Leonel slowly rose to his feet, stretching out his back.

Right now, they were in a lull period. The opponents had been set, and the Challenger now had the right to pick the time and date. The only rule was that it had to be within a year.

The smart thing seemed to be to drag it out for as long as you could, but Leonel knew that this was the exact wrong move. He had already thought of what Clarence had. There were a great deal of moves being made in the shadows right now, and he had already wasted three days. He couldn't waste any more time.

However, it wasn't all bad.

Existence was impossibly vast, and the Dream Pavilions were scattered all across it. Even with the greatest means, it could easily take years to move from point A to point B, and that was even taking into account large-scale teleportation platforms and things of the like.

If he gave him a year, they might really find a whole host of ways to make his life a living nightmare.

But there was no way he'd do that.

Without speaking to Clarence, Leonel waved a hand and set the time. When Clarence got the notification, his eyes widened, but he didn't say anything in the end.

'This boy...' Clarence looked at Leonel deeply.

He had been there when Leonel escaped from the clutches of the Godlens. It might be because he was arrogant that he chose to do things like this, but Clarence didn't believe that to be the case.

He felt that Leonel was bold, but only in the right areas. Even so, he was surprised that Leonel had set the date for just a single day from now. In fact, it wasn't even a full 24 hours.

"The Godlens sent a representative," Clarence suddenly said.

"Oh?" Leonel smiled. "I guess news spreads fast.""They want the Godlen Codex back."

"Tell them to kick rocks. Those techniques are better in my hands anyway."action

Leonel turned and walked away, leaving Clarence in silence. Soon, a grin spread across Clarence's face and his laughter echoed.

He had been tired of the Human Race's way of doing things for a long while now. By this point, he was almost 100% certain that Leonel was the one that ruined their plans.

From the very beginning, this inconspicuous boy had been pulling the strings from the shadows and it ruined things they had been planning for centuries. He didn't even know how Leonel managed to trigger the fusion of six Bubble Worlds, and yet he was still certain that it had happened.

Regardless, none of it mattered. If Leonel could pull this off as well, none of the rest of it would matter in the slightest.

He might become a man truly worthy of the title of King.

lightsΝοvεl ƈοm **

"A day from now? This human is different."

The speaker was a Nomad man. The gem on his forehead was particularly prominent, his turban carefully wrapped to allow it to shine through.lightsnovel

"Do you think the humans planned all of this?" Another asked.

"It's possible. We may have fallen for a trap. I don't believe that they would be so stupid to trigger this challenge when they had a Dream Sovereign waiting in the wings. They may be trying to enter the top 100 once again. If they won this Challenge, they would have just enough points to claim that bottom spot."

"But it doesn't make sense. That boy is only in the Fifth Dimension. Why not wait for him to grow?"

"We all know how much of an advantage Dream Sovereigns have in that land. The advantage is even greater with the Life Tablet is in play. If they have one or two other treasures from the olden days to pull out, they might very well be confident in winning."

"Meaning this could just be a statement from them? A warning shot."

"Maybe even a petty jab. They've been ruthlessly suppressed by those at the top for generations now. Triggering this Challenge right after they were given such a short timeline to find a new Pavilion Head, and winning, would really be a resounding slap to their faces."

As he spoke these words, the calmness in his voice didn't transfer to the rest of his face. His expression carried a deep sneer.

Mere humans dared to use his Gem Dream Pavilion as a stepping stone?

...

The Crafted Dream Pavilion.

At the top of a wide set of stairs quite familiar to the likes of Leonel and Clarence, a woman wearing a flowing dress of pink diamond sat. Two wings, more white than a subtle pink, spread to her back, looking as though each feather had been delicately carved by a white-gold leaf of metal.

This was a woman that truly looked as though she had been plucked out of the sky from a world of deities. Everything but her hawk-like eyes and fierce brows were truly perfect.

This was the Pavilion Head of the Crafted Dream Pavilion. The Gem Pavilion was ranked 947th, while they were ranked 529th. It could be said that the Gem Pavilion only swept in to fill the numbers because between the 529th ranked Crafted Dream Pavilion and the 491st ranked Breeze Dream Pavilion, most of the Contribution Points had already been matched.

One could see, then, how large the gap between the top echelons and the bottom rung was. The Vast Pavilion had to double their Contribution Points just to rise up 20-odd spots, while these three Pavilions, despite being much lower ranked, were able to pool their resources together to match them.

This wasn't too surprising, though. There was a line of demarcation every 1000 spots. All those ranked between 100 and 1000 were about the same. Upon entering the top 100, though, there was a significant gap with every 10 spots you moved up...

Despite the fact there was a higher ranked Dream Pavilion partaking, though... it could be said that the Crafted Dream Pavilion was by far the most dangerous.

They weren't ruled by the Nomad Race like the Gem Dream Pavilion, nor the Spirituals like the Breeze Dream Pavilion.

No, they were ruled by a Demi-God Race. A Race of men and women descended from the once mighty Minerva Race...

The Owlan Race... Also known as the Sages.

The woman on the throne curled her beautiful lips into a smile.

"Cute," she said softly. This was truly amusing to her.