Dimensional Descent

[Bonus chapter courtesy of Fire2112 (aka Firemonster) <3 5/6]

Leonel had a lot of work to do and a lot of things on his mind. Usually, he would probably go tick off those boxes one by one. One would think that a tranquil confidence would make you ignore much of everything, and sometimes it worked like that for Leonel... and at other times, it made him somewhat of a stoic workaholic.

His laziness often came into play when he didn't have direction. But when he did, he could likewise easily lose himself until he grasped something entirely.

At a time like this, where he could so clearly see the list before him...

Give Forgetful Orbs to Eamon and Goggles...Check on his brothers...Break into the Fourth Dimension with his newfound Evolution Ores...Finish up the last of his father's lessons on Crafting and finally comprehend this world a bit more...

... he would usually jump right into that list of things, maybe losing himself for months as though he hadn't just come out of a true instance of life and death.

It was an unhealthy sort of expression of focus, the kind that he didn't really want in his life anymore.

There was no "end goal" here. It constantly felt that with every step he took, another domino would fall and another challenge would rear its ugly head.

It was the Humans, then it was the Demons, then it was the other Races, then it was the Demi-Gods, then it was the Gods, then it was the God Beasts, then it was Existence itself literally blinking like a ticking time bomb.

When would it stop?

The answer was that it probably never would. In that meandering sort of tranquility, he laser-focused on one task after another, not minding how long they went for or even how difficult they were. He just needed that next high, that next victory...

But then what kind of life would he be living? If the end goal was the end of Existence itself, if it was so likely that he would ultimately fail in the end, then what was he wasting his time doing?

about when that other shoe would drop; he could never have any way of knowing because he'd be

really live, really feel

and smell the roses

bringing him back one day hadn't vanished. But

he would use this as an excuse to leave and go disappear

time he just stood there, looking at her

beautiful. Not because of Aina, though that added some bias to it. But rather because of the soft grass, the wildflowers, the small lake

it was about to

later but Aina suddenly opened her eyes.

seemed that she had also gotten used to him leaving while she was in the middle

he hadn't moved an inch. It was only when she was rounding up a series of

at him deeply for a

something dangerous again then came back with a smile on his face as though nothing at all had happened. She probably couldn't have even imagined how dangerous

don't you look nice?" Leonel said

Leonel's oversized white t-shirts and alternated between a choice of shorts or leggings. She still very much preferred Earth's style of dress, and she wasn't the biggest fan of formal dressing. Why the people of these Bubbles

up to Leonel's mom to force him to wear something

Wars together. She had to admit that

a woman, you should at least be a little clever about

to pick up other women?" Leonel asked