Just when Leonel was feeling truly regretful at his lack of knowledge, his expression changed when he realized that the odd cage they were in was rapidly converging energy to reform itself.
"Aina, do you have a big enough pocket to keep all of this stuff?" Leonel pointed toward the desk filled with loose sheets of paper. "Never mind, we don't have time. Come on."
Leonel grabbed Aina's hand and sprinted with all his might, even activating his Force without reserve.
Aina seemed stunned at that sudden contact. But, she was even more stunned by Leonel's speed. Was this really someone who had only formed three Force Nodes?
In a flash, the two had crossed the 200 meter distance to the location of the wooden door that had appeared once more. With a single movement, Leonel swung it open, shocked at how impossibly heavy it was.
It didn't take him long to understand. This was a door designed to be easy to open from the outside, but extremely difficult without special methods from the inside. It was precisely this door that, when closed, completed the Force Art that created this space.
A roar escaped Leonel's lips, his arm bulging with ghastly veins as he pulled with all his might, ripping the door from the hinges.
Only when this happened did he finally relax, his breathing steadying. As expected, the surging feeling he had had before came to a stop.
One might argue that he shouldn't have been so panicked since he only needed to break through to shatter this space again. However, even though he knew where he should place every node up to the Eighth, he couldn't form them in quick succession without regard.
After forming his Third Node, Leonel faintly felt that his body was like a bulging balloon that was about to burst. If he had used his Dream World to simulate what would occur during the formation of his Fourth Node, it would likely be that he would implode.
In addition, he realized another thing. The closer to the Fourth Dimension he became, the more difficult simulating things became. He could simulate matters related to the Third Dimension with over 90% accuracy. In his previous state, he could simulate matters related to his body with 70% accuracy.
Now, though, despite the fact forming his first Star had greatly strengthened his ability, he felt that his accuracy was only 73%. However, since the improvement in his ability was far more than just a mere 3%, that meant that simulating the matters of his body had actually increased in difficulty.
It seemed that this path of his wouldn't be perfectly linear. There would definitely be some give and some take.
He needed a few days to allow his body to acclimate itself to his Third Node, only then could he attempt to form the fourth. And, though Joan only died a year from now, there were countless events that happened between now and then. Without delving into the gritty details, what's important was that she might very well be marching toward Paris in just a few days.
He didn't have the time to slowly improve his strength, and he wouldn't have such a perfect environment to do so like he just had either. To make matters worse, if the formation of his Third Node took so much Force, how much would his others take? No, that wasn't right. It was the formation of his First Star that had taken so much energy.
Suddenly, Leonel felt a strong tug on his hand.
Looking down, he blushed slightly in embarrassment as he let go of Aina's hand.
"Sorry." He said apologetically.
Aina's little nose wrinkled. "You stink."
Leonel smiled bitterly. This was already the second time since he had known Aina that she had said such a thing to him. But it couldn't be helped, what exactly was he supposed to do about this? He hadn't expected that forming a One Star Cleansed Body would have such results.
In the past few months, he had noticed that Aina was most definitely a clean freak and he also deduced that the black military outfit she wore that was filled with pockets definitely had a self-cleaning function, because he hadn't seen her take a bath even once but she still somehow smelt so good.
Of course, if he knew that this clean freak he liked so much had helped him clean up while he was unconscious all those weeks ago, it was unknown how he would react.
"What should we do now? I really didn't expect that we would escape so soon." Aina said softly.
Hearing her, it was only now that Leonel realized that she wasn't certain that we would have escaped at all. Not only did this make Leonel feel more guilty about putting them in such a situation, but it warmed his heart at the same time. Because despite feeling this way, she still hadn't wanted him to risk etching this damned thing on his hand.
Thinking of the Force Art against, Leonel gazed at his hand to find that it had healed during his breakthrough and formed faint bumps that looked like a brand.
"We were lucky." Leonel said after taking a deep breath. "We were only in there for a little over an hour, so barely half a day has passed. Joan will likely be setting out either today or in a few days toward Paris. This is a good opportunity."
"You want to get there first and prepare?"
Leonel nodded. "Without adequate preparation, we'll definitely suffer major losses. I can't believe this is a Zone they designated for two people." Leonel continued, feeling aggrieved. "I believe you, this has to be a Unique Zone, that's the only explanation."
"…" Aina's mouth opened for a moment before she muttered in a small voice. "… Sorry."
But, she had spoken so softly that Leonel didn't catch her words.
"Let's rush to Paris. We'll definitely make it there first. We can scout out the situation and wait for Joan to arrive. It will also give me a chance to digest the information in this Force Art.
If it was really so easy to get rid of a Force Art, Leonel would just endure and shave a layer of skin from his hand. But, it obviously wasn't so easy to deal with it or else Aina wouldn't have been so worried, he could deduce at least that much.
Since now he had to use half of his Force to keep these chains at bay, he might as well gain some benefits from them, or else they really might have no chance of clearing this Zone.
However, just as Leonel was firming up his resolve, Aina said something that almost made him fall to the ground.
"… Do you know how to get to Paris from here?"