After grasping an initial mastery of Dream Sense, Leonel realized just how much freedom he had in this regard.
While he could diverge his senses by separating his mind, if he instead chose to layer and concentrate his senses instead, he could cause a convergent response instead.
In the end, this meant that Leonel was suddenly capable of both dulling and magnifying his senses by several times, all of which was limited by the number of Dream Clones he could form.
On the surface, this wasn't very important, but the applications Leonel could think of were practically endless.
For one, if Leonel had the ability to dull his pain in this fashion, he wouldn't have struggled nearly as much to open the Ninth Door of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. By extension, if Leonel applied his higher pain threshold to other training methods, he could force his body to withstand much more than it previously could.
Though the idea of suffering through pain and tempering one's will power sounded nice, this was something that could only appear in fantasy novels.
The human body had strict limits on the pain it could withstand for a reason. Going beyond these limits often meant the shutting down of one's body regardless of how much 'will power' you had. Pushing past these limits was often impossible, not for lack of will power, but simply due to lack of feasibility.
At the same time, however, these thresholds were often lower than they could be. This made sense, if one's body only shut down when at the very edge of breaking down, it might no longer be possible to pull back.
But, like this, Leonel would be able to use his own senses to look for his body's breaking point and choose a safe point to stop before then. This ultimately gave Leonel far more control over his own body.
Still, the applications of this were far beyond just dulling pain.
If Leonel applied this skill to his Internal Sight, for example, he could make it several times more sensitive than it had been in the past. This could not only make his calculations more detailed and accurate, it would also be almost impossible for someone to slip by his senses.
Applied in this way, Leonel could layer his vision to gain more details in a single look, he could layer his sense of touch to make his fingers more sensitive during Force Crafting, he could even layer his sense of taste to make food tastier if he so chose to.
The potential applications were almost endless.
When Leonel realized this his mind seemed to implode. It wasn't with pain, but rather felt as though a door had been thrust open to him.
Leonel sent all his focus into his arms, first separating his mind to control them independently then layering them once again to multiply this same control.
The instant he finished this, his finger speed hitched for a moment before it felt as though they broke past a barrier.
His movements became smoother and more fluid, his control over Little Tolly reaching unprecedented heights.
'This is it… Superior Grade One Designation…'
Leonel's hand coordination and speed had been stuck at Advanced Grade One designation for a long time. Thanks to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he was effectively as good as someone who had already stepped into Superior Grade One designation, but it hadn't been a true breakthrough just yet… until just now.
Looking down at his bloodied hands, orchestrating the movements of thin lines of silver like a conductor guiding a voluminous sonata, he couldn't help but laugh.
This feeling, he had never expected it to feel so good.
Leonel's confidence shot through the roof. He finally felt as though his body could keep up with his mind.
It was almost as though his own body had become one of his familiars as well. He controlled it no differently than he took control of Little Tolly and Little Blackstar.
The two necklaces before Leonel seemed to magically and seamlessly fuse into two.
In the blink of an eye, Leonel completed a task he had spent several days on.
The Treading Goddess Necklace became more resplendent, exuding a silvery aura.
Without looking to the side, Leonel locked onto a Soul Type Ore from the Vein and Vessel piles.
Leonel had already long since picked these two Ores out. If he wanted to give this necklace a sensory boost, this was the only way.
The Vessel Ore was known as Ghost Whispering Ore. It had the ability to continuously absorb and purify Force into Soul Force. It was born in places with exceptionally dark energy and due to this ability to 'create' Soul Force, it became known as the ghost Ore.
The Vein Ore was known as Soul Pulsing Ore. When fed an appropriate amount of Soul Force, it had the ability to amplify it. But, what made it so useful was the fact it was able to resonate with whoever marked it, thus effectively become an extension of this person's own Soul Force.
Due to this Ore's sensitivity to souls and their resonance, it gave whoever fused with it an equally great sensitivity to the resonance of other Souls in proportion to how much Soul Force it was provided with.
When these two Ores came together… The results were exponentially greater.
By Leonel's previous estimates, it would have taken him at least a weak to finish the integration of these two Ores without disrupting the balance of the remainder of the treasure. After all, the more moving parts a treasure had, the more complex it was and the more difficult it was to succeed in Crafting.
Yet, Leonel now felt a confidence he never had before. He felt as though the entire world was in his hands.
The communication between one's brain and their body was a limiting factor to everyone. This was why endless training was necessary to breakdown the body and force it to understand the tasks the brain wanted it to complete.
But, for the current Leonel, at least within certain limitations, he could control his body to the finest detail on the very first try.
All of his mental prowess was concentrated into his hands. As though each joint had become a node to be controlled at his whim, he took hold of his own body like it was a puppet on strings.
Bend to my will!