Chapter 2408: Hell

Leonel had, of course, not sent Aina into the jaws of danger just to distract everyone.

He had been noticing the odd gazes of the old woman for quite a while now, and she seemed a hint hostile toward Aina.

In the past, or namely when they first met, Leonel hadn't been able to grasp any of the woman's thoughts at all. Even now, it was difficult to do so, but he could nibble at the edges.

When it came to her truest, most secret thoughts, those were well guarded. But Mo''Lexi never found a reason to hide her dislike of Aina, and that dislike only grew every time she saw that Leonel was working while Aina was "unexpectedly" absent.

Of course, that old woman couldn't possibly understand the kind of relationship he and Aina had. From her perspective, Aina was taking advantage of Leonel thanks to her beauty.

What was odd to Leonel was that an old lady like this, who seemed so "adorable," was willing to get mad about this matter, but somehow also willing to turn the lives of so many into that of farm animals for her gain.

There were really only one of three reasons for this, all of which could be exploited by Leonel.

Either she had something in her personal past that mirrored what she was seeing from Aina, she was just an outright hypocrite, or she felt like their sacrifice was "worthy" for the sake of the whole human race.

Either way, it didn't matter.

The "Aina" that was sent on a date with Bogrum was one of her abilities as a Blood Sovereign. The level of clones that she could create with her blood were impossibly lifelike, and it was practically impossible for even someone with Life State Dream Force to tell that it was fake.

Aina didn't usually use these clones because she preferred to fight herself and she didn't very much like her Blood Sovereign abilities despite warming up to it in recent months. So, it could be said that she was doubly mad at Leonel, one for using her, and two for making her use such an ability.

The clones were quite useful aside from fooling people.

They could be used in conjunction with escape, but most importantly, if Aina went all out, she could even create up to three clones that had 90% of her battle strength.

This clone, in particular, only had 50%, though. Leonel would have asked her to make a weaker one if possible, but the unfortunate truth was that if she made it any weaker, it could be possible for someone with Impetus State Dream Force like Leonel or Mo''Lexi to see through them.

All of this set the stage perfectly for Leonel. It could be said that the first half of his plan had already gone smoothly, and if it came to it, he and Aina could just escape from here.

But then what?

Humans were the pariahs of wider Existence; it would be hard for them to be accepted as anything other than slaves if they left here.

If they went to another one of these human organizations, their endings wouldn't be much different than they would be in the cult. They'd be thrown into a created Zone and reared like cattle for their abilities.

If they just became rogues, which was probably the best choice for them, it would be highly difficult just the same. They'd have to live in wildernesses, surrounded by creatures, wildlife, and plant life that could take their lives at any turn, and their progress just might slow to a crawl.

The only real choice was to stay with the humans, to learn from them, to take advantage of them...

But the question was how?

Leonel rolled the Spear Domain Ring through his fingers.

This ring was a trap, but it was also a flaw. He bet that whoever had created it had kept it a secret from the other human powers, or else it would have never gotten so far.

For one, it was because of this ring's existence that Leonel learned that his world was nothing but a breeding ground for the benefit of these "Gods". Without having entered the Tribulation, he might have never learned about this matter at all.

By then, he would have had to rely on his father or grandfather to explain, something they couldn't do because of how easily exploitable his mind would have been. Leonel was sure that had he been a Dream Sovereign back then, he might have already gotten all the details from them long ago.

There was a second flaw of his ring.

How was he able to enter that Tribulation world? How was he able to suddenly expand the world inside the ring by defeating those other geniuses?

If he had known that Noah also disappeared after getting his hands on a Saber Domain Ring, he would have come to this conclusion far quicker as well.

These rings, they were all connected, not just in their nature, but through space.

Of his possessions, if the Segmented Cube and Silver Tablet were of the highest order and could be considered his best treasures, then below that, ranked third, would definitely be these rings.

They were covert and it was hard to think of them as some supreme treasure, but the more he learned about Crafting, the more he understood just how incredibly high level they were.

He couldn't do anything with this knowledge. He was still far too weak.

However, he had two advantages.

First was the advantage of theory and his father's AI to bounce ideas off of.

Second was the engine that would make this whole operation go...

Anastasia.

"Ready?"

Anastasia snorted, but a push of Force began to pour in the Domain Rings that Leonel took out.

"There's pushback."

"That should be the lingering effects of the seal," Leonel confirmed. "Crush it."

Anastasia did as she was told.

If someone well learned was present, they would feel that this sort of pressure wasn't much different from a World Spirit Swallowing another.

BANG!

All hell broke loose.