Chapter 2221: Who?

Leonel's hand squeezed down, and the quartz in his fingers shattered. The only thing he had done was dig into his memories and replicate the chemical structure of the token of entry, and he had actually been let in just like that. It seemed that he was correct.

His Crafting ability had taken another enormous leap forward. He had already felt that he was no worse than the Life Grade Ancestors of this Incomplete World, but now he felt that he had definitely surpassed them firmly. In fact, they probably couldn't be said to even be in the same class any longer.

And yet, he felt that he had only just entered the threshold of his father's level. In fact, saying so might be overestimating himself far too much.

Leonel closed his eyes and subconsciously took out the dictionary. He hadn't been able to bring himself to even look at it in recent days, but for some reason it now gave him a great deal of comfort. Whereas in the past it was like a reminder that his father was out there somewhere and couldn't be by his side, now that he understood more of how it worked, he felt far more at ease with it in his palm.

When he opened his eyes again, they were sharp, and the dictionary had vanished.

"Since you're here, why don't you say anything?"

A laughter rang out, but Leonel couldn't help but frown. This laughter sounded too familiar. Others might find it charismatic, but he knew a fake laughter when he heard it. It was probably the same fake laugh he had been using ever since he was old enough to know that he should probably learn to socialize properly.

The cadence, the tone, the hidden hint of disdain, all impossibly subtle and yet one that he was intimately familiar with all the same.

Why was there a recording of his laughter here?

"My, my, my, I really am an arrogant prick."

Leonel's gaze flickered. It was richer, a bit deeper, a bit more wizened, but he was certain as well. That was definitely his voice. He would easily remember the voice of a person he had met just a single time, let alone his very own voice. It was impossible that he wouldn't recognize it.

"I don't seem to like to follow rules either, it seems. You know, you're supposed to wait until all of the roads can be filled before you enter this trial world. Wouldn't it be too unfair if you can just walk through unchallenged now?"

Leonel still didn't respond. For some reason, he found his own voice incredibly annoying. He had already concluded that this person was trying to mess with him. It would probably be trivial for an existence that could create [Dimensional Cleanse] to change their voice.

"When I'm speaking, you listen."

The voice became a biting cold, and a piercing pain threatened to run right through Leonel's chest. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to a knee, his eyes bulging.

"Man," the voice became light and cheery again, "is this considered masochism? Well, I've done far worse to my body in these years, this is probably the least of them, it probably wouldn't even deserve to be ranked last."

Leonel clenched his chest, the pain only slowly fading. It felt as though it had been done on purpose.

"This is the only real way I can communicate with my younger self. Jokes aside, I already expected myself to figure out how to enter this place alone, if I can't do it, then probably no one but my old man could.

"You probably won't believe it, we're stubborn like that, and ironically quite foolish, especially now. You'll probably do many stupid things between now and the moment you snap out of it. Going through a teenage angst at 26 is a bit embarrassing, don't you think? The only stain on my record, honestly.

"Unfortunately, everyone else is too weak. Maybe if I suffered a loss or two, it would have happened sooner, but I can't blame the world for being too incompetent."

Leonel was frowning. This arrogant prick was far too annoying. He remembered the first time he had learned about [Dimensional Cleanse], the introduction practically made him roll his eyes. In fact, he had called this bastard narcissistic back then, those were his exact words. It seemed that he was even worse in person.

"I haven't appeared to give you a boon or anything, in my opinion it would be better if you fall flat on your face soon, maybe even die a few times. I'm really only here to tell you two things.

"First, because of your stubbornness, Tolliver entered this world and is currently fused with the last barrier of this Trial World. I originally built this in to stop most others aside from myself from reaching the final leg, but in usual fashion you've gone and screwed it up for yourself. Since you're smart, you figure out a way to separate them unless you want to kill your own Metal Spirit. Or don't, I don't really care. I'm sure your father would be proud."

Leonel's gaze went red. One of the very first lessons he had learned from his father's dictionary was that Metal Spirits were partners, not tools. But that didn't mean that this person could just casually mention his father like that.

However, the moment his gaze went red, that suffocating pressure descended again, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood, almost passing out entirely.

"Second, you had better take this seriously. Despite what I've said, you think about why I would still make this world to help a far lesser version of myself out."

After this, the voice completely vanished along with the pressure.

His meaning was quite obvious. This was a world filled with Vital Star Force. Though Leonel used it offensively, it was also the reason for his exceptional stamina, aside from his Lineage Factor, of course...

What else could this world be used for if not helping increase Leonel's chances of saving someone?

If his future self had already admitted that saving his father was impossible... then who was he intending to save with all of this effort?