Chapter 90 | My People
Chapter 90: 90 | My People
"The mana technique of Eden’s Gate is called the Aether-Nether Convergence Technique." Natasha sat down across from him and pressed two fingers against his forehead.
"I’ll transfer the technique first, then guide you on how to circulate the mana."
Dante closed his eyes as the knowledge flowed into his mind. When it settled, he could see the words written right there in front of him.
Aether-Nether Convergence Technique.
He tried to skim through the contents and a sharp pain shot through his head. His eyes snapped open and he grabbed his head with both hands. ’What the hell just happened?’
"Don’t try to learn everything at once." Natasha placed her hand on his head, a soft blue glow covering her palm. The pain faded instantly and he looked up at her with confusion.
"It’s not something you can absorb all at once. Don’t ever try that again." She said with a smile on her face. "You’ll go insane."
The hair on the back of his neck stood up. The words were terrifying enough on their own, but combined with that sweet smile, it felt like a death threat wrapped in a hug.
"There are only a handful of Divine Grade mana techniques in the world, and the Aether-Nether Convergence Technique is one of them." Natasha explained with a chuckle after seeing how scared he looked.
"But..." She paused, a sharp light flashing in her eyes. "That’s only because there is no grade higher than Divine."
’What?’ Dante’s eyes went wide. "Master, are you really telling the truth?"
He had already assumed it was at least a top-tier Divine Grade technique, but he never expected a twist like that.
Natasha nodded, confirming it again. She could understand his reaction.
’So it’s really true.’ He looked down with a puzzled expression as another question surfaced in his mind. ’If this technique is really that powerful, why did Ryan reject it? What reason could he possibly have?’
In his opinion, there was no reason a person as greedy as Ryan would reject such a powerful technique without a proper reason.
Now that he thought about it, Ryan was always dismissive whenever Eden’s Gate came up.
’I originally thought he acted that way because Eden’s Gate was one of the main reasons for the Kingsley family’s fall.’ A frown formed on his face as he recalled the details of the novel.
Ryan had many important goals and one of them was to revive the Kingsley family. Dante had always assumed his attitude toward Eden’s Gate was because they played a role in the fall of Kingsleys.
’But there’s no way that greedy bastard would give up a technique this powerful. I’m absolutely positive about that.’
A wave of unease spread through his chest as he discovered something that was never explained in the novel.
Thanks to Foresight (EX), he remembered every detail of the story like the back of his hand. But he obviously wouldn’t know about the things the author had forgotten to mention or left out entirely.
’That horny son of a bitch was always focused on the harem and left the worldbuilding and power system for us to figure out on our own. Seriously, what kind of author ends the final fight in one paragraph?’ He held his head, already feeling a headache.
Something about this gave him a really bad feeling.
Pat! Pat!
Dante snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a gentle hand patting his head. When he looked up, Natasha was looking down at him with a reassuring smile.
"What are you worrying about when I’m right here?"
Ba-thump!
His heart skipped a beat and a smile crept onto his face before he could stop it. ’Why do I actually feel relieved even though she’s talking about something completely different?’
"I’ll teach you everything slowly. There’s no need to rush, okay?" She spoke with a smile while ruffling his hair.
’True. I need to focus on the present and do what I can instead of worrying about things I don’t know.’ Dante decided to trust himself.
He always figured things out eventually.
"Now, this technique’s main purpose is to absorb both Aether and Nether mana into the body, but it doesn’t end there."
"As you progress, you’ll be able to do things like this." Natasha began to explain and a small ice crystal formed on the tip of her finger.
"As you can see, I can wield the ice element without having the affinity for it. In fact, I don’t have a single elemental affinity, but I can still use any of them as I please." She spoke as the healing glow appeared in her other hand. "But it comes at a cost. You can’t match the full output of someone who was born with the affinity."
"That’s amazing! Does that mean you can also combine elements from opposite branches?" Dante asked with an eager look in his eyes.
Natasha raised her eyebrows after hearing his question. "That’s right. But you can only do that once you reach a higher realm."
Dante wasn’t disappointed to hear that.
His body was practically shaking with excitement. ’Seriously, why would you even need a bloodline when you have this technique?’
That said, he was still going to stack up as many bloodlines as he could.
"For now, you just need to master the mana circulation and focus on the basic elements." She moved behind him and sat down, pressing both of her palms flat against his back. "Let me guide you on how to circulate the mana."
Looking at his broad, muscular back up close, Natasha got a little distracted. Her cheeks warmed up.
’....This is the first back I want to lean on.’
"O-okay, I was just waiting for you to get ready." She said in a flustered tone before closing her eyes and circulating her mana into his body, showing him the way.
Dante locked in, focusing on memorizing the path the mana took through his circuits.
A warm current entered from her palms and flowed into his back, splitting into two streams.
Aether and Nether.
The two streams moved through his circuits in opposite directions, weaving around each other without ever colliding.
Every time they passed through the same point, the circuit walls hardened and small flecks of impurities from both the mana and his body were pushed out through his pores.
’So this is how it works.’ Dante followed the flow carefully. His body responded naturally, and the reason was simple.
His previous technique, the Flowing River Art, was based on the water element.
Water was one of the rare exceptions. Unlike fire or shadow, it existed on both the Aether and Nether branches, though its nature on each side was completely different.
The Flowing River Art was Aether based, but because water existed on both branches, it wasn’t nearly as restrictive as other single-element techniques.
After a few minutes, Natasha stopped circulating her mana but kept her hands on his back. ’Let’s see if he remembered it properly.’
Dante noticed the mana flow stop and figured out her intentions after a moment of thought. A grin spread across his face as he began absorbing mana on his own. ’Time to see the full effects.’
As she felt the mana flowing through his body along the exact same path, a proud look appeared in her eyes. On the other hand, Dante was at a complete loss for words after experiencing the technique for himself.
’This... this is way more than double the speed! It feels like ten times. Maybe even twenty. And on top of that, my mana circuits are constantly being tempered and the impurities are being pushed out on their own.’
More importantly, he could feel his bottleneck loosening.
’Is this the power of a Divine Grade technique? No, it’s a disrespect to even call this Divine Grade.’ He wasn’t one for glazing, but this time it was genuinely deserved.
He controlled the urge to run back to his room and start cultivating immediately.
With this technique, he could reach Body Reformation in a few hours.
Natasha didn’t disturb him when she saw how diligently he was cultivating on his very first day. She just sat on the chair, propping her chin on her hand and watching him.
She had to admit, people were attractive when they were working hard.
***
An hours later, Dante opened his eyes slowly, a blank look on his face like he had just woken up from a deep trance. "Master?"
Natasha was sitting on the chair with her legs crossed, reading through the book. She lowered it and looked at him. "How is it? Cultivating for the first time?"
"It feels incredible. I can feel myself getting stronger." He spoke while clenching his fist with a confident smile.
"What do you plan to do with that strength?" She placed the book down with a curious smile.
She wasn’t going to burden him with the task of rebuilding Eden’s Gate. That responsibility was hers and she would see it through on her own.
"I..." Dante looked at his fist with a distant expression. He had never thought about this seriously.
He became an awakener because it would help him defeat the protagonist.
’But what comes after that?’ He asked himself quietly.
A moment passed...
A determined look settled in his eyes as he looked up at Natasha. "I want to be strong..."
"I want to be so strong that no one can decide my fate."
Natasha raised her eyebrows. It was a good answer. The kind of answer any young awakener would give. She expected him to stop there.
But what came next was something she didn’t expect.
"And I want to be strong enough that no one can ever touch my people." His eyes were on hers when he said it.