might miss. After all, it had to be remembered that Anastasia was doing her best to scan the region while also hiding her scan from the Ninth Dimensional experts. Although she could do so, there would inevitably be some gaps caused as a result.

As Leonel moved, he could already sense the shift in the atmosphere. Like he had thought previously, it was war time. The Godlens already had several guards on high alert, and it was child's play to activate them for a situation like this one. The Godlens didn't need to create a net to surround him because the net already existed.

Luckily, the scope of their territory was so large that it was likewise easier for Leonel to hide. But after three close calls in a row, he realized that it might not be so easy to continue doing so.

While Little Blackstar could bring him into the Shadow World with much greater ease now, that didn't mean he could do so indefinitely. Leonel could sense that the little guy would reach his limit in another few hours. It could be said that the only reason he had lasted so long was that Leonel was just in the Third Dimension; any stronger, and he would at best be able to help for a handful of minutes.

'At least there's some benefit to being weak,' Leonel thought to himself.

Though he thought this, there was a fire burning in Leonel's gut.

Everything always came easy to him, and he never really had a burning desire to get stronger. Sure, he had a vague goal in his mind, but that grit and fiery determination one might have when they came from the bottom wasn't something he ever really resonated with.

But the more things happened to him, the more people he lost, the more these strong overlords stepped on his head and pressed him down, the more he felt like the first time he met King Arthur...

In the past, Leonel had never cared much about kneeling. It was in the culture of the Ascension Empire to do so, and it was only natural considering they had just a single Emperor. There would, of course, be days where they would give Emperor Gervaise Fawkes his due respect.

However, something shifted in him when he kneeled before Arthur. He could feel that the King was using it as some sort of power play, even to the point of expecting Leonel to continue kneeling even long after the natural time had passed.

That boiling sort of distaste appeared within him, and that same thing was happening now... just on a much larger scale.

He lost his father. He lost his woman. He lost his brothers again and again. His family was all but destroyed and ruthlessly humiliated. The Cult saw him as a useful puppet. The Godlens saw him as a valuable lab rat.

He had never felt such clear rage before.

It wasn't a rage tainted by his Scarlet Star Force; it was true rage, true fury, a true anger that came purely from Leonel Morales the man...

And it smoldered within him. © content.

With another step, he entered the range of his destination, and he slipped into a building.

This building looked reminiscent of an apartment building of Earth from the 21st Century. Leonel was starting to realize that much of the things that shaped the Ascension Empire came from these human powers. But that made sense; after all, it was under the control of his grandfather who likewise came from these places. It was natural that there would be some or even a ton of overlap.

Another matter that was reminiscent was the fact that this building was entirely devoid of citizens. While it looked like a normal apartment building from the outside, this was just a front.

This was a common matter on olden Earth as well. Often, these fronts would be centers for power line companies or things of the like to provide their services without ruining the ambiance of the residential area.

In this case, this building was a facade that hid the winding underground tunnels that connected the nexuses of the large-scale formation.

The empty halls of the apartment building were patrolled, but most casually. It was more heavily guarded near the actual entrance of the tunnels themselves.

In the Shadow World, it was a simple matter for Leonel to leap into an apartment he chose at random and slip into a closet.

"Rest up, Blackstar. I don't need you for now."

Leonel took a breath and appeared back in the real world. It wasn't exactly safe to allow Blackstar to take a rest now, but it was about the best chance he was going to get.

After taking a breath, he reached down with his Internal Sight, using his Dream Sovereignty to once again mask his own presence.

According to Anastasia, there was at least one Ninth Dimensional expert overseeing each nexus node, making it difficult on him. But none of them were Dream Force experts and this matter was still firmly under his control.

"Leonel, it's as you feared. They managed to find a few droplets of your blood."

Leonel cursed under his breath.