Leonel sat in the carriage completely expressionless as though he couldn't sense the numerous glares coming at him from the outside.
The truth was that if he was a bit less thick skinned, he would be embarrassed as well. He was currently the only man within the carriage and the reason for this was quite embarrassing as well.
… He really hated riding horses.
Leonel sat in a corner to himself, ignoring the fragrance that hung in the air. He had never been very moved by such things to begin with. Even the beautiful Mistress Heira only caught his attention for a moment before he didn't glance her way again.
Indeed, she was quite beautiful. In fact, it seemed that Leonel would meet a new most beautiful woman he had ever seen every other month. It was as though they all grew on trees and were being picked for him in terms of quality.
But, Leonel knew that the truth was that the more powerful the woman, the more beautiful they seemed to be. This was likely just a matter of evolution.
Heira, though, seemed to be particularly fairy-like.
A head of flowing white hair, two crystal-like, shimmering blue eyes, a delicately sculpted nose… Everything down from the slight blush of her cheeks to the slenderness of her fingers were all perfectly sculpted to enrapture a man.
It somehow made Leonel think of Aina, not for their similarities, but for their differences.
Leonel's memory of Aina wasn't as beautiful. In fact, even when Aina wore dresses and portrayed the image of a shy, reserved lady, he had always noticed her tanned skin.
Of course, on Earth, women took tanning as a trend, at least in the western parts of the world. This was a trend that held strong from the 21st century even to this current point.
But, Leonel knew that Aina wasn't the type of person to artificially tan herself or lounge out in the sun. Subconsciously, he always knew that her tan must have come from something else. In fact, it was precisely because of Aina's tan that Leonel first became interested in her and his curiosity eventually got the best of him.
Lost in thought, Leonel suddenly smiled. It seemed he missed her quite a lot. He longed to fight side by side with her again.
Those warriors who caught sight of Leonel's smile through the window were stunned before feeling furious again, especially when they saw that Rie and Syl had entered somewhat of a daze.
Leonel didn't seem to notice the reactions of the others around him as he closed his eyes, entering a state of meditation as he allowed the little mink to cuddle in his arms. At that moment, it seemed as though the air around him had subtly changed.
Though he wanted to ask about what he had just gotten himself into, since Mistress Heira hadn't said a word, he could only remain silent as well. With his Dream World, he could still improve himself without moving an inch.
As Leonel fell into meditation, Rie looked somewhat jealously toward the little mink in his arms, causing Syl to giggle.
"For someone who claims to be scared of him, you sure interact with him a lot." She said teasingly.
Rie pouted. "I just wanted to pet it, why couldn't I just pet it?"
Little Blackstar opened one of its eyes to look at Rie before closing it and ignoring her once again. This disregard almost made her stamp her foot in rage.
Heira remained silent throughout the antics of the two girls, sending a curious gaze toward Leonel.
'Interesting…' She thought, smiling to herself.
…
Leonel's mind fully entered his Dream World. At the moment, he could split his mind nine ways, so he put one to the task of monitoring the surroundings of his main body while the rest immersed themselves.
'I've mastered 300 spears to now… If I want to completely grasp the Chain Domain, I still have 1700 more to go…'
Leonel sighed, it took him months to reach that 300 or so spear mark. It would probably take him years to finish comprehending just a singular spear domain, yet that wasn't even a single percent of the spears within the Spear Domain ring.
'If only I could breakthrough now…'
Leonel knew that his ability was directly tied to his Soul Force. If he broke through to the Fourth Dimension with it, his ability would definitely evolve to an all new level. But, it was simply too dangerous to do this in the wilderness.
This was the real reason Leonel swallowed all of that dew in one go previously. He didn't want to risk running out of Force and having to pull from the atmosphere. If he did, he would have probably been swarmed and died.
Unfortunately, he had no dew left. And, even if he did, the dew wasn't compatible with his Soul Force as it was normal Force. In addition, it was only of the Third Dimension, not the Fourth, so it was completely unhelpful.
Leonel shook his head. If he hadn't been kicked out of the city, this wouldn't have been a problem. But, life wasn't fair.
'Maybe I should just try to Dream Sculpt those Four Seasons Force Arts…?'
Leonel rejected this idea immediately. He would need to bring them out from the snowglobes in order to do this. Someone as sharp as Heira would definitely see through their specialness. By then, it'd be a wonder if he could even keep them.
Leonel wasn't foolish enough to simply believe Heira was a good person just because she was beautiful and had a pleasing voice.
'Then it seems my only option is to focus on comprehending the changes to my body and comprehending more spears…'
Leonel shook his head. There were really too many things limiting him.
'Wait…'
Leonel's gaze suddenly sharpened. He looked up toward the very top of his Dream World, locking eyes with a massive sphere of Force Arts.
With a thought, a spear manifested in Leonel's hands. It was adorned by feathers and seemed quite light to the touch. In addition, it was wildly flexible, waving about at the slightest movement of Leonel's wrist. It felt more like a loose string or a whip than a spear.
This was one of the spears that Leonel had yet to master.
Leonel locked eyes with the spherical Force Art and suddenly brandished the spear. He instantly fell into a state of enlightenment.
What he didn't know was that at the very instant he did, Heira's gaze suddenly shot open like an eagle. The air around Leonel had changed once again.
'Auspicious Air…?'