Leonel sat in a private room, looking at piles of ores that dwarfed his body in size. He had long since finished his work for the day, so he was focused entirely on himself.
Of course, with Leonel's level of skill, he could complete even a Tier 7 weapon in barely ten minutes. As for weapons below that level, he was even faster. Considering how few could actually afford a Tier 7 weapon, he only needed to make a small number a day. So, after about three to four hours, he had already wrapped up.
'My Metal Body is at the lowest Tier 1 right now…'
The meaning behind this was simple. Leonel's body, when his Runes were activated, was as tough as a Tier 1 Fourth Dimensional Ore. Since his foundation was built upon Urbe Ore, the strength of his body scaled along with it.
Normally, it would be very difficult to raise his body beyond this. However, Leonel had the Puppet Master to thank for why this was not the case for him.
After absorbing the Puppet Master's Force and healing his body, Leonel's senses picked up on the changes to his body. Though there was no great change to his strength, the bottlenecks he would have experienced all the way up to the Tier 4 level were completely cleared. All Leonel had been missing to improve were the Ores themselves, and now he had them.
What Leonel had left was a choice of how to progress his Metal Body.
Ultimately, all Metal Bodies were excellent at defense. How could they not be, metals and their ores were among the toughest materials in all of existence. However, this didn't mean that there weren't certain choices to be made.
It had to be remembered that from this point on, Leonel could give himself affinities through his Metal Body and his Divine Armor. His Divine Armor could be considered to be a temporary boost until he switched to a new one. However, his Metal Body was permanent and had to be slowly grown over time.
But, in this way, much of Leonel's choice had already been made for him.
Without a doubt, Leonel's strongest asset was his Innate Force Node and his Scarlet Star Force. However, he couldn't even use it without burning himself from the inside out. The best way to deal with this was obvious:
Leonel needed to refine his body with Star, Light and Fire Elemental Ores until his body could withstand his own strength without imploding.
After consulting with the dictionary and using some of his own deductions and speculations, Leonel came to a decision.
Ores that carried three Elemental characteristics were too rare and often wouldn't' appear in lower Dimensions. As such, he could only choose three separate Ores.
The first was Blazing Night Ore.
Right from the very beginning, if others knew that Leonel actually wanted to absorb such a thing into his body, they'd believe him to be a maniac.
The Ore looked like a crystal with a dancing red-black flame within. Just gazing upon it made one feel as though a shiver was crawling up their spine.
Blazing Night Ore was a Fuel Type ore. Much like how ancient Earth used coal and crude oil, Black Night Ore could fall within such a category of combustible energy as well. It was a favorite of Force Crafters and Force Pill Crafters who might need an extra boost of heat during crucial moments.
The method of using this Ore was quite special. Rather than actually combusting them, they would be rubbed against an abrasive material until the Ore began to give off fine dust particles. These fine dust particles could then be added to a flame in intervals to explosively increase its destructive capability and its heat.
Though a flame seemed to be dancing within the crystal-like exterior, it was nothing more than an illusion. The danger wasn't hidden within, it was the entire Ore itself. If it came into contact with any heat source… BOOM!
Yet, Leonel had an entire pile of them stacked up in front of him in what could only be said to be far from a controlled environment.
The second ore might be even more dangerous than the last. It was known as Refractive Gold.
Living up to its name, Refractive Gold was an exceptionally beautiful ore. Beneath the dark blacks and silvers of Leonel's private room, it seemed to dazzle all the more. But, even Leonel didn't dare to bring it out into the sunlight casually.
Refractive Gold looked like one might imagine a golden crystal to look like. Much like the previous Ore, it too looked a bit transparent. But, whereas Blazing Night Ore's danger was an illusion of the eye, Refractive Gold's danger was completely invisible… until it wasn't.
There was no dancing fire within it, but Refractive Gold had a special structure that could turn even the most benign of light sources into a laser beam capable of obliterating a Tier 4 existence.
If a light was trapped by the Ore just right, it would bounce around its inner mirrors, before concentrating into a beam that would rival even the best of lasers even the current Earth had to offer.
It was safe to say that whoever pioneered the use of this ore as the Vessel Type Ore had to be a powerful individual unafraid of such things.
Finally, there was the final ore. This one was the rarest of the bunch, and though it was nowhere near as dangerous, it was definitely by far the hardest for Leonel to get his hands on despite also being a Fourth Dimensional Ore… Technically.
This Ore was known as Star Core Ore. And, like Urbe Ore, it was not only a Foundational Type Ore that could form the base of any Craft, it also had the same name regardless of its stage of evolution.
This Ore was produced at the Core of any dying star at and above the Fourth Dimension. As one might expect, it could be found in large quantities. But, even still, due to the difficulty of mining this Ore, its price was still sky high.
This Fourth Dimensional Star Core Ore would be the foundation of Leonel's Metal Body.. He would absorb three parts Star Core, two parts Refractive Gold, and one part Blazing Night and shoot to Tier 4 in one sweep.