Dimensional Descent

The Spirituals actually had a very hard time progressing their Forces. The trouble was that it was a matter of relativity.

The Spirituals had exceptionally high affinity, but in comparison, their progress was slow. Due to this, while they seemed to be much faster than other Mortal Races, if this ratio was taken into account, they were actually quite a bit slower.

Leonel’s progress was the perfect benchmark for this. It had only been three years at most since he learned about Force Manipulation and the levels of Forces, and yet in that time he had gone from an Unfurled State, through the Impetus States, and now had a hoard of Life State Forces at his beck and call.

Of course, not every Spiritual had an affinity as high as Leonel’s own; that was ridiculous. However, at least in some aspects, they were certainly his match.

Earth Force was likely the best example of this. Leonel’s Earth Force affinity was high, but not as exaggerated as his Fire Force or Dream Force affinity. Yet, after he grasped some understanding of it, it rocketed to the Peak of the Impetus State and entered the Life State not long afterward.

Comparatively speaking, the number of Earth Force Life State experts in the whole of the Spirituals Empire could be counted. While it wasn’t a small number, it certainly wouldn’t exceed the hundreds.

Why were the Spirituals so limited compared to their true potential? It all came down to their existence itself.

Spirituals were born as souls and could only construct their bodies after birth. Everyone seemed to be well aware of the benefits of having a separated soul, but no one mentioned the obvious other side of that coin.

Having a powerful body was just as important as having a separated soul.

While it seemed like Spirituals hit the jackpot, their greatest weakness was still their bodies. It wasn’t easy to just construct a body that had perfect compatibility with your soul, and even if you did, the connection between them would still be a problem.

The soul was the connection to the Second Dimension, but the body was what anchored a person in this world. Without good communication between the two, you would inevitably suffer.

The only way for a Spiritual to shed this weakness was by creating a perfect body…

The Pure Blood Body.

This was what separated normal Spirituals from the Pure Bloods. Normal Spirituals would never be able to shed this weakness, but Pure Bloods would be able to reach an enlightened state later in their lives where they would not only escape this weakness entirely but also explode forth with accumulated momentum.

There was a catch, however…

In order to benefit from that sudden explosive increase in strength, a Pure Blood had to first reach the Creation State. Only like this would it be possible.

The Emberheart Lady had been accumulating for years, slowly crawling forward inch by inch, and she could finally sense her breakthrough on the horizon. Leonel wasn’t the only one that had benefited from their fierce back and forth.

Of course, like she had said, just because she could sense a breakthrough to the Peak Life State didn’t mean the Creation State was close. That step was one that most would never be able to take in their entire lives. But there was a reason she was so confident.

“I can do it…”

Her gaze flickered with determination. It was the most emotion she had shown in these last several months, but it was well worth it.

She had accumulated a large number of Forgetful Orbs over the last several millennia. She had never used them, not once.

So long as she could make it to the Quasi Creation State, her Pure Blood lineage should kick in, at least in part. That would carry her the rest of the way.

After that, she would have an explosive increase in strength, and it wouldn’t be long before she formed a Dharma. In a few years at most, she could be able to form an Idol and become a God.

At that point, she could take advantage of her new status to crush whoever was working in the background.

She was certain this person wasn’t a God; there were rules that had to be abided by, and anyone strong enough to ignore them wouldn’t be messing with a small Mortal Race like theirs.

Once one became a God, they had to ascend to the God Worlds and leave their Race behind. There would also be a pact of non-interference signed.

It was learned long ago that a God’s intervention in Mortal matters actually sped up the descent of the Northern Star. This was a large part of why the culling wasn’t acted upon by the Gods personally and also why a Neutral Faction existed among the Gods. If not for this reality, it was more likely that most Gods would be in favor of a culling.

However, there was a buffer period between when one became a God and when one had no choice but to ascend. In that time, one could set their affairs in order…

And it was exactly this buffer that the Emberheart Lady wanted to take advantage of…

No, it was the one she would take advantage of. Whoever was scheming in the dark would pay a price for all of this.

Without a word, the Emberheart Lady took a step and vanished, choosing to enter a period of focused seclusion.

…

Leonel stood with his eyes closed, his breathing even.

He suddenly opened them and looked toward Eamon and Goggles with a grin.

“Ready?”

The two of them were aware of what happened after the first challenge and couldn’t help but feel nervous. They didn’t really understand why Leonel was doing this, but their Dream Force was also far too weak for Leonel to explain anything to them. He barely got used to telling things to his wife, let alone them.

“Let’s go. It’ll be fun.”

Eamon felt sweat beading across his forehead. Why was this man always so eager about life and death situations?