Dimensional Descent

Aina's eyes lit up, but she didn't interrupt Leonel.

"But I also don't think it's that simple. There's a fundamental difference between Weapon Forces and other Forces, and that's that Weapon Forces all start from the foundational Dimension."

Aina frowned. Didn't all Forces do that? Leonel's Scarlet Star Force was the perfect example. If not, he wouldn't have to undo the seals step by step. If it was someone else, Aina would have probably interrupted, but Leonel wasn't someone who would make such a rudimentary mistake, so she just continued to listen.

"When you look at other Forces, it feels like that happens as well, but it feels like… a rubber band," Leonel chose this example after a while. "The stronger the Force, the tighter and thicker the rubber. It's harder to stretch, but it's also more resilient at greatest length, it also stores up more energy per length stretched.

"If you take a normal Fire Force and you compare it to Scarlet Star Force, the latter is the far thicker and more powerful rubber band, even right from the start. If you stretch it a single inch, and let's say that inch represents the Third Dimension, if I release it, which rubber band will fly further and have greater impact is obvious.

"But the starting point, from the very beginning, is different.

"For some Forces, if you stretch it past a certain point, rather than producing more powerful effects, the rubber band will snap. There are just certain levels of power it won't be able to reach no matter what. That's the most ultimate truth.

"Take my Dark Ice Force, for example. It's a Fifth Dimensional Force…"

Aina's brows jumped up when she heard that. She hadn't even thought about it before, but the moment Leonel mentioned Dark Ice Force, things suddenly started falling into place.

That was right. Some Forces were considered to be of certain Dimensions. And yet, higher Dimensional individuals used them all the time… What did that mean?

"… As a Fifth Dimensional Force, that should be its maximum output. I can't really apply more strength to it. However… I fused my Dark Ice Divine Armor with an Evolution Ore, allowing it to display power comparable to the Sixth Dimension.

"Ironically, because of that, it's taken me longer than usual to realize the problem. My Dark Ice Force is quasi Sixth Dimensional thanks to Evolution Ore, my Ethereal Star Force is Seventh Dimensional, my Scarlet Star Force is Ninth Dimensional… I haven't reached the end of any one of those rubber bands yet, not even close for some, so I've never noticed the drop off in power before, or even had to find a way to strengthen the rubber bands…

"Weapon Forces are different, though. You notice the end of the rubber band almost immediately. You're forced to find a path ahead for it, because if you don't, it quickly becomes useless. Level by level, you're forced to push forward.

"I've honestly wondered why it is that everyone in the Human Domain uses a Weapon Force of some kind. Not everyone is destined to use a weapon, there have to be other paths. But the moment I step into this Zone with such high level attainments in Force manipulation, I ran into the first and only "mage" I've ever run into outside of the Camelot Zone."

Of course, this mage Leonel was referring to was Aina's senior and a member of the Endless Twlight Pavilion.

"But I think I understand now. In our world, weapons are the only way to push past this bottleneck for people who aren't born with obscenely powerful affinities. Most won't have an Innate Node like mine, or even an affinity a step or two below.

"Even the very best Lineage Factors of the Human Domain are only Seventh Dimensional. My Metal Synergy Lineage Factor has an Eighth Dimensional door, but when I asked the dictionary about it, it triggered a video from my dad and this is apparently a secret I have to keep no matter what.

"If you're in a world where the Seventh Dimension is almost a cap, then even in the Void Palace, the top level geniuses usually, at best, control Sixth Dimensional Forces.

"When you combine that with the fact that humans haven't consolidated their talents and focused on one or two Lineage Factors across the board, it makes us even weaker.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that the strongest families in the Human Domain are the Morales and Suiard families who both have powerful Weapon Force Lineage Factors. That's where their advantage lies from the very beginning.

"Even the Archer's Alliance would be right there if not for what happened with the White Lion Bow.

"It's not because Weapon Forces are more powerful, it's because Weapon Forces are the only ones with an easy and logical progression toward the next step. In addition, there's a large number of masters one can pull inspiration from as well, whereas for other Forces, it's not so streamlined at all.

"This should also be another reason why humans are so weak compared to the other races…

"And if I'm correct, this is indeed a Mythological Zone, but rather than displaying the use of a normal Magic System, this one is a layer deeper than normal, displaying, instead, a universal method of manipulating and using Forces of all kinds.

"I don't think the two of us are any less talented than Chaos Demons. What we lack are two things: Foundation and Force Manipulation. The first can be fixed by absorbing refined demons. The latter, though, is more complicated.

"If this is a ubiquitous method of this Zone, I should have already run into methods in the previous exchange stores I visited, but I didn't. I also didn't find anything in the Oliidark family's libraries either.

"It's likely that just like what I faced in the Camelot Zone, there's only one method to get the true Magic System of this Zone. But since we've already failed this Zone, that opportunity is gone. So there's only one option left…"

Aina looked down at Leonel who was still on her lap. "We have to figure it out ourselves."

Leonel nodded.

He wasn't feeling too terrible about this, wasn't this what he was already doing with his Spear Force? He had seen enough examples by now to start figuring this out slowly.

Leonel rose to his feet, feeling like he was brimming with power.

"Let's go to the highest level store before they boot us out of this world. Then we can leave this Zone for good."

"Wait," Aina said for a moment before going to Thaela's corpse.

Without flinching, Aina shot a hand through Thaela's chest and pulled out a bloody lump before handing it to Leonel.

Leonel's brows shot up.

In his hand, an Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node sat.