Dimensional Descent

Leonel landed on the coy fish, exhaling a long breath. At the same time, a bit of fear couldn’t help but creep into his heart as well as a bit of anticipation. This coy fish’s ability was really too sinister. If he had been fighting alone, it could be said that he would have had a much harder time even if it ended in his victory. As for why he was filled with anticipation, it was of course because if he could refine the ability into a treasure, the potential applications were tantalizing. 

Leonel most wanted this ability for its application in escape. He could tell that the coy fish wasn’t creating water, but was instead transforming earth into water. If this was a treasure instead of an ability and it was tweaked a bit, wouldn’t it be possible to escape through the ground?

There was another type treasure Leonel was thinking of making, but for now, he lacked the skill. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten about Xinghai. If he could turn Xinghai’s ’blink’ ability into a treasure, his combat prowess would take another leap. But, Leonel neither had the necessary materials, nor the skill to do anything with this idea. 

Any such treasure would be of, at the very least, the Quasi Bronze Grade. Obviously, this was beyond him. 

Leonel sighed, looking at the pistols in his hands. The nozzles had exploded from the inside out, leaving them useless. Unfortunately, now was definitely not the best time to repair them, so he could only continue from here with eight nozzles remaining. 

After putting them away, Leonel made his way to the wound in the coy fish’s eye and coated his arm in Force. Reaching inside and relying on his Internal Sight, he was able to dig out the beast crystal with ease. 

The beast crystal looked like a smooth blue pearl, emitting a faint watery smell. The kind one would experience by a freshwater lakeside. 

”What do you think you’re doing?”

Leonel frowned, turning back to see King of Seas looking toward him with an unfriendly gaze. He had already dismissed his ability transformation, but judging by the red in his eye,  he was still suffering from a bit of blood lust. 

It was immediately obvious to Leonel that he was looking at the beast crystal in Leonel’s hand. It was only now that Leonel remembered that to the other Promising Youths who had come with him, the Beast Crystals provided an opportunity to evolve their abilities. 

Even if Leonel discounted King of Seas, there was still Pisces as well. How could they not both want a Beast Crystal from such a powerful water-type creature?

What Old Hutch had neglected to tell Leonel was that if one ingests a Beast Crystal from a creature with similar abilities, there’s even the possibility of mutating and improving one’s ability as well, making it even more desirable. 

This beast was at least of the SS-grade in the eyes of these youths. Just how much would their abilities improve if they were to ingest it? 

King of Seas was especially looking forward to the potential defensive boost to his scales if he ingested it. Back then, his trident hadn’t even left a scratch after his full powered attack. 

As for Pisces, she was especially fond of the water transformation ability. As things stood now, she could only pull water vapor from the air when there were no other sources around.  This was the source of all those beautiful sparkles floating around her when she attacked. 

If she was able to evolve her ability in this way, it could be said that she would instantly become one of the most powerful on Earth, let alone her generation. 

Regardless of who it was between them, it held lethal allure. 

”Hey, you ungrateful bastards from Eastern Lookout. Indomitable got the final kill, don’t you think you’re a bit too shameless asking what he’s doing? Obviously he’s taking his spoils.” Roaring Black Lion didn’t back down even a step.

”Taking his spoils?” Pisces asked indifferently. ”It was all seven of us who worked together to take down the fish, yet he didn’t say a word before digging out the Beast Crystal himself. Even if he deserves the largest share, something that’s still up for debate, he should at least discuss it with the rest of us, right?”

Those from the Southern Lookout frowned. What was up for debate? They all saw that King of Seas couldn’t even scratch the beast’s scales with his strongest strike. As for the rest of them, they only played a part in launching it into the air, something Leonel already proved would happen regardless as long as they were a bit more patient. 

It could be argued that Leonel could have taken the beast out without help at all. The only reason those of the Southern Lookout stepped in was because they didn’t want to remain idle while the Eastern Lookout youths acted. 

Roaring Black Lion sneered. ”Don’t say I didn’t warn you. He’s not a person you can deal with just by ganging up like you did with me.”

Flowing Wind and Chasing Wind descended from the skies. Since Flowing Wind didn’t need the Beast Crystal as he ability had nothing to do with water, she didn’t join in. As far as she was concerned, this wasn’t an Eastern versus Southern Lookout issue. This was purely a fight for benefits. There was nothing personal. 

She felt no need to put herself in any potential danger for the sakes of King of Seas or Pisces even though they were teammates. 

Toward Roaring Black Lion’s words, Pisces and King of Seas sneered. 

”Can’t deal with just him?” King of Seas laughed, the red in his eyes brightening a bit more.

If Leonel’s guns hadn’t broken right before their eyes, they might still fear him. But they all saw for themselves how they splintered and exploded. Of course a weapon capable of killing an SS-grade threat was enough to make them fear, but wasn’t this weapon destroyed now?

Of course, these two simply had no idea that Roaring Black Lion wasn’t referring to Leonel’s treasures at all. How could they know? By now, they had already assigned the loss of that Eastern Lookout group led by Ruptured Artery to Leonel’s guns. Now that they were out of the picture, there was nothing to fear. 

Leonel scanned King of Seas and Pisces, his gaze expressionless.