Dimensional Descent

3225  Coddle but not Baby

Leonel didn't say anything more for a long while. It wasn't until his two children started squirming around in his arms and play-fighting that he snapped back to reality. The two of them seemed all too comfortable to duke it out in his arms. Seeing them using his head like it was some sort of fortress to hide behind while they launched their attacks left him with a smile on his face. On the one hand, his uncle's actions today had reminded him that this thing was far from over. But on the other hand… He felt that even in the gloominess, he could still find his happiness at the same time. He could only hope that his uncle would find his. "Look at you two. I'm glad you can be happy now, but what was that? Is that what I taught you about fighting an enemy that is too powerful for you?" Leonel started to scold. The twins snapped out of their play session and ducked their heads, trying to use their father to hide away from their father. Leonel didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he had too much control over his body to let a chuckle slip out now. "Having the courage to face someone stronger than you is good. I'm proud of you for that. But throwing your life away isn't courage, it's stupidity. You have to find what your strengths are, and most importantly which of those strengths your enemy doesn't immediately nullify, and capitalize on those."

Aina listened from the side and didn't say much. Half of her wanted to make fun of Leonel because he too jumped into danger without much thought. But the reality was that the Leonel of back then had never thought that he would die no matter what danger he got himself into. Even if logic said he would likely die, he was so absurdly confident in his own intelligence that he thought he would always find a way out no matter what. The Leonel of back then heavily relied on his Ability Index to close the gap between his enemies and himself, and he wanted his children to learn how to use their brains just as much as their brawn. Leo and Leah were so talented that maybe in 99% of situations, they could get away with only the latter. And with their father around, maybe there would never be danger that truly threatened their lives. But Leonel didn't want to get them used to such a thing, which was why he had had them face their first life and death situation so early on. He was proud of the way they reacted, but it needed to be tempered. However, he was also cognizant of the fact that his children didn't have the same methods he had. His son didn't have his Control Ability Index, he had what seemed like a Gravity Ability Index, but was actually an extremely weak form of a Space affinity Ability Index. His daughter also didn't have his Control Ability Index. In fact, Leah's Ability Index was closer to her mother's, though not quite the same. Leah had a Soul-type Ability Index, one that, for now, seemed to only allow her Internal Sight to be exceptional. In fact, right now, Leah's Internal Sight was even stronger than Leonel had been back when he was in the Third Dimension. However, much like her brother's, this Ability Index would grow into something substantially more powerful in the future. From what Leonel could tell from studying the Force Art formed of it by the Life Tablet, Leah's Ability Index tended toward the Immortal Soul aspect, but a tier above that. Rather than just being immortal, it was more accurate to say that her soul was truly like a second body to her. In the future, doing things like splitting it in two to form two perfectly identical and perfectly whole copies of herself would be possible because her soul was simply that flexible. Even if it was heavily injured and harmed, she could replenish it. Even if a tiny sliver was left, she would survive. In truth, though, this was only to illustrate the kind of flexibility her soul had. In terms of what sort of potential powerful abilities she could use, the list felt endless to Leonel. For example, with a soul like this one, Leonel had even thought of modifying the Human Race Dimensional Method granted to Aina by the Stele. Leah could split her soul, leaving one to every Dimension, instead of stretching it through or pulling it along. Doing that would have a host of benefits, but just one of them was that one Dimension would no longer be reliant on the last. When people usually crossed from the Sixth Dimension to the Seventh, a lot of things were locked in and could no longer be changed, but Leah could casually go back and change her Path at will. In fact, she could become the first person ever to form multiple Idols precisely because of this Ability Index. That was the kind of scale and scope this talent of his daughter's had. By comparison, his son's Spatial Ability Index was much more straightforward. But the fact it manifested as gravity at its very first level meant one very important thing… It wasn't just a spatial ability. It was a Spacetime Ability Index. Leonel hadn't told his son that, though. And he also didn't tell his daughter about the Dimensional Method he was creating for her. He wanted to keep them at the Third Dimension for as long as possible so that he could see what ideas they could come up with on their own before he started. His own father had taught him the value of Respect and Persistence, but he would have never truly understood it if he hadn't been forced to travel so far on his own when his father could have handed him everything. Would he coddle and love his children? Yes. But he wouldn't baby them.  Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.