Dimensional Descent

After settling everything, Leonel stepped out from the cave, numerous eyes on his back as he vanished into the darkness. 

Watching his receding figure, King of Seas couldn't help but laugh. It seemed he got a kick out of seeing Pisces eating shit. All the anger he had had in the past day vanished into thin air, leaving him feeling comfortable. 

It could only be said that humans were indeed weird creatures. King of Seas had gone from hating Leonel's guts to supporting him in the span of a day. 

As for Pisces, she could only hatefully glare in Leonel's direction, but there was nothing she could do. Just like the logic had once been on her side, it was now on his. As if that wasn't bad enough… she didn't expect Leonel to have so much charisma…

**

Leonel leisurely strolled through the dark tunnels. Though he was still feeling the pain of his injuries and there was a severe lack of light in his surroundings, he was quite comfortable now. 

'This might be a better opportunity than I originally gave it credit for.' Leonel smiled so widely his eyes squinted. 

The reason Leonel was so happy was because when he asked the dictionary to scan the surroundings for ore veins, the results had been far beyond his expectations. The hive was practically a treasure trove!

Though the Force Eruption was only now occurring, it could be said that this Force Crystal Mine had been maturing for a long time already. As a result, this was the best environment Earth had for the creation of Fourth Dimensional minerals. 

Not only was the presence of Pseudo Fourth Dimensional minerals incredibly high, but there were even some veins that had already manifested true Fourth Dimensional minerals. 

It could be said that Earth's progress in metallurgy was far beyond that of many worlds of their stature. However, the fundamental truth was that these alloys were still fragile in the face of Force. 

This was why Leonel had to fuse Urbe Ore into the alloys he took from the sniper rifle. If he didn't do this, his pistol crafts would have been even more fragile than they were now. 

However, if Leonel were to use Pseudo and true Fourth Dimensional metals in his crafts, he would be able to create higher grade crafts with less effort. 

In addition, even though Fourth Dimensional metals he was still too weak to refine could be saved for the future. In all likelihood, these metals would be very valuable even in true Fourth Dimensional worlds!

But now, Leonel practically had them all to himself. Thanks to the dictionary, he could easily find them through the thick walls. And, with the help of Little Tolly, the mining process wouldn't be much of an issue either. 

Seemingly sensing Leonel's excitement, the little Metal Spirit coiling around his fingers bubbled with happiness, eager to be of help.

Leonel smiled lightly, watching the little guy play around his hands. 

'Alright, the first target is the closest, a vein of Whispering Breeze Ore…'

Leonel quickly made his way forward. He ran into several dead ends at first since the dictionary could only point him in the general direction, but he eventually inched closer, memorizing the pathways as he went along. 

Soon, Leonel had made it to a seemingly ordinary wall of earth. Other than being slightly damp and cold to the touch, there was nothing different about it. But, Leonel trusted the dictionary. 

"Alright little guy, let's start."

Little Tolly split into numerous little silver balls, bouncing around Leonel's hands with excitement before it coated the latter's palms. 

Leonel pressed his hands into the wall, entering Spirit Unity and using Toliver's keen senses toward valuable minerals to 'see' the hidden veins. 

'There it is…'

After sensing it, Leonel began to channel Force into his Metal Spirit. Not much unlike projecting the shape of the part he wanted, Leonel made sure to only carefully carve away the pieces of earth not related to the valuable ore. 

In truth, Little Tolly did most of the work. Even without Leonel's support, it was made to melt away and absorb minerals. In fact, it might very well be possible for Leonel to rely on his Familiar to carve a path toward the Force Eruption rather than forging a craft with the coy fish's Beast Crystal. The only reason he hadn't was because he didn't want to overwork the little guy. 

Carving out a bit of rock covering a vein was one thing, but digging through hundreds of meters of earth was a complete other thing. 

Soon, a silvery green metal shone before Leonel. It had quite a resplendent light as though it was crowned by a halo. 

Higher Dimensional metals always had halos like this. The only exception was Black Urbe Ore. As long as it was within a world beneath its Dimensional grade, it would always shine like this as though scared others were unaware of its value. 

The more Dimensional grades a metal surpassed its current world by, the grander the halos that covered it would be. Similar logic followed for other natural treasures and even beasts and humans. 

'Whispering Breeze Ore… Its an excellent Wind Elemental Vessel and known for its sharpness and light weight. Not bad. It might be useful when I finally get around to making the movement treasure…'

Leonel would often think of Captain Sela's chariot. Though she was a vile human being, her chariot wasn't at fault. 

'Elemental Vessels' were a type of ore. Just like Urbe Ore which was a great foundational metal, known for its ability to stabilize two opposing minerals that would otherwise not mesh, there were other families of metals as well. Elemental Vessels was a family that had an advantage toward containing certain Elemental Force types. 

As a Wind Elemental Vessel, Whispering Breeze Ore was exceptionally good at containing the Wind Element. It also got its name due to its high level of stability. Its able to take in a large amount of Wind Element and make use of it while maintaining quiet and steady operation. This was quite ideal for forging a vehicle. 

Leonel smiled brightly. For the little guy, chewing through the normal rock around the vein wasn't a problem. It didn't even take half an hour before it was completely exposed. After that, Leonel could practically pull out the whole thing with his bare hands. 

'One down, hopefully many more to go… I'll definitely need to find a good Water Elemental Vessel… If I can find a Dual Water-Earth Elemental Vessel, I might be able to make the craft even better by integrating the coy fish's and the bear king's Beast Crystals…'

It seemed the saying really was true. There were only benefits to gain in the midst of danger. 

At any other time, such a large treasury of minerals would have been monopolized by The Empire or the Slayer Legion. But now… As much as Leonel could take, he would take.