Dimensional Descent

Leonel felt his body surging toward a barrier with such momentum that even he, himself, couldn't stop it even if he chose to.

Leonel believed that he had understood the purpose of this trial. Maybe it wasn't that this was a puzzle at all and maybe there wasn't the reward of the remaining portions of [Dimensional Cleanse] waiting at the end for him. What if the entire purpose of this road was to comprehend the next step of [Dimensional Cleanse] yourself?

What did it mean for Leonel to say that battery was the wrong shape?

Well, all this time, the perfect image was hanging before him. He continuously tried to use the blue Star Force as though it was normal air he could breathe in, before then trying to adjust it to function like oxygen would. But, was that the right way to do things?

Then there was the blue Star Force that fused into his body and kept making him heavier. Why did it feel like the process was eerily similar to what one experienced when entering the Fourth Dimension? Wasn't that the Dimensional Realm one spent time tempering their bodies and drawing more Nodal Pathways?

On top of that, there was the fact that Leonel felt he was using the blue Star Force all wrong. He felt that if he wanted to get the most out of it, taking Star Force from the surroundings and directly applying it to himself was the wrong method.

If he wanted to flip the table and approach this from a completely different angle, then he believed that the best course of action to take would be to accept the Star Force into his body, convert it into the form he needed, and only then would he apply it to himself.

But this process… How was it any different from his Three Star Constitution?!

When Leonel completed the first phase of [Dimensional Cleanse], he managed to complete what the creator called a near impossible feat and form a Three Star Constitution. Back then, he had felt like the creator only knew how to exaggerate because he hadn't even struggled.

One had to remember that forming nine Nodes didn't guarantee the formation of a Star. Rather, it only allowed one the capacity and chance to form one. Every three Nodes one formed with the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique gave one the chance to form another Star. However, Leonel's own Stars had formed immediately and without his conscious effort the moment he met the threshold requirements.

How could Leonel not think the creator was exaggerating in such a situation? For Leonel, who didn't often get lost in the thick of his own emotion, it all sounded like a simple mind game.

If the creator was lost in his or her own narcissism and wanted as many people to use their technique as possible, what would they do? They would probably make said person feel like they were part of a special 'elite' group that could accomplish something almost 'impossible'.

Leonel concluded that the formation of his Three Star Constitution was likely something similar. However, that didn't mean he couldn't recognize the importance of them. At the very least, he felt he could trust the strength of the technique because he felt like he could trust Uncle Montez.

What Leonel didn't know, though, was that the creator hadn't exaggerated in the slightest. And, what he also didn't know was that the Three Star Constitution was just the beginning… Or rather… He didn't know until this very moment.

Leonel's body began to tremble with a violent abandon.

Within his Ethereal Glabella, three slowly rotating Stars of pure silver-white suddenly began to pulse. At first it was subtle, but in just a few moments they began to expand and contract so wildly that they would double and even triple in size in one moment before shrinking to the size of a fist in the next.

Such violent movements made Leonel's mind feel as though it might collapse at any moment.

His Three Stars were the root of much of his mental prowess. Thanks to it, he was able to quickly and continuously replenish his Dream Force. As a result, he was able to use his ability with an almost negligent abandon.

With it suddenly becoming unstable like this, surging out with pulses of power that shook Leonel's Ethereal Glabella, it felt like the situation might turn bad.

The truth of the matter was that this wasn't the fault of the technique. The Three Star Constitution, at least at its current state, was designed to be used with Third Dimensional Soul Force. And yet, not only did Leonel use the more powerful Dream Force, it was even at the Fifth Dimension!

However, where there was danger, there also came benefit. With the Three Stars seemingly evolving under the pressure of Fifth Dimensional Dream Force, their overall character and quality were improving by leaps and bounds.

If the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] had been observing, they would be able to tell that despite the fact Leonel was suddenly pushing toward the Fourth Dimension, the quality of his Three Stars were actually closing in on something closer to the Fifth.

This, though… Was just the tip of the iceberg.

It was right then that the blue Star Force tore a path into Leonel's Ethereal Glabella, rotating about as though under the influence of savage winds. It felt like it wanted to tear everything in its path apart, and compared to the more docile silver-white Star Force, it had the heft and strength to do so.

Luckily, the barriers of Leonel's Ethereal Glabella were comparable to an existence at the Fifth Dimension thanks to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor's Wisdom Branch. As a result, though the surroundings quaked and a splitting headache shook Leonel's mind, everything managed to remain together.

The swirling blue Star Force began to rotate faster and faster. As time passed and it swept through the entirety of Leonel's Ethereal Glabella, its form became clearer and clearer. Or rather… its three forms did.

The blue Star Force began to form three more Stars that very instant.