Blade Dancer (Passive):
Increase Dexterity by 12%
Increase Agility by 12%
Increase ability with bladed weapons +2
The Agility and Dexterity bonuses were self-explanatory and needed no further testing, so he immediately dismissed them. The increased ability with bladed weapon though…
Even though he an idea of what he wanted to test out while he still had time, he was hesitant. If things went wrong, it could easily cost him his life. But everything carried around a certain amount of risk, and that included not knowing the full extent of his abilities in a life or death fight.
Dante created a new sword with Create Blade. He was curious if the increased ability with bladed weapons would help him with world essence manipulation. It was worth finding out, the wooden swords didn’t give him the same ‘alive’ feeling metal ones did, but exploding a metal sword with no healer in a soundproof room was dangerous to say the least.
Deciding he would take it slowly, and very carefully, he began to feed world essence into the weapon. He was shocked by what began to happen. The world essence began to condense itself. Not only that but as a whole, the world essence was far tamer inside of the weapon. It was still challenging to control, and it took all of his effort, but it was far easier.
He cut off the world essence that he was putting into the weapon. There was no point in testing it further when he still had no idea how to actually weaponize world essence, he would just be putting himself at risk.
That test done, Dante begrudgingly opened his Status back up. His last skill was pretty much useless, but he needed to test it while he had a chance.
Rebirth of the Revenant (Passive): Heal up to 12% of max HP every time you kill.
He didn’t think that the apparitions would even be able to trigger his Rebirth of the Revenant passive, but it was worth a shot.
The only reason he thought he might have a chance at using it was because it seemed to work by utilizing the world essence of the things he killed… but that was just a hunch.
His reasoning was due to the fact that it didn’t work when he killed small things that didn’t give him world essence, like the rabbits he hunted after leaving Alazel. But it did work on other creatures that did give him world essence, like wolves. It also seemed somewhat unlikely that it used his mana in any way.
Since the apparition’s enchantment was powered by essence crystals, and therefore world essence, he decided to give it a shot.
First, he read the skill carefully. The key phrase was ‘up to 12%,’ and he already knew that he could adjust the total percentage, so he started at 1%.
Gritting his teeth, he created a dagger and made a small cut on his arm. Then he walked up and destroyed one of the six apparitions. As it shattered and began to turn back into mist, he could actually see some of it being sucked over to him before the enchantments could absorb it. Surprisingly, the cut on his arm started to heal. That at least proved one of his theory’s, his passive was definitely healing by using the world essence of those he killed.
1% of his total health was more than enough to heal the small cut on his arm, but Dante held his breath and waited for exhaustion to hit.
About two minutes after he killed the apparition he felt it. He was actually pleasantly surprised. Even though his body felt slightly heavier, it wasn’t even as bad as some of the lighter healings that he had gotten in the academy.
That done, he began to experiment in a multitude of ways with the Rebirth of the Revenant passive. First, he tried to heal at both 2% and 3%. 2% wasn’t too bad, but it was noticeably worse than 1%. He guessed it was about four times more exhausting.
3%, on the other hand, hit him noticeably harder than the first two, it took him a few minutes to recover, stretching out his now slightly sore body.
His takeaway was that 1% was definitely the best for a prolonged fight, but 2% might still be usable if he needed to heal himself and only ran into a few enemies. 3% would limit him severely after only one or two uses, and he didn’t even try 4%, but he assumed it would basically take him out of a fight.
After that, he spent the following 25 minutes inflicting pain upon himself and then healing it with the six apparitions. He got some useful information from it though. It seemed that the more intricate the injury, like if he had a pierced organ or vital region, the more heals it took at 1% when compared to a deep slash on his arms, legs, or nonvital areas, even if they were about the same size wound.
He also tried to manipulate the world essence in an attempt to make the healing less exhaustive, like regular healers did with mana manipulation, but he couldn’t seem to make any progress on it. It was yet another thing he noted to look into later.
That finally done, Dante sighed in relief. Inflicting severe wounds on himself wasn’t one of the most pleasant experiences that he had been through.
He looked over at the timer, 46 minutes left. It was time to get some real fighting in.
Dante walked back to the control panel, and set all of the settings to three. If his estimations from earlier were correct, it would mean he would fight against three melee combatants with about 15 points in each of their physical attributes.
He turned to look at the three apparitions, after he increased the Constitution and Offensive Capability they all had light armor on and were wielding swords. Dante’s mouth curved into a smile as he started stepping toward them.
Chapter 26
Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 26
Edward Ailloss
One of his servants ran up to interrupt their sparring. “My lord, master Varik requests an audience.”
Edward motioned Sam to stop, ending the session. “What are you waiting for, send him over immediately.”
The servant hurried back to retrieve him, then returned a few minutes later with his spymaster, Varik. It took the spymaster quite a while to arrive at the yard. His bad leg had always been an issue, but it also seemed that the years were beginning to catch up to him, despite his specialization.
Seeing Varik’s calm demeanor, Edward couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief. The spymaster wouldn’t have come himself if he didn’t have big news. “Did you finally find her?”
The elderly man just looked at him emotionlessly. “I’m afraid not, my lord. I have some other news that I thought you may consider to be of some importance.”
He let out a sigh, his excitement was now deflated. “Alright, what is it?”
Seeing Edward’s indifference, Varik had a look of irritation cross his face. “My spies have found something of interest in House Calman’s academy in the Outer Edge region.”
Seeing the spymaster finally show some emotion, Edward smirked. “What could those pretentious upstarts possibly be doing that could interest me?”
The spymaster gave a moment of pause, clearly put off by his attitude. “Apparently a student with silver hair and red eyes is mercilessly destroying others in the academy’s arena.” He paused again, letting the information sink in and observing the changes on Edward’s face. “You told me to be on the watch for such a person, so I sent one of my best infiltrators to find out more information. He couldn’t find much on short notice, but apparently, that student arrived at the academy with Alexander and Layla Calman. He has even been receiving special treatment, and is currently housed with nobles from the Outer region.”
Edward could feel his face contort as Varik gave his report, which only brought out a look of satisfaction from the old spymaster.
It was no secret in House Ailloss that Edward’s daughter, Diana, had run away because he was trying to force her into a marriage, and Varik knew more than most.
Edward quickly pivoted, turning to Sam. “Prepare an extraction squad, we can’t let that witch get her hands on him.”
Sam cleared his throat. Then, as though he was talking to a child who didn’t understand. “It may be possible that he won’t come willingly if we… forcibly extract him.”
That g
ave him pause. He needed to find a way to get the boy out of the Calman’s reach, but in a way, that wouldn’t make him resentful…
Edward scratched his chin, considering several options for a moment. “Lead a squad into the academy, then wait for further orders.” Then he turned back to Varik. “Completely cover the academy with your agents. I want to know everything that happens as it happens.”
Varik was a little put off by the order. “Not only would that cost a significant amount of resources just to set up the information relay, but I would also have to take agents out of some long-term positions to fill the academy. Some have been working for years to properly establish themselves.”
The spymaster’s words gave him pause. “It doesn’t matter. This is more important, try and minimize the damage as much as you can, but see my orders carried out. Now.” He waved both of them away.
Now alone in the yard, he couldn’t help but let out another sigh. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Not only had his daughter run away, but the future of his house was most likely already seduced by some other witch.
If he was going to be seduced by a witch, why couldn’t it have been Diana…
* * *
“Sit up straight.” Mia was in the middle of cutting her food and wasn’t even looking at him. “Shoulders back and chest out.”
Dante just stared at her for a moment, then did as she said.
What did I do to deserve this?
As carefully as he could, he resumed eating, slowly cutting a piece of meat.
“Don’t rest your arms on the table. And you’re cutting a steak, not your adversary. Who taught you your manners?”
That comment elicited a glare from him. “No one.”
For a moment, she looked as though she regretted her words, but then her eyes hardened. “That is quite obvious. I would suggest you learn quickly if you don’t want to embarrass yourself on your date.”
Mia had been treating him far differently after their trip to the simulation room two days prior.
For some reason, she hated him again. He had no idea why, but was pretty sure he had messed up in some way that he wasn’t aware of. Regardless of the reason, knowing that he had destroyed whatever loose friendship he had finally started to create with Mia was still somewhat emotionally crushing.
“I’m no longer hungry” He put down his fork and knife. “I think I’ll go to sleep early.” He checked her reaction, but there wasn’t one. Dante let out a deep breath, then got up from his chair and walked toward his bedroom. “Thanks for dinner.” He looked back to gauge her reaction yet again, but she seemed intent on ignoring him.
Walking into his room, he decided his best course of action was to find comfort in his bed. He jumped onto it, somehow the bed seemed to remove all of his troubles.
At least my training with Will is going well…
Even though he and Will had only done two training sessions together, Will was already making enormous strides in his control thanks to Mia’s techniques. It was still too early to see if some sort of relationship would form out of it, but Will seemed elated at his progress. Will’s attitude, and lack of discomfort around him, gave him a decent amount of hope for his plan.
* * *
Mia
Mia sat at the table, ferociously cutting the steak on her plate.
Bastard. How dare he be seduced by that slut, but refuse me?
The sound of a cracking plate brought her out of her thoughts. The knife in her hand had shattered it.
Mia took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. She didn’t even know why she was so upset with him. It wasn’t like she actually wanted to sleep with Dante, but just thinking of Kayla rubbing up against him with her chest after all of her failed efforts…
The knife in her hand gave out, getting completely crushed in her grip.
Chapter 27
Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 27
The cracking of wooden swords striking together rang out as he and Will practiced in the yard.
The two of them weren’t really sparring, just drilling through their sword forms with each other. If they had been taking the fight seriously, Will would have been raining down blows that felt like sledgehammer strikes, and He would be outmaneuvering the attacks with his much higher speed.
Even though he usually won those fights, he couldn’t do it without taking at least a few of Will’s jarring attacks. So, when Will suggested they spar after their manipulation orb training, he was quick to suggest a mock fight.
It was actually far more useful for him than a regular fight would have been anyways. Compared to Will, who had practiced sword forms for years with tutors, he was far behind in actual sword fighting.
After a few more exchanges Will spoke up. “I heard you are going to the party at the Wise Prince tonight.”
The sudden statement and Will’s serious expression was so unexpected that as soon as Dante registered what Will had said, his form slipped and Will’s sword slid between his guard. The unanticipated strike to his thigh caught him off-guard, and he hissed in pain. “Where did you hear that?”
His question caused Will to wince. “Have you met Jack of House Daynard?”
Their swords continued to collide while he thought it over. After scanning through all of the nobles that he had met, and their house names, he concluded that he hadn’t. “I don’t think I’ve even heard of that house before.”
“He seems to know you rather well… Jack and the House Syrus twins talk about you a lot. Mostly spreading rumors about your, um… heritage.” Will paused as he saw the recognition on Dante’s face. “But recently, they are saying that you’re, uh…” A look of hesitation crossed Will’s face. “getting played by Kayla Stavins.”
Dante’s lip curled up into a slight smile involuntarily, surprising Will, who had been trying to break the news to him carefully.
Will’s voluntary warning about the party meant that teaching Will over the past few days was already paying off. Even if he was already aware of everything that Will had been warned him about, if he hadn’t been, it might have been an enormous help. Not only that, but he was also quite confident that the three people he was talking about were the three he had met at the seamstress shop, knowing their names could be a massive help in the future. “Thanks for the warning, but I should be fine.”
His words seemed to disgruntle Will. So, in an effort to maintain whatever relationship they might have formed, he quickly followed up his statement. “I already knew Kayla has ulterior motives for inviting me to the party, but I accepted anyways because it may be beneficial to me.”
This time Will’s concentration faltered in the midst of the conversation, allowing Dante to slip inside of his guard and get revenge for earlier. Of course, Will shrugged the attack off like it didn’t happen. “How could going to the party with Kayla be beneficial to you?”
That question shut him up. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell Will. He didn’t trust Will enough to tell him everything, or really anything, but at the same time telling him nothing would sew distrust between them. Deciding it would be best to say something, he tried to keep it vague. “I think she might have helped someone deceive me, so I’m trying to find out who.”
That elicited a laugh from Will. “That’s what happens when you get involved with nobles.” He seemed to be in a better mood now. “I would suggest you don’t get too tangled up in our scheming though, it would be dangerous for you.”
That was fairly obvious, but Will didn’t seem to be done handing out advice, so he prodded further. “How so?”
The question made Will’s expression far more serious. “All choices that a noble might make are based almost completely on two things; advantage and deterrence. You, for example, are almost completely advantageous to try and control. I’m not sure what your actual Classifications are, but based on your speed, strength, and resiliency, someone would have to be a fool not to see your potential. The problem is; all you have is potential.” Will
stopped the mock fight.
“You have nothing to deter someone from taking advantage of you, you have no allies, and you are too weak to protect yourself.” Will paused to let out a sigh. “It wouldn’t be a problem if you allied yourself with someone who could protect you, but you have nothing to offer in return for their protection… It would be equivalent to enslaving yourself. A true alliance, or even just a mutual agreement, can only be made when two parties are of equal power. Otherwise, the weaker side will always be at a disadvantage.”
“Your problem is different though. It is no secret that House Calman has been trying to recruit you. Setting you up in Housing District 1, as well as so obviously hiding your Classification, was warning enough for others to stay away from you.” Will’s tone of voice was as if he was stating the obvious. “If you get involved with someone other than House Calman, you go from being a complete advantage to a potential threat.”
Dante just stared at him blankly. It didn’t seem conceivable that the Will he knew, and the Will who just gave him that explanation were the same person.
Regardless, if he thought about his current situation in that light, everything made more sense… and everything also became much more dangerous. Even though he was pretty sure someone from House Calman had organized his fight with Greggory, so going with Kayla wouldn’t be a problem, there was still House Ailloss to consider.
Edward Ailloss basically asked him to join his house outright. If anyone from House Calman or House Ailloss found out about the other, they might take steps to make sure he didn’t cause problems in the future…
He hadn’t even thought of any of that before Will brought it up. “Thank you for explaining that to me.”
Will just nodded, then continued. “You need to keep it in mind. Most nobles won’t do anything for you if you aren’t useful to them. Even in agreements like the one we have, if you were dealing with anyone else, they wouldn’t have felt a need to repay your services.” Will smirked. “Luckily for you, I amat least somewhat honest.”
Dante's Immortality: Beginnings Page 24