Chapter 2656: Fifteen Minutes

Objectively speaking, it wasn't a bad plan. All things considered, the fact that Minerva went so far as to do this was actually a net negative for Leonel. This meant that she was no longer choosing to be as arrogant as she was in the past and taking him more seriously.

Honestly speaking, this was bad news for Leonel. Minerva was someone he had only managed to defeat because of her lack of wariness and her overall arrogance. She failed to take Leonel seriously, so she had only brought three people and in the end, she had lowered her guard so far that he was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Now that she was actually taking precautions, this meant that the villain he was ready to face off against had changed her deck of cards...

It was just unfortunate she didn't have nearly enough information to play such tricks on him.

He actually didn't want to expose Aina's abilities, as that was yet another net negative for him. However, all things considered, if he were to rank the list of worst outcomes to the best, this was ranked somewhere in the middle.

Of course, the best outcome was that Minerva would still be arrogant enough to not make any contingencies whatsoever. In the worst case, though, she filled the competition with abstruse lingo only well known and understood in circles who had been formally trained in the Complete Worlds.

Even in the worst case, Leonel wouldn't be completely helpful. He didn't need to understand terms if he could understand the intention of those speaking them through the fluctuations of their Dream Force.

However, if the one explaining the matters was Minerva who had Dream Force far above his own, then there wasn't really much he could do if she hid her intentions.

This was still a problem he might face. However, unless Minerva was an existence who had reached the extreme of both Crafting and Force Pill Crafting, Leonel felt that he would be just fine.

As far as he was concerned, she was the only one who Leonel felt could hide her Dream Force fluctuations from him.

Even though he knew that this wasn't a killing mistake on Minerva's part, and he knew that the game had only just begun, he felt alive.

Crafting with these kids wasn't going to stimulate him in the slightest. However, this game of chess with a woman a half-step from the Creation State...

Now that was stimulating.

Leonel felt a light pinch come from his side and he saw Aina send him a questioning look. Seeing her perfect reaction, Leonel couldn't help but smile brightly and give her a kiss on the forehead.

Aina blew out a breath and rolled her eyes. Compared to the murdering demoness they had all seen just months ago, she was completely different. Restrained, and though not quite docile, she exuded a gentleness that quickly became sharpness when she met the eyes of others.

"What do you want to do?" Aina asked, using her soul to communicate with Leonel.

"That would depend. But partner up with me and I'll take the brunt of it for now. You're going to have to teach me how to Force Pill Craft."

Aina was speechless. What was this man talking about?

They could share their comprehension of Forces, but that and this were two different matters. It wasn't like they had just swapped all of their intelligence for one another's.

The reason they could exchange Force comprehensions was because they were anchored in the soul to begin with. However, matters like Crafting and the like were more complex.

Leonel laughed. "If it wasn't at least this difficult, what would the point be?"

Aina smiled and shook her head.

Leonel made it sound so easy, but she would have to first create an entirely new system of Force Pill Crafting that didn't rely on Blood Sovereignty, and then somehow transfer all that muscle memory and the like to Aina.

"It's easy," Leonel just said. "We'll fuse our souls and they'll never know the difference."

Aina blushed. "You can't be serious."

The first time they had done this was back in the Void Palace. Back then, Aina remembered the feeling quite clearly. It felt far more vulnerable than being stripped naked.

Of course, this wasn't why Aina was blushing. It was more so that doing this was almost like having sex in broad daylight. Leonel was really too much.

Seeing the devious grin on his face, Aina couldn't help but pinch him a little harder until he yelped.

The exchange had already begun, but Aina, Leonel and their cohort hadn't even moved. In fact, the couple were clearly busy flirting while those who hadn't expected the new rules were running around like headless chickens. How were they supposed to vet thousands of people in just an hour? At best, they could just throw a dart at the wall and hope for the best.

Unsurprisingly, the Demi-Gods paired up the quickest.

The Dream Asura, Somnus, paired up with the Barbarian, Talon.

The Owlan and Minerva's disciple, Celestia, paired up with the flaming bird Celestial Ember, Verma.

It suddenly made sense why they had sent just a single representative each. They didn't want to make the bias anymore obvious... now did they?

Orion, a member of the Cloud Race, paired up with Lumina, the branch descendent of the Owlans.

And to Leonel's surprise, Lyra Emberheart seemed to have found a Dwarven Sparrow to pair with... a young man named Aerin.

As for Savahn and Yuri, Leonel wasn't even sure what skills they had. But what he did know was that they had chosen to pair together.

"Excellent," Minerva spoke with a gentle cadence. Her inner thoughts were completely unreadable. "In order to decide the seeding for the debates-"

Minerva waved a hand and a large board appeared before everyone. At the same time, a thick and magnificent pillar rose up from the middle of the arena.

"This is our Owlan Race's Pillar of Truth. It is imbued with the wisdom of our ancestors and has the ability to see through the profundities of the word. Thanks to the grace of the mighty Pluto Race, it has been restored to its former glory. It will be an unbiased arbitrator of the round of debates.

"You have 15 minutes. Converse with your partner and converge on an answer to submit for this question."

Leonel looked up at the large board and frowned.