Dimensional Descent

Aina’s hair fluttered, dancing in the wind.

The first time Leonel saw her break free of her curse, Aina’s hair had grown to the point it was practically a river of its own, long to the point it graced the ground.

Quite frankly, Leonel really liked Aina’s long hair, though she herself preferred it short mostly for maintaining peak efficiency in combat. Even so, she had always kept it long thanks to him, though not as long as previously.

Right now, her hair reached the small of her back, but that was still more than enough for it to be akin to a sea as it was carried around by the wind like that.

Soon, her aura settled down and she exhaled a breath. She opened her eyes and a blinding flash of gold rippled before it too settled down.

“How is it?” Leonel asked, observing Aina. Obviously, she had succeeded in the technique, but he wanted to know the details.

When Leonel first gained his ability to simulate, they weren’t perfect. Sometimes, he would only have barely 50% accuracy, sometimes even less. Although it was still a great help to him even in those situations, he knew that it could be much better.

By this point, he was no longer the Leonel of the past, and as such, his Dream Simulations were truly top tier. It was even more so when all the variables in question were just the single person before him rather than some wide ranging event with countless variables.

However, it was truly impossible to form a Dream Simulation with 100% accuracy. Doing so would be akin to him reading the future or predicting it. Although Goggles could do some of that, it wasn’t perfect either, and even if it was, it wasn’t Leonel’s ability anyway.

That said, there was definitely a higher than 99% accuracy, followed by a long string of 9’s for this particular Simulation. However, those tiny errors on the edges could cause steamrolling effects if they weren’t handled.

It could be said that the real reason Leonel was okay with taking this risk was because the Reincarnation wasn’t meant to be perfect to begin with. In fact, its strength lay in the slightly different paths you’d take after each “reset”. So, even if Aina’s attempt was a little imperfect, it wouldn’t ruin her.

After a long while, Aina nodded.

“It’s good. There were tiny, insignificant changes I needed to make here and there, but I already accounted for that.”

Leonel raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

Aina grinned. “What do you take me for?”

Leonel scoffed. “I took you for a woman who trusted me, but it seems like you went off and did your own thing. Now I’m hurt.”

Aina laughed and explained.

It seemed that she had baked in a hint of leeway in her Force Crafting Pills that allowed her to adjust the amount and mount their effects in differing locations depending on the changes that happened in the moment.

She had made the same conclusion that Leonel had and realized that her Reincarnation didn’t need to be perfect.

“So how much more powerful do you feel?” Leonel asked.

Aina looked down at her palms. “… A lot,” she finally replied. “I don’t think the past me would last a few moves. I planned to take years to get to this point. Reforging my foundation while in the Seventh Heaven was very, very difficult. But I already fixed everything I wanted to fix already.”

“What do you think, do you want to do a second Reincarnation right now?”

Aina shook her head, quite decisive this time.

“I think it would be a waste.”

“Oh?”

“I think what I got out of doing just one is probably far more than most people, and that’s because I really took time to study myself. Although I have Clairvoyance for my body and soul, it’s all still relative. I can see exactly what I need to do to reach the Ninth Dimension, but I don’t see the perfect way yet.”

Aina looked toward Leonel, hoping that he would understand. And of course, he did.

This was why Aina had to create one Force Pill, wait for Leonel to adjust the simulation, and then create the next.

It was very easy for her Clairvoyance to see one step ahead, two steps even, but the further she got from her baseline, the fuzzier the lines became.

At the same time, the further ahead she moved, the better she was able to recontextualize all the efforts she had made until then.

The reason Aina wanted to wait was because the changes she had made to her Path just now were all things it had taken her years to gather up and deduce. While a second Reincarnation would benefit her, without those years of momentum behind it she would be wasting her potential.

It was better to allow her current strength to sit and stew for a while longer as she continued to improve herself at the margins. Then, when she felt a sudden flash of inspiration about a next step to take, then she could jump in with both feet.

Leonel nodded. “Your Path is very interesting. I’m not sure if you can think of something that tops it or matches it in the future, but at least for now I agree with you. I already felt that you were strong enough to reach the top 100, by this point it’s already overkill but that’s not bad either.”

Aina smiled. “I think there’s some potential for keeping your soul fused with your body. Evolution does make mistakes, though. So we’ll see how far I can take it. It feels good for now.”

Leonel supported it, honestly. Who knew, maybe one day Aina’s methods would become something the entire Human Race could use to rise again.

“It’s your turn now, right?” Aina said, rubbing her hands together.

“… Why do you look so excited?”

“Can’t a wife want to help her husband?”

Soon, Leonel’s screams filled the Pavilion.