Chapter 2232 He Did
Leonel's words hit a sore spot, but it was also probably the easiest deduction he had made today. One didn't need to be nearly as smart as him to understand what was going on here.
The Pluto were in a strained situation, that much was obvious by the conversation between El'Rion and Shan'Rae, and even further by the actions of that Void Race entity. Leonel also now knew the value of these Incomplete Worlds. This world was valuable enough to be used as the top currency of these God Races, and more importantly than that, as the currency of the most powerful among them.
And yet, in order to repay this favor, the Pluto not only made the decision to use these Incomplete Worlds that could have been of great benefit to helping them out of their current situation, but they had also offended the Void Race and supposedly several other God Races. As though all of that wasn't enough, El'Rion, a junior of the Pluto Race, albeit of high standing, was given The Hourglass to command.
No matter how you sliced it, repaying this favor was so important to the Pluto Race that they were willing to make sacrifices to do so.
Of course, Leonel was very curious as to why this was. He didn't believe that there was anyone with such a good heart, and the current Fawkes were far too weak to demand anything of the Pluto Race. In fact, Leonel believed that they had never been even remotely strong enough, and it was instead a unique set of circumstances that allowed them to have the ability to cash in such a favor to begin with.
That meant there was a deeper reason, a more fascinating one, one that he probably wasn't even of high enough standing to be privy to. But whatever that reason was, it didn't matter to him for now. All that mattered was that this could be used as the leverage he needed to make this matter far easier on him.
He had already failed this Zone, that much was inevitable. However, his current understanding of Zones was beyond what it had been in the past, far beyond. Just because he had failed, didn't mean that he couldn't still reap the rewards, and it also didn't mean that he couldn't force the Zone to recognize itself as being cleared.
Ever since he had entered the Dwarven Race's Zone, he had come to understand that Zones were large constructions of Dream Force. That said, Eighth Dimensional Zones like this one were very different.
It had to be remembered that from the Seventh Dimension onward, treasures would be taken out of Zones, that meant they had a more physical form, a form that transcended beyond what could be expected of lower level Zones.
While this would make them more difficult to manipulate, Leonel was still quite confident. He wasn't even worried about returning home, all he was worried about was maximizing his chances here, and in order to do that he would need information.
He could gather this information himself, but it would likely take months, and time wasn't something that he felt like wasting if he had other options. As for dealing with this ... rather large baby here, he felt that it was as easy as turning over a palm, especially since he doubted it would cost El'Rion anything to speak of these things.
Thinking back to The Hourglass, Leonel believed that it was exactly because it existed that El'Rion and the other Pluto were so free here, and it was also because of this that he was confident that El'Rion would be able to meet his demands. That said... none of this meant that the Pluto would be very happy about it, especially when he had just believed himself to have the upper hand.
"I don't-"
Leonel shook his head and sighed. "Let's skip the back and forth, shall we? You'll say you don't believe me, when in reality you already do. Then you'll ask me to prove myself, which I inevitably won't. And then you'll take action and do something to piss me off, and then I'll do the thing you claimed I couldn't that you already believed I could, and then we'll both be unhappy.
"So how about instead, I just say: Sorry for my rudeness, oh great Pluto. If you'll allow this humble human a chance to see his mother and future wife again, I'll be ever so grateful."
El'Rion's lip twitched. He had had more changes in facial expression today than he had in his last 14 years. His mother had always said he came out a deadpan baby, but now all of that seemed to be getting thrown out of the window.
Leonel's "praise" was even more grating on the ears now than when he had called the Pluto powerful. He had never thought that hearing positive affirmation would be so... disgusting.
He could tell that Leonel didn't even mean a word, and worse than that, he didn't even try to hide that he didn't. He could understand if Leonel was ignorant to the matters of the God Race, but it was impossible for him to be so after all of these events, and especially not with...
He looked down at the coat of silver and white gold runes that had taken over Leonel's left arm, feeling the annoyance within him growing.
After a moment, he simply stopped and exhaled a breath. It was as though he chose to not be annoyed anymore and simply wasn't.
Leonel smiled. He found that action to be somewhat familiar. He wondered when it would be El'Rion's turn to boil over and lose it.
"What do you want to know?"
"Don't you already know? This Zone, what is it, what's its purpose, which other bodies were taken over by the... two other entries, and how can I get the most out of it?"
El'Rion's expression flickered for a moment, but then he took out The Hourglass once more. The seconds ticked by and Leonel remained silent, he didn't seem to be impatient in the slightest. He was quite confident that El'Rion would answer.
And then he did.