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?

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

really live, really feel everything you should be

stop and smell

had lost his father, and his hopes of bringing him back one day

he would use this as an excuse to leave and go disappear for another few weeks before he remembered to check up on her

he just stood there,

But rather because of the soft grass, the wildflowers, the small lake of

smelled almost like it was about to rain, and

least an hour later but Aina suddenly opened her eyes. She turned

that she had also gotten used to him leaving while she

moved an inch. It was only when she was rounding up a series of breakthroughs that

him

face as though nothing at all had happened. She probably couldn't have even imagined how dangerous it had been,

look nice?"

herself. Her clothing was pretty simple nowadays, she just wore one of 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

him to wear something more prim and proper because Aina certainly wouldn't

for that time they entered the Heir Wars together. She had to admit that that was

you should at least be a little clever about it.

to pick