A CHILD
No one expected Leonel to begin the proceedings so abruptly, least of all Clarence. But at the end of the day, he realized that being subservient at this point would do them no good. It would only kill their own momentum for little to no reason. The more mysterious and all-knowing Leonel seemed, the more they would benefit.
He could already sense the shift in the gazes of the participants, some of them even sporting frowns. Seeds of caution sprouted in their hearts as they all vanished.
...
Void Dream Pavilion.
A man with skin that looked like reflective glass, displaying the stars and galaxies within, slowly opened his eyes.
He didn't seem enraged, but the expression of such a Race was hard to read to begin with. If one really wanted to know, all they had to gaze upon were the rising number of supernovas dotted across his body.
But soon, even those calmed.
According to the rules, Dream Pavilions in the top ten had special privileges, one of them being replacing a willing party in a Challenge event. He had chosen to take action on this matter.
He wasn't the only one to think of it, but he was the fastest to react. The time Leonel left them was indeed too small to affect the situation on any sort of wide scale.
He wanted to call Shan'Rae here, but unfortunately, he couldn't just casually do so. She was a junior, but she wasn't a junior he could order around as he pleased. Her status was too high, but his status wasn't anything to sneeze at either even though Dream Force wasn't a strong suit of the Void Race.
Even so, it could be said that the only reason they had a Dream Pavilion in the top ten was that it was a matter of status. So long as they existed, it would be fine and even ignorable. If they didn't, it would be a matter of humiliation.
This was the power of the God Races. Even when they weren't suited to a Force, they would still have experts related to it, even if those experts weren't taken the most seriously.
In the end, the Void Dream Pavilion Head did nothing. This would expose a matter of great humiliation and he shouldn't be worried about a minor character like Leonel anyway.
The Life Tablet would be of interest to the Void Race, but only insofar as they didn't want to have to deal with it falling into the hands of a God Race that could actually manage to use it. The fact that it was in Leonel's hands now was a bit of a problem, but that was only because they felt it could be taken away by someone else at any time.
'The Owlan Race should take victory in this matter. They have been making small moves all the while, but they're trying to be subtle about it. If not for this, they would have come back to the top 100 long ago.
'It's likely that they're worried about the shadow of the Minerva Race weighing them down, so they're choosing to lay low for now.
'However, the Life Tablet is too great an enticement for them. If they can get it, they will confidently rise again and they might make an attempt to become a new God Race and wash away their Demi-God status.'
After analyzing the situation, the Void Pavilion Head felt much calmer. A new fish in a large ocean wouldn't really move the needle for the Void Race. In fact, the more variables, and the more diluted the resources, the better.
That way, replacing the Pluto Race as the true Emperors of Existence wouldn't be far away.
Even so, that Leonel Morales had better not appear before him. Or else he would teach that child that there were things worse than death.
...
Leonel's gaze cleared, and he found a world that felt like a copy and paste of the Vast Dream Pavilion... but far larger and lacking the temples.
In place of the temples, there were instead mountains of crystal, exuding rainbow-like colors of a wide range, not too dissimilar from the Life Tablet in his mind. In fact, it even felt like they were carved of the same material. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
'Hm?'
Leonel immediately leapt back.
His body, right now, was shrouded in a willowy cloak of white and gold fog, his previous clothing having seemingly covered up. Above his head, there was a crown that hovered about three inches from his scalp, releasing the same foggy energy.
Beneath this cloak and crown, the clothes he remembered wearing were underneath, but even they felt slightly ethereal. The feeling was odd, almost as though he was controlling his soul to move around in his head instead of controlling his body directly.
As for why he had leapt back, it was because a willowy wisp of a creature had suddenly attacked.
It was exuding similar foggy colors, but much more muted. It took the form of a small little fox of barely three quarters of a meter tall, three tails waving around to its back.
'Starry Tailed Fox? A child?'
Yip!
The Starry Tailed fox attacked again, this time even swifter and faster. Leonel felt a suppression around him. This creature might be small, but much like the God Races, the power it exuded was incredible despite its youth. It didn't even make sense to check for its Dimension; what made the most sense was checking for its threat level.
And that was high.
However, it was greatly restrained here as well. Its main Force was Dream Force and Dream Force alone. The golden lights it was giving off were nothing more than a mirage.
'Down,' Leonel thought, and a wave of Dream Force manifested like any other. The world was twisted and controlled, bending to his might and slamming the little fox to the ground as though a gravity domain had just been activated.
Leonel reached forward and picked it up by one of its tails.