Dimensional Descent

Leonel sat blankly staring at a wall. 

It had already been three days since he came to this checkpoint city, and he had stared at this wall for who knew how many hours, but his brain refused to wake up from this dream. How the hell had he gotten here?

’How is that old man so powerful? I feel like I can’t do anything to him…’

Leonel felt quite helpless. He felt that that day the old man took him away, he had most definitely not used Force. Leonel’s senses were too sharp to miss something like that. What was even more shocking, though, was the fact that the old man’s stats were pushing 3.00. This is what truly left Leonel speechless. 

If it was just this strength, it would be insane enough. But, what truly shocked Leonel about the old man was the sturdiness of his body. He was almost like the Metal Invalid Leonel met all those months ago. But, unlike that Invalid, his stats hadn’t been tempered down by his own weight. 

After some thought, Leonel’s mind drifted toward something in particular. When his father retired as a general, he had gone to work as a researcher. It was while in that position that he produced the vomit brew Leonel was forced to consume daily. 

To this day, Leonel didn’t know what the name of that department was. All he knew was that his father was involved in the evolution of human food and the consumption of it. The Ascension Empire had brought technology basically to its upper limits, so they wanted to test the limits of the human body. 

If the Empire could run such tests, why couldn’t the rebel army do so as well? If Hutch was part of these experiments and could be considered a success, then maybe the waters of Earth were far deeper than he thought. 

But, if such was the case, then why was Hutch the first person he had seen with such ridiculous stats? If such a good thing existed, Leonel believed that the old man definitely wouldn’t be the only one to benefit. 

For example, the Governor Duke’s son had stats that could barely be considered average among non-athletic humans even before the Metamorphosis. If the son of a Governor Duke wasn’t allowed to partake in such benefits, how could others?

Of course, there was the possibility that only the Slayer Legion had access to such technology. But, if that was the case… wouldn’t the Empire have been taken down long ago? What could they do against a legion of super humans?

’Maybe I’m just over thinking all of this. What if the rebels have someone amongst them like that monocle wearing prick? If someone awoke the abilities to alter their genetics, that could explain it too… But if that was the case, why would they choose an old man first?’

”Agghh.”

Leonel ruffled his hair with both had as though trying to hurry his brain to the answer. But, not unexpectedly, he failed. 

PENG!

At that moment, someone threw a kick at Leonel’s door, sending it flying off the hinges… again. 

”Time to train!”

Leonel’s expression darkened. ”Old Hutch, I’ve already told you a million times, I have no intention of joining the Slayer Legion. If you keep treating me like this, the day you train me to be your better is the day I’ll directly betray the Slayer Legion.”

If other rebels knew that Leonel was speaking to Hacker Hutch like this, they would plop to the ground in fear for him. Who of the rebels dared to speak to this madman in this way? Wasn’t that just asking for death?

”HAHAHA!” Hutch laughed uproariously. ”Speak of that the day you defeat me. Otherwise, obediently listen to me, boy!”

Leonel felt helpless. Did this old man really think he couldn’t defeat him? If Leonel activated his Force, his stats would also be pushing 3.00. If he used his Spear Domain Lineage Factor on top of that, defeating Hutch wouldn’t be impossible. 

Unfortunately, this entire city hidden without a block of metal was covered in Force disrupting towers. And, secondly, even if it wasn’t, Leonel would still feel hesitant. The spear was a killing weapon, after all. And, his Lineage Factor didn’t seem to activate when he used blunt weapons. Though he was annoyed by the old man, he definitely didn’t want to kill him.

When Hutch first took him away, Leonel thought that he just wanted to talk more about football. But who knew that when this old man sensed how strong his body was when he resisted being pulled away that he would actually react so crazily?

First, he stormed into Supreme Mighelle’s Fleet headquarters and claimed that he would be taking over. When Supreme Mighelle obviously resisted, he beat him to the point he was black and blue. 

Then, he claimed a ’Promising Future’ quota for Leonel, directly booting one of the youths who had previously held the position away in favor of him. It was suffice to say that this enraged a great many people, but Old Hutch was a madman that seemed to do whatever he wanted. 

Even after Leonel explained that he wanted nothing to do with that ranking, Old Hutch actually brought out a stick and started whacking him with it in the name of ’training’. No matter what logic Leonel used, the old man didn’t seem to care in the slightest. 

Leonel’s shoulder was clamped down once again and he once more let out a helpless sigh. 

”Old Hutch, I’m definitely not participating in that Promise Tournament.”

”You have no choice, Morales. Who asked you to now represent my face? Not only must you participate, you must get first place.”

Leonel almost couldn’t refrain from rolling his eyes. Why did he say it like he asked for this? He most definitely didn’t ask for this.

”I don’t need your training to get first place even if I did participate.” Leonel said, a bit annoyed. Who wouldn’t be annoyed in his current condition? He was currently flying like a kite in the air because this damned old man was running too fast. 

”Hohoho, you look like a good little prep boy, but I see right through you. You’re actually so arrogant. If those other youngins heard you, you wouldn’t even need me to enrage them. You’d do it by yourself. 

”Hehe, good thing I recorded you.”

Leonel was left speechless once again before almost fainting in rage. But, the old man didn’t seem to notice as he was once more dragged to the training grounds.