Dante's Immortality: Beginnings

by Antonio Terzini

  While he stood there, unmoving, Roderick, turned around in confusion. Only to see Isaac’s corpse slumped on the ground, a pool of blood draining from it.

  The two of them stared at each other for a moment, both of their eyes were wide, each of them having a difficult time coping with the scene in front of them.

  Then Roderick roared as he charged at Dante with sword extended.

  Dante hesitated for a split second, but then he broke out of his absentmindedness and Blinked away, escaping to the forest.

  He wouldn’t fool himself into thinking he could take Roderick on just because he surprised Isaac. Roderick’s increased Constitution and resiliency from his Warrior Classification wouldn’t allow him to cut his throat as easily as he had with Isaac.

  Occasionally during the chase, Roderick would come close enough to put himself in sword range, and every time Dante would Blink ahead to keep his lead. Thankfully the chase in between the Blinks lasted more than long enough for his Mana to recharge.

  He had a clear lead in Agility, but the underbrush hindered his movements while Roderick just trampled over any obstacle in his path.

  The chase had seemed to have no end in sight. Or at least it didn’t until Dante, pushing through the foliage, rushed out onto a clearing that ended in a cliff. He was barely able to stop his momentum by the time he came to the edge of the cliff. Dante looked down to judge the fall, the drop was massive. If he fell, his body would be completely flattened.

  As he glanced over the edge, Roderick crashed into the clearing. Completely cornering him on the cliff.

  Dante muttered a curse, his options seemed rather limited.

  Wait…

  The situation was nowhere near as dangerous as he had initially thought. Dante threw his long-bladed weapon directly at Roderick, allowing the Warrior to easily bat it away. After that, he backed up to the edge of the cliff, doing his best to look terrified, which wasn’t difficult in the slightest. He repeatedly looked at the drop, then back up to Roderick, as if questioning if he should die from the fall or die to Roderick’s blade.

  Roderick saw Dante’s expression and smiled as he charged sword first.

  Waiting until the last second, Dante blinked behind Roderick and kicked him off the cliff’s edge.

  A terrified scream that didn’t seem to match Roderick’s massive frame echoed out for a few brief seconds until it was abruptly cut off with a thud.

  Looking over the edge of the cliff Dante winced. Roderick was dead, without a doubt. After staring at Roderick’s disfigured corpse for a moment, he began to contemplate what he should do next. Thinking it over, he decided to go back to where he killed Isaac, it was a possibility that he would have a few useful items on his person.

  He also thought of looting Roderick’s body but decided that traversing the cliff wouldn’t be worth what he would get.

  It took Dante over an hour to get back to where Isaacs corpse was located. Thankfully it wasn’t hard to find, the trampled path that Roderick created led him directly to it.

  Seeing Isaacs body on the ground, Dante couldn’t help but grimace. He didn’t regret killing the two guards in the slightest, after all, they would have killed him if they had the opportunity. But the act of killing itself didn’t sit well with him.

  Moving to Isaac’s corpse, Dante began to search through his clothes. The first thing he found was a small coin purse with seventeen copper coins. It drastically improved his mood, he had lost all of his money when the hag had cheated him.

  The second thing he found was far more valuable. It was a medium-sized stone that fit comfortably in the palm of his hand, and on the face of the stone was a small rune. He had seen similar items in the past, and could tell from a glance that the stone was enchanted.

  An item could only be enchanted by someone with the Enchanter Classification, in the Outer Edge region of Aleria, such items were almost nonexistent and worth at least double their weight in gold. His unexpected harvest was enormous.

  He didn’t know what the stone actually did though, so he placed it on the ground and fed world essence into it, similarly to how he would activate his Status. The stone glowed for a second, then the ground around it was instantly set ablaze.

  Dante ceased feeding world essence into it, then stamped out the fire. After waiting for the rock to cool he picked it up gently.

  Not only was it an invaluable object, but it also solved the issue of him building a fire. Something he hadn’t really considered.

  After taking the stone, Dante looked over Isaacs clothing. He and Isaac were roughly the same height. The only problem was that he had a gaunt frame while Isaac’s was far closer to what would be considered average. After some thought, he decided to take the clothes. They were in decent condition and far better than anything that he had on. Even though they were completely soaked in Isaac’s blood, the stains could easily be washed out when he found a stream.

  After stripping Isaac of all of his belongings, Dante sat back and examined himself. He was practically covered in blood, even his arms were soaked with it…

  Dante did a double take. Only his left hand was covered in blood. The glove on his right hand was completely dry, while the rest of his arm was coated.

  That wasn’t the only thing that was strange about his glove though, there was a new scarlet symbol under the dragon, so tiny he could barely make it out. It was the symbol of the Ranger Classification.

  Chapter 4

  Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 4

  Dante stood over the corpse, completely covered in blood as he stared at the change in his combatant’s glove. The lack of blood might have been a coincidence, but the small symbol of the Ranger Classification definitely wasn’t.

  Curious, Dante knelt by Isaac’s corpse and pressed his gloved hand into a small pool of blood to the side, then observed it carefully.

  Because the glove was pitch black, aside from the scarlet dragon and the new scarlet Ranger symbol, he couldn’t actually see a red stain of blood on it. The glove just looked wet for a split second, then dry.

  He couldn’t help but be slightly stunned at the disappearance of the blood. He had thought it probable that the glove was somehow absorbing it from the lack of blood earlier, but seeing it actually happen before his eyes, and so quickly, sent a shiver down his spine.

  Next, Dante took the glove off and inspected his right hand. The hand was completely dry. He put the glove back on and looked at Isaac’s corpse, he shrugged and decided to test the glove further.

  Dante shoved his right hand deeply into the hole he cut into Isaac’s throat. Then, holding back his bile, he pushed down on Isaac’s torso with his left hand in an attempt to get more blood to come out. He was successful. Blood was squirting out of Isaac’s arteries and into the hole cut into his throat. After leaving it in for a moment, Dante pulled his hand back out. It was, of course, dry. Even the cavity in Isaac’s throat was almost completely dry.

  There was a new development though. He thought he might have imagined it, but the ancient looking threadbare glove actually seemed slightly less tattered. He wasn’t sure if he was correct or not, so he decided that he would test it later when he wasn’t as queasy. For the time being, he was finished desecrating the dead.

  After standing up from Isaac’s corpse, he briefly thought about going back to where Roderick’s body was and testing his blood. But after a moments consideration, he decided it wasn’t worth it, even if he could acquire a new symbol on his glove. Roderick’s Warrior Classification was nothing special. He would have plenty of opportunities in the future to acquire it.

  Looking up at the sun peeking through the foliage, he noted that there were only a few hours of sunlight left. He needed to find a place to sleep for the night, and hopefully something to eat, as soon as possible.

  Before doing that, he decided to check the Classification tab on the Status. He should have gotten some world essence from killing Isaac.

  Manipulating world essence into his St
atus, he opened the Classifications section.

  World Essence waiting to be assigned: 127

  Chronomancer lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Blademancer lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Blader lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Revenant lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Recent World Essence gain:

  73 World Essence for killing: Ranger

  54 World Essence for killing: Warrior

  He was both surprised and delighted that he had gotten credit for killing Roderick. He assumed that it was either because he was the direct cause of Roderick’s death or the last person to hit him, but regardless of the reason, it was a massive benefit.

  He also thought that it was strange that Roderick had given him so much less world essence than Isaac when it had seemed more difficult to kill him. Although, after thinking it over for a moment, he realized that it was more than fair.

  The only reason he had killed Isaac so quickly was a mixture of a surprise and Isaac’s low Constitution. Had Isaac chosen to pick him off with a bow instead of brazenly walking out from behind a tree, he would undoubtedly be the one dead right now. Not only that, but it was likely that Isaac was a higher overall level. After all, he had a more senior guard status in Alazel than Roderick.

  After looking at the recent gains, Dante looked over his different Classifications. He had more than enough world essence to level up one of them, but couldn’t decide which would be best. After fighting Roderick, he had realized how much the Constitution’s resiliency bonus could help him in a fight, and the increased Strength would be more than welcome in any situation if he decided to level the Revenant Classification.

  He wasn’t too worried about the increased Dexterity or Agility from the Blader Classification in the immediate future. No one alive knew about his Blink skill, so the massive advantage in surprise would cover over his poor ability with weapons or low speed.

  Blademancer or Chronomancer would definitely both be useful if leveled. Both Classifications would increase his mana regeneration, and the time he could stay in combat.

  After thinking it over, Dante decided to level up the Revenant Classification first. After all, he hadn’t had any issues running out of mana so far. He knew that if he were in combat for an extended period of time he would basically be dead as soon as couldn’t Blink away, but decided it would be best to increase both his offensive and defensive capabilities for the time being.

  He focused on his Revenant Classification and poured world essence into it until it leveled and looked at the new text that popped up.

  Revenant has reached level 2

  Attributes have been added:

  +1 Strength

  +1 Constitution

  Skill description for Rebirth of the Revenant (Passive) has been updated

  World Essence waiting to be assigned: 27

  Chronomancer lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Blademancer lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Blader lvl 1/10 (0/100 world essence)

  Revenant lvl 2/10 (0/200 world essence)

  For a moment, Dante just stared at the text, mind reeling. There was a lot of information to take in on the Status panel in front of him. The thing that drew the most of his attention was his passive skill, Rebirth of the Revenant, changing upon leveling up the class. This was something Dante was unaware of, he had always heard that skills could have a massive change upon specializing if upgraded, and assumed that was the only time they changed.

  He was itching to go and check out his Skills tab, but first examined the amount of world essence his Revenant Classification would need to reach level 3. It had doubled to 200 world essence, specializing his Classifications would be harder than he thought if it continued to double every level.

  Next, he opened the Skills tab to see how his passive, Rebirth of the Revenant, had changed.

  Rebirth of the Revenant (Passive): Heal up to 11% of max HP every time you kill.

  He was ecstatic at the skill change. A 1% increase in his heal every time he killed wasn’t a big deal, but if he got a 1% increase to it every time he leveled up his Revenant Classification, the overall change would be massive when it was level 10.

  That done, Dante ceased manipulating world essence into the Status, closing it.

  He still needed to find food and a place to sleep for the night.

  * * *

  A few hours later, he was feeling quite pleased with himself.

  After leaving Isaac’s body, Dante immediately resumed trekking through the forest, looking for a suitable location to sleep safely.

  While walking through the forest, he stumbled across several small creatures and animals that would dart across his path briefly and disappear into the underbrush. At first, he was unprepared, but eventually, he readied himself to attack the swift creatures.

  It took him several failed attempts, but after a bit of practice he got the timing right and Blinked into the path of a small rabbit. Using the sword that he was clearing the underbrush with, he cleaved it in two.

  Satisfied with his harvest, he set off to find a location to cook his rabbit with a new feeling of invigoration. It didn’t take him long, he stumbled upon a small stream about thirty minutes after killing making the kill.

  The stream seemed like a suitable location, it practically sliced the forest in two. It was shallow, but the large stony banks on each side of it indicated that the streams water levels were far lower than they usually were.

  He couldn’t help but feel relieved when he saw the stream, he was going to be sick if he was coated in blood much longer.

  After washing the blood off of himself and Isaac’s clothes, Dante gathered some dry wood from the surrounding forest and started a small fire with the enchanted stone. Then, after laying Isaac’s clothing out to dry by the fire, he began to cook the small rabbit he had killed earlier.

  Yes, he was feeling quite pleased with himself.

  Or at least he did until the howling started.

  As soon as the sun set, the first howls pierced the air. He had just finished his small meal and was preparing to sleep when he first heard them. At first, it was far off in the distance and spread out, so he completely ignored it. But his false sense of security didn’t last as the howling continued, not only did it grow louder, but it sounded more frenzied as well. It was as if the wolves had picked up a trail and were on the hunt.

  Getting worried, and deciding it was better to be safe rather than sorry, he cast Create Blade twice for a full 100 mana while he would still have time for the mana to regenerate. He could have used the blade he had been clearing the underbrush with, but instead, he left it alone in favor of the style he had created when he first tried the Create Blade ability back in Alazel. The two weapons were like a mix between a dagger and a short sword that curved up towards the end of the blade.

  Feeling comfort in the cold steel that was now in his hands, Dante sat with his back towards the fire, facing the forest and ready for any threat.

  He didn’t need to wait long.

  The howling grew even louder. It felt as though the wolves were right on top of him, surrounding him on all sides. As Dante peered into the forest, he saw nine sets of golden yellow eyes that were reflecting the firelight back to him.

  The howling had stopped, but the glowing eyes were far, far more terrifying. Especially the wolf that was directly in front of him. Not only were its eyes slightly larger than the others, but they were almost half a length higher than the others as well.

  Dante uttered a curse, he would have taken Isaac or Roderick any day over the horse sized wolf and the rest of its pack.

  Dante stood up, the two large daggers in his hands and fire to his back. As if on cue, the wolves began to stalk out of the forest. The large wolf stood directly in front of him, its hackles rising as it growled at him. He watched the wolf carefully, unwilling to take his focus on the behemoth, and the smaller wolves took the opportunity to encircle him.


  Shit.

  He was pretty sure that he could kill off the smaller wolves by Blinking next to them and slashing at their vitals, but there was no way he would be able to kill the eight small wolves with his small mana pool.

  Each Blink cost him 30 mana, regardless of the distance teleported, so he would be able to do it around five times in a row before running out of mana if he paused between each Blink. Also, with his Wisdom, it would take around twenty seconds to store up enough Mana for another Blink. And all of that didn’t even bring the growling horse wolf that was staring at him with his hackles rising into consideration.

  After thinking it over, he was fairly confident that he wouldn’t survive the fight.

  Still, if he was going to die, he would at least take some of them with him.

  Going against his instincts, he decided he would kill the horse sized wolf first. He knew that if he was going to have a shot at surviving the encounter, he would need to use the Rebirth of the Revenant passive. So, saving it for last wasn’t the best option because he wouldn’t be able to kill the smaller wolves to heal afterward.

  Calming himself as well as he could, Dante lunged at the massive beast. The sword on his left swiping sideways into its mouth in an attempt to ward off its fangs, the blade on his right coming up from below, sinking into the flesh of its chest cavity.

  The sword that he swung at the wolf’s mouth hit the back of its jaw, but the wolf’s momentum wasn’t slowed in the slightest, it fell on him, trying to snap at his neck as he just barely held it back with his sword.

  A few seconds after his sword plunged into its chest, the wolf began to cry out and struggle viciously while it pinned him to the ground. He cried out in pain as its claws raked across his ribs.

  He wanted to roll away from the wolf instead of Blinking to preserve his mana, but he couldn’t dislodge the sword buried in the wolf’s chest cavity while pinned on the ground. Leaving the sword would mean that he would need to create a new one, and he didn’t have enough mana to spare on his Create Blade skill.