Five years ago

Dante awoke to the sound of flames. Familiar with fire since he was a child, fear did not rise within the boy immediately.

He opened the old wooden door of his room, producing a creak capable of waking up his entire neighborhood. When he ran to the place where he had heard the loudest noise, however, he realized everyone was already awake.

"Run Dante, get some water and help me get this under control," cried Mey, desperate. Dante's older sister was a silver level cultivator, with a skill that the boy could barely dream of having. The grandparents of the clan said she was the most talented among generations.

Deep down, Dante knew that didn't mean much. Not even the most beautiful of flowers was capable of blooming without proper nourishment.

Without blinking, Dante ran out into the old wooden halls, chasing water. He had some Qi in his body, but had not yet solidified his core. That is, he was still at the bronze level.

He didn't need to think of anything else, but to get the water. Who had done this was not a secret. The Thunder Hawk clan had slaughtered Dante's clan years ago. Humiliating them with fire was just another of the cursed ones' predilections.

Every time the Flaming Falcon clan went through this kind of situation, Dante promised himself that he would get better. That one day he would be the salvation of his family.

One day he hoped he would be able to keep his promise.

--

Four years ago

Dante was having trouble sleeping. His mother's crying was loud and incessant.

Today marked one day since the worst attack Dante's clan had ever suffered. Year after year, the attacks intensified. But a full solar cycle ago, Dante's clan had suffered a much greater casualty than their patrimony.

Two juniors and one senior. Those were the casualties on that fateful day.

Whether on purpose or not, the seniors of the Thunder Hawk clan put too much force into the last attack. The structure of Dante's clan was not enough to contain the flames in time, so they ended up in the area of the flammable objects.

Since then, Dante's mother has been crying. Two of his brothers were gone.

Deep inside, Dante regretted that it was not he who had been consumed by the flames. The unknown was a better fate than having his heart torn out every day.

--

Dante's awakening was different from usual. As he opened his eyes and fought the typical sensation of one awakened from a deep sleep, he was confused. That was not his room. The absence of light made that clear.

It didn't take long for him to remember the night before. Although he was happy to be close to Sabrina, the feeling of anger was much stronger. He would never forget her crying, desolate.

When he got up, he realized that he had woken up propped up by many more pillows than when he had slept.

When he left the room, he was met with an inviting smell. He went into the kitchen and saw that Sabrina was cooking an egg and chicken mixture. This was one of Dante's favorite dishes, lucky for him.

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"Good morning sunflower!" she said, surprisingly cheerful.

However, there was no possibility of her fooling Dante so easily. A slightly deeper look at her face evidenced dark circles under the eyes that rested there, as if they were parasites on the gentle countenance that usually occupied that place.

"Good morning," Dante said, not wanting to come across as rude. "Ready for a little something a little different today?"

Thinking that a little distraction would be good for the moment, he explained to Sabrina that he was trying to achieve a better sense of his Qi. To that end, he suggested that they go to the place on the map marked with fire Qi. The rich aura would definitely not hinder their training.

"I think I have a better idea"

"Better than killing bloodthirsty monsters who would give anything just to have a piece of us?" said Dante, while devouring a plate of Sabrina's food. His face gave away the flavor of the dish. It wasn't hard to understand why that one was Sabrina's favorite.

With a laugh of the kind that starts full and ends empty, Sabrina said, "No, silly. I think you're ready for the next step. Besides going to the region with Fire Qi, it would be good for you to take on some Class D monsters."

Dante immediately stopped the bountiful fork he was taking to his mouth. Class D. he just the thought of those crocodiles was enough to drive one to despair.

However, it was true that he had evolved considerably since the first day. Moreover, perhaps stronger monsters would provide an accelerated growth of his Qi. It didn't take long for him to agree with her idea.

After getting ready, they left the room, locking the door with a makeshift mechanism that Rim had made the day before, and set off towards a new region.

As agreed, Dante was not surprised when he found Rim and Hector waiting for them in the entrance hall of the base.

A glance at the ranking of points was enough to ignite the flame of rage in his heart again. Everywhere he looked, he saw the name of the clan of those wretches.

With no reason to delay or to hide any plan from the two of them, Dante explained his idea to Rim and Hector. The two agreed to accompany Dante and Sabrina to the region where the map marked Class D monsters, but both would leave for their own interests in the aftermath.

During the days that Dante routinely hunted with Sabrina, he had taken a liking to whoever had designed the architecture of the castles. The map displayed in the lobby matched the spatial dimensions of the region perfectly.

Moreover, it wasn't hard to notice that the design took endless details into consideration. Making sure that regions of grotesquely different Qi did not interfere with each other, as well as drawing entry and exit points from the base to all places. Just thinking about it was enough to cause a headache.

As they walked, Dante's heart began to beat a little faster than normal. From what he had learned so far, the order of the monsters corresponded to the distance from the base. The farther away, the stronger.

Rim and Hector had told him that there were still no monsters of Class C or higher in the vicinity, but they suspected that this would soon no longer be a problem.

As they walked along, they seemed to guess what Dante was thinking, and told him that all the disciples were summoned to an announcement that would take place in three weeks - close to when Sabrina, Hector and Rim would be ready to move on to the gold.

Arriving in an environment that resembled a desert, or at least should, since Dante had never visited one, they stopped.

"It really is amazing. I wonder every day how they manage to do this. Even the intensity of the sunlight is stronger here than in other regions..." said Dante, pointing to the sun that hung above them. As they walked deeper into Qi Fire territory, Dante felt an increasingly oppressive aura.

Still, the training sessions he had with Isaac were paying off in dividends. Compared to the aura of fire that was now inside the training room, it was just an ordinary summer's day.

"Where there's money, there's a way," Rim said, approaching him.

With a light touch on his shoulder, she reached out and dropped a small metal ball. Next, she did the same to Sabrina.

"I did it so we could communicate. To carry them, just apply a little Qi to them. Since I didn't have time, I programmed them to work with any kind of Qi, although less efficiently. Let us know if you need help. It would be too much work to convince other people to give up the common room space for me," Rim said, while showing her tongue to Dante.

"We won't get very far. Let's arrange to meet back here in.... seven hours, is that okay?"

Without any objection, it didn't take long for Hector and Rim to leave. Dante was unaware of how they chose the region they would go to each day, but clearly they knew what they were doing.

Sabrina was at 7. Hector was firmly in the top 10 in the ranking, while Rim was already in the top 20.

He would have to work hard not to be left behind. He wasn't even in the top 100 yet.