Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 65

As he and Victoria walked further into the mountain range the next morning, he was shocked by how clear the air seemed. He felt completely revitalized, as if he was full of energy.

Victoria reached into her bag and took out two pills, taking one herself and handing him the other. “Take this, now that we are in the Outer region, the creatures can be far more tedious. It will keep them from sensing us.”

Dante took the pill and ate it, it was likely what kept Carter and the others hidden from creatures when they followed him. After that, he looked around at the vegetation and terrain surrounding them, now that he was in the outer region, he saw everything as if it was for the first time.

Other than the change in the overall feel of the air, there wasn’t a massive difference. The plants seemed slightly larger if anything, and there was a bit more variation, but everything else seemed similar.

“Now that we are in the Outer region, it is actually a good time to begin your world essence manipulation training. It’s a bit tricky to get the hang of, but try to condense world essence into your left hand.” As Victoria instructed him, she didn’t stop moving forward, or even look back. Her eyes were constantly scanning the path in front of them, only occasionally pausing to harvest a particular plant along the way.

“It should go without saying, but don’t do anything but condense the world essence. It is very easy to do irreparable damage to the nerves in your hands.”

He began to manipulate the world essence, and at first was surprised by how much easier it seemed to pull in. It wasn’t any easier to control, but there just seemed to be more of it. Like he only had to work half as hard to draw it toward himself.

Then he tried to condense it into his hand, and it seemed immensely challenging. As soon as he pushed any in, the world essence immediately spread through his body and then leaked out. After several minutes of trying different methods to no avail, he turned to Victoria for advice. “No matter how hard I try to contain it, the world essence won’t stay in my hand.”

Victoria nodded. “It’s nowhere near as easy as condensing world essence into a weapon. There are several issues when condensing world essence into the body, but one of the largest is blood flow. Any world essence that is accidentally condensed into your blood will be lost as it spreads through your body. Learning how to keep the world essence out of your bloodstream is the first hurdle that you need to overcome when trying to manipulate world essence in the body, and after doing it, you will be able to condense a small amount.”

As Victoria spoke, he stared at his hand. Knowing where the blood in his hand was, and then avoiding it while condensing world essence seemed like an impossibility. But after thinking it over, he had an idea.

Using the technique that Mia had taught him, he channeled mana through his mind, then forced it into his hand instead of pushing it outward. Not only could he sense where his muscles, nerves, bones, and blood were, but the mana also wasn’t wasted. After that, all he needed to do was carefully condense it.

It was several hours later when they finally broke through the mountain range. The lush forest that surrounded the range opened up to the flat plains that seemed to cover most of the wastelands, and what seemed to be a small settlement in the far distance.

During the trip, he made great strides in controlling the world essence, and by the end, he could almost condense it a bit. It wasn’t practical, it took him almost a full minute to collect enough in his hand and then ebbed away as he tried to condense it, but progress was being made. It made him respect Victoria’s skill all the more. It only took her around a second to do it in both legs when showing him the second level of the spectral attunement.

As they continued to walk, it became quite clear that the settlement was their destination, but it also became clear that it wasn’t a settlement at all. The flat and open plains were disorientating. As they walked closer, the settlement got larger, but they didn’t get any closer.

No, it wasn’t a settlement at all, but a fortress, and one of the largest he had ever seen. “Where are we going?”

Victoria glanced back at him. “This is Desas, and the headquarters of a fairly influential warlord. We are going to stop here briefly to see Melisandre. She can give us a feel for the current circumstances of the wastelands to determine the best location for you to get experience in the next year.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about seeing Melisandre and Olivia again. It wasn’t as though he didn’t like them, he just felt threatened by them. No matter how much he tried to hold the feelings back, both Olivia and Melisandre were incredibly alluring. Yet he was unwilling to be manipulated by them, or anyone again.

After thinking it over for a few more minutes, he decided to ask Victoria a question, almost involuntarily. “How do you know who you should trust?”

Victoria stopped walking, then looked back at him with one eyebrow raised. “Are you asking because of Olivia?”

The way she looked at him, and her accusatory tone, made his cheeks redden slightly and he didn’t make eye contact. “Not just her, but everyone. It seems like no matter who I get near, they are always trying to use me in some way.”

Victoria’s expression softened. “It’s difficult to say, good people usually don’t live long, and true friends are an uncommon thing.” She let out a sigh. “Most would say that it isn’t worth trusting anyone, but I would disagree… It seems that I will need to make some adjustments to your training schedule.”

Victoria grinned at him. “But if you’re talking about Melisandre and Olivia specifically, they are safe. There are few people I trust as much as Melisandre, and she wouldn’t allow Olivia to do anything to you as my apprentice.” Her smile seemed to turn mischievous. “In fact, if you got to close to either of them, you would be far more likely to catch a disease than a dagger in the back.”

Seeing Victoria’s expression, Dante held in a groan. He had never been a part of such an uncomfortable conversation before.