: LITTLEST NOVA

The Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was the most straight forward. It too caused a change down to the cellular level, but it was in Leonel's blood.

Usually, blood was formed of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells and finally platelets. Leonel's blood, though, had all sorts of extra oddities in it, one of which had the signature of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. Since Leonel didn't know what one would call it, he just called them owl cells.

This nameless cell was what Leonel believed gave him the innate affinity toward Snow Force and there were about 50 trillion of them in Leonel's blood. And, each one of these owl cells had a special organelle within them that Leonel felt was very reminiscent of mitochondria.

According to a theory from 21st century Earth, the mitochondria was formerly a bacteria absorbed by a larger eukaryotic cell. The result were the two existences gaining a co-dependent relationship and continuing their evolution together. Eventually, humans evolved from these 'ancestors' and the mitochondria is now boiled down to being the 'powerhouse of the cell'.

Obviously, Leonel's body wasn't exactly like those humans of old. After all, his Lineage was technically a quarter from Earth with the rest originating from higher Dimensional worlds. The result was the insides of Leonel's body being far different from what he had learned from school, and yet surprisingly similar at the same time.

This aside, his mitochondria were likely among the greatest changes as they had no business being in a human. In fact, if Leonel had to hazard a guess, these mitochondria were likely identical to what he might find in a Snowy Star Owl.

Of course, Leonel wasn't certain it was appropriate to call this organelle a mitochondria. But, after just some observation, it was indeed responsible for allowing his conversion of Light Elemental Force into Snow Force.

Obviously, trying to change each one of these owl cells would be foolish. If Leonel wanted to change how they worked, he would need to change the source. He would have to look into his bones.

The more Leonel thought about it, the more lost he became in his own world. He felt like everything was in the palm of his hands, but he was also keenly aware of how foolish it would be to believe that things would be so simple.

How many things in history sounded good in theory but were actually extraordinary mountains to climb?

Leonel didn't have Aina's ability, he couldn't rely on feel. He had to comprehend everything from the ground up. He had no choice but to take things one step at a time.

At the same time, though, Leonel felt that he had opened a gate… one it just might be possible for him to walk through.

Leonel thought of the silver tablet. If it was possible to have a treasure that could resurrect people in this world, he didn't believe that he couldn't break down something even less fundamental than life itself into its nuts and bolts as well.

Leonel took a deep breath. He had to push these matters aside for now. He wasn't quite informed enough to even attempt to do any of this. He would first need more information.

In the meantime, it was about time he entered the next stage of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

…

"Hm? There's movement."

In a familiar world with incense sticks as tall as mountains looming in the distance, a group of elders were alerted to movement on the family tomes. In their old age, without much hope for further advancement, some of their best entertainment came from watching these advancements take place.

With the billions of Morales family members there were depicted here, there was almost always something going on. It was just that most of the time it was uninteresting so most movement ended up being ignored. After all, who cared much about someone past their prime making a breakthrough they should have made years earlier?

"Oh! It's a good one!"

It didn't take long for the elders to realize that the movement had come from the Nova Generation, causing some of them to perk up.

If there were two movements that were the most entertaining to watch, it would be the oldest generation tablets and the newest generation. For the oldest generation, movement near the top of the tablet would lead to worldwide commotion. For the newest generation, the Nova Generation, movement from anywhere was worth a look.

It had to be remembered that names were ranked in terms of birthdate before the Heir Wars. Only after the Heir Wars would they be ranked based on potential and strength.

It wasn't long before many gazes focused on the name at the very bottom of the tome.

"Oh? It's the Littlest Nova again? It's been how long… three years? A bit over that? To take that long to go from the First Gate toward opening the Second is a bit slow…"

The elders all nodded. The Third and Fourth Dimensions were practically speed runs for talented youths. At the fastest, some would only take a few months at most. Things only began to slow down in the Fifth Dimension and became especially slow after stepping into the Sixth.

With how much drama there had been around Leonel's first breakthrough, for him to take so long was a bit disappointing, indeed. But, since he was one of the Heir candidates, they didn't turn their attention away.

"It can't be helped. How could his resources compare to the others?"

"Humph, that stubborn brat stole the Heirlooms for himself, what more resources could they need?"

Clearly, this 'brat' they referred to was no longer Leonel. And, it was a fair point, indeed. Of course, they had no idea that Leonel was basically flying blind. Plus, he was in worlds with not nearly the same Force density, not to mention the fact he had waited to get the latter portions of [Dimensional Cleanse].

"How long do you think it'll take? You think he will open all Nine Doors this time too?"

"That's a tough ask, don't you think? It already took three years to get to this point. Plus, opening up the Seventh is pretty good for a first attempt at the Second Gate."

Of course, for an elder to say 'pretty good', this essentially meant elite amongst elite. Only such a level was worthy of a 'pretty good' evaluation.

"Hm…? That aura…?"

"What is it, Mila?" Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

"That's the Fifth Dimension of [Dimensional Cleanse], I'm certain. I didn't say anything the first time because everyone has the Third Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] and it could be considered an excellent foundational technique… but this…"

The elders blinked. Not many of them used [Dimensional Cleanse]. In fact, Mila was among the very few that did. It required a deep familiarity to pick out something like that from the mere aura of a shining name.

But, what this observation meant was even deeper than just that…

The elders looked toward one another, their eyes sparkling.

"WHAT?!"

The elders were startled awake by a shout, their heads snapping in a particular direction.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you gone senile?!"

The elder in question didn't say a single word. Instead, he extended a wrinkled finger toward the Nova Generation tablet.