Dimensional Descent

Farialice watched as her warriors fell one after another, a hint of shock coloring her gaze. 

The warriors of White City had long since been indifferent to high casualties. The truth was that one of the strategies Terrain had prepared before launching this attack was precisely this. 

It had to be remembered that Earth had lost more than 99% of its population. As a result, even if Earth had a higher concentration of talents, what could they do if Terrain sent wave after wave of warriors after them?

This was precisely why City Lord White didn’t care about using the death of her men to stall. Compared to Earth’s remaining population of barely a few million, Terrain’s City Lord’s had access to population in the billions and fighters numbering in the tens of millions. 

Though only a fraction of these were elites, it hardly mattered if Terrain could just throw such numbers out continuously to wear Earth down. 

However, the group Farialice was heading was far different. These men with her were the true elites of White City. Not only did they have ten White Knights with them, but a large number of the soldiers beneath them were just a step away from this title. In fact, there were many candidates to replace White Knight Diore among them. 

Unfortunately, no matter how elite they were… How could they make do without their Force?

Farialice was completely caught off guard. According to her information, Force Disruption Towers should have loss their effect after Earth entered the Fourth Dimension. So, what was going on?

‘No, that’s not right. Even the most elite of Force Disruption Towers should only have an effective range of a few hundred meters. But, I don’t sense any Towers in the vicinity.’

At that moment, Crakos raised his saber and attacked Farialice once more. 

The White Knight could only grit her teeth and parry, her feet sliding several meters before coming to a grinding halt. 

‘This… It really is the weapon.’

Farialice was at a loss. When had Earth gained such technology? It can’t be that Earth already researched the Fourth Dimension? 

But that didn’t make any sense. Crossing the Dimensional barrier should have been the equivalent of Earth getting sent back to the stone ages. It took thousands of years for Earth to reach the technological advancements they had within the Third Dimension despite their talent. It should take the same amount of effort to reach such a height in the Fourth Dimension!

This was why most worlds, even when they had comprehended the sciences to a high degree, would choose to abandon it entirely after undergoing their first Metamorphosis. 

If a world took several thousand years to stabilize themselves every time they evolved to a new Dimension, how could it possibly protect itself?

As a result, these worlds had no choice but to rely on the well established disciplines of the Dimensional Verse. Only these well tested and well known professions that had withstood the test of time could be trusted. 

‘Unless…?’

Farialice trembled. Could it be that Earth had a Force Crafter?!

The possibility shook Farialice to her core. In fact, she found it even harder to believe than Earth managing to adapt their technology to the Fourth Dimension. 

It had to be known that Terrain… had not a single Force Crafter. 

Of course, things weren’t so exaggerated. There were plenty of petty ‘Force Crafter’ apprentices who thought to flaunt themselves on weak worlds like theirs. However, even the best of these could only Craft Tier 3 Black treasures at best. 

This shouldn’t be looked down upon, though. Unfortunately, due to such constraints, most of their warriors were outfitted with such weapons. 

But, to put things into perspective, wielding a Tier 3 Black treasure at their current strength was like a soldier of Earth’s 21st century choosing a butter knife as his preferred weapon. 

Force Crafters, as in ones that could actually sway a war of this level, were existences even City Lord White would have to be respectful to. Such existences wouldn’t be caught dead on a world like Terrain and wouldn’t have a reason to come to Earth just yet because such a fledgling world, despite its talent… simply couldn’t afford to compensate them! 

Someone like Leonel who didn’t quite understand the full scope of the Dimensional Verse would still be in the dark about these matters, but Farialice who had seen much of the world most definitely wouldn’t have been. 

Those who had talents to become Force Crafters were one in a billion, and that was only if one took the aggregate of all worlds, both talented and untalented. If one were to look at a world like Terrain, despite their population of tens of billions, it would be impossible to find even one such talent. 

The threshold one needed to reach in Internal Sight was too high. One only needed a smidgen of Internal Sight talent to cultivate Force. But, in order to become a Crafter, one would need to, at the very least, be capable of forming One Star of Leonel’s Three Star Constitution!

As though this wasn’t enough to prove the rarity, just having the talent wasn’t even the minimum threshold one needed to meet. 

Why would a Force Crafter easily divulge the secrets of his or her Crafts? Why would they disseminate their techniques and the product of their years of research without a price?

One with talent might have the capability to become a Crafter, but whether one would truly be able to succeed would be dependent on whether you had the connections to learn what it is one would need to!

The more Farialice thought about it, the stronger her clashes with Crakos became, the more blood leaked from her lips, the more confused she seemed to become. 

It was impossible. It shouldn’t be possible. How could Earth have such a thing?

They must have traded for these weapons with their Zone rewards. Yes, that must be it. That had to be it. 

Though Farialice thought this far, she knew her attempts at calming her heart were just foolish. 

How could Camelot, who just became a part of Earth, have had time to clear enough Zones to gather so many weapons…?

A sharp pain shot through Farialice’s chest. She looked down, stunned before looking up toward Crakos with a defiant glare. 

Unfortunately, unlike the rest of her counterparts, the façade of White City cracked just a margin with her. Behind that gaze, the roots of despair had already sunk their claws in.