Chapter 23: Leonels Body (1/2)

After giving Leonel this information, Aina, to the shock of Leonel, gently softened the wrinkles in the animal fur and laid on her side with her back facing him. She cradled the long arm of her ax in her bosom, the soft sounds of her steady breathing soon following.

Leonel blinked for a moment. With will power he didn't know he had, he forced himself to look away from the elegant curve of her back and…

'Focus, focus… You have a lot of work to do.'

Leonel had spent all his life avoiding women. In middle school, he simply wasn't interested in them aside from the usual teasing a boy might have for the opposite sex at that age. And, when it came to high school and he finally realized that girls were more interesting than he thought, he caught sight of Aina. No… It was more accurate to say that she was the reason he found women were worth looking at.

With how popular Leonel had been as a Five-Star Professional, the women who wanted him could form a line that wrapped around Earth. But his father's two mantras had always been respect and persistence. If he wanted to respect Aina, even if they weren't a couple, he had to at least do the bare minimum.

Like this, Leonel, who had a friend like James who had probably lost count of the number of women he had been with, was a green virgin. Something like being in a tent barely four meters in every direction with the only woman who stirred his heart was too much stimulation for him to handle.

To clear his mind, Leonel began to subconsciously circulate [Dimensional Cleanse]. Without having to worry about Invalids, he unleashed his talent completely. Those who could only be considered normal humans felt a comfortable and warm, yet strong wind picking up.

The flaps of open tents whipped back and forth. The horses, in their makeshift stables, neighed, hot air billowing from their nostrils. It almost seemed like a gentle summer's day despite the fact they were deep into fall and quickly approaching winter.

As for those who weren't normal…

Aina's eyes flashed open, an unconcealed shock hidden within. But she didn't turn back. Instead, she closed her eyes once more, feeling comforted. A light smile Leonel couldn't see played her delicate features.

'The energy density in this place is severely lacking compared to the current Earth… Is that the difference between a world that's begun its evolution and one that hasn't?'

Despite the low energy density, Leonel's speed was still much faster than it had been when he was constantly worrying about Invalids. In fact, he felt that it was faster than it should have been.

'My speed increased more than it should. That's probably related to my increase in spirit?'

Eventually, Leonel's mind slipped away. By the time he awoke again, the sun had set and risen.

[Leonel Morales]

[Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.85 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.87 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.12]

Leonel's spirit had risen once more, this time by 0.1. He couldn't help but smile to himself. Before, three days had netted him some small improvement due to his forceful slowing of his own progress. But, now that he had unleashed his full potential, he gained such a large amount in a little over 12 hours. He was immensely satisfied.

By now, Aina had awoken. Her back still faced to him, she was meditating as well. It seemed that she wasn't able to meditate and sleep like Leonel could. In addition, whatever technique it was that she was practicing, it relied entirely on the goings on of her own body. There was no energy entering her from the outside at all.

Leonel noticed a tray of food in front of him and nodded a thanks Aina couldn't see. It wasn't nearly enough food for him, but he couldn't expect an encampment of a thousand men to have too much to spare.

After wolfing down the porridge and sausage, Leonel set the tray aside, thinking of going hunting for his own food as he had in the Mayan temple. However, not wanting to leave Aina alone, he thought against it.

'It's rare that I have time to calm myself and think. It's already been four days since I received those two booklets, yet I've yet to even open them.'

If Montez heard Leonel's thoughts, he would go numb from shock.

If Leonel had never opened the technique booklets, how was it that he had used both [Dimensional Cleanse] and [Call of the Wind]?!

Unfortunately for Uncle Montez's sanity, Leonel's answer would be the same shrug he used after he chose [Dimensional Cleanse] over the other four Tier 9 Black techniques.

When Leonel laid hands on the booklets, the things he could already sense with his eyes were magnified several times over. He got an instinctual feel for the existence of the technique without even opening its cover. That first night he spent with his friends after coming back, he found that he could simply use them with ease.

When Leonel realized this, he refrained from reading through the techniques. He felt that in such a dangerous environment, since he could already use them without issue, there was no point in risking anything now to read them. After all, he couldn't meditate and rest if he had to read.

Finally, Leonel pulled out [Dimensional Cleanse] and flipped open to the first page. The first thing he saw was a summary of the technique.

'Dimensional Cleanse. This technique attunes the body to the shift in Dimensions, using Fourth Grade Force to wash Third Dimensional Constitutions and bring them closer to Perfection.'

'Fourth Grade Force? Is that what it's called?'

Leonel realized immediately how important this booklet was. He didn't have enough fundamental knowledge about his quickly changing world. The more he knew, the better system he could build in his mind. Then, there'd be less variables to contend with.

'But this 'perfection', what is it that they mean by that?' Leonel kept reading.