Chapter 2464: [Bonus] Mines

[Bonus chappy thanks to Mr. Ham <3 (6/6)]

Leonel had grown up on modern Earth. Due to advanced technology, it was extremely rare for someone to die sooner than they should. Life expectancy was easily two to three times more than it had been on ancient Earth and everyone, for the most part, lived healthy lives.

Although there was something like the floating islands that separated the haves from the have-nots. Honestly speaking, Leonel never minded them. Even on a floating island, he had lived in a large suburban home with tons of space. In a way, it was even better to live on a floating island than it was to live on the surface...

Until that fateful day came, of course.

Leonel had always had his father, and back then he didn't care much for the memory of his mother, so he had never lost anyone until recently.

But these days, it felt like he was losing important people around him all the time.

Auran had been a man he knew for a brief time, but his selflessness moved Leonel. He was willing even to give up the right to fight for Heirship so long as he could keep his family together.

Valorie was a woman he had only known for a short time as well, but her plight was one he understood, mostly because he had originally begun his journey of becoming a King precisely to pick people like her.

Valorie had talent, but she wasn't born with two Lineage Factors. As such, though she had aspirations of becoming the Matriarch of the Morales family, she wasn't allowed to participate as an Heir and could only follow Ramon in.

She worked very hard, but she could never reach her goals, and that was the plight that many were in. The world was a cruel place and hard work could only get you so far. It wasn't lost on Leonel that even he could only reach this step because he had been lucky enough to be born with the talent that he had.

Without the influence of his future self bearing down on him, having shed at least some of that near baseless arrogance of his, he could see it more clearly than anyone.

He could be confident in coming out of any situation because he had Dream Force affinity that surpassed anyone he had ever met. He could return to the Third Dimension and rebuild his foundation from the ground up because he had a grandfather that had the means and the willingness to sacrifice for his sake. He could stand here, overlooking the tears of others only because he had a father who was willing to give his life to give him just the slightest sliver of a chance.

He was lucky.

He had shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but he knew that this was the truth.

Suddenly, he remembered that feeling of sheer loneliness.

'Selfishness,' Leonel thought to himself, looking away from Ramon and into the skies.

That was the first thing he had learned about himself, that he was a selfish person. Even when he chose to become a King, it probably had less to do with wanting to save people, and more wanting to avoid ever having to feel that guilt he experienced in the Valiant Heart Zone again.

As he continued to grow, he felt that that selfishness wasn't unique to him; it was something everyone had. It was a childish, immature character that was baked into all living creatures, purely for the sake of evolution.

He had never shed his future self before, so how could he mature in the way he should? That selfishness had simply been carried along with him, even to the very day he could stand as a grown man on his own.

He remembered his words to Allan about creating an organization of his own, and then he shifted his focus.

Rather than doing it for himself this time, he would do it for Ramon... and Kira... and everyone else.

It wasn't some vain hero complex to save the world. He just wanted to keep those close to him safe so that they'd never have to look into the distance with those dull, lifeless eyes again.

"Anastasia, you've witnessed all the lessons my father passed down to me, right?"

"Mm."

"Pass those lessons on to Ramon, just make it a game. No need to make it obvious that I'm the one sending those things his way. I'm sure you can manage, right?"

"Easy enough."

Most of those lessons were lectures that Leonel had slogged through in the Lab Setting. He could remember them like they were yesterday.

Honestly, he still hadn't finished those lectures yet, but what he had gone through was enough for Ramon to chew on for a long while.

Let Crafting be his escape.

As Leonel left, his eyes flashed with a frighteningly cold light.

Demoness. Human alliance. Spirituals.

"Anastasia, expand your scanning radius through the ground. Avoid that underground city for now. I need to find Urbe Ore deposits. They need to have at least a billion kilograms, and preferably be at least of the Seventh Dimension."

"That's easy enough, but you're aware that all of those kinds of places have already been found, right?"

"All the better." Leonel said calmly. "I'm in a bad mood anyway."

"Okay," Anastasia replied.

Though she said this, she did her best to look for unoccupied mines. Due to this, she lagged behind by several hours, and could only sigh at the ultimate result.

"The closest I could find with a billion kilograms worth of un-mined Urbe Ore is Fifth Dimensional, of course under the control of the Godlens, as they all are. It's being patrolled by a troop of Seventh Dimensional existences.

"There are about three dozen of these, each one has at least a thousand such powerful existences, and are led by one Eighth Dimensional existence.

"There are about a dozen Sixth Dimensional..."

Anastasia continued to list them, and every step up she went, the security was even more terrible.

It made sense, the Godlens were prepared for war and Urbe Ore wasn't just currency, it was the most important strategic resource to any power. Even the Fifth Dimensional ones were under such lock and key.

"... you know Leonel, we can choose a different approach. Weren't we talking about resources you would want me to grow here? If you find the core of the mines, I could probably grow a mine of that size in a few months..."

Anastasia was rightfully worried. If Leonel only needed one batch, it would be easy enough. But Leonel needed to mine a billion worth of kilograms to have enough once the Ore was refined. There was no way he wouldn't be noticed because you couldn't just sneak that amount of Ore out from under the noses of so many powerhouses.

Leonel looked toward Little Tolly. The little guy did have the ability to produce Ores, but after his breakthrough, Leonel was certain that much like everything else, it didn't come without a price. If he really asked Little Tolly to produce that much, would he still even have the little guy?

Plus, Little Tolly could only produce up to Sixth Dimension Ores right now, Leonel was a little reluctant to take that sort of risk with his partner for an insignificant gain.

After some more thought, he focused on the Fifth Dimensional mines.

'One step at a time. Once I'm more powerful, I can easily reforge the Destruction World with stronger materials.'

"It's okay, when have I ever let you down?" Leonel said. "Show me the layouts of the three dozen Fifth Dimensional mines, I'll have to pick carefully."