Heck, looking at Dante, this fellow astounded the world and caused whole powerhouses to risk their lives to capture him because he went from F to E in 10 seconds. Yet from E to D, he spent an entire week in the Black Land and only reached 75%.
You could be sure as hell that even Humphrey and Slessor, who managed to reach the E Rank in relatively good times, were not even 10% of the way after one whole week. They would probably only reach the D Rank in their second year, and that was considered astounding fast.
This was why Dante absolutely needed the Zero Gate of his home universe if one existed. Not only could he suck energy 24/7, but he could also obtain all ten fruits and swallow them. Unfortunately, 10 fruits did not mean 10 superpowers, but ten chances for a superpower.
Otherwise, there was no way Lara Sanguis, the headmistress, would have only 7 of them despite being virtually the 'owner' of the Eternal Universe's Zero Gate.
Still, if he could monopolize the ten fruits of his universe and then fight for extras on the Eternal Universe's side, he could have more chances and eventually surpass her!
The problem was that he lacked Supercoins. Earning them was not easy, and different worlds paid out different amounts at different ranks for different durations.
For example, the Apocalypse World, which lasted 30 days, was the number 1 world not only because you got a free simulated superpower but also because it paid out the most at each Rank for the 30-day period.
It even surpassed worlds like the Rising Star, which had a 90-day duration. This was because the Apocalypse World was one of the few shared worlds the school owned, and getting high scores in shared worlds was exponentially harder than instanced worlds.
Currently, all his mates were in various worlds fighting for every scrap of Supercoin they could store for the future. It was only Dante who had time to gallivant like this, but he was mostly forgiven because of his high potential.
After all, the simple fact was that there was a huge difference between Dante and his classmates. Firstly, his classmates did not have two whole universes to shift between. The Eternal Universe was their home and the place they grew up in.
They only thought of things that a native would do, which was to excel, fit into society, and then live out their ambitions. Dante was more like an exchange student sent by an enemy country to steal knowledge and information from another.
He didn't care much about fitting into their society unless it helped his goals and granted him more tangible access to hidden information. He also did not care about furthering their society and would rather sabotage it if he could.
Secondly, Dante did not have the same starting line as his classmates. Slessor, Humphrey, and Louisa had different backgrounds, but the teaching was the same. They had almost 20 years of training using high-tech means, like virtual worlds, quantum processors, as well as generally being a native.
Dante had only been in the Eternal Universe for 2 months. More than half of that time was spent just gathering information and pushing himself to catch up to the basic level of a youth in their society. He was not even close to the basic level of Slessor and Humphrey and co yet.
So unlike the natives who were carefree and could focus on their 'studies,' Dante had to now rush to catch up and integrate himself more, so how could he find time to gather Supercoins in the virtual world? Especially since all the virtual worlds were not time-dilated?
This was the crux of the issue. Even now, he had to come back to earth to establish his base and tie up some loose ends. Now that he had captives too that he could now fully control, it would waste time coming and going to feed them.
Dante was thinking of assembling a worker bot by bringing the small parts over and let it handle that group, but once again, human creativity was a problem. Who knew if one of them would 'fall in love' with the workerbot and have it free them like some cheap romance plot.
Of course, this was a farfetched and unrealistic example, but you got the drift. The simplest solution was just to be ruthless and slaughter them all, but Dante was not there yet. He did not particularly plan to be ruthless, but he was also not naive enough to abhor it.
There may come a day where he was forced to make a choice, and he would definitely make the right choice regardless of his personal feelings. He might hate it afterward and would be burdened by it, but by god, he would still make the choice.
Dante came up to his rented apartment and parked his Bentley in the driveway. He got down and entered his home, spending a few minutes cleaning the place up before heading to his room.
He then sat on his bed with a smile and chose to return to the Eternal Universe, specifically to his residence in school. Once he was in another but far more high-tech bedroom, he immediately lay down and entered the Etraverse.
He casually browsed the various worlds and decided to take on the Apocalypse World again. It was for nothing more than getting Supercoins and raising his SDI. The timing was also perfect since his next class was in 29 days, so he could use most of his time in the Apocalypse World properly.
Dante chose to land near a different city called Darren's Watch, which was on the whole other side of the map from his previous one. After all, he didn't want anyone of the natives to recognize him as players would be penalized for that.
Upon choosing his city, he descended into the world.
This time, Dante found himself coming to as he was running at full speed, his muscles aching, and his heart thumping in his chest. He saw five others running with him, of which two were normal, but the other two had a light shine in their eyes, and one could easily tell that something had changed.
Dante's eyes flashed as he inspected them using the system granted by the world.
Player Name: Harold Poton
Player Race: Human
HP: 10/10
Strength: 1
Agility: 1 (50)
Dexterity: 1 (50)
Intelligence: 1
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm Constitution: 1
Vitality: 1
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Extremespeed.?
Player Name: Lucian Havian
Player Race: Human
HP: 10/10
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1(15)
Constitution: 1
Vitality: 1
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Aquakinesis.?
Dante's eyes narrowed. As for himself, it was the usual combination of Quantum Entanglement and Absorption. When the other two saw that Dante had two listed superpowers, their faces changed greatly as they knew that Dante was a Unique Batch student in reality.
Immediately, the nefarious thoughts they had been harboring disappeared as they approached Dante and introduced themselves quickly.
"Hello, student Dante, my name is Harold, and I am
a member of the Normal Batch of the third year." Harold, who had blond hair and pale skin, introduced himself quickly.
His body was lean, and he wore the same ragged clothes as the others in this group with a single backpack on his back. He had thin lips and a fairly handsome face, though his height was a bit shorter than Dante's at around 5'10".
"Greetings, fellow student, my name is Lucian Havian, of the Havian Merchant Group! I am a top student in the Elite Batch of the Second Year!" Lucian, who had shoulder-length black hair and two green eyes filled with arrogance and confidence, introduced himself.
He was a 6-foot fellow with a stocky build, and one could not mistake the pride in his voice as he mentioned his origins. Even Harold by the side seemed slightly alarmed, and his expression became slightly respectful.
Even as the group kept their sprint, the trio suddenly did not seem to struggle compared to the other two 'NPCs'. After all, whether it was Dante or the others, they had the basic training of the Eternal Universe, so the same footsteps they took as any untrained person was the gap between heaven and earth.
The speed, stamina consumption, and even the amount of lactic acid released into the muscles were tightly controlled by the three who had been trained in comparison to the other two who were running based on natural instincts.
That was why they could run and even chat like this without any worry for whatever was pursuing them. Of course, there was also the fact that they had superpowers, so no one was necessarily weak.
Harold and Lucian turned to Dante and waited for his introduction. Clearly, using the format of their own introductions, they hoped to identify his batch, his school year, and even his family background if possible.
This would decide his value to them and position in this short 'cooperation'.
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