Before Dante could do anything, the dragon opened his other hand as well. There it concentrated a kind of glowing Qi, whose heat Dante could easily feel even from meters away.

"The Qi you see on my left is the Qi you possessed. It is the result of the synergy of your body with a falcon core. The Qi that stands in my right hand, however, is the Qi that penetrates your flesh now," said the dragon, as it looked at Dante as if it were looking straight into his soul.

What surprised Dante the most was not the explanation. He could differentiate between the types of Qi in front of him with ease. What was surprising was that the dragon could easily summon two types of Qi presumably different from its original type.

Dante had to admit that he didn't know very well how monsters handled Qi. Knowledge about Class A or S monsters was impossible for the rabble, like Dante.

"What have you done to me? I know you helped me pass the first test, but I would never have accepted it if I knew I would lose all the control I have worked for in years," Dante said, thinking of all the time he had trained with the path of his clan. Each Qi had to be controlled in a specific way, and although both his new and old Qi were similar to fire, he would have to relearn precise control.

"You wouldn't accept it, really? You would throw away an opportunity to finally break out of mediocrity just for the pride of saying you still use the same Qi as Daddy, is that it? Wake up, child." The dragon approached Dante, who held his breath. Once again surprising the laws of physics, it stretched one of its fingers toward the boy, as if in accusation. "How far do you think you were capable of going with that weak power and core?" it said, as it tightly closed the hand that held the red Qi.

The message was delivered with ease.

"What are you talking about? I know my clan was not at its peak, far from it. But the falcon path was solid, the physique was enhanced by generations."

"Enhanced by generations, yes. Generations of golds, at most one or another platinum. You base all your cultivation on an ant, while you could fly like an eagle, dominating the world," he said, as he resumed a position that seemed to be comfortable, close to the ground.

"I know I'm only a silver at first, but-"

"You couldn't feel it? You couldn't feel the difference between your new power and your old power?"

Looking down at the floor with an air of acceptance, Dante nodded. All his arguments were based on emotional attachment, and he knew it. It was time to change the direction of the conversation.

"I could feel the difference, but I need to know what is happening to me. I want to grow, it's just... painful to know that everything I've practiced so far has been in vain."

"Not in vain, kid. Now listen, leave the questions for later, we have little time. In case you still wanted to return to your old Qi, I will do it. What I have done is change your monster core. This was only possible because your core was not yet very well formed, nor was your physique so altered. The effects you are feeling stem from this change."

Suddenly, Dante felt a pressure coming from all sides, seeming to shake him to his soul. Thinking it was some feat of the dragon, he became concerned when the monster reached up, channeled its Qi, and shot out.

As if there were no ceiling in the room, the dragon's Qi, of a heavenly blue, disappeared from view. Little by little, the pressure eased, until things returned to normal.

"I'm afraid our time has come to an end, boy. I'm sorry I can't give you all the details, but I assure you of one thing: the path ahead of you is the path of power. If you decide to go with your new core, there will be no limits that frustrate your ambitions."

"But why me? I'm sure there are other more talented ones around here..." said Dante, helplessness stamped in his voice. Although dedicated, he was fully aware of the limits that were imposed on his cultivation by his family's scarcity of resources.

"I promise you will understand later. But, I must say that my resources will come with two conditions. The first is that you are approved for the next stage of Slayer training. The second is that you must access, until approval, a chamber that I have left hidden on the outskirts of the sect land."

Sighing, the dragon continued, "I must also warn you that the road ahead is not a path of joy. In exchange for potential, there will be pain. The path ahead will make the pain you felt when you first burned your channels with Qi be child's play. All this in exchange for infinite potential."

At that moment, Dante knew that the next few minutes would change his life in an incorrigible way. What should he do? Although the promise of power was tempting, certainly the resources would not be free... Something would be required of him in the future.

But, the thought of mediocrity was frightening. If he failed to pass the next phase of the Slayers test, he would what? Return home as just another failure, destined to a life of servitude and subservience?

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At that very moment, the cogs in Dante's mind clicked into place. Decided, the boy raised his gaze toward the dragon, as resolute as a sunrise on a cloudless morning.

"I'll get it. Can you tell me which monster you implanted inside me? I need to know in order to follow a new path, at least where to start."

With a smile worthy of a monster, the dragon showed its shining teeth and said, "Very well. I hope you don't disapprove of me. As for the details, I would leave the man who has accompanied you here in charge of your instruction. You will need it, your knowledge of the martial arts is faulty at best."

Looking up, the dragon extended its claw and swooped down, creating a crack of sorts. The rip in reality was expanding, until Dante could see on the other side a scene totally alien to his knowledge. Monsters that looked like upside down were blowing streams of energy at each other, almost in a war.

As the monster began to pass through the rift, he looked back one last time, and said, "I hope you take this opportunity, the monster that is now inside you belonged to an old friend. It is a phoenix, and not a normal one, but a special phoenix. A solar phoenix. Goodbye."

After passing through the rift, the energy quickly closed, leaving the great obsidian hall absent of any trace of the conversation that took place a few moments ago.

Still trying to process what had happened, Dante turned around. It was time to find the cultivator that had bought him here and begin his training. There was no time to lose.

As he walked to the door, he couldn't help but take a big breath, as if he had opened a pressure cooker.

Instead of tension, euphoria arose.

Until then, Dante had hoped to achieve good results, but now it was different. The chance he was given was beyond his dreams. It was the road to the kingdom of the sovereigns, where none of his family had ever dreamed of entering.

--

After all these years, being there again brought Isaac a strange feeling. Besides nostalgia, he thought about the power structure that governed the lives of those young disciples.

Everything was so weak. So... ephemeral.

When it had been his turn to be approved as a Slayer, being in such a place would also bring him insecurity. At this point he could understand the boy. What was the name... Dante.

Placing a hand on the dark walls, he felt all the contents of the room. It was the private room of an old Slayer, who must have been one of the people in charge of this base.

Millennia ago, the solidity of a wall like this was an absolute impenetrable wall in his life. Now, a spark of his Qi was enough to bring everything down.

Reaffirming his strength, he pressed his hand a little on a brick. Promptly, noises gave him the desired answer. Isaac could break the whole castle if he let loose a little.

Absurdly bored, he looked up at the ceiling, thinking. Probably that damned dragon would charge him with the task of taking care of the boy, of teaching him, of perfecting him.

Just as a master had once made Isaac into a masterpiece, it was his turn to pass on.

Scorn filled his face as he thought about the lack of cohesion that permeated existence. Finally, when he was powerful enough to have everything and everyone at his feet, the people who mattered most were no longer there.

Looking to the side, he opened a crack into the sacred realm. He was sure that the dragon would go there. For a brief moment, he almost lost control, tearing reality apart a little too much.

Crossing the boundary between the worlds, he felt the change immediately. In that lower realm, it was as if the Qi pressure was that of water coming out of a faucet. Here, it was a flood with no prospect of ending.

Jumping into a crystal whole that looked more like a mountain, he turned to look at the horizon.

The vision that had once been the protagonist of his most precious moments was now nothing more than a background. A dull and unnecessary background.

Just like the crack he had created a few moments ago, a new one opened nearby. The dragon passed quickly, returning to its home. Back to the land of crystals.

How would the boy react if he knew who this monster really was?

No, it was impossible for most to even conceive one hundredth of the creature's power. Even at the apex of its power, Isaac was certain of its absolute defeat in the event of a confrontation. Often, that was what he wished for.

"You know, he kind of reminds me of you back in the day. Although he seems a little smarter than you used to be."

Again, he had to make Isaac remember the past. So much effort to forget... and it was all coming up again.

"I want you to train the boy. Don't give him a break or help to get the Slayer points.... But train him the best way, Isaac. There's no one better than you for that."

"We'll see about that, master. What monster did you put inside him? It must be something different, I couldn't feel anything but a Qi that mixed light and fire..." said Isaac. Despite his reservations, he loved that dragon as if it were his family. In a way, it was one of his last bridges to the past.

With a laugh that is seen only every millennium, the monster said, "I have placed in it a creature that was born with life and will die after me. The sun god, the king of sunrise. The Sun Phoenix."

That, of all things, was enough to bring Isaac out of his carcass of indifference. So, one of the last legendary ones had chosen a host. It seemed that things would be interesting after all.

"I left the instructions for the boy's test at your accommodations. You should have the necessary resources, but if something is missing, you know more than anyone where to get it."

"How far can I go?" asked Isaac, thoughtfully. Dealing with a child with power from an ancestor... it would be hard to balance cultivation in that case.

"Do whatever it takes. I made clear the kind of path that was before the child."

With enough information to proceed, Isaac turned and opened a new rift, not letting his power be contained.

Like a splash, his exaggerated Qi scorched the environment. To that land of monsters, however, that kind of power was of less importance than the walk of an ant.

"And, Isaac. Keep an eye on his team too, you'll find they're interesting."

By the time Isaac was back in the corridor, and the rift closing, a final beam of voice came through.

"If you do your job well enough, maybe this time, I'll let you die."

Taken by surprise, he turned instinctively to face the wall. This was his chance, his chance to fix everything.

He couldn't wait to once and for all, leave.

He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with his finger. The gesture, by now, was only customary.

It was time to begin the forging of the new generation.