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C1450 Collapsing Mind

Leonel continued blazing through research papers, realizing that he had gotten side tracked. That paper had been helpful, but unfortunately, it didn't give him anything he needed on fixing the Segmented Cube.

Leonel chose to focus his efforts a bit more. He could search for Segmented Cube relating things specifically, but he felt that there would be low odds of finding anything useful through this route.

There were a few reasons for this.

First, the Segmented Cube was the Heirloom of the Morales family. He highly doubted that they would allow information about it to be so easily accessible.

From what Leonel had seen of the Void Palace, though this was supposed to be the frontier of humanity, the influence individual families had was very heavy. If not for this, there would be a "sword" and "spear" division, nor would that bowman genius have threatened him with their alliance despite the fact that there was a very clear no killing policy here.

It was likely that the Void Palace was probably being pulled in all sorts of directions by the undercurrents of the families supposedly 'beneath' them.

The second reason Leonel didn't bother to take this route was also because of this. As the Heirloom of the Morales family, the Segmented Cube had probably spent most of its life highly protected. The odds that something like this had happened before was slim to none, and even if it had, the Morales family would have definitely no disseminated information about it.

Of course, Leonel had thought of the possibility that the Segmented Cube had a history before the Morales family. However, he deduced that focusing on this category in specific was a better use of his time. Only if it failed would he take that approach. "That category", being spatial devices and Crafting.

Leonel read through every Crafting light he could get his hands on that even remotely mentioned spatial devices, trying to see what he could learn.

However, even after going through everything in the Fifth Dimension, he found himself exhausted, beading with sweat, having a drained mind, and still being no closer to finding an answer. The only good thing was that he had learned a lot about Crafting under the influence of Anarchic Force. But, that wasn't what he needed right now.

Leonel sent his mind toward his token, realizing now that he had already gone through 20 hours of allotted time. He could hardly see the number straight, he felt like he might collapse at any time.

'This approach is wrong…'

Leonel's brows furrowed.

After reading all of those papers, he understood something. For spatial treasures at the Fifth Dimensional level or could be classified within Fifth Dimensional information, they would never survive the collapse of their space to begin with.

Something like what happened with Leonel's Segmented Cube, where the exterior remained and Leonel was even capable of sending his mind inside to see what happened, would never happen to such low level treasures. The information he needed would never have been found at such a low level to begin with.

Leonel hesitated. Should he read about the history of the Segmented Cube if he could find it?

'No. It's not that this approach is wrong, it's rather that I haven't gone deep enough. This time hasn't been wasted, it might be just enough for me to be able to see…'

Leonel's mind flashed with the last dregs of its strength, zooming toward Seventh Dimensional information. His thoughts were simple. With how things were like right now, he had just gone through countless research papers that touched on Crafting Spatial Force treasures. With that being the case, then it was likely that other related topics would also be far easier for him to pick out at a distance.

As expected, without Leonel even doing anything, all research papers, techniques, and even history recounting related to spatial treasures and their Crafting entered his network without him even lifting a finger.

Very soon, a large swarm of Sixth Dimensional motes of light joined Leonel's network, fusing with the web of his personal library and growing its size. It wasn't until Leonel entered the range of the Seventh Dimension that the process slowed.

Leonel's gaze flickered. The pressure here was almost impossible to manage but he grit his teeth, holding on.

He didn't even know if he had the mental strength left to even take on a Seventh Dimensional light. But, he had no choice. He just had to pick right.

'That one, that's going to be the one.'

Leonel took a breath, focusing his eyes on one of the only three he could see the names of.

<The Shelf-Life of a Spatial Treasure>.

Leonel felt that it might have what he needed. It sounded ridiculous. The title was more of something he would find in the Fourth Dimension, not the Seventh. Plus, the Segmented Cube hadn't reached the end of its lifetime. But, Leonel had his own reasons for making this choice.

'Come.'

Leonel grasped the mote of light and it felt as though a bang had gone off in his mind. If not for the sturdy Seventh Dimensional walls of his psyche…

Leonel's heart skipped a beat in fear. Just now, his mind could have collapsed. He realized that he had been far too reckless. It was a good thing his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor's Wisdom Branch had been fully Awakened, or else he would have been seriously injured, and that was only if he managed to avoid being killed.

Despite its simple name, this information was without a doubt Seventh Dimensional. The vast stores of information were beyond anything Leonel had ever seen before. He had yet to get far enough in his father's training to receive information of his caliber. In fact, Leonel realized that if it wasn't for his recent breakthroughs in comprehension, he wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of this research paper.

His mind split like a bolt of lightning was trying to bisect it. However, he held on.

Just as Leonel reached the final pages of the research paper, his token began to count down.

He pushed himself to go faster, a projectile of blood leaving his lips.

When Leonel awoke, he was at the bottom of the Void Library's staircase.

To be continued