Chapter 176: Resolve

Leonel grilled Jian with several more questions then knocked him out and dragged him back into the Lab Setting. Without a word to his partner, he threw him into one of the snowglobes, causing no small shock to the square jawed man. 

Not wanting to end up like Jian, how could he not go all out in an attempt to satisfy Leonel? But the truth remained the same. In the end, he too was knocked out once more and thrown into a snowglobe. 

Leonel took a deep breath and sat down, his mind running. 

Though he could have asked the two about Aina's past, he decided against it. This was something he wanted Aina to tell him herself. It just wouldn't feel the same if someone else had to tell him. Plus, he wanted to respect her boundaries. 

That said, even aside from that, the heavy pressure Simeon brought him was beyond his imagination. 

What a joke he was. He had a Tier 3 Bronze ability, but he was being pushed into a corner by a Tier 8 Black ability. He was sure that if his father knew he would never hear the end of it. 

Leonel shook his head, staring blankly into space. After a while, his vacant eyes gained a steely coldness. 

'I'm certain that Simeon's ability didn't originally have anything related to control. The reason he can now is because he's mastered his ability to the point of squeezing out all of its potential, eventually allowing him to gain this new branch ability. I don't believe for a second that he can do something that I can't.'

The 'branch' abilities of Leonel's main ability seemed to have awoken randomly. First it was Dream World, then it was Dream Sculpt. 

On the surface, both appeared without rhyme or reason, but was this really the case?

Dream World appeared to him when he really wanted to calculate the best orientation of his Force Nodes. This will eventually allowed him to gain his ability to simulate matters in his mind. 

Dream Sculpt appeared when he wanted to find a way to make use of the treasures he wasn't allowed to take outside of the Zone. This will eventually allowed him the ability to ingrain perfect and permanent thoughts into his Dream World. 

There was even the third ability he only recently named, Dream Clone. That ability was birthed when he really wanted to learn the primitive man's combat style as quickly as possible. This allowed him to split his mind and learn the same technique many times faster. 

Every time he needed an ability within his means, it felt as though he could produce it as long as these things fell within the purview of his Dream World. 

Simeon's ability was a wakeup call to Leonel. He realized now that abilities weren't immutable things. They were made to grow and evolve along with their host. Why else would Leonel's ability still be growing even now? It was likely that it would still grow into the future. 

Leonel took a deep breath. 'That's right, I need to open myself up to more possibilities…'

Leonel shook his head furiously. To think that he really almost had thoughts of letting that bastard off for now. 

Absolutely not. He would make this hive Simeon's grave. 

After a while, Leonel stood. 

"I have so many materials and even more Beast Crystals. If I can't make something to get out of this situation, I might as well not go and find Aina at all."

Leonel had already decided. There would be three keys to his success. 

First, he would definitely find the path to the Force Eruption faster. There was most definitely an even greater treasure trove waiting for him. 

Second, he wouldn't hesitate any longer. He would form his Seventh and Eighth Node. Continually doubting himself wouldn't get him anywhere. Maybe after doing this, he would find some clues about his Ninth Node. 

If worse came to worst, he would just abandon all of his Force Nodes. Though there was a massive taboo against doing so, the price was comparatively shallow for those in the lowest Third Dimension, only after stepping into the Fourth or higher would abandoning one's Force Nodes become akin to a death sentence without incredibly special circumstances.

And third…

Leonel's mind drifted toward the first Dream Sculpt he ever made. It seemed like a simple golden staff, missing its flag. But, Leonel knew quite well the kind of devastation this thing could cause. 

Leonel knew better than to use this staff to control humans. He had seen how badly Joan ended up with his own two eyes. And, back then, she had only been controlling normal humans. 

By extension, Leonel also knew that controlling high ranking beasts with it would be foolish as well. Those beast kings had already awoken their intelligence and thus had strong wills of their own. If Leonel tried to take control of them, his ending would be just like Joans. 

However… what about those weaker beasts who were only following the beast kings out of fear for their power? Just how quickly had the bear beasts beneath the bear king abandoned him after he died?

According to Jian and his partner, Quinn, Simeon should have only taken control of the beast kings then used them as a proxy to control the other beast hordes. 

Plus, those beast kings definitely had their hands full holding off the tide of beasts coming from the ocean even as Leonel stood here. In that case…

Leonel smiled coldly. If Simeon thought of using the beast hordes against him, he would be in for a rude awakening. 

**

Out on the sea, the Commanders of the Eastern and Southern Lookout were still fighting for their lives. Though, those with Commander Violet Rain were definitely fairing much better. 

"I did it! I managed to get a message through!" Mellow Trees roared with happiness he never thought he would have over such a simple matter. 

Violet Rain's smile bloomed. Though they didn't get a response because the link was swiftly cut off again, this much was enough. Now, they just had to wait. 

What they forgot to consider was the fact the one in charge of their Southern Lookout now was Hacker Hutch… Who knew what maddening ways that senile old man would respond to such a call for help…