Chapter 128: Unconditional Love (2/2)

He believed that Leonel's attempts were foolish and had even told the little brat as much, but Leonel obviously wasn't listening.

What he wasn't aware of, though, was that in his mind, Leonel was replaying his long battle with the old man over and over again. Then, he would replay his final demonstration of Blade Force before cycling it all back to the beginning again.

Leonel didn't believe it. Everything he had learned about Force was so logical up until now. Even the energy itself was rooted in concepts of quantum physics. He didn't believe that something like Blade or Spear Force suddenly became so arbitrary.

Unlike what the old man was thinking, Leonel didn't actually disregard his words. In fact, Leonel believed that the old man wasn't lying to him. Or, at the very least, he believed he wasn't lying. And, this thought alone was enough for Leonel.

What was it? What was it that a veteran like Old Hutch could confuse for such an arbitrary feeling? What could trick him to such an extent?

'Love… That wasn't what he was talking about… He meant unconditional love… That's the kind of feeling he has for his machete.'

It was a small difference in wording, but the moment Leonel had the thought, his eyes shone like two stars.

'Unconditional love… unconditional love… The root of unconditional love is unconditional trust, it's based in instinct. A mother or father loves their child simply because the baby is theirs. On the surface, it seems no more complicated than this. However, this 'instinct' is still rooted in logic. It's the will to see their offspring grow, to continue their bloodline, to not have their families come to an end by their hands… to continue to leave their mark on history…'

The light in Leonel's eyes grew brighter and brighter. At one point, they became like burning torches, the paleness of his eyes disappearing to give way to two flashing emerald gems that could light the night sky.

Leonel felt like he understood something.

What Old Hutch thought of as 'unconditional love' was just an unconscious reliance on his own talent for blade arts. He trusted his own talent to the point it could be described as instinctual, as a part of himself. This trust, this love, this unconditional love, and further, this unconditional trust, is what allowed him to comprehend Blade Force in such a poor environment.

Leonel, too, could rely on this unconditional love. If he fell back and stopped trying to find logical reasonings at every corner, he could have relied on his Lineage Factor to comprehend Spear Force no differently than Hutch relied on his talent. In fact, by now, Leonel's Spear Force could have long since surpassed Hutch's Blade Force by leaps and bounds. All he had to do was have that same unconditional trust in his own talent, to blindly follow it and allow it to lead the way...

But this wasn't the kind of person Leonel was. He didn't like the feeling of being led by the nose, even if it was his own bloodline. He liked to understand the root of things, to comprehend them to the point of making them his own.

By now, Leonel understood. The reason his Lineage Factor had had such a small effect on him to this point was because he wasn't trusting it as much as he should. He didn't have the blind faith in it someone else would have… At the same time, it made sense why his father had left so little about Spear Force in the dictionary. There was no need to explain Spear Force because Leonel's Lineage Factor should have told him about everything he needed to know!

This 'love' Hutch spoke about wasn't his path. He could rely on his Lineage Factor, but he didn't want to. He wanted to comprehend his Lineage Factor, to unveil all of its secrets and allow it to lay bare before him. Rather than relying on instinct, he wanted to rely on logic, on reasoning…

It might have sounded very fancy, but it boiled down to one point.

He wanted to win. He wanted to be Indomitable.