Dimensional Descent

Leonel realized then that these slaughter points must have been important. At the very least, they were comparable in use to star points. But, since Leonel hadn't seen anything he could spend them on, he concluded that it might be related to the store ticket he received earlier. 

Still, Leonel didn't spend much time thinking about this. The moment the Elimination Round ended, rather than basking in his victory or the fact he managed to keep his life, he made his way toward Little Nana with the fastest speed he could muster, taking advantage of the loosened restrictions while his Lineage Factor was activated. 

Others were shaken by his sudden action. However, they sighed a breath of relief when they noticed the protective barriers around them. If they could block King Arthur's strike, they had no need to be worried about Leonel. 

But, Leonel didn't spare them a glance as he appeared before Little Nana just as their small platforms formed beneath their feet once again. Thanks to his action, he ended up floating in the expanse of black once more with her by his side. 

Leonel smiled toward the little girl. A protective feeling couldn't help but take root in his heart when he saw her delicate brows matted with sweat. It seemed that helping him from so far away hadn't been easy on her. 

"Thank you, Little Nana."

Nana blushed slightly, her large blue eyes twinkling with a slight hint of pride. It seemed she was quite happy that she could help Leonel out. At the same time, she felt slightly more comfortable in her heart with Leonel by her side. 

Leonel wanted to ask her what happened to her family, but he hesitated in the end. He could feel that Margrave had sent a portion of his senses in his direction. Things would be fine as long as he just made it look like he was chatting idly with her. However, if the Pope overheard him asking questions, things might become difficult. 

Leonel sighed in his heart. He could sense that his presence had eased the little girl's tension by a small bit. This was all he could do for her for now. 

In truth, he wanted to let her enter the Segmented Cube, but the logistics afterward would be difficult. 

When it was only LIttle Tolly within the Segmented Cube, it could maintain its small size and even fit into his spatial ring. But, whenever Leonel himself entered, the Segmented Cube couldn't shrink past five cubic meters. 

This was better than it had been in Phase One. Back then, its smallest size when he entered was ten cubic meters. But, it still wasn't small enough. 

Leonel believed that this had something to do with the strength of his life force. Uncle Montez had said that Little Tolly couldn't enter his spatial bracelet because the little guy was a living being. However, even then, it was easier to accommodate a spirit than a full blown human. 

'Wait… I can let her enter one of the snowglobes…'

Leonel sealed this thought at the back of his mind. 

Though Little Nana seemed more at ease around him, that was only relative. Ultimately, they had had very few reactions. For a little girl to survive on her own to now, no matter how naive and innocent she looked, she was definitely highly intelligent. It wouldn't be a simple matter to get her to put her whole trust in him. 

In addition, Leonel was only acting now because he was soft hearted and also owed the little girl a favor now for helping him out. Their relationship couldn't be considered to be deep. It was just that Leonel had a good impression of this little girl despite the fact she had acted against him in the past. 

"I just helped a little…" Little Nana said softly, her voice as delicate as a butterfly's  wings. "… Big Brother is the impressive one, standing up to them like that."

Leonel found it a bit odd Nana called him big brother so directly. But, he assumed that it might have just been the dialect of where she grew up. From his understanding, these hidden families were quite reclusive. Had it not been for the fact she was expelled from her clan for whatever reason, Leonel might have never met Aina in his lifetime. 

After organizing his thoughts, Leonel smiled once again and chatted idly with the little girl. However, their conversation didn't last very long before it was interrupted. 

<Would you like to use your Special Store Ticket now?>

Leonel hesitated. Originally, he wanted to save it until he had more skill points to use since he thought he would need them within the store. But, after gaining slaughter points, he wasn't sure anymore. 

'Forget it. Since I gained a ticket but no star points before, it seemed such tickets are less valuable. I'll enter now even if I can't buy anything.'

"I'll be back." Leonel told Little Nana. 

"Mm."

Leonel used his ticket, his body vanishing in the next instant. For a moment, his vision blurred. When he could finally see his surroundings again, he realized that he had entered another wide expanse of black. 

Just as he was feeling confused, a translucent screen appeared before him and a catalog of items appeared. It only took a cursory glance for Leonel to notice that all of these items were high quality, even the worst were B-grade treasures. 

It was a shame that it didn't matter much to Leonel. He couldn't take anything out of this Zone without it disappearing. 

'Hm… Even if I can't, if I Dream Sculpt items I'm interested in, I can Craft them for myself…'

Thinking to this point, Leonel's mind suddenly latched onto an idea. 

He remembered that he still had the weird naked sniper's Ethereal Glabella. According to the dictionary, the same way it was possible to refine a Beast Crystal into treasures, it was also possible to do with humans. 

All this time, Leonel had been greatly hesitant. He didn't like the idea of doing such a thing to a human. It seemed morally… wrong. 

Leonel wasn't wrong either. There was a great taboo against doing such a thing in the world of Force Crafters. 

However, as time passed, Leonel realized that his earth escape treasure was becoming less and less reliable. It wasn't that the beast crystals they were formed of were lacking, but rather that his skill in refining them hadn't been good enough. 

The biggest problem was ultimately that it took too long to activate. It couldn't be used in battle at all. However, the naked sniper's blink ability… It was hard to pass up. 

Unfortunately, Leonel had yet to draw up a satisfactory blueprint for it. He realized that even though he had managed to Craft a Tier 9 Black treasure, his skill couldn't really be considered to be at that level just yet. At most, he was able to use his ability to drill himself into being capable of doing something he would otherwise find impossible. 

But… if he found a treasure here that accomplished a similar ability, it would make things much easier on him in the future. 

What Leonel didn't know was that he had touched on his second taboo already. 

The first was refining a human into a treasure… and the second was stealing the Craft of another master…