Dimensional Descent

Leonel tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down. His mood wasn't the best right now, and that was because he knew that there was much more to come.
What he needed was a method of dealing with all of this swiftly and decisively.
Because of his previous plan, he ended up having to rope in the Cloud Race and forced them to face the ire that the Nomads should have. But as a result, the Nomad Race was still scot-free right this moment.
He had been waiting for the Nomad Race to eventually make a move, but what he didn't expect was that the Invalids would suddenly appear like this.
Of course, Aina and he had already spoken about her leg and the issues that it might bring, however it could be said that this moment was probably the most inconvenient of them all for such a thing to happen.
According to his calculations, there was only a small likelihood to begin with that this would come back to bite them, and yet here they were.
Leonel's steps came to a pause and he closed his eyes.
The crimson fog around him slowly receded and the rushing rivers of his blood slowed down. The wave of fatigue hit him soon afterward, but after several deep breaths, his body recovered quickly, eventually shimmering as though he had just woken up from a deep rest.
His current strength was greater than even he expected. He was reluctant to take out his Spear Force just now, but what he didn't know was that even without his, his skill in the spear could be said to have touched upon a new realm entirely.
He was already used to battling those with greater strength than his own to begin with. Apex and the other Variant Invalids were probably around the Demi-God level in terms of raw talent, and they were two Dimensions above him, but he was still able to crush them.
In terms of raw strength, he was beneath them, but even then it wasn't far off. In terms of skill, though, he existed on a plane all to himself. They couldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.
After his recent breakthrough, Leonel had already reached the Demi-God level in terms of raw talent as well. When it came to comprehension and raw skill, he was capable of leaping two Dimensions to do battle against other geniuses at the Demi-God level.
If it was a weak Demi-God, one of poor talent compared to the rest of their Race, he could probably kill and Eighth Dimensional one with the same level of ease.
If he really went all out and gave it everything he had, for a short burst he could probably match an Eighth Dimensional genius of the Demi-God level as well.
As for those of the Mortal Level, he hardly even considered them.
For a Mortal talent to match him they would have to have a Creation State Force. Anything less and they would be felled just like the Invalids had been.
Of course, if there was a Demi-God genius who had grasped a Creation State Force at the Seventh Dimension, it was also unlikely that Leonel would be a match for them.
But taking a step back, Leonel had realized something peculiar the more battles he fought...
Was the overall comprehension abilities of everyone in Existence really so poor? Or was it that he and his wife were on a level all to themselves?
He had met several Demi-Gods until now, but even the genius of the Owlans, Minerva, had only had a Higher Life State Force when Leonel met her.
Of course, he didn't believe that he was a match for her even now, and that was without knowing what kind of improvements she had undergone. But he still found it odd.
Was there a tradeoff for having that much talent?
The same Force in the hands of different people weighed completely differently. A Ninth Dimensional human with an Impetus State Force was no match for a
Seventh Dimensional Spiritual with the same level of Force.
That was the gap in raw talent, one that couldn't be filled with just comprehension alone.
Could it be, then, that those with greater talent struggled with comprehending higher State Forces?
Was this the advantage of being human?
Leonel's thoughts wandered to the technique that Aina had gained from the Gathering of Kingdoms Stele.
Recalling the details of that technique, and how well it could change the fate of the Human Race, he felt that his deductions were quite accurate.
Footsteps suddenly echoed from behind Leonel. He didn't look back, but eventually a bloodied Elorin stood to his side in silence, his usual white tracksuit practically pasted onto his body by the crimson liquid.
"You were faster than I thought you'd be," Leonel said, his tone less forceful than before.
"It took three days," he replied.
Leonel pursed his lips and then nodded. It had only been three hours in Leonel's estimation, but he doubted that Elorin would lie about this. It seemed that either he was being vaguely philosophical about how he saw time versus others, or his Time Force had become far stronger.
"And your gains?" Leonel asked.
"I will need some time to digest them, but the change is fairly large. I feel less restrictions on my Ability Index."
Leonel nodded again. Finding a Variant Invalid with the perfect pairing ability for yourself was probably more beneficial than even using the help of the Tablets. At the very least, it took more effort and time to get the same results from the
Tablets.
"Alright, you can go back. We'll likely have to go to battle soon and you'll have more opportunities to get stronger."
Elorin didn't say anything more and simply entered the Segmented Cube. His life was consumed by training these days and he wouldn't have it any other way.
Leonel closed his eyes again and stood there.
What kind of backlash would wiping out this Invalid army bring? He couldn't just sit on his hands and hope for this problem to go away.