Chapter 84 | The First Lesson
Chapter 84: 84 | The First Lesson
Emma was lying on the bed hugging her pillow and the smile hadn’t left her face since she got back to her room. ’He’s cured... he’s really cured. He has no excuse now!’
Everything still felt unreal to her.
Just yesterday she was convinced the two of them were never destined to be together because of his condition. And now, out of nowhere, he was cured.
Then she recalled Natasha’s words about choosing him as the successor of Eden’s Gate and how his training would start soon.
’Sigh, just when everything is finally coming together...’ She wanted to keep him by her side every day but demanding that would make her look like a clingy child, especially when it came to something as important as Successor training.
’At least I managed to squeeze four half-days of work out of him.’ A victorious smile spread across her face.
Work was the only time she had him to herself without any disturbances. There was no way she was giving that up.
As she was thinking about Dante, a flustered look appeared in her eyes. ’Wait, wait. If Master chose him as her successor over all of us, then he must be really talented. And with Master training him personally, he’s going to get stronger fast...’
The tables had completely turned in a single day. Dante would be training under her master while she was still just a normal human.
"If he gets stronger than me, w-won’t he just keep bullying me?" Emma’s heart started racing at the thought.
She recalled what happened earlier today. How he grabbed her wrists with one hand and pinned them above her head. His knee pressing between her thighs. His face so close she could feel his breath on her lips before he moved to her ear and whispered "big sis" in a voice that made her legs give out.
’He’s really going to keep doing things like that to me?’ A rush of excitement shot through her before she shook it off.
"No way. I can’t let him keep bullying me!" A determined look settled in her eyes. ’I need to complete the missions and awaken my bloodline as soon as possible.’
’The gala is in two days. He shouldn’t get that much stronger in such a short time.’ She thought with some relief and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
The poor girl had no idea that no matter how many times she got reborn, she would never surpass Dante.
And the live example of that was happening in a room just a few doors down from hers.
***
Inside the bedroom, Dante closed her feed with a devious smile. ’She has no idea she’s already walked into my trap. If she knew what was coming for her, I wonder what kind of face she’d make.’
He had checked Natasha’s feed earlier and she was preparing to cultivate after claiming the Ascension Essence. She was probably planning out his training at the same time.
"Now then, let’s see what I got." Dante opened the notification tab with some anticipation.
[The protagonist’s mother pleased herself while thinking of you, the villain!]
[+4,000 Villain Points!]
[Natasha fed you her love juices and you didn’t waste a single drop!]
[+4,000 Villain Points!]
[You faked a curse and spun a story to fool Natasha!]
[+3,000 Villain Points!]
[The protagonist’s mother chose you over her own son!]
[+4,000 Villain Points!]
[You have been officially named the successor of Eden’s Gate!]
[+2,000 Villain Points!]
[You made two women moan on the same couch in the same evening!]
[+3,000 Villain Points!]
[Emma cried tears of joy because you’re cured. She’s happy because nothing is stopping you two now!]
[+4,000 Villain Points!]
[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 3]
[Total Favorability: 69 (Affection)]
[Emma’s favorability has increased by 3]
[Total Favorability: 41 (Interested)]
[Current Balance: 78,000 Villain Points]
"Man, having two targets makes the point farming so much faster." Dante said with genuine amazement.
In a single day, he had earned 24,000 points. He could buy the third slot and still have 28,000 left over.
’If the speed is this much with just two targets, how much will I get with eight?’ His eyes trembled with excitement. Suddenly, those top-tier items in the villain store that seemed impossibly expensive didn’t look so far away anymore.
’I also have another chance to assign a high-level reward to Emma. I’ll save that for later.’ He made a mental note and opened the store without wasting any time.
[System Slot 3]
[Description: Unlocks a third system slot.]
[Cost: 50,000 VP]
Dante hit buy without hesitation. The purchase turned into a streak of light and flew into his status window. He didn’t rush to check it. Instead, he wanted to see the price of the next one.
[System Slot 4]
[Cost: 200,000 VP]
"Shit. That’s a massive jump." He looked at the four times price increase and then back at his 28,000 points.
He still had a long way to go but he wasn’t too worried about it. He had a feeling the next slot would be gained through conquering one of his targets.
He then claimed the Ascension Essence and pulled up his status panel. His eyes immediately caught two changes.
[Name: Dante Ackerman]
[Realm: Mana Awakening Peak Stage]
[Bloodline: None]
[Talents: Foresight(EX), Mana Affinity(SS), Scheming Mind(S), Thousand Masks(B), Business Sense(D)]
[Luck: Common (In Rise)]
[Villain Points: 28,000]
[System Slots: 2/3]
[Bound Targets: Natasha, Emma]
[Techniques: Flowing River Art (Super Rare), Mana Zone (Legendary), Basic Combat Techniques (Rare), Golden Hands (Rare)]
[Inventory: 1 Mana Stone (Mythic), Ascension Essence (x1.5)]
"Wait, where did Two-Faced go? And my luck finally reached Common?" He said with some surprise. "System, did Two-Faced upgrade to Thousand Masks? Can talents be raised through training?"
[Indeed.]
[Normal talents can be improved through repetition and practice, but awakener-related talents are much harder to raise and are mostly fixed at birth.]
[And congratulations! Your luck has finally reached the level of common people!]
Dante had a speechless look on his face after hearing that. Protagonists like Ryan got handed Divine Luck just by being born while a villain like him had to claw his way up from the bottom.
’But the truly unfortunate ones are the common people. They’re born with cannon fodder luck and have no way to raise it.’ He could relate to them because in his previous life, he was one of them.
As he thought about his life on Earth, a lonely look appeared in his eyes. He didn’t even know how he died but he was sure about one thing. No one showed up to his funeral. If there even was one.
’What did I work so hard for?’ A sad smile formed on his face.
He spent years working jobs he hated, eating convenience store meals alone in his apartment, saving money that had no one to be spent on. Twenty five years of living and he couldn’t name a single person who would truly have missed him.
On the other hand, he had only spent a little over two weeks in this world and it had been the happiest he’d been in years. His lonely, boring life had turned into something colorful.
The constant acting still bothered him but he wasn’t planning to hide forever. He would slowly let his real self show through the cracks and after some time, he wouldn’t need to act much at all.
"Enough being sentimental. Time to cultivate." Dante shook his head with a smile and pulled out the Ascension Essence and mana stones from his inventory. "I should be able to reach Body Reformation before the gala."
He sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and began absorbing.
****
In the morning, the three of them had breakfast together before Dante and Natasha walked Emma to the door.
Emma didn’t even bother hiding her reluctance. She kept looking back at Dante as she got into the car, waving her hand with a pout as it drove out of the mansion.
As both of them walked back into the mansion, Dante glanced at her back with a smile. It was time for the next mission.
Natasha, who had her back to him, suddenly stopped in her tracks as the system’s voice rang out in her head.
[Triggering Task 2...]
[Task 2: The First Lesson]
[Description: Teach Dante the basics of Eden’s Gate and the mana technique. But don’t show up looking like his master. Wear something that reminds him you’re a woman. Make him steal glances at your body throughout the lesson.]
[Reward: Depends on the number of glances.]
’Phew, I was actually worried about going in without a mission.’ Natasha breathed a quiet sigh of relief after reading the task. Though she had to admit, this was a bit more extreme than what she had originally planned.
’B-but this actually works out perfectly. I already have everything I need for this.’ A blush crept up her cheeks.
She had the perfect thing for this situation.
Meanwhile, Dante was already stealing glances at her body.
The jeans she was wearing hugged her ass so perfectly that every step she took made it hard to look anywhere else.
’This mission is going to be a feast for my eyes.’ He wasn’t going to hold back one bit. He would let his eyes wander all over her body without any shame. He had already set a goal for himself.
He was going to stare at her so many times that she would start questioning whether she was actually wearing clothes or standing in front of him naked.
By the end of this mission, Natasha would have no doubt left in her mind that her student was just as interested in her body as she was in his.