Dante: "...."
Dante's shadow: "...."
In the corridor, Dante stared blankly at a familiar figure.
A boy with milky-white skin and long snowy-white hair. His right eye was silver and slit like a snake's, while his left eye was purple, as if his former blue iris got mixed with crimson.
This was exactly the appearance of Dante, or rather Fafnir.
This was also Dante's shadow after it moved on its own and manifested into physical form.
Dante inhaled and focused on that shadow mentally. A moment later, he began to see through the shadow's eyes.
Another handsome boy appeared on his vision, but unlike the expectation, he didn't look the same.
His milky white skin held some paleness.
He had pitch-black hair that only reached his shoulders. His silver right eye was similar to the shadow's, but the left one was different.
It was pupilless black, but it was neither affected by his demon bloodline nor the torches' blue light. Dante felt as if he were looking at the abyss itself.
If he had access to the internet in his first life, he might have recognised that shade to be similar to the Vantablack, which could absorb up to 99.96% of the light.
In the middle of his forehead, a small mark was visible, similar to his centipede tattoo. It was a ragged crown as black as his eye, suspended upside down on his forehead. Wearing that crown was a black dragon skull with hollow eyes.
The mark seemed to have a deep meaning, maybe reflecting his race and aspects.
'So… I got a new body, somehow.'
Hearing Dante's thoughts, the shadow nodded.
Usually, the people who awaken their class get only minor changes in their bodies and appearance, but Dante's case was special.
Not only was his class literally extraordinary, but the runes had to change his body significantly to suit the new soul possessing it and to forcefully awaken his ether veins.
'Well, it's actually a good thing. I won't be recognised by Fafnir's family, at least.'
Dante still remembered that Fafnir had a sister. It was a good thing that he now didn't have similarities with her, though his shadow was still Fafnir in appearance for some reason.
Maybe the runes gave him this ability to reflect his old self.
'Can you… speak?'
The shadow shook his head.
'Do you know who I am? Do you have my memories?'
The shadow nodded.
Dante scratched his head.
'It's really weird… How is he hearing my thoughts?'
The shadow scratched his head before shrugging.
'Do you know what you are? That you are my new ability?'
The shadow nodded slightly, then he pointed with one hand at himself, and with the other at Dante before clasping them together.
'I don't… understand. Are you saying we are the same or something like that?'
The shadow crossed his arms and nodded with a smile.
Dante thought for a moment before saying: 'What about giving you a name? From now on, your name will be Fafnir. Are you okay with that?'
The shadow nodded excitedly, accepting his new name.
Dante felt strange for communicating with his shadow, but he didn't mind at this point. He missed the feeling of talking to something that didn't want to kill him.
A small smile tugged at his face, but he quickly stopped it and took off his shirt, using both his and Fafnir's eyes to see his chest.
Unlike before, there were now some scales covering it, taking the color of his normal skin and hiding almost perfectly. If not for his new eyes and increased vitality, he wouldn't have noticed them.
'They are protecting my lungs, can't be a coincidence.'
He now had draconic lungs. He had to admit, the feeling was great.
Dante took a very deep breath, feeling as if his lungs could store a full tank of air, before finally stopping.
He waited for five whole minutes before letting out a breath.
'That's the greatest thing ever. I can hold my breath for minutes without feeling anything! I want to see my limit, but I can't waste a lot of time.'
Dante clenched his fists, feeling an overwhelming power inside of him.
His vitality had been only 15 before. If he got the normal boost in stats, it'd have become only 22 or 23. But no, it rose to a number he couldn't have imagined — 38!
His body was now more than 2.5 times as strong as before his class awakening!
The same thing happened to his demonic energy, and Dante easily understood why. It was due to his bloodlines.
The runes must have raised the percentage of his bloodlines in his new body before giving him the stats boost, thus they got an unexpected special boost.
Every one percent in his demon bloodline would increase his demonic energy by two points, and the dragon bloodline did the same to his vitality.
Additionally, the new lungs filled him with a great feeling of vitality and clarity. It was probably because of the extra oxygen he was receiving.
Of course, those boosts were both great and dangerous.
'My demonic energy is higher than my spirit and mind…'
After he had almost lost his mind while fighting the giant skeleton, Dante realized how dangerous the mental corruption was. And now that his Mind stat was far weaker than his demonic energy, he felt some urgency to raise his mind.
Thankfully, Dante knew a way to give it a small boost.
The next moment, Dante looked closely at his demonic arm, finally noticing that it was similar to his chest in how it had something covering it.
But unlike the dragon scales, the thing that covered his arm was more like a segmented exoskeleton.
'Damn it, I'm really turning into a centipede!'
Sighing helplessly, Dante decided to think about something else.
He was truly excited. There were many, way too many things to test.
His comprehension for shadow and misfortune increased and he could now use more creative spells and techniques.
He gained a small understanding of silver ether and a new spell to see his own runes.
He gained an ability to see luck. In fact, he was looking at his luck the entire time, but he didn't understand anything about it.
He got a strange mark on his head which needed some examination.
All his spells should be stronger now. Even his mana control was better due to his new core, which he felt its weight on his head.
'Wait!'
Dante's eyes suddenly widened as he took the gems he harvested out of his pocket.
'They are all Cores of Existence! Maybe I should test them now.'
No wonder the barbarian was so excited about the one in the skeleton's head. He didn't know much about what these cores were used for, but he knew only one thing…
They could be absorbed.
Crack!
Suddenly, one of the cores shattered on his will, turning into dust. The black essence it contained went directly through his hand into his Core of Existence.
Dante felt a strange tickle in his head, then he used appraisal to see his runes again, noticing only one change:
[Existence Essence ⟨1/1000⟩]
'It rose by only one.'
Dante looked at the 9 other cores in his pocket and used another one, then the value rose by one again, becoming 2/1000.
According to the knowledge he received, he'd advance the moment he got 1000 Existence Essence.
In other words, he had a long way to walk before finally becoming rank 2.
'Well, it's not a problem.'
Dante didn't care about all that. All he dreamed about was to control his traits and live a peaceful life before dying of old age. He'd consider risking his life to collect more cores only if he didn't find another way to achieve that dream.
Dante finally stood up and looked at Fafnir for a long moment.
'Sorry buddy, this isn't personal.'
Fafnir: "...."
Dante opened his fist, aiming his palm at Fafnir, but as he was ready to cast one of his new spells…
CRACK!
He heard a loud sound of something shattering.
In an instant, both Fafnir and Dante looked at a corner in the corridor, Dante holding his dark sword and Fafnir aiming his index finger.
A hint of fear erupted within Dante's heart. That was the direction of the dark room he came from!
CRACK!
Another sound echoed. A moment later, they finally understood what was happening.
Out of the corner of the corridor, a black tendril emerged. Dante froze as he watched the tendril moving slowly in the blue light, leaking black smoke as if burning from it.
The tendril kept getting smaller, but eventually, it reached the torch and broke it.
CRACK!
A moment later, the darkness in the unilluminated area became darker.
'What the hell is this thing?'
Something was there, similar to the shadow fragments but darker and bigger. It was so big that it covered the corridor's ceiling and walls, filling all gaps like living darkness.
What was more terrifying for Dante was the luck that the dark creature possessed.
With his left eye, Dante was able to see a stranger wheel.
In the centre of the wheel, there were golden and obsidian-black colors, with the golden one being more intense.
Surrounding these two colors were too many other colors as if they were sub colors. But among them, only three were outstanding.
They were azure, blood-red, and green.
'What does that mean?'
Confused, he looked at his own luck.
He could only see obsidian black.
Pure obsidian-black hole without any other color or even a wheel.
Instead of a wheel, it was more like a black hole with black tendrils coming out of it.
Focusing on the tendrils, he noticed something strange.
One of the tendrils reached to the monster's wheel of luck, touching its core directly and increasing the black luck. But the increased amount was barely visible.
'Unfortunate Aura?'
Did that black mean misfortune? And if it was, then did that mean the golden color was fortune?
If yes, then what were those other colors? Was there things beyond the simple bad and good luck?
'No, there is no time to think about that!'
Dante shook his head and aimed his index at the dark monster.
Shadow Spell — Shadow Bolt!
Instantly, Dante shot a black bolt from his finger.
It was an improved version of the shadow bullet, costing Dante 1 point of both mana and spiritual energy.
It might have looked the same at first glance, but it wasn't. Both his mana and spiritual energy were now two times stronger, and his control was also better, so he could now cast spells more efficiently.
This bolt was 2.5 times as strong as the bullet!
But the result wasn't what Dante expected.
The bolt went into the darkness and disappeared silently without any change in the dark monster.
Dante frowned as he charged his sword. The next moment, he swung his sword horizontally.
Sword Ability — Abyssal Slash!
Dante's lips almost curled into a crazy smile.
The abyssal slash was faster and stronger, but its color was more purple than black.
His mana was more intense and refined than before. Now, it blended with the crimson demonic energy and turned into purple energy instead of being overwhelmed by it.
The purple energy was more intense in the slash because his demonic energy was more than his spiritual energy, causing the fusion to be uneven.
But as the abyssal slash touched the darkness, it disappeared as well.
Dante: "...."
Fafnir: "...."
That was Dante's strongest elemental attack.