On their way out of the castle, they stopped quickly to look at the scoreboard. Dante was startled that, even in less than a week, some of the students were over 1000 points.
When he saw that Sabrina's rank had dropped since last time, Dante felt guilty. He knew that needing to be on a team with him would be a hindrance to her.
For Sabrina, however, the position of Rim and Hector was surprising. The duo had not changed their ranking so far. It was as if they were calculating precisely the position they both wanted to occupy. She knew how difficult that was.
She also couldn't help but feel anger as she analyzed the top 10 from there. She recognized the clan of many of them, and it wasn't for benevolence or anything like that. Many of those there used nefarious practices to accumulate the materials and Qi of less powerful people and use it in their own cultivation. People like that were the scum.
With a mutual nod, they decided it was time to leave. Instinctively, Dante walked toward the place where they had entered the forest the first time. To him, it was obvious that the starting point would be there.
"Hey, where are you going?" said Sabrina, confused.
"Huh, you want to stop somewhere before we go? the forest is this way, right?" Dante asked. For him, there was nothing more to be done. It was time to get back to action, he couldn't wait to see the results of his evolution and his new purchase.
Making a face as if she understood the problem, Sabrina went with Dante to another corner of the hall. There was a large map stenciled on the wall.
"Actually, that place is the last one we should think about finding monsters. It's the 'safest' area here, and therefore it's full of people. Our goal should be a region where we don't have to waste much time looking for the monsters."
She quickly explained the map to Dante. There were several exits, running from north to south of the castle. The only direction where there was no battle ground was to the east. To that region, there was what appeared to be a village marked on the map.
"The time I went out alone, before the new rules, I went through the south side. I think we can try a little to the west of where I first went, I don't think the territory there will get in our way."
Analyzing the map, Dante noticed that the regions were divided by large terrain changes. There was one region where it was apparently snowing, while another was a flooded swamp. The region that Sabrina had pointed out seemed to be somewhat neutral, with no apparent Qi dominance of any kind.
Dante was startled by the size of the map. The castle, which to him was immense, occupied only a tiny region of the map. If the dimensions were proportional, it meant that the total size of the region was immense.
"Wouldn't it be better for us to go to a region rich in some of our Qi types? the region you pointed out seems to have neither fire Qi nor shadow Qi. For that matter, is there such a thing as ambient shadow Qi?" asked Dante. After the last lessons with Isaac, some cogs fell into place in Dante's head.
Before coming to the sect, he had no idea that the elements in the environment could interact with Qi. He suspected that there was some kind of potentialization of the energies around the castle, because while he was still in his home, only sacred materials could cause some influence on the energy.
It was only natural to assume that the regions demarcated on the map were related to the types of Qi. Dante was beginning to understand better the cultivation loop that the disciples were in. Kill monsters, get points, exchange the points for materials for cultivation. It was training all around.
"There is, but more specific types of Qi are rarely found in an area like this. I think the sect needs to go for the most common ones, so only the usual types are easy. We can try to go in the fire Qi area, but I don't know if it will be much help, I've heard that the only source of Qi in the areas are large firestones, and they all seem to be crowded."
After some thought, Dante decided not to offer any objections to Sabrina's plan. She had clearly thought about the variables that he had not even known existed until recently.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He couldn't stop thinking about the exorbitant amount of resources that the sect should have access to in order to make all that possible. The variety of artificial climates must cost a fortune to maintain. On top of that, there was the constant stream of monsters.
Dante knew that somehow the sect drew the monster-appearing area near there, so that the students could practice. However, that meant that these monsters would not serve as resources for the interim slayers.
On the way to the exit they would take, Dante had the opportunity to observe the castle from the outside. The construction was truly monumental, like from a fairy tale castle. Countless towers adorned the heights, so that Dante doubted he would be able to see all the rooms even if he spent years there.
It didn't take long before they reached the exit they aimed for. A kind of Qi membrane marked the boundary between the safe area and the area with the monsters.
It was easy to feel the difference. As they passed through the barrier, Dante's skin began to react even more aggressively in the sunlight, as if pulling it inward. He felt energetic in the process, eager to fight and release his power.
In the seconds it took Dante to adjust to the flood of Qi, Sabrina could easily tell that something was different. In front of her, Dante's skin shimmered with a light yellow, almost golden color.
"If you want to hide this, you need to train," she said, after Dante had regained focus.
Surprised, he replied, "Is it that obvious?"
He couldn't help but think that again he had failed. At the very first moment, he already revealed that his Qi type was not exactly fire. For a moment, he thought about leaving there and going back to his room and cultivating. There, at least no one would notice him. Or would notice his mistakes.
Determined to overcome the intrusive thoughts, Dante shook his head and decided to continue.
After they followed a path through a forest similar to the one the test had taken place in, Sabrina said, "This forest is like a barrier. In every direction we will find a small part before we see the different terrains."
"Here we are," she said a short time later. In place of the forest, the new terrain was composed of long plains with diverse soil. The plains ended in unevenness, looking like the terrain was composed of several small hills.
"It shouldn't be long before we find the first monsters. How do you want to do it?" said Sabrina, shyly. Although she knew that being with Dante would only slow her down, she couldn't help but hope that he would tell them not to split up.
It was strange to feel comfortable in someone else's presence. Sabrina didn't know why Dante made her feel that way. Even though they had both known each other for a short time, maybe it would have been seeing him in a near-death situation.
Well, it certainly had been. For her, it was strange to see someone fighting with all his might against the impossible. In a way, it reminded her of herself, how she would have to fight against all odds to get her revenge.
"I would first like you to show me what you can do. I have a very basic set of skills, and you must have seen them in that situation... on the other hand, I don't know anything about your limits. Oh, before I forget, I can regenerate fairly easily, but it exhausts my Qi quickly."
Regeneration. Sabrina was surprised to learn that Dante had such a rare ability. She thought that his rapid recovery was a function of powerful medicines, but it seems that she was wrong. If he could regenerate, at least she wouldn't have to worry about him that much.
Dante would like to explain more about his condition to Sabrina. But apart from his new core, even he didn't really understand what he was capable of doing.
Walking up to a shadow caused by one of the hills, Sabrina turned to Dante and said, "My ability consists of precise manipulation of shadows. I usually use this format, which is the one I am most familiar with."
Without warning, Sabrina's hair began to accumulate Qi. From there, several hands of shadows appeared, which went toward Dante at great speed. Instinctively, he adopted a battle stance, but too late. The next thing he knew, he was already covered by the hands, locked in place.
"My hair is the area where I can concentrate Qi as efficiently as possible. My path, although not extremely good at anything, is very versatile, so that there are few situations where I am at a disadvantage."
Dante could easily see that her words were true. Unlike Sabrina's path, Dante was destined to focus more on close range combat, even with his new Qi. He could also tell that this was just the superficiality of her ability. But he couldn't blame her. Knowledge in many battles was the key to victory, and in the end they were opponents for the same goal.
"Wow, that's cool, I've never seen anything like that before," he said glimmeringly. It wasn't hard to notice that, beyond his ambitions to help his family, his drive to be a slayer came from a much simpler place. His heart was from cultivation and his arts.
"I can do a few more things, but I'll leave it as a little surprise," she said, disguising the real reason for not showing her other techniques. Despite her feeling of affection for the boy, if it came to a boundary between her goals and the welfare of whomever, she knew she would need to make the hard choice.
"Well, let's do it this way. Let's not separate each other more than the range of our voices, so that if someone needs help, they can call on the other," Dante said, as he surveyed his surroundings.
"All right, but be careful, there are some D-class monsters around here. I don't know the specific types, so keep an eye out."
Agreeing, Dante turned and headed toward the unknown. He knew better than anyone that he should be careful. Last time, he was just lucky.
No regeneration would be enough if he was dead, after all.