Dante pushed all that aside for now. He glanced at Slessor and Humphrey to see that there was an expression of unwillingness and deep greed on their faces. Clearly, they too had not had enough and wished they could spend an entire year in the Black Land.
Dante felt the same way, but he understood his boundaries. Anyway, he also had other things to do now and he had spent enough time here as it is. He wasn't really in a rush to do anything per se, as there was no world ending threat or superior pressure to force him.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm Everything he had done so far was due to his own determination as a young man to further his ambition. Sometimes, people forget that simple ambition could be enough to drive a person forward and not manufactured threats or enemies.
When the students returned to their residences, Dante sat on his couch and though up his next moves. As it was, his current identity in the Apocalypse World had long died, so if he were to descend again, he would have to start from scratch.
This was just as well, but he did not have any intention to enter the virtual world again. He had also purchased most of what he wanted already and his next official visit to the Black Land was 5 weeks away.
What to do at this time?
Train? Hard pass. He had been doing it for weeks nonstop and was frankly tired. He had also completed up to the peak of th Advanced Training course, so there was only Specialized Training left.
Study? Haha, the Normal and Elite batch students functioned closer to a normal college system, only that their courses were widespread and hard,. They studied everything from energy, to spacefaring, to governance even to entertainment.
The difference between the normal batch and the elite batch was that the normal batch selected one topic as their field of study per year and had to get at least an A grade rating to pass. The Elite batch studied everything every year and needed an S grade rating to pass.
Uh, the unique batch? Their field of study was superpowers, so the 7 weeks that just passed were Dante's courses. In other words, for the entirety of the first year, he only needed to go to the black land to suck energy and further his superpower.
It is only in the second semester of the first year that the students of his batch will undergo survival training in a custom virtual world that was replicated from the Zero Gate. That was a world exclusive to the school and unavailable to enter unless you were given a key, so Dante couldn't practice ahead of time even if he wanted to.
So for the next four weeks, Dante could do whatever he wanted. Most of his batch mates would be studying anyway or exploring different VR world according to their needs, but he didn't need to go so far.
To the students here, this was their home. They naturally pictured a grand future where they lived out their lives with their acquired knowledges and skills, becoming a cog of society.
Dante was here for a 'good time' not a long time, so he didn't need to invest that much. As long as his AI downloaded the theoretical knowledge and he could replicate it to empower himself, it was also fine.
As such, Dante decided to do something he hadn't done in months, which was to advance his life in the home universe and take some fundamental steps forward. There were many things he could do now that he had some time, as well as some thing he had to verify.
With that in mind, he disappeared and returned home to his apartment. He immediately checked on his various socials and saw that everything was progressing smoothly. The various AIs were hard at work and hey, Dante's first payout from his webnovel career had come and boy was it hefty.
The previous him would have wept with joy at the prospect of being able to genuinely earn so much money on his own, but now it was just a number to him. Dante then left his apartment for the first time since he came here and actually checked out his area.
When he had been headhunting for the place, he had spent weeks carefully doing research and chose a luxurious place he thought befit his status. As such, it was a gated community estate that he got, and the rent per month was a sky-high $20,000 per month, but it basically came with everything.
Honestly, rather than the nonsensical rent price or the fact that he actually though he could live here and make enough money independently to support himself, it was more miraculous that his parents were willing to actually pay for it.
Dante honestly and truly loved his parents, because they were a great blessing to him. The him before this whole scenario greatly appreciated them, but not as much as the him now. After all, he had gone through a lot in these short 2 months that made him almost entirely different from when he began.
He did not bother to greet his neighbors or anything like that. The current climate of America, especially in cities like this, was no longer so close-knit nor friendly.
Dante had a drivers license but did not bother to get a car as he rather favored occasionally driving around his mother's car - with her permission of course. Now, with his current earnings, he could afford to buy his own, but when he literally owned a spaceship, having a car seemed banal.
Still, that was that and this was this. His upgraded Quantum Entanglement as the E Rank allowed him to transport some things back and forth like the weapons he bought, but he had no where to store them on this side.
He certainly was not fucking going to keep nuclear level guns in his house, nor in a city area. He wasn't worried that the guns would mess up, the Eternal Universe's technology was so far ahead that they had already bypassed that stage.
He was worried that some mistake would happen on this side and lead to consequences he was not in the mood to deal with.
Besides, Dante still needed to buy a car anyway. He couldn't move up and down with a cab anytime because that was inconvenient, and having a car made things easier among social circles.
However, he didn't want to use the money the AI's had earned as he had put that aside for serious things. As such, he pondered and decided to have his AI chip hack into the system and find the nearest casino with virtual machines.
Yes, that's right, he was going to gamble and use the winnings to buy whatever casual luxuries.
He naturally had the option to just hack a bank and transfer money as he pleased, but he wanted to make a legal purchase. He could also literally generate ghost money from nowhere that was untraceable, but he'd rather save that option for when it was important.
With that in mind, Dante ordered an Uber ride to the nearest and biggest casino in the city, the Golden Flower.
Dante arrived at the Golden Flower casino and stepped out of the Uber. The casino was a grand establishment with bright lights and an atmosphere filled with excitement. At the door was a pair of bouncers who wore shades and looked like hardened mercenaries.
They glanced at everyone who entered and prevented those who looked like they were poor or here to cause trouble from entering. Dante glanced down at his attire and saw that he was still wearing his Vice-Admiral's Pilot Suit.
It was brown colored and very stylish, to be honest. The Uber driver had been glancing at Dante many times on the way here and even now, Dante drew eyes from males and females alike. Many eyes lit up at his fashion choice and secretly decided to copy it when they got home.
Even the bouncers glanced him up and down. Looking at Dante's well built body due to his genetic restructuring, his flashy attire that highlighting his body and his height which was almost at their level, the bouncers secretly nodded internally.
In their line of business, looks were everything. Dante looked rich, arrogant and disciplined, so they allowed him in without a hitch, making the young man smile slightly.
When Dante entered the building, he looked up and saw that the place was huge. There were many machines of the traditional type like pachinko as well as slots. There were many tables set with richly dressed men and women dealing poker, blackjack and even mahjong.
To the far end was a large and long bar of which many people had ordered elite looking drinks that could probably bankrupt the average wage earner with ease.
The chandeliers and lights above were very bright, making it painful to look up but it perfectly fit the theme of the area.
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