Dimensional Descent

Leonel took a deep breath. Truthfully, waving this lance spear around was much more troublesome than the enemies themselves. No beast he crossed seemed to be capable of lasting even a single strike. The value of holding a Silver Grade spear while facing what Leonel assumed were Bronze Grade threats in the eyes of this tribulation was undeniable.

As time passed, Leonel realized that reserving Knight's Charge was actually a foolish decision and his skill in wielding the spear increased with every exchange.

Rather than relying on his own strength to gather up momentum, he would execute Knight's Charge in short bursts, cleverly applying it to accelerate his attack speed and potency while keeping his attacks entirely unpredictable.

Knight's Charge didn't seem to have any limitations on it at all, there was no cooldown, and it didn't take anything out of Leonel's stamina, making him realize just how valuable these treasure territories were. The only limitations were that once a distance had been chosen, the charge couldn't be stopped, that there was a limited range of about a hundred meters, and finally, it could only be used in a straight line directly ahead of Leonel.

When Leonel made this adjustment, he began to shred through opposition and the rate his stamina drained at was even less than it had been before. This led to an exaggerated result where it didn't even seem like he was sweating as he battled.

This time, Leonel faced off against Cloud Race man. He had faced off against quite a number of other races by this point. In fact, as Nelligan's words had made quite obvious, by this stage, most humans would have either been eliminated or have chosen to withdraw themselves, so this outcome was unsurprising.

What was more surprising was the fact that Leonel was still here. The Cloud Race man had thought he had gotten a lucky break to come up against such an easy opponent for his 10th territory, even to the point that he didn't bother to scan Leonel initially. But after a few exchanges and finding himself on the backfoot, he realized that he had underestimated Leonel greatly.

What shocked the Cloud Race individual the most was the fact that Leonel didn't seem to be trying very hard, as though he was probing something.

Gritting his teeth, the runes within his Cloud Figure shimmered to life and a wave of strength fell over Leonel. Very quickly, everything about his combat style was downloaded and stored. Eventually, the Cloud Race man seemed to gain the upperhand, even somewhat suppressing Leonel.

'Interesting...' Leonel thought.

The abilities of the Cloud Race were extraordinary. When taken to the logical extreme, and paired with their incredible mental capacities, their battle style could practically allow them to predict the future just by using the model they had of you in their mind.

One of the very first dreams Leonel had ever had for his Ability Index was to be able to do this, but even until now, he hadn't been able to accomplish it, and that was despite the fact he had gained the ability to scan people with his Dream World.

And yet, people of the Cloud Race could just do so naturally and without any trouble whatsoever.

'There's a secret here, and that secret should be hidden within the weakness of this ability..."

Leonel's battle tactics suddenly changed and he began to incorporate Knight's Charge once again. His battle style became entirely unpredictable and erratic. However, what was fascinating to him was that this didn't throw off the Cloud Race young man. Leonel began to overwhelm the Cloud Race young man not because he became unpredictable, but because his strength simply far outstripped the latter.

'No, let's change tactics...!

Leonel pulled back his strength and changed tactics again. But, once more, he began to be suppressed by the Cloud Race young man.

'Fascinating... Is this ability really flawless?"

Leonel's gaze flickered and it landed on the dancing runes within the Cloud Race young man's Cloud Figure. Maybe the craziest part about this race's ability was just how non-invasive and nigh undetectable it was. If not for Leonel's own sensitivity and deductive abilities, he would have even been able to tell that Captain Wimword had scanned him in the first place.

But then again, Leonel's own Dream World was almost undetectable as well.

Leonel had a feeling that by analyzing the Cloud Race, even if he couldn't gain their ability, his comprehension of Dream Force would definitely touch an all new level.

By this point, the Cloud Race young man was infuriated. He could tell that Leonel was just toying with him, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"DAMMIT! FIGHT ME!"

Leonel blinked and slipped to the side of a wild spear attack.

"Oh, so that's your weakness," Leonel suddenly said.

The words were simple, but they somehow felt like the whisper of the reaper to the Cloud Race youth. He shuddered in fear but the tip of Leonel's spear had already collided with his chest, shattering every bone in it. He couldn't even hold onto the spear in his own hands as it had been ripped out by Leonel.

Before he could even land, his body began to vanish. Clearly, his spear had already been claimed by Leonel.

Leonel turned and walked away, slaughtering the last of the beasts in this region. He didn't even bother to absorb their Beast Crystals because by this point, these lowest level beasts had no effect on him.

"It's still a bit surface level, though. Relying on an enemy to lose focus isn't the way to go, but it is a look into how they operate. There should be other methods of restricting and countering them. There should be..."

Leonel's gaze glowed. He had it, that was it.

'12 more territories until I reach the Silver Grade since this guy gave me ten including this region...

Leonel finished clearing the region swiftly. But when he stepped into his next target, his gaze sharpened.

He sensed another member of the Cloud Race, but this one made the other look like a toddler in a play pen.

Their gazes met and silence echoed.