Dimensional Descent

 Respect

Leonel made a few more casual upgrades to the Crafting Factories based on his new insights before kicking his feet up, still lost in thought.

He didn't like how things were going at all, but he also wasn't powerful enough to stop his grandfather from taking action like this.

This wasn't to say that the Fawkes weren't prepared for such a thing. They had spent a very long time on Earth building up and perfecting their talent. Right now, the talents of the Fawkes were probably no worse than many of the other God Races, and they had been tempering themselves against the Four Great Families for the last couple of years as well.

It could be said that they were very much ready for this.

Part of Leonel just wanted to be out there. But then he really thought about it…

What would that change?

Sure, he could lead a bunch of Fawkes on a killing spree against the Void Race, the Pluto Race, and especially against those Sylvan bastards, but would that change the underlying problem?

The world was about to end, and all these people were worried about was rushing to gather up more power for themselves. It was hard not to look at that and feel like it was ridiculous on its face.

'What to do…'

He had all this Dream Force at his fingertips, all this intelligence, yet he felt like he was running into a brick wall again and again.

The funny part was… even if he did have the power he wanted, would he be much different?

No… he would probably be vying for power as well, believing that his way was the best way along with everyone else.

As Leonel was lost in thought, billowing smoke and heat around him as the factory worked in overdrive, a pair of man and woman walked in.

They both had flowing golden hair and piercing green eyes. No doubt Fawkes through and through.

He vaguely recognized them, though he didn't acknowledge their presence.

The woman was known as Honey, an odd but adorable name for a woman who was anything but. This wasn't because she was more beautiful than she was cute, but rather because there was a biting cold to her eyes that seemed to freeze everywhere she looked.

She was the eldest daughter of the Second Imperial Prince, and she had a very rare mutation that caused her Emperor's Might to have a frosty air to it. In fact, her passive gaze could cause a bluish-green ice to cover anything she looked at if she wasn't careful.

The other was the "eldest" son of the First Imperial Prince.

The reason "eldest" was in quotations was that the eldest son was technically Noah. However, because of time-wimey nonsense, his younger brother ended up far older than him.

He was known simply as Ji Fawkes.

The both of them stopped within five meters of Leonel and simply stood and waited there.

This actually surprised Leonel more than not as he looked over.

They were patiently waiting? What a surprise.

"Do you need something from me?"

"Elder cousin, if it isn't too much trouble, we'd like to ask you to create a set of custom weapons for us."

"Oh?" Leonel's gaze flickered.

Maybe he had become too jaded these days. The sign of actual politeness somewhat threw him off, and he was almost embarrassed that he had dismissed them.

Almost.

The truth was that he was too lost in his own thoughts to spare the senses to read their intentions ahead of time. Otherwise, he would have known they hadn't come with hostility.

Leonel hopped to his feet. "Sure, why not?"

The two seemed equally surprised by Leonel's candor, only to find that he had wrapped an arm around the both of them.

"You know, my wife says she really wants a big family, but I've never seen the fascination in it all. This is kinda cute, though, don't you think?"

Ji and Honey were both used to being quite stoic and had no idea how to deal with Leonel's enthusiasm.

They had originally come here with quite some reluctance because, in the eyes of many of them, Leonel was a murderous freak who would kill even his own family.

But now… they were one part uncomfortable and another part relieved to have him on their side.

It didn't even take Leonel a few minutes to finish their orders.

At first, they were disappointed because they felt they had been conned… until they actually touched them.

He made them both a set of armor and weapons.

Honey's armor had a single metal pauldron on her left shoulder while the rest was a tight-fitting green leather embroidered with gold.

Her weapon was a bow that looked like a curved stack of green and gold vines wrapping around one another and carried so much power her fingers shivered when she pulled at the bowstring. Owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

Ji preferred a full set of heavy armor and shield, along with a heavy spiked mace. When he saw it at first, even he thought that it might be too heavy for him.

However, all of that changed when he put it on.

The two seemed to forget that Leonel was even there, their eyes lighting up like children on Christmas morning as they checked every nook and cranny of their new items.

They really couldn't believe that Leonel had managed to craft something so amazing in just a few minutes.

A long while later, they finally snapped out of it.

"Elder cousin…" Ji began hesitantly. "… Could we?"

Leonel waved a hand. "I don't have anything else to do. So long as they're respectful, I don't mind."

Ji's eyes lit up and he gave Leonel a bow before quickly leaving.

When he first came, he had been respectful only because he felt like it was the smartest thing to do. But now he felt like it was only natural.

In front of such an expert, how could you be anything other than respectful?