Dante nodded after glancing at the deducted points. To him, fusing Vexion's epic skill and legendary skill seemed like the logical move, for one he wanted to know how her skill would grow and secondly how exactly would that work. Overall, this was good time to see what would happen and over time check what these consequences were.
'It must be because my first subordinate basically started out already with over 100% loyalty,
Makes sense too. If I could upgrade all my subordinates' skills that easily it would just be broken. It is what it is. This is a worthy investment'
He had taken his time considering what she truly needed and ultimately decided this was the best course. With her loyalty surpassing 100%, he had no qualms about investing heavily in her growth. Moreover, all bestowed skills were upgradable, which reassured him that this decision would pay off in the long run.
The system presented intricate details about the skill, but Dante barely cared for the finer nuances. Instead, he merely requested the system to provide him with a general understanding of how it functioned. He had long since realized that many aspects of his skills remained locked—not because of any restrictions placed upon him but because he lacked the patience to delve into their complexities.
Even if he did, he doubted he would care enough to make use of every subtle detail. His philosophy was simple: if it worked, he would use it. If it required too much effort to understand, he would let the system handle it for him.
After all, the explanations for the "Second Mind" skill—what he had personally named his "system"—didn't explicitly mention its ability to modify or enhance his skills, he knew such functions were inherently part of its capabilities.
Simply because Dante didn't want to believe all the skills he saw that had the "Pair with Second Mind" recommendation were for nothing. That was his greatest advantage over the typical protagonists of the novels he had once read—he understood that his system was best at managing itself and its skills to a certain degree.
Extending his hand outward, a radiant glow flickered to life in his deep blue eyes. A powerful surge of energy pulsed through the room, enveloping the space in a swirling blend of dark purples and deep blues. The atmosphere thickened as an unseen force coalesced around Vexion. She remained motionless, not out of fear, but because she instinctively knew there was no need to resist. Her breath quickened, and her heart pounded wildly in her chest—not from terror, but from sheer awe and exhilaration.
Dante, in contrast, remained seated with an air of effortless majesty.
She was suddenly engulfed in a maelstrom of energy, drowning her senses in an ocean of raw power. The world blurred. Then, her body trembled—something fundamental was changing within her. It was more than just an upgrade; it was a complete rewriting of her very being.
The skill she had once known as "Dread Step", branching into something far more profound. Her senses sharpened, her reflexes heightened, and deep within her mind, incomprehensible murmurs whispered of ancient "Laws"—truths that governed the very fabric of reality.
The weight of this knowledge pressed upon her, threatening to overwhelm her entirely. The murmurs twisted and churned before vanishing as suddenly as they had come, leaving her breathless and lightheaded. Then, before her eyes, the status panel materialized. She watched, mesmerized, as "Dread Step" dissolved, its name morphing into something far greater—"Phantom Tyrant." Yet, just as she felt the transformation settle, another shift took place.
Her skill "Malevolent Reign" resisted the change, clashing violently with the newly bestowed power. Vexion gasped as an invisible force waged war within her soul, her abilities attempting to consume and overpower one another. The struggle threatened to tear her apart, until—
A soft, melodic voice echoed in her ears. Unlike the usual emotionless tone of the system, this voice carried warmth, amusement, and a hint of sentience. It chuckled before speaking, its words gentle yet firm:
["No, no, don't do that. You can't devour 'Malevolent Reign.' You'll face the same problem as Master when it comes time to level up. You will grow stronger in due time— there's no need to fight amongst yourselves. Master said you need more skills, not fewer, just under one umbrella. If you merge now, you'll become unstable so let me do the merging for you, this way levelling up will become far less difficult. Okay?"]
Vexion gasped, struggling to process what was happening.
This—this was the power of the man she had chosen to follow. A power beyond mortal comprehension.
Vexion felt her skills shiver as if resisting, but then, almost suddenly, they shimmered down into peaceful coexistence. It was as if they had fought for dominance only to lose interest, deciding instead to sharpen and refine each other. Yet, she could feel that "Dread step" had taken its rightful place under "Malevolent Reign".
They had merged a new skill combined into one. For the first time, naturally without a third party. A epic tier skill had merged under a legendary tier skill. A new unique type of Legendary tier skill.
Phantom Tyrant
The discrepancy baffled her, but more than anything, she was overjoyed by the sheer power coursing through her veins.
As the dark purple and blue hues faded back to normal, her excitement could no longer be contained. Overcome with exhilaration, she leaped forward and wrapped her arms around her master in an unrestrained hug. Dante, though feeling slightly drained from the process, was already being healed by his skills. His exhaustion melted away, replaced by a soft chuckle as he let her embrace him. Yet, as his mind wandered to the sensation of her body pressing against him—her warmth, her softness—he swallowed hard, forcing himself to maintain control. A wave of restraint washed over him, and with a wry chuckle, he gently pushed her away.
"Relax," he said, his voice teasing yet firm. "Im fighting for my life trying not to fuck you. So could you not press your sexy body onto me"
Vexion flushed a deep shade of red, her excitement momentarily replaced with embarrassment. Yet, she nodded eagerly, her eyes still shimmering with happiness. "Yes, Master."
Her eyes looked at the screen before her. She hadn't lost a skill, the skill had merged and became one. Essentially not only had she "kept" her skill she now had 2 skills in 1. Something she never thought possible. As she felt her skills . The System also appraised her presenting the information in full to Dante
[ [Name: Vexion]
Age: 17
Origin: Sandrian Empire
Race: Half-Elf
Lineage:
• Half Demon / Half Elf (Mother)
• Half Beastkin / Half Human (Father)
Alignment:
Evil • Heinous • Destructive
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Malevolent Reign
Legendary Tier (Unique)
Level 1
Combat Equivalent Estimation: Level 12-15
Abilities:
Tyrant's Dominion (Passive) — A passive aura of authority that radiates from the user. Enemies within its influence experience growing psychological and physical pressure. Their morale declines, hesitation increases, reaction speed slows, and concentration becomes more difficult to maintain. The aura also hides the user's true combat capabilities, making it difficult for opponents to accurately judge their strength. Weaker enemies become fearful slowly losing desire to fight, while stronger opponents find their resistance gradually eroded during prolonged combat. Monarch's Decree — Grants control over invisible force vectors within a designated area. User can subtly or violently push, pull, redirect, halt, grab, crush, or throw targets and objects as though being manipulated by an invisible hand. This ability can be used to drag enemies into attack range, disrupt movement, alter trajectories and break formations. Phantom Sovereignty — A supreme movement authority that combines overwhelming speed, evasiveness, and battlefield suppression. Every movement leaves behind phantom echoes and afterimages that distort enemy perception making tracking her true position extremely difficult. Can perform explosive bursts of acceleration, instant directional changes, abrupt stops, blink-swap between and with phantom echoes Her movements generate lingering oppressive pressure that destabilizes nearby opponents, while phantom traces can create delayed impacts and secondary attack opportunities. Additionally, it possesses a unique growth effect: the greater the pain and suffering inflicted upon opponents, the greater the permanent increase to users physical capabilities. Shadow Dominion — Grants advanced control over combat flow and battlefield tempo. By combining movement manipulation, positioning control, phantom movement techniques, and predictive combat instincts, User is able to dictate where and how engagements occur. Opponents are gradually maneuvered into vulnerable positions while escape routes, defensive options, and advantageous terrain become increasingly difficult to utilize. The longer combat continues, the greater her control over the battlefield becomes. Skill Suppression (Passive) — Uses tyrannical authority to interfere with enemy abilities. Depending on the difference in strength between users and her target, enemy skills may become weaker, consume additional energy, activate more slowly, lose effectiveness, or fail entirely. Powerful abilities can resist suppression, but even resistant targets may experience reduced efficiency under sustained pressure. Battlefield Pressure — Constantly exerts invisible oppressive force throughout the surrounding area. Enemies feel as though they are fighting against an unseen weight that burdens both body and mind. Movement becomes less fluid, decision-making slows, and prolonged combat becomes increasingly exhausting. This pressure follows users movements, leaving behind lingering waves of fear, instability, and hesitation that compound with her other suppression effects. Sovereign Reflex — Heightens combat instincts and reaction speed to extraordinary levels. User can instinctively evade, counter, reposition, and exploit openings with near-perfect efficiency. Combined with Phantom Sovereignty, she can dodge and retaliate simultaneously, making direct attacks against her exceptionally difficult to land. Multi-Target Control — Allows Malevolent Reign to maintain influence over numerous opponents simultaneously. Rather than focusing solely on a single target, User can suppress groups, manipulate multiple enemy positions, disrupt coordinated attacks, and maintain battlefield dominance even when heavily outnumbered. The ability becomes particularly dangerous during large-scale engagements where controlling enemy formations is critical.]
'FUCK! What did you do system!? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"
Dante felt terribly sad, if only he could do this to his own skills, but wasn't this a little too overpowered?
She was a genuine monster. She basically rivalled him.
Legendary skill wise
Dante sighed he knew there would be some consequences to this, there were no freebies in this world. Nonetheless this was worthwhile. Her new skill, which was basically like what 10 skills? wouldn't affect him.
After all her skills had clear weaknesses. If the opponent was like him and was unaffected by mind control skills and debuffs she would suffer. If the opponent Had like her, multiple skills and was just over all superior in hand-to-hand combat, she would struggle.
Overall, if he personally trained her, she would indeed be a perfect all rounder so long as the opponent isn't just too experienced and has a solid read over her skills she should be unbeatable.
'The more I think about it, this skill is good but not all perfect. Skill suppression wouldn't work on someone stronger or wouldn't be as effective. If someone wants to flee it's hard to stop them. If she needs to kill an opponent in one hit, she can't gain that stat boost. Some skill benefits negate the other'
Nonetheless, he now knew how powerful his own skill was, if it could do this, even just to a lesser degree, he could build a solid group of subordinates capable of defending themselves and himself.
'Walking around with such a group would be such a flex'
Dante let out a small chuckle before standing up. Without a sound, he phased past the sliding door, stepping into the spacious, empty training room beyond.
"We'll train here," he declared. "No one will bother us."
"For the next couple of years, we'll eat and train here. You need to understand your knew skill better. Even if its one skill, the number of sub skills you have aren't something you can learn and master in a couple of years. Aim high , don't be a bitch. I don't need you to be mid in any way. Aim for "kill easily" and "impossible to be kill" You understand ?".
Vexion took a deep breath, channeling her energy. Her fingers clenched for a moment before she activated her skill. A mirage of herself flickered into existence beside her master. Then, in a blink, she vanished from her original position and reappeared where the mirage had stood.
Dante smirked in approval, but he didn't let the moment linger. With a casual step, he vanished and reappeared several meters away, his movements precise and effortless. He turned, his expression one of amused anticipation.
Reaching out, he tore through space itself, retrieving a simple yet pristine sword from the void. The blade gleamed a flawless silver, its clean and polished blade reflecting the light. Though simple in design, the sword carried an undeniable sharpness.
Holding the weapon firmly in his right hand, Dante lifted it, pointing the tip directly at Vexion. A slow smile spread across his lips.
"Try your best," he stated. "Understand how to use your abilities without wasting your mana or energy."
His eyes filled with amusement. "If you can evade my attacks and also force me to block even once, you win."
Picking his ear as he flicked his finger then put his hands in his pockets. "I will not hold back or else this shit would be meaningless. Hesitate, I wound you. Maybe lightly, maybe lethally. That will depend on how well you adapt."
The air between them thickened with tension.
"Do you understand?"