This time it did not take long for Dante to regain consciousness. As soon as he awoke, he was surprised to concentrate on his core and find it full.

Looking at Sabrina, Dante found a new feeling in her brown eyes. Anger.

"Why did you risk yourself like that? If I hadn't intervened in time you would have died!"

He didn't have an honest answer to give. He had no intention of taking that attack, but he didn't think fast enough either.

"You are lucky that your physique handled it well. If it was another element, you would wake up again in the infirmary."

Bringing his hand up to his head and scratching his hair, Dante stared at the floor, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Sabrina. I seem to have gotten in your way once again. I just... I couldn't react in time. I'm sorry."

As if those words were the key to getting the anger contained in her out, the brown eyes gained that usual inquisitive look.

"It's okay, I just don't want to see you like that again," she added as she walked away, "I'll keep an eye on you for today, I'm sure tomorrow will be a lot easier. If I were you, I'd take a look at your core."

Dante didn't take long to do as she instructed. Looking at his skin to make sure that no injuries were left behind, he focused inward.

Although he hadn't moved on to the next silver milestone, his Qi was behaving in an interesting manner. It was as if the energy contained was a little more orange, a little warmer.

Deciding to test his as-yet-unnamed technique - he admitted that morning claws wasn't very creative - he brought his hands forward and summoned his Qi.

He watched the energy with curiosity. There was a clear difference in the temperature that was emanating from there, as if the Qi had evolved. Changed.

Trying his luck, he practiced what he had intended at the beginning, that is, he concentrated the Qi, trying to channel it, in a manner similar to the lizard's blow.

He found in this attempt yet another failure. However, the aura emanating was indeed somewhat different.

This opened up a sea of possibilities in his mind. If it were possible to absorb different types of fire to strengthen his own Qi... the possibilities were countless.

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Looking away and making sure Sabrina was there, he let her know that he would try his luck one more time. After ignoring some rather offensive words, Dante promised that he would be more careful and asked her to stay close by. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Repeating the procedure of luring the monster until it was isolated, this time he prepared himself better.

As soon as the chameleon came at him at a frightening speed, Dante just took a step to the side, not allowing it to stay a long distance away to receive the same attack as before.

In his fingers, Qi was molding itself into a claw-like shape. Moving quickly, with the propulsion of his body granted by the Qi pulsing in his channels, he approached the monster and attacked.

His attack was not met without reprisal. The chameleon leaped toward him, its neck glowing with fire. Deciding that it was now all or nothing, Dante extended both hands forward.

In mid-jump, he saw forming in the chameleon's mouth the attack that had knocked him out the last time. Deciding to go all in, he didn't change the direction of his attack.

When his hand made contact with the monster's body, it was already too late. Dante felt the fire bathing his torso and the lower part of his head.

On the other hand, he also felt his Qi claws tearing into the monster's flesh, which cracked like butter.

He knew he had won the confrontation when he didn't lose consciousness after returning to the ground.

Deciding not to underestimate the monster again, he turned and went with claws at the ready.

When he got close to the monster, two things happened at once. Almost concomitantly, he saw the monster's body, or rather, what was left of it. Its attack had stronger offensive potential than he imagined, it seemed. At the same moment, he felt his technique giving way.

It didn't take much guessing to identify what the problem was. Dante's Core was completely empty after the fight.

Taking out his harvester and absorbing the monster's essence as usual, Dante stopped as energy began to pour out of the corpse.

Putting his harvester away, he decided to test one more thing. Extending his hand, he tried to absorb the Qi of the environment, just as he always did when he cultivated.

This time, however, his senses were focused on finding something different.

There!

Grasping the metaphorical rope he had felt, Dante felt a strong current of pure fire Qi entering his body. It seemed that he was right. He could indeed absorb the monster's essence. Dante's core overflowed with Qi.

Hearing a whistle, he turned around and ran into Sabrina.

"Wow, congratulations. I think your new technique has passed the test, don't you?"

Looking again at his injuries, Dante felt a chill in his stomach. Now he had the power to kill with ease, hunting would be much easier.

"What's going on with your Qi?"

When she pointed, Dante looked at his hand and realized that there was still a visible aura coming out of the monster's body and being absorbed.

It didn't take long for the process to stop. Focusing on his Core, he noticed that the absorption of Qi had left him with just over one third of his Core.

"I don't know exactly, but I think I directly absorbed the monster's Qi."

"Hmmmmm," she said thoughtfully. "I guess it's possible, but I particularly never tried, as monsters with Shadow Qi are rare to find. Anyway, I think you should avoid that, because around here there's plenty of Qi, and we'll need the points. Better to leave this strategy only for emergencies."

Agreeing with his head, he stood up and looked at the other chameleons in the distance.

"What do you say we play a little more?"

"Count me in," Sabrina said with a smile that hid what had happened last night.