CHAPTER 46: BANDITS?

’Useless.’

Dante tried Appraisal on Beatrice’s axes, but nothing happened at all.

They were just ordinary rankless and gradeless axes. There was nothing magical about them.

’That’s disappointing... now for the other weapons.’

Silver Ether Spell — Appraisal!

Dante’s eyes sparkled instantly as colorful runes hovered before him.

[Grade: 3]

[Type: Longsword]

[Materials: Grade 3 Abyssal Steel]

[Durability: 79%]

Reading the runes, Dante nodded in satisfaction.

’Perfect!’

Maybe it wasn’t enchanted, but it was still a Grade 3 longsword. This sword definitely had high potential.

He could sell it, or he could make someone enchant it. Although he had his own sword, Fafnir was still the best companion he had and he deserved a good weapon.

After using Appraisal on every other weapon, he saw them all made of the same material and only had different durabilities. But none of them were below 60%.

He even tried to check Fafnir’s sword, and surprisingly, it had a grade. But it was only a Grade 1 sword without a single enchantment.

’Tsk, those stingy dragons. Now, what next?’

Dante had many things he wanted to do.

He had to master the mana manipulation and start casting spells without using his body as a medium. That would help him in situations where he would need to cast a spell while fighting with both hands.

Same thing applied to Ether manipulation. It was even more urgent due to the significant harm it could cause. Additionally, improving his control would allow him to cast more and stronger spells with the same amount of Ether.

Obviously, he also had to keep understanding luck and misfortune in order to fix his innate luck and live peacefully without a lightning strike hitting him.

He also had to create mimicked spells of the Space Aspect and the Time Aspect. The Space Aspect especially could help him to run from stronger enemies.

And he had to start using the third form of Centipede of Greed, which was the Whip form. Just by its high range and flexible movements, that form seemed highly promising.

Lastly, he had to understand the crown that he had. It was supposed to have an ability of some kind—either active or passive—but Dante didn’t discover it yet.

’I’ll start with Ether manipulation. It’s my real trump card, after all. But first...’

With a simple thought, a round gem-like core came out of Dante’s ring. It was a Rank 1 core.

He had gained 18 cores in the ancient ruins: 9 from the shadow monsters, 1 from the giant skeleton, 1 from Beatrice, and 7 from the skeletons that Beatrice had killed.

And he had used 2 of them when he got his class, leaving him with only 16.

Then recently, he had gained 50 cores from the baron’s treasures and 50 more from killing the possessed corpses, leaving him with 116 cores.

It was the perfect time to start absorbing some of them.

’It will take some time, but it’ll be worth it.’

For the next few minutes, Dante absorbed one core after another, taking all the essence they contained and leaving them as dust.

The number behind the Existence Essence kept increasing steadily, and after a few minutes—

Existence Essence ⟨99/1000⟩

’One more to go.’

Excitedly, Dante absorbed one last core, causing the Existence Essence to reach ⟨100/1000⟩.

Simultaneously, Dante’s muscles tensed as he felt a small change occurring. With a smile, Dante read his runes.

• Vitality: 40 → 41

• Spirit: 41 → 42

• Mind: 30 → 31

• Demonic Energy: 62

Other than Demonic Energy, every stat increased by 1.

’This method should help me to fix the problem of corruption later.’

From the knowledge he received from the World Runes while awakening his class, he knew that there was a small method to earn stats.

For every 100 Existence Essence, all the stats would increase by one other than the Demonic Energy. In other words, he should be able to get 9 more points on the Vitality and Mind before reaching the next rank.

’I still have 18 cores left. I should keep them for emergencies.’

Grrrr!

All of a sudden, Dante’s stomach growled.

’Oh, I haven’t eaten yet. Thankfully, I’m rich now!’

With a wide smile, Dante retrieved a slice of meat, a loaf of bread, a cup of tea, and a hot meatless stew pot from his ring.

He had bought them from an inn before leaving, including the entire stew pot and the cup itself. He was rich enough to do such a thing and the innkeeper didn’t mind.

His ring was able to keep the items inside fresh and even their temperature would stay as it was. It was truly a great relic.

Trying not to move too much—because of Elizabeth—Dante cut a piece of bread and soaked it into the stew before taking a big bite.

Dante’s smile widened instantly: ’Man, I can live on this food forever.’

As he enjoyed his meal, he didn’t forget to practice his Ether manipulation. He was channeling it through his Ether veins in endless cycles in order to improve his control.

Of course, he didn’t dare to infuse a single muscle with Ether.

’I’m not interested in exploding.’

When he used his mana to enhance his body, the excess mana would cover the body as a blue layer of mana. That was because of his good control.

If his control were worse and he infused his body with more mana than it could handle, he’d only cause harm to himself.

’Still, it’s not an instant harm. If something like that happened, I’d have enough time to send the excess mana outside before anything could happen.’

As for Ether, it was significantly stronger than mana. If he infused his body with more than it could handle, he wouldn’t have enough time to balance it as it’d definitely be an instant explosion.

Maybe his demonic and draconic parts could handle that for longer, but Dante wasn’t ready to infuse his arm with Ether to see if it would explode or not.

"Ah... Sir Shadow Dancer," The carriage driver suddenly stopped the carriage, his tone showing a hint of fear as he continued: "I think there are bandits blocking the way, and they’re coming toward us."

"Bandits?" Dante frowned as he stored his meal again and stood up, ignoring the head that was resting on his shoulder.

Looking through the window, Dante saw four humans, wearing thick fur cloaks and wielding weapons, approaching the carriage with a greedy expression.

They instantly separated and surrounded the carriage, leaving it with no way to run.

The wolves growled threateningly as one of the bandits shouted: "You are surrounded. If you leave your carriage and belongings, we might let you live with all your limbs!"

Dante blinked, seeing the bandits laughing like crazy beasts. As he used the Spiritual Eye ability, he had only one thought in this situation.

’Are these bastards stupid?’