"You're making another gun? Didn't you say you preferred your bow?"
Aina, who had seemingly decided to not leave Leonel's side ever since she learned he might very well be in danger soon, was watching Leonel Craft for the first time.
Well, this wasn't necessarily the first time. She had been in the vicinity before, but this could be considered the first time all her attention was on him completely. Usually, when the two were working in the same room, they would be in their own worlds. But this time was different.
"I didn't have the skill to make anything better than a bow in the past." Leonel replied. "But this doesn't mean I'm abandoning my bow."
Leonel had far more flexibility with a bow than he ever would with a gun. The maneuvers he could make, most of which relied on his ridiculous coordination and calculation abilities, would always be beyond anything he could do with a gun no matter how he built it. Sometimes the most ancient way to do something was the best way for a reason.
However, there was a reason the gun had surpassed the bow, at least on Earth.
For one, the learning curve was far steeper. And secondly, the power would never be able to match up.
In the past, Leonel had reached an odd state where his Crafting skill wasn't high enough to surpass his personal strength, thus resulting in him not being capable of creating things that would truly help him in battle.
He quickly outgrew his pair of pistols. He couldn't form consumable items he found worth using in battle. And, the ultimate almost 'slap' to his face as a Crafter was his Spear Domain Ring.
If there was one Lineage Factor Leonel always neglected before he spent two years diligently breaking down and rebuilding his weaknesses, it was his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. But, there was a very good reason for this.
When you had access to spears of a quality far beyond what anyone else had, it became too easy to rely on them.
Just think about it, Leonel had access to Quasi Bronze spears before he could even make a Tier 5 Craft. And now, he could pull out a Quasi Silver spear with a thought, but he had yet to even successfully Craft his first Fifth Dimensional Craft.
When it came to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, following the branches and sub-branches was as easy as just choosing a path on a forked road to follow.
When it came to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it was even simpler. Just choose your Ores to absorb and break open those layered, chained doors when the time was right. It couldn't have been more straight forward.
But what about his Spear Domain Lineage Factor? How did he measure his progress? Was it by mastering more spears? Was it by strengthening his way of the spear? Was it by improving his Domains?
Leonel even felt that he had learned and understood more about his King's Might Lineage Factor in just the few days he had had it than he fad for his Spear Domain Lineage Factor even with years more time.
His King's Might was simple as well. It gave an amplification to all his abilities with an emphasis on his Domains and his aura or presence. As for how to improve it, that was even simpler: Just increase his burden. The more people who trusted and relied on him, the more people who were loyal to him, the more powerful his King's Might would become.
One would think that the best way to improve Spear Domain was just to conquer more spears within the Spear Domain ring. After all, the Lineage Factor stemmed from this mysterious ring, right? In fact, the ring was able to appear within the Zone while even the Segmented Cube hadn't been able to, so it was likely even more unfathomable than Leonel knew.
But Leonel didn't believe things were this simple.
For one, doing so ended him relying too much on the strength of his weapon. And secondly, there was an elephant in the room he hadn't addressed.
There were billions of Morales family members. Among them, there were many who had awoken their Spear Domain Lineage Factor. But, there was obviously only one ring.
So how had they improved theirs?
The next logical answer was with Universe Cycles. Wasn't that how everyone improved their skill whether it be with a weapon or an Element?
However this only made it more complicated for Leonel. His Universal Cycle comprehension wasn't tethered to a single weapon or Element. He had grasped it to its purest form and could apply it to anything, which left his spear in somewhat of a limbo.
The current Leonel, though, believed that he had grasped onto something. It had taken time, but he just might have carved out a path ahead.
That said, though, his current focus was entirely on his new gun. Well, it was less accurate to call it a gun and more accurate to say that it was a sniper rifle. With the design he had in mind, it would be a behemoth of epic proportions.
What he needed wasn't a gun that could deal with canon fodder. What he needed was a steel giant that could blast a hole the size of a barrel through the chest of a Fifth Dimensional expert.
One would think that in the two years spent without Little Tolly or Crafting, Leonel's skill would have diminished, or, at the very least, remained stagnant. However, this couldn't have been further from the truth.
In a world with nothing to do and weeks, even months passing between battles, Leonel had nothing but time on his hands. There was no Aina to distract him, no drama to take up his mental faculties, and a mind that was constantly strengthening its ability to split everyday.
Not only had he conquered all of the Quasi Bronze spears in his Spear Domain ring, but he had lost count of the number of Crafts he had completed in his Dream World.
Even when he couldn't get his hands on Fifth Dimensional Ores to work on, he simulated their characteristics using the information he new about them to an almost 99% threshold toward perfection.
Leonel's skill had long since crossed into the Realms of a Bronze Crafter. As for his limits, he wasn't sure. But, he would definitely be using the Fifth Dimensional Ores the Valiant Heart elders so graciously gave him to give his enemies a good surprise.
Leonel didn't know, though, that he'd be receiving a surprise of his own very soon as well.