Chapter 184: Spirit

Within Leonel's Ethereal Glabella, a striking change was occurring. 

In the beginning, it had been a world of white fog. It could be said that the only tangible existences within it were the two white stars hanging in the air. However, now, everything began to slowly change. 

After comprehending Spear Force and Light Elemental Force, two new objects appeared in Leonel's Ethereal Glabella. The first was a 12 sided star. It was very small, barely being about a foot in diameter, but it glowed with a resplendent light. The second was a transparent Spear Soul. It had a fuzzy body one had to squint to make out and its blade seemed very dull. But, it still gave off a bit of the sharpness one would expect from a spear. 

At that moment, however, a violent trembling took hold of the world. 

First, the 12 sided star began to vibrate. With each tremor, it grew a fold in size. 

After several moments, its size even dwarfed the round white stars in the sky to the point that they even began to orbit about it. 

WENG! WENG! WENG!

The moment that transformation was complete, the white fog of the realm began to recede. No, it was inaccurate to say that it was receding and far better to say that it was being compressed.

The more the fog was compressed, the less white it seemed and the more golden it became. It wasn't just the white fog itself, but even the Stars of the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique seemed to be gaining tinges of gold along their fiery surfaces. 

[Spirit: 2.32] 

…

[Spirit: 3.00]

…

[Spirit: 3.89]

…

[Spirit: 5.23]

…

Leonel's spirit didn't stop growing until it rammed up against the 6.00 barrier, stopping just shy of it at 5.98. 

One had to remember that Leonel's stats had always been arbitrary. For example, he always set his Force stat at 0.10 per Force Node he had, then stat'd out everyone else accordingly. His physical stats were somewhat less arbitrary, but still only based on estimations. However, his spirit stat was just like his Force stat and completely based on his own prowess. 

As a result of this, a number like 5.98 was hard to put into perspective. However, due to his sudden awakening, Leonel had gained memories that seemed to both have always been his, yet were somehow new at the same time. 

Thanks to this, he came to understand something. 

Spirit between 0.01 and 3.00 could be considered to be within the Fourth Dimensional Realms. Having just 0.01 and even 0.001 was enough to represent the awakening of Internal Sight. Anyone who could do this was able to cultivate a Force Node creation technique. 

So what did this mean? Spirit between 3.01 and 6.00 could be considered to be within the Fifth Dimension!

The numbers weren't pretty since Leonel had formulated the system on his own. But this was already enough to shock one completely. 

Leonel still couldn't be considered to have formed a Fourth Dimensional Body yet. He would need to perfect the part of [Dimensional Cleanse] he had first before he could do that. 

Yet, despite this, his spirit had already crossed into the Fifth Dimension and even seemed a hair's breadth from the Sixth. It was simply inconceivable. 

Spirit wasn't like physical stats. Those kind of stats would need a massive increase before undergoing a qualitative change. But, Spirit was so hard to gain in the first place. Leonel had never even met a person aside from himself that was even close to the 1.00 barrier, let alone approaching the 6.00 barrier like him. 

The difference was too striking!

Leonel's eyes flashed open, a beam shooting out from within them against his will. It was a long while before his eyes dimmed from a bright green back down to its usual pale ivory color. 

A slow breath left his lips. 

His mind felt so fresh and clear, yet he didn't have the self satisfied attitude one would expect. He knew well that this improvement was all in thanks to a Lineage Factor he didn't earn himself. What use was there in being proud?

He had made such a big show of wanting to 'comprehend' his Lineage Factors on his own, but hadn't he relied on his talent in the end anyway?

But the current Leonel wasn't the same Leonel of the past. He wouldn't allow such things to hold him back. 

He wouldn't completely rely on his talent, but there was no need to directly ignore it either. There was no need for him to be hypocrite, on one hand ignoring the god given gifts he had been handed, and on the other, still relying on them to escape dangerous situations by a hair. He didn't want to be that kind of person.

"What stage is my ability at now?" Leonel asked. 

[ *Ping* ] 

[ Evolution Stage: Elite Tier 9 Bronze ] 

Leonel sucked in a cold breath. It seemed his conjecture was correct. His ability and his spirit work in a feedback loop. If he could use [Dimensional Cleanse] to nurture his ability and by extension raise his spirit, then raising his spirit should by extension increase his ability's cap. 

Leonel's aura blossomed with confidence. However, this wasn't a confidence borne of arrogance, but rather a confidence borne of ability — a striking difference to the version of himself just a day ago. 

Leonel looked toward his injured left hand. He had just unlocked the first Wisdom Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. It was known as Northern Twelve Stars according to the memories that had appeared in his mind. 

If he wanted a chance to heal his left hand quickly, he would need to awaken the first Healing Branch. However, after a moment of thought, he directly decided against this. 

His mind seemed to be working on a different gear entirely. He immediately thought of several possible solutions and disregarded all but the best. 

"Of the Pseudo and True Fourth Dimensional plants I collected earlier, list all those that have healing properties and tell me about all of their effects."

[ *Ping* ]