Dimensional Descent

Leonel carefully put the Evolution Ore away before moving on to the next source the dictionary had detected. If he simply left things as they were, it would probably take decades for the Segmented Cube to naturally form the remaining Essence he needed. 

Though Leonel had no idea whether this was considered a long time or not. He still felt that he didn't want to wait it. So he was already hoping against hope that he would find another deposit of Evolution Ore.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel. Evolution Ore was an impossibly rare metal, even more rare than Dual Elemental Metals. Finding a single deposit was already enough luck for a lifetime. 

However, Leonel wasn't very depressed about this. He was still a poor soul who thought that if he could find it once, he could do it again. But, he had no idea just how long it would take him… If he had, he might have cried a few tears already.

The current Leonel though was still ignorant of his current circumstances. His mind was filled with thoughts and designs for his divine armor. But, with every new ore deposit he found, his mind would change again, leaving him in an endless storm of thoughts he couldn't extricate himself from.

After leaving the Evolution Ore deposit, he found three different kinds of Fire Elemental Vessels. One was exceptionally good as the base of short burst treasures, another was good for maintaining high temperatures for an extended period of time, and the last was a combination of the first two, though being weaker in both respects. 

When he left those deposits, Leonel found a Wind Elemental Vein Ore not long later and he thought of how cool it might be to combine the two. If he formed a Divine Armor with a fire base and wind veins, its multiplicative power would make up for one of his greatest weakness: his attack power. 

It was a shame, Leonel had what was likely the strongest ability on Earth, but he was still at a disadvantage purely because his was of the sensory type. Toward this, he could only feel helpless, so he thought it might be a good idea to form a Divine Armor that could make up for this. 

However, soon after that Leonel found another Wind Elemental Vessel. Leonel was quite familiar with Wind Elemental Vessels, after all, the first ore deposit he had found after coming here was the Whispering Breeze Ore. 

This Wind Elemental Vessel was known as Fluttering Leaf Ore. It was exceptionally light to the point it felt as though one was holding on to a piece of foam or a cloud rather than a metal. 

After finding it, Leonel immediately had a vision of soaring through skies with wings of metal. Following this, he almost completely abandoned the idea of a Dual Fire-Wind Divine Armor entirely. After all, another one of his weaknesses had always been speed, this was especially so when he fully activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. 

However, even this fantasy didn't last for long. 

Leonel found another incredibly rare ore. Though it was also an Elemental Vessel Ore, there were tiers of separation between their rarity and value. Elemental Vessel Ores of the Fire, Wind, Earth and Water variety were the most common. Beyond that, there were what were known as Unique Elemental Vessels, and they included the Lightning Elemental Vessel Leonel had just found. 

'Damn… Lightning is cool too…'

This Lightning Elemental Ore was known as Second Strike Lightning Elemental Ore. It was known by this name because it needed a catalyst to activate. Once it did, it would be able to amplify the result with a 'second strike'.

This Lightning Elemental Ore was especially beloved by Force users who could be classified as mages like the Mayan Priest. This was especially so for mages who had lightning affinities, Lineage Factors and abilities. This was because such people could use this ore to speed up their thinking and reaction time, allowing them to finish their casting better.

There were many other applications to this ore as well, but what Leonel knew was that if he absorbed its properties, due to his Lineage Factor, he wouldn't need to be a lightning affinity mage at all to gain the same benefits. 

'This is no good… Every idea seems better than the last…'

Leonel could imagine building a lightning Divine Armor with this ore as the base. Not only would he have great offensive power and speed, but it would also be capable of supporting his ability as well. Would giving him even faster thinking speed be like putting wings on a tiger?

Due to all of these ideas and thoughts, an incredibly weird scene began to form. Leonel, who should have been happy with all of his gains, was suddenly grumbling about as though it was a bad thing for so many ores to appear here. If others knew, they might hate him even more than his Indomitable persona. 

As Leonel grumbled, he communicated with Little Tolly as they began to melt through another wall. 

Leonel realized that after he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, his ability to communicate with his Familiar reached a new high. In fact, he found that based on their new and improved synergy, Leonel could replicate the effects of someone with a Grade Designation a sub stage higher. 

This meant that even without reaching the Superior Grade One Designation, Leonel's skill was actually no less than such a person already. It was no wonder the Morales family chose Metal Spirits as their ideal Familiars. 

"ROOOOAAARRR!!!"

BANG!

Just as Leonel was lost in his thoughts, thinking of new Divine Armor designs, a loud roar suddenly shook his mind as he was sent flying.

He crashed heavily against the opposing tunnel wall, causing all the air to be knocked out of him. If this had been before he awakened, Leonel was certain that he would have broken several bones and even coughed up several mouthfuls of blood from this impact alone. 

However, maybe the most shocking thing was that this roar hadn't come from a beast that managed to make its way into the hive… it had come from the wall Leonel had just been excavating…