Chapter 2297 Extremely So
The Human Domain's forces began to move around like pieces on a chess board. A complex and intertwined network, layered in the push and pull of politics, relationships, and benefits bent and twisted, all of them converging toward the Spirituals Religion.
Leonel sat silently in the cockpit of one of his many starships, his gaze somewhat lazy and his focus trained on the endless sea of stars before him. His fleet continued to move with great speed, reading and reacting to his organs as they slithered by one outpost after another. He didn't seem to feel the sense of looming danger that he should have, his expression as cool as a frigid lake.
Soon, he had made it into the airspace of the Spirituals Religion and the location could only be said to be bright and beautiful. The planets ahead all had gorgeous planetary rings that looked like angelic halos as though the asteroids had been dusted with gold eons ago when they had taken shape. However, there was a keen sense of danger hidden within that beauty, countless Force Arts hidden within.
The Spirituals Religion was ready, and their Force Arts were the strongest that Leonel had ever seen within the Human Domain, even the strongholds of the Morales didn't have such grand Force Arts or protective arrays.
"The Morales might be Crafters, but that didn't translate to all skills. There was quite some difference between Crafting treasure, concocting Force Pills, and drawing large-scale protective Force Arts. The Morales shared the title of best for the first with the Omann family, the Omann family was practically a lone wolf when it came to the second as far as he was aware, and as for the very last, he hadn't known of anyone who was truly a master of this Craft... Until now."
Leonel didn't place the large-scale Force Arts of the starships in the same category, honestly. Although many of them were truly large, they relied on Crafting as a foundation, and it was the strength of the treasure, not the Force Art itself, that gave it its strength. That was different from a Force Art that could be used to protect a planet, or even a chain of planets like this one. Unless, of course, one wanted to replace their planet with a forged treasure.
There were many reasons this wasn't done, though, the leading of which being the fact that Starships required too much power to use even on occasion, let alone as a permanent living arrangement. It was much smarter to rely on the resources of the wider world to provide you with what you needed.
And it was precisely because of that the Morales didn't have such high attainments in this sort of art.
Crafting treasures required taking control of the elements and bending them to your will. This was even more so for the Life Grade where you were practically giving birth to an item with its own sense of existence, at least in a more philosophical and tangential way.
"However, these large-scale Force Arts required working with the elements, not bending their will but rather understanding them and then working together to mold them along a particular path."
This was the feeling that Ryu got when he saw Natural Force Arts, and it was why just meditating upon them allowed one to feel and experience Auspicious Air. This was the beauty of listening to the insights of nature...
And who could be better at that than the Spirituals?
"Interesting..." Leonel thought to himself.
One of the seven minds that he had absorbed had some insights into this matter. He might have thought of it himself after seeing this scene, but knowing it ahead of time made him feel enlightened as though he had truly come to understand it himself.
There was no ability that could make one better at understanding the insights of nature than being able to enter the Dream Plane.
His real sight could see the majesty of the formations before him, he could feel their power. He still had the partial and incomplete Bow Domain Lineage Factor and even from so far away, he could lay eyes on it himself as though he was right in its midst.
"His Dream Sight-or what he had chosen to call it-could see the complex swirls of runes that swam among them. Usually these runes were in a jumbled mess, exposing the more erratic nature of the world and Existence, but under the care and attention of the Spirituals, they had to line up perfect, fitting into one another like the pieces of a puzzle or countless tiny dots spaced and shaded so perfectly that when one zoomed out..."
"Only a masterpiece remained."
It was truly gorgeous in a way that Leonel had never seen before, and the feeling of being able to see the world in this way made him smile involuntarily, his cool expression giving way to a gentleness. He wished he had been able to see the world like this long ago.
"Go back from whence you came!"
"The voice was gentle, but firm, and it carried a power that made Leonel's heart skip a beat. He couldn't help but wonder just how many hidden powerhouses of this level there were in the Human Domain. First there was that man in the Pyius family, then there was Maxx of the Suiard family, and now there was this older woman who still managed to exhibit the air of a supreme beauty. Even though she was getting on in years, Leonel wouldn't be surprised if there were several young men who would be willing to fall at her skirt even to this day."
Her hair was a dazzling arrow of pink and lavender, her eyes matching the hues. Her skin carried slight wrinkles here and there, but they were often interrupted by patches of beautiful, smooth flesh that was no less elastic than a 20-year-old's. Her figure was hidden beneath a modest robe, but her exposed hands carried not the slightest hint of age and it made one feel that whatever was underneath was just as well maintained.
"But more important than all of that, she was powerful. Extremely so."