[Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (4/6)]

They're actually all methods to use World Spirits? Leonel was taken aback. He had expected something different, and maybe he could find something like [Domain], [Universe] or [Finality] that could take his combat prowess to another level. But... it was outside his expectations that it would all be like this.

There was one method that taught of how to subdue World Spirits, there was another that taught of how to use a World Spirit as a sacrifice to save your life in a pinch, there was another that taught of how to use a World Spirit under your control to corrupt another...

The methods seemed endless, and some of them read more like scientific literature and theory than actual applicable methods.

And yet, Leonel was completely enraptured. For the first time, he forgot about the ticking timer in his head and engrossed himself in reading.

The more he did so, the more he felt that he wasn't just reading about methods to help himself, but more importantly... Anastasia.

There was too little he grasped about World Spirits and their usage.

It seemed that World Spirits took much longer to mature than other living creatures, and as a result, they were probably both some of the most dangerous and also most susceptible creatures in existence.

But what was more interesting than that was the fact that Spirits like Little Tolly and others were more interconnected with World Spirits than Leonel had previously come to understand. In fact, it could even be right to go as far as to say that they were the same Race.

They shared the name Spirit, but Leonel had never really thought much about it before because it felt irrelevant. The word Spirit could evoke so many things...

But now that he thought about it, even across languages, the word was the exact same. It made sense to dismiss it in English, but when every other culture was likewise the same...

'I neglected something so obvious... Okay, we're making a change. I need to cross reference my intelligence not just in English like I've been doing, but also in other languages. I have a feeling that'll allow me far more breakthroughs as well...'Leonel made a mental note of it and slotted it into the back of his mind. He didn't create a new ability, but rather evolved and mutated Dreamscape into something new.

Then, he went back to work, and almost instantly, a raging spark of lightning shot through his mind.

'This...'

Leonel trembled a bit before exhaling out a slow breath.

The thought he had had just now was absolutely maddening, but even when he scrutinized it, turned it upside down and right side up, spinning it left and right, he couldn't find any flaws in it...

Spirits were to World Spirits...

What Variant Invalids were to the Races of Existence.

The implications hit Leonel like a speeding truck and he, rightfully, felt that it was ridiculous. But when he thought of Tolliver's propensity to devour, its insatiable appetite, how it was like a World Spirit, but not quite...

It all fell into place one after another and he was somewhat shocked into silence.

The question was, though... what could he do with this information?

He knew this was a big deal, huge, even. Piecing these things together from the bits and pieces of fragmented thoughts and ideas in these research papers, he knew that he had stumbled onto something huge.

But he couldn't quite make the final leap just yet. Even his mind was at a loss for what to do.

'Unless...'

Variant Invalids really want to consume humans. Or in this case, any Race that's of their kind. Could it be that swallowing World Spirits was a faster path toward Tolliver's improvement?

But that was honestly just a surface level thought, Leonel had already realized it ages ago. What was more interesting was what that meant for him and his Divine Armor, and on a deeper level than even that, his connection with Little Tolly and the beast that the little guy had devoured the potential of...

By now, Leonel had gathered more than enough information to be better than 70% sure that the beast hidden in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World's Vital Star was the legendary Infinity Beast... the God Beast of Creation.

How his future self got his hands on a living member of their species, he had no idea, and he was even less inclined to think about what that might mean.

But what was certain was that these combinations of factors would weigh extremely heavy when the time came to take advantage of them.

After some thought, he took out the World Spirits in the Celestial Ember Race's rings.

He laughed when he noticed that there was a protection on it. It seems that they had been more cautious than he gave them credit for...

Too bad it was useless.

With Anastasia's help and his guidance, he shattered it as though it wasn't even there and took out a World Spirit bathed in flames.

'Indeed...' Leonel thought. '... I've yet to run into anyone else who uses Scarlet Star Force... but the Celestial Embers come frighteningly close... The Emberhearts... the Celestial Embers... Emberheart Force... And this World Spirit...'

Leonel smiled.

If feeding a Spirit a World Spirit would automatically grant it its abilities, everyone would have already figured this out long ago. At best, some people probably knew the connection, but the next step was elusive. The end result was using World Spirits as a power up, but nothing more.

Those people, though... didn't have an Infinity Metal Spirit at their beck and call.

Who needed a Minerva Spirit when you had a God Beast of Creation?

Tolliver swallowed the Emberheart World Spirit and roared into the skies.