Dimensional Descent

In a particular room within the Guild House, several elders could be found shaking their heads. Among them, there were the elders who had just given Leonel his certification and Isoltihne. But, at the moment, Isoltihne was like a momma bear who had just witnessed her cub’s tail being stepped on.

”Is this really what we’re doing?! You can just blatantly target one of our own now?!”

”Isol, that’s Shield Cross—”

”I don’t care who it was?!” Isoltihne snapped. ”So anyone can just accuse our Crafters as they please and then target them as long as their fist is large enough? Did you all forget that the Guild has numerous branches just like Shield Cross Stars does?! Why do we have to fear them?!”

The lips of the elders twitched.

”Come on Isol, you know we don’t have the fire power to go against them. Plus, we have a symbiotic relationship.”

”Oh, so you remember that too?! How could they finish their fancy little uniforms without us?! If we put our foot down and refused to Craft any more for them, what do you think would happen?! On top of that, when has a Crafter ever feared someone with power?! We could have destroyed that whole fleet with a press of a button, but you bumbling buffoons didn’t even let me go help Little Leonel!”

”Did you not see?! They brought three Enforcers with them! THREE! Had you gone out, how long do you think you would have lasted?!”

”If you’re a coward, just say so.” Isoltihne sneered.

The elders looked toward one another at a loss for words. She was acting like Leonel was her grandson when they had known each other for all of one day. They couldn’t even reason with her. And, to make matters worse…

”We agree with Isoltihne. It’s one thing if Leonel wasn’t already one of us, but not only is he, he also has our branch’s emblem. Because you all forced us to wait for the Guild Head’s approval, for all we know, his heart might have grown cold toward us.”

This Guild Branch was just one of many not only in the Dimensional Verse, but of the Milky Way as well. There were dozens of branches across just this Galaxy alone. They didn’t particularly care about branches of other galaxies, but they were in constant competition with branches that called this place home alongside them.

The addition of Leonel would have been a great help to them even setting Isoltihne’s clear overprotection aside. When things were framed in that way, they were losing out not just face, but also tangible benefits, all because they took a step back to Shield Cross Stars.

The elders that hadn’t participated in Leonel’s certification suddenly had ugly expressions. They had all seen how Leonel took just a few minutes to complete six Bronze Grade Crafts. Granted, those materials had already been processed, but if they used that as an excuse they would really lose all face.

”What’s all this commotion about? What the hell happened to my gardens?”

An old man who seemed to have a foot in the grave but the mouth of a belligerent teenager strolled in. Despite his frail frame, his presence seemed to command the room. If Leonel had been there, it would have only taken him a moment to realize that this old man was a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence.

”Guild Head!”

The elders respectfully greeted before Isoltihne, as spitefully as she could, recounted the events.

As he listened, the expression of the Guild Head only became darker and darker.

”Shield Cross Stars has a lot of nerve.”

The near growl of the old man made those who realized the complexity of the situation nearly faint. They all knew that the old man treated Isoltihne like his own daughter and had for years, he was too easily influenced by her emotions. If she felt wronged, then he would seek out vengeance for this wrong.

The issue was that there were still dozens of other branches! They couldn’t speak for all of them! In fact, there were most definitely many among those branches that would purposely stand in opposition to them just so they would lose out on a talent like Leonel.

The more this blew up, the more disadvantageous it would become to them, especially if they took too hard of a stance. Doing such a thing would give their enemies license to counter.

”Don’t worry Little Isol, our Golden Path Branch isn’t made up of pushovers!”

”Ah…”

At that moment, an older man who sat in a corner to himself, not having participated until just now suddenly cleared his throat. Seeing him finally about to do something, the others sighed in relief. Isoltihne and Jacreak, the Guild Head, were like two, highly combustible, bundles of TNT. This older man, though without their status, had always been the voice of reason.

”Elder Lumin, please advise!” An elder said quickly before anyone could interrupt.

Lumin coughed lightly.

”We should toe the line. Going directly against Shield Cross Stars is inadvisable, that this doesn’t mean that the only other option is to be in lockstep with them.

”Hold a ceremony to induct Leonel as one of our own. His name should appear amongst our Crafters and as a member of our Golden Path Branch.

”However, we also don’t need to explain our actions to Shield Cross Stars. We are simply following the rules of our Guild. We allow people in based on skill, not their criminal record. This way, Leonel will know where we stand and Shield Cross Stars also won’t go too far. If they try to upgrade him to a Tier 3 Fugitive now, this matter might blow up in their faces.

”At the same time, this will give Leonel free access to enter any of our Guild Branches without issue. If he’s as smart as I believe he is, he will know what kind of opportunity that is and he will take advantage. If he plays this well, then the other branches will have no choice but to stand on our side whether they want to or not.”

Once he finished saying these words, Elder Lumin returned to his nap leaving the other elders gazing toward one another.

[Important Note: Author down... if my wrists had eyes, they’d be crying right now. I must have tweaked it some time yesterday and not writing feels like I’m being pricked a thousand needles. There’ll only be one more chapter today as a result, I’m hoping it’ll be better tomorrow. It doesn’t seem like too bad of an injury]