Aphestus sat on a meditation pillar that stood five meters tall. One leg dangled over the edge while he brought his other knee to his chest. His gaze peered over the ledge, gazing upon the few that had come to report matters to him.
This seemingly ordinary pillar was actually one of the resources that youths of Valiant Heart pined over. Yet, Aphestus was using it as a casual sitting stool, not even practicing Force as one would expect.
However, at this moment, the few beneath him didn't have the luxury of thinking about how wasteful their vice leader was being.
Seeing that crooked smile that hung on Aphestus' face, with their experience, they could tell that he was just a step away from blowing his lid.
"… We… We tried our best to cut them down, vice leader. But, for some reason, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't. There's some weird space distortion around the tree… As best as we can tell… If someone more powerful than us doesn't go…"
The words of the young man were cut off by Aphestus' laughter.
"You want someone more powerful to go? Someone recognizable maybe? Somewhat of a genius that everyone has seen before?"
Aphestus laughed even more.
He felt as though he was getting out of character in just this past day. Often times, humans fell into the trap of doing something they never would. But, instead of backtracking after they realized they had made a mistake, they rather chose to double down, causing them to continue down a rabbit hole of doing things they wouldn't ever usually do.
Maybe Aphestus had fallen into this very hole.
Him? Spending time on a rookie? What an absolute joke.
If it wasn't for the precarious time they were in, he wouldn't have even been sent to personally recruit anyone. Even though Aina had activated the pillars on her first try, Hero Peak wasn't short of individuals who had done exactly that.
In fact, while Aina had succeeded in climbing the mountain pass that had been nerfed under the presence of the elders, there were no shortage of people on Hero Peak who had succeeded under the full brunt of the pillar's strength.
Yet, over this semi-decent talent, he had actually landed himself in such a situation. It was quite pathetic.
This matter would be over as easily as him taking action personally, but that would only make a matter he thought was insignificant to begin with even worse.
How could he not be furious? It was as though he had tried to squash an ant, only for it to survive and shit into his food later. It was infuriating.
"What a good little brat." Aphestus chuckled, the Force around him trembling as his muscles ripple like they had a mind of their own.
"Leave them up there for all I care. They can bleed to death."
Aphestus rose his dangling leg, entering a state and posture of meditation. Hidden patterns on the pillar he sat upon began to glow, causing a typhoon of Force to form around him.
The youths at the bottom of the pillar looked at one another, not knowing what to do. But in the end, they could only leave. None of them dared to disturb Aphestus while he was in meditation.
'I don't need to do anything any longer. Speaking the name of Hero Peak so casually was already enough to seal your fate.'
…
As the commotions was only growing as more and more people attempted and failed to take the trio down from the tree, Leonel had entered his home for the next small while.
As one might expect, the accommodations for rookies weren't exactly lavish. And, since Leonel had given the Segmented Cube to Aina, he could only make do with what he had.
The only things Leonel had taken with him out of the Cube were his feather pen and Little Tolly.
Leonel didn't expect to be barred from seeing Aina. Even if he was, he didn't plan on taking it lying down. He had given her those things as though they might separate only so that she could focus on her training.
Leonel knew how important it was to her, so he decided to give her some time to focus on those things. As for him, his goal here wasn't exactly to become stronger. Though, that might happen as a by-product, his main goal was to gather resources.
The second reason Leonel had given Aina the Segmented Cube was because he believed that she would likely have a better training environment than he did. Only in a place like that would the Segmented Cube be able to grow faster.
'Resources, resources, resources…'
Leonel eyed his small bed and narrow window toward the outside. He hadn't gotten to experience college, but he felt like it wouldn't be much different from this at all. Though, his accommodations would have probably been better as a Five Start Quarterback…
'I guess the first thing I should do is focus on healing myself.'
Leonel made a decision. He couldn't keep running around like this.
It seemed like his worst injury were his cracked ribs, but the truth was that his burnt inner organs had something to say about that.
He really hadn't expected that using his Scarlet Star Force would have such a drastic impact on him, but now he had to deal with the consequences.
'I've already tried to improve [Grand Heal] as best I can… But it definitely can't heal me and is nowhere near good enough to heal coach. Maybe…'
Leonel took a deep breath. The last time he looked at the core of Merlin's Trial World, he almost passed out. But, since then, he had crossed into the peak of the Fourth Dimension with his Soul Force. Maybe he stood more of a chance now.
His only path forward seemed to be that complex world of Force Arts.
Leonel began to cast numerous spells to lock down the defenses of his small room and shelter him from distractions from the outside.
He had no idea the kind of surprise he was in for.. And, even worse than that, he had no idea the kind of commotion his sudden disappearance would cause either.