《Zombie mage's Odyssey[Progression Fantasy, Evil MC, transmigration]》


 Chapter One

    When Dante looked at the clock, he realized he was working a bit longer than he should have. For hours, he had been trying to organize the financial aspects for all his suppliers. He simply didn''t want unnecessary and unfamiliar problems.


    Dealing with a customer could sometimes be unbearable, let alone dealing with an angry farmer. He didn''t want that.


    However, it was almost midnight, and he was really hungry. His hunger, though, wasn''t the typical hunger of any human, as it could easily be satisfied with any unsold products from today, which would be discarded tomorrow. Dante''s hunger was more intense, and it had been bothering him for a few days. It was time for him to do something about it.


    Unfortunately, his "supplier," so to speak, was running low on products. Who would have thought a funeral home would have its bad days? So, this week, he would have to do something he really didn''t like.


    He would have to hunt.


    Realizing that there was really no one else around, he decided to close the establishment and, stealthily, when he was sure everything was secure, he began to quietly walk aimlessly through the city streets.


    He wasn''t in a hurry to do what he had to do today, and he wanted it to be as far away from his caf¨¦ as possible.


    Dante wasn''t some kind of abuser, psychopath, or anything like that.


    He was far from being a vampire as well. He didn''t like to kill, and if he had to, he made such a mess that sometimes he wondered if it would be more practical to be a vampire. Then you wouldn''t have to crack open the heads of the poor victims; you would just drink their blood until there was nothing left to suck. At least, that''s what he thought.


    When he had finally walked a few kilometers away from the street where his shop was located, he began to look for someone, preferably drunk people. They were easy targets, as they rarely noticed death coming before meeting their maker.


    At this moment, Dante didn''t care about the person''s background, whether they were a criminal or had a loving and worried family waiting for them after a hard day''s work.


    All that mattered to Dante was his insatiable and inexplicable hunger, a hunger no human had ever felt. He shouldn''t have gone so long without eating. Besides coffee, which he strangely could still drink without sugar, the only thing that truly satisfied him and didn''t make him feel extremely nauseous was human brains.


    Basically, the only downside to being a zombie.


    Now that everything was in place, Dante waited a little longer, fearing that someone else might be with him. When he saw that there was no one else, he began to act.


    At first, he discreetly started walking toward the man, but when he got close enough, he used his knowledge of wrestling, acquired through years of casual training, to deliver a powerful kick to the man.


    However, this wasn''t an ordinary kick from any fighter his size; it was powerful enough to send the man flying to the other side of the alley, breaking several bones and surely putting him on a waiting list for death.


    No one would save him; only Dante and the man existed on those streets. And even if a hero did appear, the man probably wouldn''t survive until the hospital.


    Dante really didn''t like killing. If he could, he would buy as many brains as he wanted from the nearest shop. But the world didn''t work that way, and not wanting to feel the emptiness that hunger brought him, he, with just one punch, completely destroyed the man''s neck, killing him instantly and releasing him from the pain Dante himself had caused.


    All of this probably happened long before the drunk man even realized what was happening and understood his fate.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    A clean death, probably without much pain; that''s what Dante thought. But he also understood how heinous and demonic it was.


    Dante hated it, hated killing. But after doing it for a few months, he understood that if it was necessary for him, at least his victims shouldn''t feel too much pain or despair.


    And now, now that he had finally killed the poor man, he could finally do what he had longed for so much. With an exquisite skill gained after countless attempts, he managed to open the thick skull with his own hand, without affecting the brain too much, which, even though it wasn''t in the best possible condition, was still almost entirely intact.


    Dante had always been proud of being a person who had never used any drug stronger than sugar or caffeine, and he truly believed he was a well-balanced and controlled person. But faced with this, and the hunger he felt, and considering how much he had endured throughout the day, he simply, almost without thinking, took a big bite of what, for him, was the ultimate drug.


    And as soon as it entered his mouth, indescribable sensations began to course through his entire body. His brain seemed to enter a state of hyper-happiness, and colors seemed to return to his world, a world that had been gray and shadowy.


    At least Dante knew this sensation, and even though it had never become less powerful but rather more potent, he had learned to control his desires, especially now that, with just one bite, the hunger seemed to have disappeared as if by magic.


    After returning to reality and trying to control himself as much as possible, along with his terrified part that repeatedly repeated his fears of someone recognizing him next to the corpse, he simply put the brain in a plastic container he had prepared for this moment. And, as if nothing had happened, after meticulously checking his clothes for any discrepancies, he finally began to walk back home. Of course, being so paranoid about certain things, he simply couldn''t go back to his comfortable sofa immediately; he decided to walk a little more through the streets of the big, empty city while waiting for a random number he had determined himself to decide that it was time to go home.


    As he walked back home, and hunger was no longer a problem, the only thing Dante felt again was a deep abyss returning to his life. Only emptiness surrounded him, and the dark, cold night didn''t help improve that feeling.


    Even though he wanted to live, Dante hated his life. He had always hated big cities, and now he was eternally trapped in one. His future plans had been ruined, and now the only thing that brought him some happiness was his shop, but even it was becoming increasingly gray for Dante.


    Finally, when he arrived at his apartment, which was unnecessarily large for him but was an inheritance, he didn''t care about these problems, especially when he saw rents going up since the last financial crisis.


    After entering the main room, he went straight to the kitchen, which was in a separate room, and put the brain in the fridge. After that, he went to take a shower. Not that water brought him any sensation, whether it was extremely hot or cold, and he hadn''t cared for a long time whether he walked the streets clean or dirty. But he knew that he had some false external appearance to show to others, so he always took a shower before and after going to bed.


    When he finished, he went straight to bed, but not to sleep. In fact, being a zombie, he was incapable of sleeping, so he usually lay in bed with his laptop, reading a book, watching videos, or just going to the living room to play a game.


    However, today he wanted to log into his favorite social network, which he hadn''t visited in a while because he didn''t have many people he knew to chat with in the middle of the night.


    However, a few moments after entering his password and finally accessing his account, he saw that there were several unread messages, some personal chat messages, and many others from various groups where he liked to see memes or even discuss any political nonsense that happened. But for some reason, he couldn''t understand, the only thing that caught his attention at that moment were some new messages from someone he simply didn''t know.


    Normally, this wouldn''t be relevant; naturally, he would just ignore it. It could be a scam or just a bot, which wasn''t very important most of the time. But something compelled him to read what that person had sent. Without thinking much about it at that moment, he just clicked on the conversation, not expecting anything from it.


    And when he entered, a strange chill ran down his spine when he read, "Hi Dante... Was the hunt good today?"


    Dante panicked when he read that. Who was this person? Did they know what he was, or rather, did they have proof of it?


    With various thoughts filling his head, the stranger started typing again, and in a few moments, a new message appeared on his screen. "Calm down, it was just a question, man."


    Trying to understand the situation so he could make the best decision possible, probably burn his apartment and run away, Dante asked, "Who are you? One of those weird vampires who wear capes? Are you guys still after me after that beating I gave you?"


    After a few moments, another message appeared on his screen.

 Chapter Two

    No, but that was funny. I never thought there would be vampires as dumb as those two."


    If he wasn''t one of those people, or perhaps an acquaintance of theirs, then someone else had been spying on his life all this time, and if they already had access to his contact, what else could they have? Maybe they''ve recorded everything that''s been happening over the past few months.


    "But no, actually, I''m quite different from a vampire, and I''m not here to harm you, but to propose a simple deal."


    Without waiting for Dante''s response, another message had already been sent.


    "See, I''m actually looking to take a very extended vacation where you live, and I was thinking maybe we could just switch places... forever."


    Dante didn''t understand.


    "What?"


    "I don''t have as much time as I''d like to explain everything, but just know that I''ve been watching you for some time, basically since your fateful transformation, and I know how you feel in this world... if I were in your situation, I''d probably feel something similar."


    "All the people who mattered to you simply disappeared overnight on that day, and since then, you''ve felt this emptiness, haven''t you?"


    Dante had never talked about this with anyone to this day, of course, there was no one left for him to talk to. His employees didn''t like him much, even though he tried to hide it; his parents were dead, his wife was dead, his two best friends were dead. And all of this happened at once.


    So when someone finally said these simple words to him, Dante simply didn''t know what to say.


    "Yes." ... "And I can assure you that you won''t find anything else to hold onto in your world. Outside of your darkness, there is only more darkness. I am in a very similar condition in my world, not necessarily having lost my parents and friends because they died centuries ago, but I lost the most important thing in my life, my legacy."


    "And so, I intend to start over in some other place where I can find a way to further elevate myself, and your world is simply perfect for what I''ve been looking for to start anew."


    Dante understood what the man was talking about, but... was this really true? Legacy? What did all of this mean? And how would he do it? Things simply weren''t fitting together due to the lack of information Dante had about the situation.


    "Look, it''s a nice conversation, but I have to open my shop early tomorrow, so we can talk another day."


    Just as Dante was about to close his laptop and head to the living room TV, he received several more messages from the same person, messages sent instantly.


    "Dante, I know you''re going to play video games now, and it''s not because of some strange human eye technology, but because I see with you, and I feel with you too."


    "I don''t have much time, and I''m only bringing you this proposal because you''re the only one who fits the parameters for the exchange to work."


    "You won''t be alone here, at least not entirely. I used to be a famous director of a grand magic school, and I still have some good disciples who can help you all the way. All you need to say is yes."


    Dante was starting to find the joke quite amusing, of course, he was being spied on by some clown who didn''t seem to care that he was a psycho killer, and who seemed to have read too many novels, but if it''s a yes he wants, then, true or not, this strange conversation will finally be over.


    "Sure, yes, let''s do this magical exchange, maybe I can even become the first flying zombie, it will be amazing. Bye."


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    After several seconds with no response, Dante was about to shut his laptop when...


    "Well, not the first, but good luck with that."


    After that, something very strange began to happen because, around him, the world seemed to be slowly fragmenting and readjusting itself. Dante felt absolutely nothing, and now he didn''t have his laptop in his lap, and when he looked again, he wasn''t even in his clothes anymore. When these perfectly geometric psychedelic effects began to diminish, he was extremely frightened because, before, while he was in his comfortable room, he was now... in this place, dirty, damp, and naked.


    Looking around, all Dante seemed to be able to see and feel was nothing more than the strangeness of being alone in a strangely large and empty room.


    Besides that, he didn''t feel much else, at least not physically, or even emotionally, because his mind was bursting with questions and uncertainties. The change, even with those strange phenomena, was so natural and imperceptible to him that he only began to understand that something was wrong when he was no longer in his home.


    He was really shocked, the man really did what he said he would.


    This is obvious now, but no one really expected this to happen.


    Dante knew of the existence of what people call magic, and he even had some weak, incomprehensible, and strange abilities. But... teleportation? To another dimension? No, I think everyone would be at least somewhat skeptical about that.


    "All I saw was what? I can''t even speculate, maybe it''s just my limited consciousness generating unrecognizable symbols as it tries to understand this teleportation."


    Interdimensional teleportation, to make matters worse.


    "All right, I better calm down. Not that I''m really panicking, but this is quite uncomfortable, damn zombie brain doping my emotions."


    "First, this is probably some other dimension because there would be no reason for someone to create a sick prank teleporting strangers."


    "And if this is really true, which is probably, then it''s natural to think that I will probably never see or smell damn New York again... but also, my college, my company, it was all for nothing... none of this matters anymore."


    After thinking about it, he laughed.


    "Okay, why did my glorious physics degree serve for something other than endless monthly payments for the past 6 years to the bank since I left that lie in the form of false promises and many, many tuition fees."


    "I didn''t even have the diploma; I simply never really needed it. Apart from the ''acquired'' knowledge, which I had already lost most of. Not that Fluid Mechanics, or Materials Engineering, or even Electromagnetism would have been useful when I started running my coffee shop."


    But...


    "Being naked is really annoying."


    While he thought more about his damn life choices, which in one way or another brought him exactly here, he slowly walked toward the only concrete light, which seemed to come from a door.


    After walking several meters, but much less than he imagined through the eternal darkness that almost completely covered him, he finally arrived where he wanted, at the strange door, perhaps made for a giant given its disproportionate size. And when he finally passed through it, fortunately without any of the typical inconveniences of fantasy worlds, he found himself in a much more normal environment.


    The place he entered was almost like a typical library at an old university, with reddish-brown tones filling his entire field of view. Yet, the library didn''t seem grotesquely large as the previous room was, but rather had at most a few tens of thousands of books, something disproportionate for the average person but nothing strangely absurd.


    However, what caught his attention the most was the lighting in that environment because, while in the other room it came from dim candles and the door itself, here, the illumination existed, and only that, nothing seemed to be the source, but the entire environment seemed to be covered in a comfortable reading light.


    After stopping thinking about where the hell this light came from... magic, for sure, he finally realized that he was not alone in that place; in fact, just ten meters from him stood what seemed to be a generic character from any fantasy magic book on Earth. She was a young girl with golden hair, strangely dressed in peculiar clothes and a pointy hat.


    She seemed to be arranging the entire library, holding several books in her hands and slowly placing them in their proper positions. At some point, when she turned her face a bit, still unable to see Dante, he could see her appearance more clearly, and she looked young, maybe around sixteen, and strangely resembled someone from his life on Earth.


    The strangest thing of all was that even with the noises Dante had made so far, she simply couldn''t perceive his presence there. Hyperfocus perhaps? But that simply didn''t make any sense, she just didn''t hear me?


    Dante was tired of all this; he was in his comfortable bed after a stressful murder, for what? He didn''t even have that man''s brain anymore, and now he was here, somewhere unknown, with what seemed to be a young mage.


    Not wanting to wait any longer to understand the whole situation, Dante finally started speaking louder than he had expected.


    "Hey! Girl with the strange hat!

 Chapter Three

    Before he could finish saying what he wanted, she seemed to have finally noticed his presence. However, due to the surprise, the young woman ended up dropping all the books she was carrying and almost fell off the small ladder she was using to store some of these books.


    Dante did consider going to help, but he simply didn''t know what she was, and what if she thought he was going to attack her? Dante was a zombie, but he didn''t know if he could face whatever she might be.


    When she finally realized what had happened and started staring at Dante, she had a look on her face as if she had remembered something. She quickly got up and ran to Dante as orderly as possible after that incident.


    As she got very close to Dante, he was already preparing for whatever she was going to try, but she didn''t really need to be aggressive, and that tumble didn''t leave room for Dante to think she was a threat.


    However, when she arrived right in front of him, she did something Dante hadn''t even considered, and before he could do anything, she simply jumped on him, giving him a strong hug, as if greeting an old friend.


    "Hey, hey, stop, what''s this?"


    Dante didn''t understand what was happening, but she didn''t see him as a threat, and her scent was pleasant... but that had nothing to do with the moment. He started trying to exert some force to separate her from his body, not that it seemed to be helping much, strangely, even with her small body, she was really strong.


    However, she realized what she was doing and quickly pulled away, looking a bit embarrassed.


    "Could you please tell me what''s going on?"


    She looked at Dante for a moment, and realizing his indifference to the whole situation, she finally began to answer his questions.


    "Sorry, I was just surprised. I didn''t think the master had already chosen a successor."


    The person he had talked to on the internet was her master? He had mentioned something like that, but Dante wasn''t really paying attention; it was too much nonsense for the Dante of ten minutes ago.


    But a successor?


    "Master? That guy who was talking to me? Sorry, but he didn''t tell me anything about that."


    She showed surprise in her eyes and began to inspect Dante a bit, now somewhat concerned.


    "But he told me that, upon retiring, he would choose a worthy and powerful successor to inherit his entire legacy."


    "Oh..."


    He simply didn''t know what to say about that. Was he powerful? Compared to an average human? Of course, maybe he could even be considered a wizard on Earth, since he had some psychic powers from the brains he ate... but POWERFUL? No, he wasn''t that.


    "So I guess we both got fooled."


    Dante said while scratching his silvery hair.


    After hearing this, she almost panicked at that moment.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    She asked in a state of clear desperation and breathlessness.


    "Well, I''m not really what you said... powerful. And thinking that your master also fooled me into accepting, then we both got fooled."


    Stolen story; please report.


    "Okay, he didn''t exactly fool me, I just thought it was just a joke or a prank... so only you got fooled."


    After a few seconds, Dante added,


    "Yeah, I think that''s it."


    After hearing this, she began to look at Dante not with a look of despair but rather with a look of pure emptiness in her soul.


    "I understand..."


    Dante was curious while the young lady was panicking on her own, why hadn''t she been bothered by him? He was definitely naked... and he was a man. Dante thought that maybe this society had a different sense of clothing? Perhaps it was a cultural thing, especially if there were beings very different from humans who wouldn''t be able to wear the clothes typically worn by humans and thus walk around with everything exposed.


    "Excuse me, but... do you have any clothes for me to wear?"


    After she heard that, for some reason, something like a light bulb lit up in her head, she began to look more deeply at Dante. Contrary to what Dante believed, she simply couldn''t see that Dante was naked amidst her excitement and subsequent despair.


    She quickly turned her head, now completely red with embarrassment, trying to look at anything other than Dante, and with all that going on, she simply forgot about her concerns from just moments ago.


    Dante saw this and found it a bit funny, but he didn''t say anything because he didn''t know the girl.


    After she seemed to remember something, she finally spoke without looking directly at Dante.


    "In fact, the master left several instructions for you."


    "You know taht I know nothing about magic, right?"


    Dante was finding her change in perspective quite strange. Was this how positive people worked? Dante couldn''t say.


    "Yes, but there must be some explanation for this. He wouldn''t choose someone incompetent, I hope. He wouldn''t destroy the remnants of what took centuries to build."


    She really believed in that person, Dante thought. He wasn''t sure if that was a good characteristic to have, but perhaps, thinking of some strange master-apprentice relationship, or master-slave, or master-whatever, it made sense, especially when you consider someone capable of breaking space-time and probably doing even scarier things.


    "Follow me; I''ll show you where you can change. Did you lose your clothes during the teleportation?"


    "In fact, yes. One moment I was lying in my room, and the next moment I was here."


    "I see, but you didn''t know what would happen?"


    "No, not at all. To me, it was just a random troll wanting to pull a prank on the internet."


    She stopped for a moment and asked without looking directly at Dante,


    "A troll? on the internet?"


    Of course, she doesn''t know what the internet is. Heavens, I''m without the internet forever. Dante became a bit concerned with these thoughts, but it wasn''t something he cared much about right now.


    "No... maybe? Trolls have a different connotation for me, but now that you mentioned it, are we speaking in English? I really feel weird communicating with you."


    She started walking again and seemed unable to answer that. Maybe I was speaking in a foreign language this whole time, and I didn''t even realize it.


    "No, we''re speaking in Ancient Thoth."


    "Very strange."


    "Yeah."


    Finally, as we continued to walk, Dante could see several other rooms, which gave him curious sensations of really being in a fantasy world, not having some bad and enduring acid trip.


    Some rooms looked much like a chemistry lab, but with lighting so characteristic that it seemed intentionally designed to bring an air of mystery. Some seemed like regular meeting places, while others were other libraries, something Dante expected since he appeared to be in a magician''s fortress.


    Finally, the young woman stopped in front of a rather average-sized door, which was grotesquely strange by the standards of that place.


    "This used to be the master''s old room; I believe everything he prepared for you is in there."


    Before entering the normal red-colored door, he finally noticed something and said,


    "I hadn''t even thought about it before, but I forgot to ask your name."


    With a slight smile while still staring at the floor, the young woman replied,


    "That''s true, it was a mutual mistake then. I''m Amelia, and you?"


    By that point, Dante had already grown accustomed to the young woman and replied,


    "Dante... Well, see you later."


    After that, he quickly entered the strange door of normal size and shape, and when he finally entered the master''s room, he was really surprised.

 Chapter Four

    When Dante finally entered Amelia''s former master''s room, he was truly surprised. Unlike everything he had imagined about the environment of an archmage, being most likely extremely powerful, it simply never crossed his mind that this room was almost entirely a completely normal bedroom. It had a regular bed, a desk, and there was even a television?


    Was that man a fan of Dante''s previous world? Is that why he "migrated" there?


    After searching the room thoroughly, Dante believed there was only one thing in the entire room that could be considered an inheritance or whatever that meant in this world. Right on top of the comfortable bed, there was a simple book. When opened, it appeared to be a dialogue from Amelia''s Master, whose name was proudly displayed on the book''s cover: "Zargorios." A ridiculously silly name, but it was his name nonetheless.


    The first pages were just a strange dedication, as if this book had been made to be read by someone other than Dante.


    When he finally began to flip through the book quickly to find something useful, he was already surprised on the first page, where Zargorios (silly name) started speaking directly to Dante, using even his name and species to avoid any confusion.


    Dante spent just over forty minutes in that room, and when he finally finished reading the book, he was much more initiated into this madness than before.


    Zargorios had indeed summoned him to this world so that, at some point in his future, he could rebuild his old institution. According to his explanations, it seemed very much like a university from Dante''s previous world, but for magic, focused on creating high-level wizards.


    After reading that, Dante was even more shocked and simply couldn''t understand why he was chosen and not someone else. He knew nothing about magic; in fact, he was just a regular zombie. The most magic he had ever done in his life was using illusionism to entertain some friends during college parties. If he mentioned that to any mage in this world, they would probably laugh in his face at the idea of equating it to real magic.


    Besides, there were many other strange beings; surely, there were wizards on Earth. Heaven knows, there was a beggar who seemed capable of floating, and Dante wasn''t joking about that. He had seen it on the internet, and it was very interesting.


    But it didn''t matter now because he was chosen for some reason he might never know, and unlike the others, he was here, having to start his life from absolute scratch.


    Fortunately, the man seemed to have written about almost everything Dante would need to know as a newcomer in this whole isekai business, as well as a newcomer as the Master of a magical institution.


    A magical institution without any powerful members and, apart from its books, had lost all its great, ancient, and powerful artifacts. But it was still a magical institution.


    At the end of the book, on the inside of the cover, which he couldn''t understand how it was possible to be placed there, most likely through magic, he noticed something that, to him, seemed like a strange but extremely beautiful ring.


    He actually knew what this was because he quickly finished reading the book, and if he was correct, that was the old master''s ring.


    Dante knew that if he put this ring on his finger, based on Zargorios''s previous instructions, he would become the master of the entire place, at least for the rest of the month.


    He wasn''t in an excellent position; he could be in a much better position compared to someone who was isekai''d against their will and gained nothing from it, possibly even being manipulated by some god to fulfill their perverse and hidden desires.


    But Dante, while inheriting this powerful title, only truly gave him ownership of the institution''s true and eternal wealth, its grand library, which, as he read in the manual, was somehow mystically linked to this ring.


    Everything else, even this place where he was, only functioned because Zargorios kept them functioning, and, from what he understood, the entire place would start to disintegrate within a month after the previous Master disappeared. Dante didn''t know why that would happen, but using his previous knowledge as an avid reader of generic fantasy, it could be related to some mystical energy with a very strange name that he used to keep everything working.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    After finally seeing the whole picture of where he was, Dante was more determined than ever to try to live in that world. This place seemed very similar to the medieval fantasy worlds he read about in his adolescence. This might actually be the chance that many people from his previous world secretly wished for at various points in their lives, wanting to escape their complex and difficult environments to embark on what seemed like a simple world of swords and magic.


    Of course, it surely wasn''t simple; life was never simple, whether you had a cell phone in hand or could shoot fireballs at small green humanoids.


    But if Dante''s life had been marked by losses and desires for most of his time, and his afterlife had so far been marked by pure boredom and fear, then not only did Dante have nothing to lose because he had already lost everything he had, but also, after the death of his wife, this might be the first time he had a chance to create a better future than he had imagined for himself.


    No one can go back in time and change their choices, and maybe even if he could, he wouldn''t. So, if he had to accept all these strange events that had happened and would happen to him, then he would have to do that because only the dead don''t need to be constantly changing. And fortunately, he wasn''t completely dead.


    After deciding, he finally picked up the strange ring, which would have been extremely expensive in his previous world just because of its beautiful characteristics. It was a silver ring with delicate ornaments and a strange, refined, blue crystal that, with its mere presence, could illuminate the entire room.


    Finally, without expecting anything, he simply put the ring on the finger that felt most appropriate, and unlike what he believed, nothing really grandiose happened. His consciousness didn''t elevate to the transcendent, and he didn''t get to contemplate an aspect of non-existence, in fact, he was as he had always been, with a mind filled with various doubts.


    But one thing had really changed: he was now the true owner of the entire institution. It didn''t matter if there were no ghostly sparks, grand circles of colored light, or even a demon emerging to seal this action, the contract had just been signed.


    Finally, as he was preparing to grab one of the stylish outfits he had found, which seemed to fit him perfectly, he realized that information that had never existed within him began to explode in quantities.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t important ancient and powerful knowledge about magic, but rather complete information about the artifact that was now completely stuck to his fingers.


    As he had suspected, that ring was not just a simple ceremonial ring or something to define his status. In fact, it was better not to let anyone know about it. It was actually an extremely comprehensive magical artifact called the "Eye of Odin." It came with various functionalities that served to help a magician, but things that would only occasionally be portrayed in myths.


    Knowing what it could do, he looked at his hand and pronounced a single simple word.


    "Research."


    Mysteriously, his eyes began to glow in an intense sky blue, and in front of him, he could see something that for him was once nothing more than pure fantasy. His entire being was there, easily reduced to words and numbers, something very similar to a video game''s status.


    ____________


    name: Dante Brasilio agripa


    specie: High Zombie


    type: Undead


    age: 25


    class: Workaholic(max)


    vit: 500


    str: 50


    dex: 40


    After reading this, Dante couldn''t help but feel a little annoyed. He wasn''t a workaholic; he just wanted to get things done earlier to have more time later. But it wasn''t his fault that there were always more things to be done afterward.


    "But what do these really mean? Like, Strength, Vitality, and Dexterity, if I''m not mistaken. But what does strength really account for? And what would be the difference between muscle strength and some kind of muscle agility? Isn''t it supposed to be the same thing?"


    "Vitality, on the other hand, I can''t even begin to guess. It wasn''t supposed to make sense, but for some reason, it does."


    "Oh heavens, what have I gotten myself into?"


    As Dante got up to pick out some clothes, he thought about his points. Was this a lot? Probably not, but Dante was easily capable of cracking open a human skull with his bare hands, so at the very least, he should be in a position beyond that of a regular human. But not too much, especially compared to Amelia, who seemed to have some colossal strength hidden in those small muscles.


    Afterwards, as he looked at the various stylish and beautiful outfits, he couldn''t help but be surprised once again when a black shirt and black jeans appeared to him. He knew that at some point, he would have to start wearing uncomfortable leather clothes, but he simply didn''t want to do that now.


    Looking at himself in the mirror, he could calm down a bit. He was truly comfortable with his appearance, unlike many others. When he died, at least he had the luck to do it at an extremely satisfying moment of his efforts to keep his body in the best way possible.

 Chapter Five

    Also, the more time passed, and he began to get used to his new and hateful lifestyle, he also started to like the new features that death had brought him, like his now extremely pale skin, his silver hair, and his eyes, which were already beautiful before, a vibrant green, but now appeared as intense violets, a shade he had simply never seen in anyone else before.


    Before, he was in such a good state with his appearance that he was caught several times having to reject the advances of some truly beautiful young women.


    But, beyond his loss, the fear of initiating a strange zombie apocalypse weighed much more heavily on him than anything else he could think of at those moments.


    And as the ring showed him, he was actually a high zombie. He didn''t know why only he had become this while everyone else seemed like normal zombies, but he also didn''t want to try his luck infecting someone else and hoping they would also become a high zombie.


    Maybe this was a mutation of the disease, or even of this curse that arises from time to time, so sex for him had been out of the question for some time.


    Recalling his status as a zombie, he realized that at some point he would have to start looking for more brains, now that the one he had acquired a few hours ago was permanently inaccessible to him, and unfortunately, he hadn''t eaten much before the teleportation.


    Also, from what Zargorios said, young Amelia seemed to be someone he would want to keep around. Unfortunately, she appeared to have zero talent for magic, so she wouldn''t make a good teacher. However, she seemed extremely strong and very loyal to her old master.


    Not only that, but she, not he, held the information about the world around them, which country they were in, its culture, what was allowed or not allowed. He didn''t even know if zombies were known in this world, and if they were, did the countries exterminate them as quickly as possible? These were questions that Dante could only answer with Amelia by his side.


    Also, Dante had always liked to think of himself as a successful businessman, but he had no doubt that using his old skills in a world beyond medieval but magical must be extremely difficult. Corruption might be so high that it bordered on the impossible for someone without a name or recognition. So, he needed to find a way to acquire brains safely and quickly, as well as make money, preferably a lot of money, as quickly as possible.


    Finally, he decided to leave that warm and comfortable room, already thinking of a way to go look for Amelia because he had been inside that place for almost two hours. But he didn''t need to do that because, unlike what he believed, she was still waiting for him.


    She wasn''t waiting for him as a servant who respected her master, and she certainly didn''t know what situation she was in or if this was really the man her previous master had chosen to succeed him, but everything pointed to that.


    She was actually sitting on the floor, meditating on all the problems she would have to face from this day forward. Before this, she simply worked as a housemaid more than anything else, but besides being able to live a comfortable and secluded life, she also received some knowledge given to her by her own master. Different from the magical teachings she had hoped for since the day she entered the institution, just before being deemed completely useless for magic and becoming a servant on a distant property. But due to the fall of the order, she had received training and techniques focused on monks, something she quickly realized she had a lot of talent for.


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    At this moment, Amelia was trying to use one of the various meditation techniques she had learned in the past year to try to find a viable solution to all these new problems.


    Dante, when he saw her, took a moment to realize what she was doing. And when he did, even though she was having a profound meditation, he decided he would wait for her to somehow finish what she was doing so he could start planning what he would do from now on. It would be preferable for them to leave that place as soon as possible because this one-month period might not be so certain, and if something went wrong, they could simply be destroyed in an instant.


    However, he didn''t think he would have to wait so long. He had been looking at Amelia''s face for almost half an hour, just hoping that she would wake up or make any movement.


    Dante didn''t wake her up because he had no knowledge of whether it could somehow harm her. Maybe she was doing something more esoteric than advanced meditation. But he also didn''t want to wait any longer, and as he got up, stretching his body after half an hour on that cold, hard floor, he simply went to Amelia, who was no longer far from him, and tapped her shoulder, hoping that she would wake up from that self-imposed trance.


    This simple act seemed to generate an opposite reaction in Amelia''s body, as if she had been startled, she trembled for less than a second, and now she was staring at Dante, who was strangely close to her.


    Dante noticed this and quickly backed away, with a somewhat embarrassed smile, thinking that she had believed he had other intentions.


    "I finished what I had to do in that room," he said.


    "Were you meditating by any chance?"


    She continued to stare at Dante with an absolute lack of expression for a few more minutes until she strangely realized that she had returned to her body normally.


    Dante then realized that maybe she had been in such a deep state of whatever she was doing that the mere act of waking her up, like from a deep sleep, had somehow shocked her.


    After she realized she was back in the real world and saw Dante right in front of her, now with the old and strange clothes of her master and the ring that her master always wore, she quickly realized that what had to happen had already happened, and that man in front of her was somehow the new owner of the great library.


    When she finally got up, still a little embarrassed by losing herself completely in her own thoughts to the point of disconnecting from the world around her, she finally tried to start a conversation with the one who was supposed to be her new master.


    But before that, before she could start some strange social ritual of her world, Dante, already thinking about it, quickly raised his hands as a sign for Amelia to stop what she was going to do and said, "Look, I don''t know how this world works, or how you treated your previous master, but to me, I''ll say what I''ve always said to my former employees: just treat me as you would a friend."


    A friend? Amelia didn''t understand what he was getting at. She knew what the word meant, but until this moment, she had never had a true friend, only liars who took everything from her.


    So she quickly bowed and said, "No, master, I know that in your world maybe things worked in a nobler and superior way, but my world is dark. I don''t know if there are people capable of calling themselves such vague terms throughout the kingdom."


    "Then I ask you to keep things as they are. It will be easier for everyone."


    Dante was initially shocked to see the young woman deny her freedom, but he didn''t know her life, and he didn''t think it was right to impose his will on her at this moment.


    So after a few moments, still thinking about it, he said, "Alright, but never call me master again."


    A bright smile appeared on the young woman''s face, and she nodded her head while maintaining the same posture as before, but much less rigid.


    This moment was somewhat awkward for him because she seemed strangely beautiful by the natural standards of the world, but he quickly hid that thought and, wanting to see her statistics, quickly said, "research" while looking at her, and her data surprised him in a rather shocking way.


    ____________


    name: Amelia Durchdenwald


    specie: human


    type: humanoid


    age: 17


    clasa: monk


    vit:   10


    str:   250


    dex: 150

 Chapter Six

    While her vitality was strangely very low compared to Dante himself, her strength and dexterity were simply incomparable. She could easily paint a wall with Dante''s blood and bones.


    But then, while Dante imagined himself being turned into pulp by sweet Amelia, he couldn''t quite grasp what vitality truly meant. If it referred to physical health, there was no reason for it to be so low by his standards.


    Perhaps it was something racial? Did each species have its own standard vitality rate? It was natural to think that in fantasy stories, humans, being a balanced species, always started with tens in their stats. But this was the real world, so it couldn''t be that simple. The idea of different vitality for each species seemed to be the most correct, but thinking about how vitality worked, it seemed rather unfair.


    Amelia noticed that Dante''s eyes had strangely turned into a powerful celestial blue, but she decided not to mention it, as her previous master had done so at times.


    Dante quickly refocused his attention on Amelia and stopped using that strange but powerful tool.


    "Since we''ll be together for quite some time, I believe it''s only fair to reveal my true identity, which may pose some inconveniences on our long journey."


    "In fact, contrary to what it seems, I am not a human like you. I am what you could call an undead, or more precisely, a High Zombie."


    She looked at the ground for a moment as if contemplating something and finally responded, "I had already figured out that you were undead, but... a High Zombie? I''ve never heard of that."


    Dante found this a bit curious since there were humans in both his previous world and this one, so it was natural to think that other species might exist.


    "Aren''t there zombies in this world?" he asked.


    She quickly replied, "Zombies do exist, but they are usually mindless and unconscious undead, often created by magic. But a High Zombie? Like a high-level undead? However, you''re nowhere near as strong as the ones I just mentioned. I think your species must be either extremely rare or unique to your world."


    "That''s a pity, but maybe you''re right," Dante replied. "The zombies in my world probably weren''t created in the way you described."


    She understood and asked, "Do you have any special dietary needs? Lesser undead like zombies don''t need to eat to sustain themselves, but higher-level undead like vampires and ghouls usually do."


    Dante was enjoying how smoothly the conversation was going. Perhaps here, it was more common to talk about such things, allowing him to share everything without expecting any retaliation.


    "Yes, I need to constantly feed on brains to keep my mind sane. They also seem to slowly enhance my overall abilities."


    Amelia felt a bit envious of this, as regular humans could only strengthen themselves through extreme training. However, this characteristic wasn''t unique to Dante, and other high-level undead had the same ability, further confirming his classification as one of them.


    "Have you tried eating various types of brains?"


    "In fact, yes, after I regained my consciousness... after the incident, I was so hungry that I instinctively cracked open a dog''s skull. But as soon as I smelled it, my entire body recoiled in disgust."


    "But also, I''ve only tried human brains. I don''t know how my body would react to other types of brains from sentient beings."


    He looked at her with a warm smile and said, "I understand, so we''ll have to find a way to get brains as soon as possible because all we have here is human food."


    Dante truly didn''t understand why this, even though extremely morbid, was unfolding so naturally. It shouldn''t be normal for her to find this acceptable; she was human, and they were talking about brains, like the ones in her own head.


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    But Dante didn''t want to ask, because in the end, it didn''t matter if she was just a psychopath, misanthropic, or simply didn''t care about her master devouring other humans because, in the end, it was beneficial for him.


    Now, several hours had passed since Dante arrived in this world, and it seemed that Amelia didn''t know about his inability to sleep because he was absolutely alone in the room of the former master of that place.


    During these hours, he had managed to gather some truly essential information about this world. The best part was that, in addition to finding out how to access the library, he had also discovered that he could strangely read any language. However, he didn''t necessarily understand them completely because the Eye of Odin seemed capable of translating the words but fell short of translating the meanings. When it was a language structured differently, like Latin to English, he had to spend minutes trying to understand the documents.


    Fortunately, the language of the academy had a structure very similar to modern Western languages on Earth, so he didn''t have much trouble with it. However, if he found books in other languages in the great library, he might face some challenges.


    It also seemed that the man who had brought him here wasn''t entirely confident in Dante''s morality, as he had shared many pieces of information only with Amelia or had chosen not to share them with him while writing that manual.


    "I never thought about killing Amelia, but if I had, I probably wouldn''t even know how to get out of this place. But for the love of it, it would be impossible for me to kill her."


    At least now he knew how to access what was called the Great Library.


    It was a place that, as he understood it, existed outside of this dimension, something that Amelia referred to as a pocket dimension. It was impossible to invade without a special key, and technically, it should have already placed Dante as its new master. He was counting on that because unauthorized intruders were brutally killed.


    Inside, there was all the knowledge acquired by the academy for nearly a thousand years, and, as Amelia proudly pointed out, it even concealed some legendary Level VI spells.


    Of course, Dante had no idea what that meant, but he pretended not to start another long discourse.


    Amelia seemed to enjoy teaching her new master about the world, but she often got lost in explanations with her own thoughts, delving into various impractical argumentative circles.


    Nevertheless, Dante understood how magnificent this project was. What they had tried to do was create a public magic institution, different from the common government-owned national institutions, where they aimed to gather talents from as many countries as possible while keeping the Adventurer''s Guild from entering political and military conflicts.


    Unfortunately, it seemed that this wealth had generated great resentment, and various powers had joined forces to annihilate the academy.


    Dante still didn''t understand how magic worked, but he knew that public information was and had always been what enriched a population.


    It was a noble goal, but it had failed due to the sheer greed of these governments, which thrived on the monopoly of this powerful knowledge. Fortunately, they hadn''t been able to even touch the Great Library, so maybe Dante could help recreate this dream.


    But these were long-term goals. His main objective now, besides survival, was to learn magic because this was his first step in this world.


    With magic, he would not only begin to perform god-like and superheroic feats, but he also understood, from conversations with Amelia, that unlike his previous world where status was more based on an individual''s wealth and political status, here it wasn''t that different. However, strength often turned out to be the only life-changing tool for many, especially for the poor who commonly joined the Adventurer''s Guild in search of wealth and fame.


    In the end, the goal was the same.


    Power.


    It didn''t matter if it came from noble blood, a bank account, or one''s muscles.


    Fortunately, the Eye of Odin seemed to be the master key to the Great Library. This artifact appeared to possess more abilities than Dante initially imagined, and it reminded him of how cautious he had to be with an artifact that couldn''t be removed from his body.


    And curiously, the gates of the Great Library were actually opened with a single small phrase, imbued with his own will.


    "In Kether''s arms, I envelop myself."


    Then he realized that everything around him had changed again.


    Not like the last time, where reality slowly fragmented, but he had arrived in this place instantly, showing that he hadn''t entered this space with his physical body, but rather, as he understood from Amelia, with his own consciousness.


    Something he didn''t understand, but it worked.


    Now he found himself in what seemed to be a gigantic labyrinth of books.


    Amelia had told him there should be something like a librarian who took care of the library and served as a living catalog of all its content, but unfortunately, this person didn''t seem to want to come to him at first.


    At least Dante didn''t need to be afraid because exiting this space worked the same way as entering.


    As he walked through what appeared to be endless corridors, he was expecting something to happen. The librarian should be aware of his presence, but he didn''t seem willing to approach.


    Until, after walking for a few more minutes while marveling at the environment, he finally managed to locate himself in that space.


    To his delight, it seemed to be a large map defining his position and some other important ones. Like an area for individual studies, another for group studies, and luckily, where he could find the librarian, who didn''t seem too far away from him. Following the strange white arrows that appeared and disappeared as if they had a will of their own would easily lead him to the librarian.


    These arrows really seemed to want to show him the way.


    Unexpectedly, the endless bookshelves began to disappear, and now he seemed to be in some strange and ancient temple made of extremely well-crafted stones.


    Finally, at the end of that path, he could see the librarian, but the appearance of the librarian surprised him in a very unexpected way.


    After that day, he shouldn''t have been surprised so easily, but it seemed that he wasn''t as adaptable as he thought. When he finally realized what was in front of him, he didn''t want to, but he couldn''t deny that he let out a strange, low, and humiliating scream.


    A scream that came from the surprise of seeing a dragon right in front of him.

 Chapter Seven

    A grotesquely large dragon, with obsidian scales and a terrifying scarlet eye, which perhaps just the size of its iris alone could be compared in size to Dante, and to make matters worse, it was staring fixedly at Dante.


    Dante quickly composed himself and, with his back as straight as possible, began to try to communicate with the monster.


    After clearing his throat, he said, "I suppose, judging by the place we are in, that you must be the librarian."


    The dragon, seemingly having no physical senses to sense these questions, replied, "And who might you be? You have a strange scent."


    His voice clearly did not match his body at all; instead of a powerful, guttural, and intimidating voice, it sounded more like it originated from a sixty-year-old man who spent most of his time in his garden.


    Dante noticed this and seemed to be more concerned than he should have been, especially when he remembered that he was now supposed to be the owner of all this.


    "I am Dante, the new Master of this library."


    The dragon now, unlike before, seemed to be trying to show emotions, which were hardly discernible to Dante.


    "That old masochistic bastard finally died?"


    The dragon strangely began to emit a powerful laughter throughout the colossal hall.


    "No, in fact, he just passed on the position."


    Damn, he''s looking at me in a strange and scary way now... maybe it would have been better to just lie?


    "What a shame..."


    The strange dragon showed true happiness one moment and pure indifference the next.


    "So... what are you doing here? Can''t you see I''m off duty?"


    Off duty?


    "Actually, I came here to look for some beginner''s magic books, preferably in Ancient Thoth."


    The dragon waited for a moment as if this were some sort of joke and finally said, "You have the ring, why are you asking me for this?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Don''t you know? Didn''t that man tell you anything?"


    "Let''s just say he didn''t have much time."


    The dragon seemed to understand the situation and, wanting to get back to its sleep as quickly as possible, said, "If that''s the case, just summon Y; she''s my assistant and should help you with this matter."


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    "Now, if you''ll excuse me, I ask that you leave my room."


    After that, the temple around him crumbled, and the colossal dragon disappeared; he was actually back in the endless rows of the library.


    When the dragon said to summon, was it simply a matter of calling out the name?


    "Hee, Y?"


    After speaking, he waited a bit, and when he was about to give up, he began to see a strange trail of light illuminating parts of the air, quickly disappearing.


    However, when he realized it, there was already something in front of him that appeared to be some kind of miniature woman with wings, basically a fairy from Dante''s memories of what he had read and watched in the past.


    She didn''t have stunning beauty but rather a strange charm, seeming more adorable than anything.


    "Master called me?"


    She spoke strangely fast, as if she wanted to rush this first meeting. Perhaps she was doing something else before this, but Dante had no way of knowing.


    "Yes, actually, the librarian said you could help me."


    "Of course he did. I''m one of his main assistants, actually the twenty-fifth assistant, so I''m here to help with whatever is needed."


    After that, she released a quick and constant smile, as if all of this were a strange theater to her.


    "Okay then, I would like some beginner''s magic books in Ancient Thoth, if possible."


    After hearing that, she disappeared for a moment, and before Dante could even blink, she was back, now holding what seemed to be three disproportionately large books for her tiny body, but that didn''t seem to be a problem.


    "Master, I believe these books are the best we can have for beginners, and in Ancient Thoth. Unfortunately, most of our collection is in other languages and these have never been translated."


    "I understand, but can these books be understood well by someone who has never practiced magic in their life?"


    "Affirmative, in fact, we have few books for beginners, these almost always bring the same information, often in scribbled and hidden tones to make learning difficult, but these bring good first-grade spells... and were written by the previous master himself to serve as basic books for the academy."


    "So these should be enough, thank you for your help. How can I take them to the real world?"


    She didn''t understand this question and looked at him as if she were waiting impatiently for an explanation.


    "How do I take these books to my physical body?"


    "Oh, just leave this place with the books in hand, just remember to return them when they are no longer needed."


    "Right. Thank you."


    After that, the little creature simply disappeared from his sight, and he now, without much delay, invoked the strange phrase to finally leave that fantastical place.


    When he realized it, he was back in what would be his room for the next week, but now in his hands were the three strangely large books recommended by Y.


    They would surely have presented some challenge just because of their weight to an inexperienced magical human, but for Dante, even with their large size and weight, they were not much different from holding a common novel.


    After placing the three books on his bed to better understand the three recommendations, he could finally read their titles, and they seemed strangely... strange.


    "Magic for Dummies"


    "Absorbing the Universe in a Mysterious Box"


    "Demonic Spells for Angelic Beings: Vol I"


    Even with the strange names, they seemed to complement each other, and they were also quite general, as any beginner''s book should be.


    Dante didn''t know where to start, but he believed that it would be best to save the last book for later, as it seemed to be the practical area of magic.


    Fortunately, since his youth, due to the high load of self-study he went through while studying at home, he had developed an efficient method of study and memory, so he didn''t expect to take more than a few hours to read one of these gigantic books.


    This was actually a blessing as well as a curse because it made him read fantasy books so quickly that in the early years of his adulthood, he simply abandoned them to pay attention to topics he deemed more important at that stage of his life, like having sex... and things related to having sex, especially college parties.


    In the end, he chose to start with what seemed to be the most obvious, "Magic for Dummies," a title that reminded him of a great collection of books from his previous world, but that certainly had nothing to do with these. It seemed that Zargorios himself was once again showing himself to be a complete stalker of his previous world... he hoped he was enjoying his new stay and preferably not thinking about conquering the world where Dante was born.


    After just two hours, Dante could heroically close that psychopathic book because he had finally finished it; at this moment, he was only grateful for his excellent memory and fast reading. But to summarize these last two hours, the book served as nothing more than a theoretical introduction to magic itself, not aiming to be anything more than an introduction, really.


    Fortunately, he was able to perfectly convey the most basic knowledge in this area, and, as it seemed, it was quite clich¨¦. Not necessarily bad because perhaps the clich¨¦ came from something like this, but to begin with, magic in this book was nothing more than the alteration of reality through a controlled chain of events. This could be intentional or not, but it needed to originate from what the book defined as "Aeternus," some kind of metaphysical philosophical plane from which aether, or mana, arcane, or any other word, originated, and which was used to perform various feats in magic.

 Chapter eight

    Magic itself only exists in its practice, and it seems to be truly vast, only to catalog a tiny percentage of the various professions that use magic. The author, Zagoraios, spoke of various professions, such as wizards themselves, but also alchemists, healers, runemakers, among many others.


    As expected, the book simply didn''t cover much in terms of truly practical topics. Instead, it seemed more like some pseudo-philosophy from a schizophrenic school from almost two thousand years ago.


    However, there was an experiment within it, a very simple one at that, which was meant to showcase the potential of a magician.


    The absolute potential of an individual is always unknown, naturally understood as entirely relative. It not only can but will vary throughout one''s life. But in a world where knowledge is rigidly controlled, it''s natural to think that resources would go to the most talented, not the most hardworking.


    At least the experiment was really simple and only required a pure crystal, no matter which one, as long as it''s crystalline and untouched by any magic to avoid corruption.


    After finally finding one, strategically positioned for him to discover, he finally conducted the test, which was solely about focusing his consciousness on that crystal.


    The test shows how attuned a non-practitioner is naturally to magic, and it indicates how much one needs meditation to gain more aether over time, enabling them to perform more spells or any other magical work.


    Meditations seem to be taught in the second book, "Absorbing the Universe in a Mysterious Box," so he wastes no time in reading it after finishing this test.


    During the meditation, he would also need to keep track of time, and the crystal, due to atmospheric aether, would eventually change color. This color would determine their primary elemental affinity, which almost all physical beings possess, including earth, fire, water, and air.


    Finally, after two minutes of constant focus, the crystal began to alter, changing from something transparent, similar to glass, to a milky, completely white color.


    Two minutes?


    Dante thought.


    It wasn''t bad. It wasn''t a god-given talent, but it was within the parameters for acceptance into the academy before its fall. It was actually slightly above average, so he could be proud of this natural characteristic.


    However, the color bothered him because the milky color indicated that he simply had no elemental affinity, meaning he would need much more aether to cast any elemental spells. And those made up the vast majority of spells, as he had just read.


    But this wasn''t the end of the world, as there were spells and research for non-elemental spells. Some were mostly supportive, while others were quite remarkable, like necromancy. There were also some more palatable to the modern mind, like arcane magic and the school of lightning magic. Both were somewhat underground, but there must be thousands of books on each in the library.


    Dante learned from Amelia that more civilized societies, like the one they were in, also used solar-related time systems, and their day had twenty-four hours. Since it was now almost midnight, he decided to postpone his decisions until he had complete knowledge of spells.


    He didn''t want to admit it, but he was obviously a workaholic. He could leave everything else for the following days while trying to relax in these few hours of complete silence that he had, especially after the extremely busy and chaotic day he had experienced.


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    But he simply couldn''t stop; he didn''t want to stop. He was studying what was supposed to be impossible, and he found it fantastic, not in the literal sense, as a book, even a large one, held these mysteries of reality, which shouldn''t really happen.


    But after just two hours, he emerged from that reading with a completely changed perception of reality and the foundation for what could be his entire future.


    Finally, he decided that he would read the second book and thanked his somewhat battered body for it, as without it, he probably wouldn''t have been able to finish the first book so quickly.


    Even before starting to read, from what Dante understood about "Absorbing the Universe in a Mysterious Box," it was probably an introductory book on meditation.


    Simplifying the simplification found in the previous book, it seemed that these meditations were a way for the body to connect with the universe and slowly begin to absorb aether into itself.


    It seemed extremely esoteric and magical, but in reality, this process occurred naturally in the human body, as well as in any other physical being. Even stones in rich aether worlds accumulated more energy over time.


    The difference here lay in terms of efficiency. A magical meditation technique needed to surpass the curve of what one''s body already consumed in terms of aether to not only store it but also train it so that the body itself became a magical energy source.


    This allowed not only for the performance of complex magic but also for the return of unused aether to the world.


    ____


    Unlike all previous days, where Amelia always made an effort to wake up as early as possible, she ended up spending a bit more time in her comfortable bed than usual.


    The previous day had been so exhausting for her, mainly psychologically, and even though she didn''t want to show it, she was simply terrified. She didn''t know that her previous master had already decided to leave that world, and if he did, at least he would bring someone as capable...


    But no.


    She obviously didn''t blame Dante for this, but this was an extremely inconvenient situation, and they would now have to face many problems until they could truly settle somewhere or even earn a steady income doing whatever Dante deemed best.


    In reality, she was far from being a truly influential person; she was basically useless in a society of wizards. She had only become a domestic servant in the world that was this tower because one of the old order masters had, at some point, felt pure pity for her situation.


    She knew her place in that world, but after the order fell, and she met the old master, she could have a life she had never thought possible. She not only began to learn something but also found that she wasn''t useless at all, especially when it came to warrior skills, feeling strongly connected to the path of the monks.


    The bed was so comfortable and warm, and knowing that she would have to leave that room she had lived in for the past few years soon made her not want to leave that moment.


    But with a loud and cheerful shout, which she usually gave to herself when she was alone to boost her mood and wake her body up faster, she finally agreed that she couldn''t stay there all day. After a few more minutes, she finally emerged from her heavy blanket.


    The naturally cold air met her warm body, but she didn''t feel a thing because her body was already far beyond that of an ordinary human, and things like morning cold didn''t bother her anymore.


    In her mind, she began to plan her day and tried to create a schedule for the most important things she had to do now that they were planning to leave that place in a few days.


    The first thing she did, as she always did after waking up, was to train. She didn''t need complex weight machines or anything like that; she used her body for it. This didn''t excessively increase her physical strength relative to her body, while maintaining the feminine aspects she carefully cared for. However, it wasn''t a simple calisthenics or gymnastics workout; it was physical training combined with knight techniques to constantly increase her life force and physical attributes.


    Because she had learned this technique from Zargorios himself, it was not a common technique but could naturally be compared to the best techniques in this realm, famous for its knight orders.


    After finally being satisfied with her performance, which took a little over an hour of intense physical training, she finally sat down to rest a bit, drinking much more water than she really should for her body size.


    But it was essential to maintain her life energy in balance throughout the day.


    After finishing this part of her day, she finally took a hot bath to relax her muscles and put on her natural maid clothes, starting her daily tasks.


    She didn''t have much to do, though. They were going to leave that place, so she didn''t necessarily need to continue cleaning.


    Dante didn''t eat regular food, so she didn''t necessarily need to prepare breakfast for him.


    However, as he mentioned earlier, he could drink some beverages, and tea and coffee seemed acceptable.


    Amelia felt a little embarrassed that she couldn''t properly feed Dante, but it was something she couldn''t control now. She only hoped that Dante''s hunger wouldn''t develop as quickly as she believed it would. If that happened, they would have to leave the tower earlier than planned, in one or two days.


    But everything about Dante was very strange.


    He clearly had traits of a High Undead, but they generally consumed vast amounts, while Dante seemed to naturally sustain himself with just over two brains a week, an extremely manageable amount even in small towns where crime ran rampant, and people died or disappeared all the time.

 Chapter Nine

    At this moment, the sun must already be rising in all its splendor. And because the tower had no windows, it couldn''t see how the world around it was. Whether it was cold or hot, an army could pass by the tower, and it would feel nothing, for it was not a colossal structure that would attract the attention of armies or other mages, but rather a small three-story tower connected to where she and Dante truly were, in one of the various pocket dimensions that made up the entire territory of the academy.


    Today, if these pocket dimensions had not been completely abandoned, their entrances and exits forgotten forever, then they were in the possession of other factions, many of which undoubtedly emerged within the academy itself, and they are scattered across more than five countries.


    Amelia, not wanting to leave Dante with nothing that morning and knowing his dietary limitations, decides to prepare coffee for him, as it was something the previous master liked, and Dante claimed he could consume. At least she thought he could, since even though it had the same name, the coffee in this reality could be completely different from what he was used to, making it impossible to ingest. But in the end, it''s worth a try.


    After having her quick but hearty breakfast, she quickly prepares a coffee with no additions for Dante and, holding a tray of the highest quality silver with a cup and a full coffee pot, she walks slowly in search of the room where Dante was supposed to have slept.


    However, when she finally arrived after what felt like an eternity, and after knocking on the door several times, realizing that Dante was probably sleeping, she simply opened the door to wake him up. But she was taken aback by what she saw there.


    Instead of finding a pale, silver-haired zombie nearly two meters tall sleeping comfortably in that strange room, she found, in fact, a pale, silver-haired zombie almost two meters tall meditating.


    However, he wasn''t meditating in the way she typically did when she had nothing more useful to do. Instead, around him, various pasty particles were clearly visible, indicating that in just one night, he had somehow learned precisely what most would take weeks to even begin practicing.


    Seeing all of this, Amelia couldn''t help but feel utterly shocked by the situation. It was different from other things; she could hardly understand how he had achieved this. Not even the greatest geniuses could learn at such a rapid pace. But of the two theories she had concocted, one seemed more likely to her.


    One of these, which she believed wasn''t the case, was that somehow, before coming to this world, Dante had learned magic and meditation and had been lying all this time. However, considering that she hadn''t sensed any threat from him at any moment, and he genuinely seemed surprised by everything that had been happening, she didn''t want to believe it.


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    Her other theory, however, was that unlike her, he was not only a crazy self-taught individual capable of absorbing knowledge extremely quickly but also an undead. This was information she seemed to have forgotten, as unlike what she had been believing, undead creatures typically didn''t sleep naturally, and when they did, high-level undead performed grand rituals to hibernate for centuries.


    But he had arrived in this world less than ten hours ago. Was that really possible?


    Amelia knew that these thoughts were simply foolish because the reality was right in front of her, and whether it was possible or not, it was happening. In fact, she could only see how this would be beneficial to their situation.


    Meanwhile, the milky-white aether seemed to appear and disappear, as if they were a pure illusion or even dreamlike creations of a mad mind, but somehow they manifested in reality right before her eyes.


    Amelia didn''t recognize it, but she had also never delved deep into the study of magic, giving up as soon as she proved useless in that area. However, thinking of some old colleagues who often summoned their aether in a form they naturally had more elemental affinity with, it was perhaps likely that Dante had no such affinity.


    This, in fact, further explained why the previous master had chosen this man to replace him. Such an adaptable mind, with a rare negative affinity, and not only a high-level undead but one outside of any established hierarchy.


    He was simply the perfect candidate for the exchange, but Amelia had only realized this now.


    Of course, her previous master shouldn''t have been thinking in just a few years or even decades; he was most likely envisioning what this man could do in perhaps five hundred years.


    Just the thought of it made Amelia feel somewhat apprehensive about the future of these neighboring nations. For her, a widespread and massive massacre of all the countries that had destroyed Zargorios''s dream would be ideal, and she didn''t care how long it would take for that to happen. Unfortunately for her, she had no idea what Dante would think about these ideas that came and went in Amelia''s mind.


    Amelia had already accepted that she was and always would be useless for any magical practice, and even if she had a way to change that, she was already too committed to the path of a monk to begin dividing her time among other forms of power. But now that she could see the future that Zargorios probably envisioned, she understood that she would have to train even harder to meet the minimum standards to be able to follow the man right in front of her.


    After laughing to herself in a somewhat disturbed manner about these thoughts, she finally realized that she might be disturbing Dante''s meditation and quickly composed herself. She decided to leave the coffee right there on his desk and only hoped that he would be able to drink it before it got cold. It would take a while since she used one of the various magical items in the tower to keep the coffee''s temperature for as long as possible.


    A sense of pride in someone she barely knew... but that''s how this young woman''s mind worked. If her goals were once about survival and strengthening herself, they were now solely about helping Dante reach the pinnacle of this world. Not that she knew what that meant, but if she could help even a little, it would be enough.


    Seeing that Dante didn''t seem to want to end that session anytime soon, and knowing how enjoyable the first session was for anyone, she decided to leave the room so that as soon as Dante woke up, they could finally begin planning their climb to glory, starting from the bottom but slowly rising to eternal glory.

 Chapter ten

    After an uncountable passage of time, Dante finally awakens from his meditation. Initially, he thought it wouldn''t necessarily be intense, but rather something he would have to put in a lot of effort to achieve.


    Especially when he considered the various chapters of the book on this topic that seemed to serve only to motivate its readers unnecessarily. For Dante, the ability to perform magic should already be motivation enough, and it simply seemed like the author was just dragging things out across those numerous pages.


    Everything seemed too easy. Meditation was strange at first, but the freedom it brought to the mind made Dante view it as some kind of extremely heavy drug. This sensation was something he had never experienced before, and it felt like his consciousness was simply disconnecting from his body. And that, to Dante, was fantastic.


    Unfortunately, this sensation, from what he had read, like any good drug, would wear off until his mind finally got used to these sensations he had never experienced, and it would probably stop having much effect, maybe even none at all.


    Even though he loved this sensation, Dante also saw that this natural defense that was forming was nothing more than a clear sign of a mage''s evolution, so he didn''t really care about it.


    After stretching strongly, as he must have stayed in the exact same position for several hours, he realized, to his delight, that Amelia had left a large bottle of coffee for him to drink. He thought that she must have quickly left the room to give him privacy since she saw him meditating.


    After serving himself some coffee and finally drinking it, it seemed like it had just been made. It was still extremely hot, which was no problem for him, but it brought a certain comfort because, even as a zombie, coffee was the only thing that still accompanied him from his life as a human, and it still served him well in this new world.


    Dante wouldn''t say it was the best coffee he had ever had in his life, especially when he could make great coffee himself with the right beans, but this world probably didn''t have complex logistics and infrastructure systems, and even with magic, high-quality beans must exist only in very specific locations that have been cultivating these plants for generations.


    Finally, after quickly drinking that cup, he felt his whole body energizing again, and he was finally ready to start this new day.


    Not necessarily, because he had already done many things in what could be defined as the same day, such as not only learning magic but also starting to meditate.


    Dante didn''t know if he had been good or bad during meditation, but he knew he had at least made some progress, and with that, he knew that if he maintained a consistent meditation-based routine, as he intended to from this day on, he could easily start casting his first spells in a few days.


    After finally leaving the room, Dante strangely found himself face to face with Amelia, who seemed to be reading a small book while waiting for Dante to wake up.


    Upon realizing his arrival, she respectfully bowed to Dante and quickly began to talk about some more important matters at the moment.


    But Dante was just wondering why she was now so naturally respectful to him because before, it all seemed like some forced act, but now everything was developing with a strange and courteous fluidity.


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    "Do you happen to be showing any signs of hunger in any way? Or how long until that might happen?"


    "To be honest, I really don''t know. Fortunately, I could almost always buy brains from one or two funeral homes. You don''t know how easy it is to do some really morbid things when you have money."


    "But most likely, the last piece I ate won''t last long, so I don''t think we can stay here much longer."


    "Is it possible to return to this place after we leave? Maybe as a base while we try to build something outside next month."


    Without even thinking, she quickly responded, "Unfortunately, that''s not possible. Unfortunately, I have always been just a simple maid in this place, and while I know how to exit these facilities, I don''t have the reverse knowledge to enter."


    Dante looked down a bit because this was really problematic.


    "That''s a shame, but then we don''t have much to do other than plan as best we can to try to have as few problems as possible in the future."


    Dante really liked the comfort that the place provided him, especially because it allowed him to wear clothes similar to what he liked to wear, and also because he could have a space almost identical to his old apartment. But he didn''t want to tell Amelia, but internally, he wanted to hasten his departure from that place. He wanted to see the forest that surrounded him and, most importantly, he would very much like to start his life again as soon as possible, living maybe as an adventurer or whatever else might come his way in this early stage.


    Everything he looked at, even magical things, only gave him a simple feeling of artificiality, a feeling that even the tallest buildings and most populous neighborhoods of his city did not create in him. Everything seemed too easy, or like an endless dream. And that only made him want to leave even more.


    "Maybe in the old office of your master, we could find some items we could take from here, perhaps maps, but preferably equipment and clothing suitable for our next journey. I don''t think these jeans would hold up for several kilometers in the wilderness. Heaven... I never thought being dead could actually be useful."


    Sure, he couldn''t eat the foods he once loved or engage in... certain activities. At least, he thought he couldn''t engage in them without turning his partner into an irrational zombie. But as a zombie, he didn''t have to worry about hurting his feet on long walks or any other discomforts that extended physical exertion might cause in a normal human.


    Also, he saw that Amelia probably wouldn''t have to worry about trivial things like a blister on her foot or chafed legs from walking; to him, she was probably just intimidating. She was much shorter compared to him, and yet she could easily cut him in half with minimal effort.


    After hearing about whether they could find some equipment or tools, Amelia said to Dante as she got up from the chair she had been sitting in for the past hour and slowly stretched while looking at the strong embers in front of both of them.


    "I don''t know. It seems that Zargorios had everything planned before he left, but I don''t see why he would have thought of something as simple as clothing for adventurers."


    "However, it doesn''t hurt to try."


    After that, she starts searching in her own clothes, in the various pockets it has, and after several minutes, she finally finds what appears to be an old and sturdy key made of steel.


    "Okay, we can then check if he left something for you."


    After that, and after they had already agreed on the best way to reach the nearest city, passing through the largest villages along the way, and maybe even enrolling in the adventurers'' guild and starting to take on some jobs, they finally begin to walk towards Amelia''s old master''s office, workshop, or even temple.


    Dante didn''t know what to expect, but thinking that this place wasn''t his usual workplace because it wasn''t one of the important centers of the old academy, he didn''t expect to find anything grandiose, like enormous dragons similar to the librarian himself imprisoned in powerful and esoteric cages, or powerful and cold golems formed from the mightiest of rocks living to defend that place from potential intruders.


    As he walked, Dante also wondered what treasures he might hide. Wouldn''t it be the best of worlds if he actually found a divine armor for Amelia and a powerful staff that would make him extremely strong right now?


    Of course, this would be the best of worlds, and while he couldn''t see any reason why Zargorios wouldn''t do it, as he was definitely one of the last beings who still wanted to keep the knowledge of his presence in this world, he also didn''t see it happening; it was simply too perfect.


    Starting a new life was very uncomfortable, especially when a person had no material possessions to facilitate this beginning, so thoughts like these were natural, even though they were completely absurd.


    Finally, they found themselves at the grand door that, as Amelia had said, led to Zargorios''s own office, and when they finally opened it, they noticed that like other spaces uniquely belonging to this man, it was a very humble place, at least in size, as it could easily be compared to any office that someone had made in their own home.

 Chapter eleven

    But what didn''t catch his attention in terms of size certainly did in the furnishings of that place. The furniture gave the entire space a Victorian air, making it truly a beautiful place with strong, natural-toned woods, or reddish ones.


    Unfortunately, as Dante could sense with his newfound ability to feel the atmospheric aether, almost everything in that place was made of magic. There were no craftsmen, or it was somehow eternal, all of it conjured from the mind of the mage who built it.


    However, there was one real thing in that office. Right inside a chest, a chest easily detectable, most likely another one of Zargorios''s plans, Dante found what appeared to be not a legendary armor, staff, or sacred sword, but a mask.


    And without diminishing the beauty of this piece of craftsmanship, for it seemed truly exquisite and expensive, it covered almost the entire head, leaving only a few strategic points open, and allowing the hair to remain uncovered.


    It was mostly silver, with the face seemingly completely covered in a metallic white, seamlessly merging with runes embedded in its surface, with a beautiful triangular celestial blue crystal on its forehead. He had simply never seen anything like it outside of fiction because the strangest thing about this mask was that it didn''t seem to have any holes, not for the eyes, mouth, or anything in front of it.


    It was truly fascinating, but why on earth was it the only other real thing besides food and clothing?


    Dante was so curious about it that he quickly prepared to try on the beautiful mask, and when he finally put it on, he went in search of a mirror to see himself.


    The mask seemed to perfectly match his skin tone and almost blended with his hair, possessing colors nearly identical to his but metallic.


    While Dante didn''t understand the meaning of it, he couldn''t stop thinking about how stylish it looked. Amelia, on the other hand, could, and seeing that Dante didn''t understand, quickly began to speak openly about it.


    "Fascinating, this can completely conceal your presence... incredible."


    Dante didn''t understand what she meant. He was right in front of her, and he didn''t think he had turned invisible and started worshiping some magical ring.


    "This might not be so useful now, but it will certainly be crucial when we''re in the guild, where people more attuned to the miasma generated by undead are more abundant."


    Even though she didn''t explain directly, Dante finally understood.


    Without this mask, they would have even more problems than he had imagined. Not even he, being an undead, knew that he emitted some kind of scent, aura, or whatever it was. If he were alone, he would probably be in serious trouble in this world at some point.


    Dante simply couldn''t comment on it, as not only had all of this been planned by Zargorios long before he agreed to come to this world, but it was also probably the most useful thing he could have received.


    Not that an enchanted dragon-slaying sword wouldn''t also be very useful.


    "Incredible."


    The mask itself actually fit well, covering his entire face and he couldn''t even understand how he was still able to see accurately.


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    And being essentially a full-face mask, open only at the upper corner and at the back to allow his hair to flow freely, it was the perfect tool for even an undead worse than Dante to pretend to be a simple adventurer in search of adventures.


    Dante didn''t think he had to do much more that day. Everything had technically been arranged by him and Amelia, and they would probably finally start their journey in a day or two. By then, Dante hoped to be able to start casting some basic spells. Level one spells weren''t the most powerful tools capable of summoning thunder to destroy grand fortifications like the many castles this kingdom seemed to have, but they weren''t entirely useless either. Besides serving as great support spells for beginner adventurers, if they had large amounts of aether, they could easily use their offensive spells, which, while not more flashy than any amateur magic trick, could still wreak havoc if used well and, most importantly, well managed.


    The remainder of that day was more ordinary than he had expected. He continued to get to know Amelia a little more, and she began to open up more to him, creating a sense of familiarity that would be important for their future as partners.


    However, most of his time was simply spent meditating. He couldn''t bear it; the sensation was unimaginable. As Amelia had mentioned, he was making rapid progress, which motivated him even more.


    At the end of the day, when he finally woke up from long hours of meditation, his hunger seemed to be starting to emerge. Perhaps he could hold on for another day or two before attempting to talk to Amelia. Not that he had any chance of succeeding, but his hunger at this moment could be so overwhelming that he might simply shut down the logical part of his brain and follow his pure instincts, not so different from any zombie in any known movie.


    However, the real problems began shortly after he woke up from his next meditation session. It was supposed to be early in the morning, and Dante, naturally unable to sleep, was meditating. At this point, he believed he could perform the most basic and weak spells from that book, but at this point, that didn''t matter to him. Unlike what he believed before, that he still had some safe time in this place, unfortunately, it was proving to be extremely wrong.


    Because, unlike the other times when he decided to end his meditation on his own, now he was simply called back, not by Amelia, but by a strange and agonizing sensation that pervaded his entire body.


    It took him a little while to understand what it really was, until, as he began to sense his surroundings, he finally realized that the atmospheric aether in that place was in a critical state, much lower than he remembered from a few hours before.


    His feeble meditation hadn''t caused this, as it hadn''t changed anything from previous times. No, this was probably programmed to happen, and seeing that he probably didn''t have much time to get out of that place...


    Dante quickly ran to the hallway, searching for Amelia, only to find her in the grand and rich kitchen. She seemed totally oblivious to what was happening around her and was preparing something to eat, most likely after one of her workouts.


    "Amelia, we have to go, we have to go now."


    Without waiting for her response, he simply grabbed her by the wrist and her lightweight body, and started carrying her without even realizing it, as he was so panicked and just wanted to know how on earth he could get out of there.


    However, when he realized what he was doing, this already in the hallway, and seeing Amelia''s lack of reaction to his earlier action, he quickly put her down.


    "How do we get out of here? This place seems like it''s going to collapse any moment."


    Amelia seemed a bit embarrassed about that moment, but listening to what Dante had said, she quickly believed him. She abandoned all her belongings and everything she was doing, and simply began to run towards where they could actually escape from that place.


    As they ran, she began to believe Dante even more when, strangely, some walls seemed to appear and disappear, and that was just terrifying for someone who knew that if they fell into that void, they would probably wander in emptiness until they died of thirst.


    But finally, perhaps by pure luck, they were able to reach the main gate in time, and even though both of them were extremely euphoric, Amelia was able to calm her mind enough to accurately draw the symbol that would allow their passage out. And when the door that would save their lives finally appeared, connecting this place, a magical plane separate from reality, to what seemed to be a dense forest, they passed through the grand door as quickly as possible.


    Finally, they emerged from that place that had sheltered Dante for only a few days, but Amelia for years, to finally appear in the dense forest that surrounded the entire tower.

 Chapter twelve - becoming the god of lightning? not so much

    Dante and Amelia simply stared at each other in terror because of what had just happened.


    Perhaps if they had simply been delayed a few moments, they might now be condemned to the slow and lonely death that awaited them in that place between dimensions.


    Clearly, Zargorios had deceived them, and now instead of being adequately prepared, Dante was wearing the clothes he had changed into the day before, and Amelia was in one of her various maid outfits, putting them in a difficult situation if they had to deal with extreme weather changes.


    In their surroundings, apart from the tower that couldn''t be more than three meters tall and closely resembled a completely ruined lighthouse, and in the middle of nowhere, all they could see were trees.


    Grand trees that seemed unable to expand to a certain distance from the tower, either naturally or out of sheer fear that the monument could bring to the souls of the simplest and most sensitive.


    Being in the middle of a forest is never a good idea, especially when you don''t know the culture, the climate, and especially the local fauna and the possible existence of bandits. Fortunately for Dante, Amelia had long studied the location of the tower and didn''t expect to encounter any difficulties on this journey.


    "Are you okay?" Amelia seemed more shaken than she should have been, but after some thought, it was Dante who was the stranger in this situation, and for various reasons.


    Apart from being a zombie, which naturally distorted some of his emotions, Dante, unlike Amelia, was not feeling abandoned or betrayed at this moment.


    Because what had just happened was quickly understood as the work of Zargorios, who didn''t even intend to communicate it and intentionally lied to create that crisis, generating a false sense of security that could have killed them brutally.


    Dante finally went to help Amelia up, not out of necessity but purely out of a sense of camaraderie.


    "It''s not so bad," he said.


    "It could be worse, much worse," Amelia replied.


    Listening to this, Dante responded, "We wouldn''t be in a better condition if we had left of our own accord, but it really sucks that everything happened this way."


    Dante knew Amelia was right; they had already acquired everything they could from that place.


    "A bath before leaving would have been nice," Dante said. "Now, the only thing to do is move forward. I don''t know the dangers of this forest, and I don''t think you can handle them all."


    Dante looked at the position of the sun and, after a moment, said, "Do you know of any village where we could try to find shelter before nightfall?"


    Amelia also looked at the position of the sun, not knowing the exact time, and said to Dante, "Yes, but it''s in the opposite direction of the route we had planned."


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    "There''s no choice; it''s better than leaving our entire future to chance."


    After a few moments of silence, Dante continued, "We should go now. I don''t know if these changes in the aether have had any noticeable effect on the forest, and if it has been detected by anyone."


    After finally adjusting themselves, both began to follow the path marked by Amelia. She seemed to know the geography of the area very well and was serving as an excellent GPS.


    Dante couldn''t help but recall all the technological conveniences he would never have access to again, but he quickly dismissed these thoughts, even though they haunted his mind from time to time.


    After an hour or two of walking, Dante was starting to get annoyed by the landscape, which seemed to never change, even though they were constantly moving.


    Then, they were fortunate to come across a considerable river, which appeared to be the safest route to the village Amelia had designated as their next destination.


    At this moment, even though Amelia was a monk with great physical endurance, she was still human and didn''t need to exert herself at such an insignificant moment when she could conserve her energy for a time of need.


    So when they found a good spot without trees along the river, they decided to take a fifteen-minute break so that Amelia could rest.


    During this time, Dante decided that it might be the perfect opportunity for him to learn his first spell, or at least start learning it.


    He didn''t think he could actually cast it without several hours of practice, but on this trail, time was abundant for simple magical exercises.


    Touching the ring, Dante spoke. "Y, could you fetch that spellbook for me, please? Thank you."


    After a few moments, the marvelous and gigantic black leather book was finally in his hands.


    He had discovered the night before that he could not only summon what he wanted by asking some of the various servants that made up the vast library but also store other items in it. Considering the immense space the library had to offer, it wasn''t strange to think that this item was simply a grandiose clich¨¦ item that he had intentionally received for being the protagonist.


    Of course, Dante was just making fun of his current life situation because it seemed so much like the beginning of any generic fantasy story. But it wasn''t his fault; it was just a twist of fate and the damn Zargorios... just them.


    Finally, he held in his hands Volume I of "Demonic Spells for Angelic Beings," a colossal book that would probably accompany him for the next few years. Even with his talent, he didn''t expect to reach higher realms in a short time.


    Fortunately, even among level I spells, there was already a diverse range of functionality and power, with some being weaker and consuming less magic, while others were stronger and consumed more magic, although nothing compared to level II spells in terms of complexity most of the time.


    Incompetence had probably plagued many mages in this world, so Dante could see some seemingly useless level I spells being as difficult and costly to cast as any level II spell, but he didn''t believe such a spell would be in a book meant to lay the foundation for the path of any beginner mage who had passed through the academy in its glory days.


    The previous night, Dante had a brief conversation with the librarian, interrupting what he called his "vacation," to ask for advice on spells, especially in regard to himself, who was, as he had heard from the dragon, a "competent problem" or simply an "arcanist," a term rarely used but given to mages like him who had no elemental affinity. This meant that even though they lacked the advantage of casting elemental spells without various bonuses that someone with an affinity for a specific element would have, they could use pure aether due to their own pure aether, allowing them to cast lightning spells, which, to laypeople, would be considered another element but was nothing more than pure aether condensed and invoked in the world of actions. It was extremely cheap and highly destructive.


    Unfortunately, due to the lack of significant arcanists who had passed through this world and left a written legacy, preferably well cataloged, Dante was at a loss in this regard. When it came to offensive spells, he seemed to have unexpectedly only three really useful level I spells: what could almost be defined as beginner spells, intermediate spells, and advanced spells, probably created by the same author, who, due to his rare condition, must have tried to create his own school for arcanists.


    The spell he was trying to learn now, before any defensive or support spells, was "Lightning Arrow," the beginner-level I spell, which, as the name suggested, was an arrow seemingly made entirely of aether-based lightning.


    In addition to its low cost, the spell seemed to have minimal difficulty in use and was extremely easy to invoke.


    Using spells was quite simple. You didn''t necessarily need to be a genius, but you needed to have enough determination because the first part of this arduous task was to create some kind of mental world.


    It didn''t need to be perfect or unchanging, but it just needed to be initially dense enough to write a spell inside it. After writing the spell, it would gradually strengthen this space, making it increasingly indistinguishable from reality.


    For Dante, this part wasn''t really a problem. He was a zombie, at least an intelligent one, and not easily disturbed.


    After finally memorizing all aspects of this spell, its geometric shapes, and all the hundreds of strange and incomprehensible phrases they held, he finally entered a deep meditative state. In a space initially entirely white, he sought absolute focus and began writing the complex linguistic and geometric systems.

 Chapter Thirteen - generic fantasy bandits

    A level I spell, even a complex one, could be manipulated to some extent by the human consciousness, unfortunately in future levels, the need for some kind of enhancement in the processing capacity of one''s own consciousness would have to be developed somehow, and he had no doubt that this knowledge was somewhere in the library.


    Finally, after nearly ten minutes, Dante, without much preparation or the aid of a potion or magical item, was finally able to write his first spell in his mind.


    The advantage of this was that he now wouldn''t need to invoke hundreds of phrases with complex meanings to release a single lightning arrow, but could instead define a simple command for this action, which would then activate the entire complex spell in his mind.


    This activation command was, obviously, defined as Lightning Arrow, and he didn''t think it would need to be changed, as besides the simple phrase, a correct movement of aether in his body was required for the spell to actually work.


    This movement of aether, in the end, was the biggest challenge because unlike the spell, which only required a good memory and focus, this part was entirely relative to the individual, as every being possessed their own aether and body, with almost entirely distinct sensations.


    The initially planned fifteen minutes had already been exceeded, and Amelia, however, didn''t want to disturb Dante as she realized he was doing something important, but he finally got up, and they resumed their journey.


    Both of them thought they might be able to reach their destination in two or three hours, well before nightfall, which in this season shouldn''t occur before seven-thirty.


    During this time, Dante was constantly expending and replenishing his aether as he tried every possible way to invoke that damn spell.


    He didn''t know if it was supposed to be so difficult, but due to not having any more experienced masters to assist him, he had no choice but to be almost like a giant wandering magical beacon in the middle of that dense forest.


    However, this didn''t happen without consequences, as at various moments, some monsters, or more precisely, wild animals, tried in various ways to take hold of Dante, who didn''t even need to do anything. After the first encounters, he simply gave up caring about it, as sometimes even before he noticed those creatures, Amelia was easily able to turn their bodies into unrecognizable masses of flesh, bones, and viscera.


    Finally, after numerous attempts, he began to realize that something was starting to work. He didn''t know exactly what it was, but if he felt it, then it was better to try to continue this way.


    The best part of it was that this long process was only happening because it was his first spell; the next ones should be much simpler when he finally understood how aether moved through his body and mind.


    However, nothing like a problematic day turning even more problematic.


    Right after they reached a larger part of the river, they finally began to find signs of civilization.


    A beautiful mill could be seen a few hundred meters away, and they started to enter an area that was supposed to be sparsely populated.


    Even closer, they ended up finding what could be a rustic cabin, which Dante had no doubt could be the home of an entire family, depending on the economic situation of this country.


    Their curiosity about that structure was so great that they didn''t care at all and went to look for some human soul to at least have a chance to converse.


    But they were strongly surprised when they finally got as close as possible, and the only thing they were able to sense was an extreme foul smell, most likely coming from a corpse that had been there for at least a few days.


    When they finally entered the cabin, this smell became even more intense, and when they looked more closely, they were able to see that indeed some family had lived there, but certainly no longer lived.


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    In front of them were the bodies, already in an advanced stage of decomposition, of what would have been four people.


    Two adults, a man and a woman, whose faces seemed to have merged with the wooden floor, and worms and insects seemed to gather between them, and what appeared to be two young girls, perhaps less than eleven years old.


    Contrary to what he really wanted, Dante didn''t feel absolutely anything about it. He still had some sense of morality, but he didn''t necessarily feel the need to express it in the actions of other people.


    Amelia went toward the bodies, and after a little observation, finally came to the most obvious conclusion for that situation.


    "It seems like some kind of execution, with tied hands and clear signs of physical assault to confirm it," she said.


    Dante logically agreed with this statement. Their hands and feet were tied, and they shouldn''t have been anything more than ordinary commoners. Moreover, clear signs of abuse on the female body made it even clearer. However, he couldn''t figure out what had really happened here.


    Amelia added, "If they were bandits, could they have taken over the village? Isolated as it is, I wouldn''t be surprised if we only find some burnt house ruins and many bodies decomposing for a long time."


    But Dante, due to the distance between the cabin and the village, couldn''t see this possibility as the most likely.


    "The villagers might not have liked them very much," he suggested.


    After looking around, Dante said, "Finding anything of real value here would be impossible. If your assumption is correct, it''s better for us to return to our house for the night. I just hope some bandits might still be nearby."


    Dante was really starting to feel hungry and empty inside, and he simply didn''t want to start eating rotten brains, at least not now, and if he wasn''t lucky, never.


    Amelia seemed disturbed by those young and innocent bodies, and Dante could really understand that. He could only feel something about it.


    However, Amelia mostly blamed this situation on the kingdom''s actions rather than the bandits themselves because to her, they could only exist due to their absolute ineffectiveness, and being so close to one of the academy''s properties, this would never have happened before.


    And while she silently hated those who brought her to this moment even more, she mostly ignored what Dante was saying. But when he finally put his hands on her shoulders, as some kind of emotional reaction to comfort the girl, she finally snapped back to reality. She realized that they shouldn''t stay in that place for too long. Besides not knowing who the attackers were, they still had a short but crucial journey ahead. Now that she believed Dante was probably hungry, there was nothing more humiliating for her than leaving the one who lit up her future in such a deplorable condition.


    "Do you think we should at least burn the bodies? They probably weren''t expecting that when they started their day, but here they are," she said.


    But Dante quickly replied, "Definitely not. The fire would attract whoever did this, or even something worse. Let''s just see what happened to the village. It''s not far; if there are still some citizens, they can handle this later."


    "Still, this is awful," Dante said.


    After that, finding nothing to take from the house, they simply left and resumed their usual path. Unfortunately, it seemed that it would still take some time for Dante to learn how to manipulate his own aether. And even though he knew that each body was unique, it was strange that there were no good guides in this book. It only covered the formation of the spell and extremely disposable tips, which were basically summaries of what he had already learned.


    Perhaps it would be interesting to start reading other books as soon as possible, as Dante thought. Magic, even though it seemed like an absolutely technical area, required an absurd amount of theory to start working. He had the talent, but without effort, even with all this library at his disposal, he certainly wouldn''t progress much beyond where he was now.


    After walking for several more minutes, Amelia and Dante finally began to hear some rather strange, but for them, expected noises in addition to the natural sounds of the forest.


    In a few hundred meters, it seemed that some great turmoil was happening in a completely widespread manner. And when they finally got a full view of this event, they saw something that Dante had never seen in his past world.


    In a village, which from a distance could be considered ugly or poor, but merely small, it seemed to be living what could be considered hell. Numerous people, whom Dante simply classified as thieves, were committing pure atrocities in that place.


    However, Dante believed that he would only find the village in ruins, mainly because Amelia repeatedly claimed it was a small and poor place.


    But this conflict was happening right now, right in front of them

 Chapter Fourteen - Dying.. again

    Dante wasn''t a hero and could easily be hunted down by anyone even remotely sane who knew of his deeds.


    But this moment was simply perfect; these seemed to be just ordinary people, perhaps with some weak abilities, but most likely just common thieves who, due to some political event, had started killing indiscriminately.


    And so, seeing this opportunity as the first step in his climb to at least have enough money to live somewhere, he said to Amelia,


    ''Can you detect anything from these men? To me, they seem entirely incapable of casting spells. If you don''t detect anything, maybe we can interfere in this event and gain some achievements from it.''


    ''Dante, these men are simple thieves. I don''t think we need any countermeasures prepared. Maybe their leader is some ex-military, but nothing you couldn''t handle even without magic.''


    Despite believing in Amelia, Dante wasn''t so sure about these assertions, and to be absolutely certain that this would be an easy victory and not collective suicide, he used his best tool for assessing this type of situation.


    Research.


    He said as he looked at what could be the leader of that group, a tall and strong man, mounted on a horse, who seemed uninterested in getting involved in the killing happening right in front of him


    ____________


    name: Owain facini von dresden


    specie: Human


    type: humanoid


    age: 47


    class: knight/thief


    vit: 10


    str: 150


    dex: 70


    Alright, I definitely wouldn''t be able to deal with this man, but Amelia shouldn''t have any problem with that. If only I had a spell ready... But that''s something I''ll have to work on to be even minimally prepared for the next event.


    After researching a few others and seeing that the average strength and dexterity of the others didn''t exceed twenty, a much more manageable average for Dante, who could easily deal with many of these people who were rarely seen without any armor.


    Already decided on what he wanted and planned to do, he said to Amelia,


    "It''s time for us to act. What you''re going to do is take care of the man on the horse, probably a knight who deserted his duty, but it shouldn''t be a problem for you. Leave the rest to me. Honestly, I''ve never tried pushing my body to the limit, and I see now is the perfect time to fully understand my strength, or at least try."


    After hearing the orders, Amelia, though finding it somewhat unnecessary, didn''t refute these statements because she knew that the world Dante had come from was much more reserved about his powers, and there hadn''t been a war in many decades. After listening, she began to act as quickly as possible, wanting to keep her master protected in the best way she could at that moment.


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    Dante didn''t want to fall behind in any way, with no magic or truly capable abilities to annihilate entire enemy armies, and only with his physical body and mediocre boxing skills he had learned over the years but in a very casual way, he finally began to run desperately toward the entrance of the village, which was flooded with thieves and invaders.


    To anyone looking at this situation, they might think Dante was just some kind of barbarian fighting in a primitive and irrational way, but at every moment, Dante only thought about how to deliver as many blows as possible in the shortest amount of time. He wasn''t a warrior, just an entrepreneur, so even though he probably wouldn''t be able to meet his self-imposed demands, he still hoped to kill as many as possible before having to receive help from Amelia.


    At this point, Amelia was already totally invisible from Dante''s field of vision, and he had no doubt that she was probably one step away from finishing what he had asked for, or maybe even had his head as a trophy in her hands already. Nevertheless, these were not thoughts that a person should have when entering a battlefield, and before he knew it, he had returned to his mental calculations.


    Finally, just as the carnage was getting close, long before any of the invaders had noticed his presence, he, in the most organized way possible for a simple entrepreneur, delivered a punch to the first invader he saw, sending him several meters back and leaving him in absolute pain, likely from internal bleeding caused by all those broken bones or perhaps something that would kill him before.


    After his first kill, he was finally noticed by the others who now surrounded him. These people''s teamwork skills seemed impeccable, and looking at their weapons and leather armor, it wasn''t hard to imagine that they all probably belonged to a battalion that had mass-deserted and was now on a wild quest for money as they marched toward the nearest border.


    Even so, now that Dante''s right hand was completely scarlet from the blood of the one he had just killed, he slowly began to lose control of the situation in a simply crude way.


    In a simply primitive manner, Dante seemed to abandon all his plans and began leaping recklessly at any enemy he calculated to be close enough to kill with a single blow, while he tried to evade the pursuit of all the invaders whose sole mission had now become Dante''s extermination.


    However, Dante didn''t seem interested in killing them instantly, preferring to appear to enjoy delivering attacks that weren''t so strong, aiming to make their deaths, in their entirely disfigured and immobile bodies, much more painful and terrifying.


    But after his death count probably finally reached double digits, he finally realized that, unlike the others, he had finally encountered an enemy much more challenging than those he had killed or were about to die.


    This man, with green eyes and black hair that seemed to be turning gray with age, appeared to be equipped with an incomplete but good set of plate armor, which seemed to cover all the most vital parts of his body, with an excellent-quality leather outfit and a fully protected helmet very similar to those used by medieval Catholic orders from the early 12th century.


    What caught Dante''s attention, however, wasn''t his good protection, but rather how he behaved in that situation. Even though he saw many of his comrades being brutally killed, he didn''t seem to enter a hysterical, irrational attack, or even lose his composure.


    He was there, observing Dante, trying to decipher his movements, and most likely planning some way to truly end that beast who hid his face not behind a powerful steel helmet but behind a strange silver and leather mask.


    For some reason, this seemed to be strangely irritating Dante. He really didn''t know why, but he couldn''t see that man there in his presence without feeling completely infuriated.


    After that, Dante simply decided to deal with that person as quickly as possible, mainly to prevent him from making any moves while Dante tried to deal with some other invaders who were still around.


    However, without even realizing it, he fell into an obvious and simple trap, where just before delivering the attack that would cut that man in two, he was easily flanked by four more enemies who, with their spears, were able to expertly trap Dante in a position that seemed to be impossible for him to escape due to the quality of those weapons.


    One spear pierced his calf, while the others seemed to try to hold Dante''s arms and his other leg for as long as possible. Dante was a zombie; the pain he felt at that moment was minimal, but enough to enrage him even more.


    But before he could do anything else, the inevitable happened, and without him realizing it, the old man''s grand sword flew toward his neck, cutting it instantly.


    Before his head fell, the only thing he could hear from the man was a simple whisper,


    ''What the hell was that, some kind of vampire?''


    For a few moments after that, Dante''s consciousness finally seemed to return, and unlike what he expected, Amelia wasn''t there to help him. Was that man tougher than he had anticipated? Or were they simply hiding some triumph? But it didn''t matter, because Dante truly believed he was dead, and slowly, his consciousness seemed to darken more and more.

 Chapter fifteen

    Amelia, after hearing what Dante had to say, began to stealthily try to somehow survey the entire perimeter and also get to know, or at least try, all the invaders and villagers.


    If it were just a simple battle, she would only need to attack everyone as quickly as possible, without caring about the consequences of her actions, and be able to emerge victorious. But this wasn''t such a situation; there were hostages who sometimes were almost indistinguishable from the true villains in this scenario.


    The man Dante had sent her to exterminate was most likely a knight, as he had said. In fact, most of them there seemed to be some kind of military personnel, mostly foot soldiers, some with better armor and weapons than others. But thinking about the incompetence of this country to develop a permanent and stationary army, it was natural to understand the discrepancy in this group. They were probably fleeing some political intrigue or perhaps a war on the other side of the kingdom.


    Amelia had been in that tower for so long that she simply didn''t know the current geopolitical situation of the neighboring countries and her own. A common citizen would obviously not have such information, but before the fall of the academy, she could receive monthly newspapers for members, which kept them updated. This information was crucial, especially for researchers and explorers who planned their journeys to minimize inconveniences. Moreover, the academy even had political representatives in various capitals, similar to typical ambassadors.


    Finally, when she believed she had a good view of the entire battlefield, she decided to act. Without anyone noticing, she began to move like lightning. One moment she was on top of one of the houses, invisible to the naked eye, calculating all the necessary parameters for her mission. The next moment, she had moved hundreds of meters in a second and was relentlessly pursuing the man who seemed to be leading the attack.


    Without their leader, even if some of these bandits escaped alive, they would have lost their basic chain of command and become simple highwaymen, incapable of causing as much harm as they did now.


    Before that, she began to understand a bit more about Dante''s own species. Like any other undead, he seemed to be emotionally affected by his state. Without any prior training, he entered a euphoric state as soon as he started shedding blood, much like a vampire or werewolf. But after realizing he would be fine, she quickly shifted her focus to the leader.


    And now, she was only seconds away from having his head in her hands.


    She was not a knight, and she disliked using weapons like swords, spears, bows. To her, all of that was nothing more than the tools of the wicked and the weak. Only the body held any value, and, for her, the body was the foundation of all power, both physical and magical. Dividing her training between body and weapon was highly inefficient in her view.


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    As a fighter, or perhaps even a monk, all she needed to do after years of continuous training was to focus her life force on specific parts of her body. With the right technique, she could make her body tougher than steel.


    In a nearly perfect technique, she swiftly managed to cut the man''s head with her bare hands, in an attack that was extremely clean and straight, without affecting the brain. At this speed, in a real-world situation on land where magic and other paths to power seemed to be hidden in layers of science and philosophy, this strike might have turned the head into pulp. But with the help of specific techniques, one could transform a hand, for example, into something capable of surpassing a sword.


    At this moment, with the head in her hands, Amelia couldn''t understand why he was alone and without any companions to defend him. But she quickly thought of Dante. However, just as she was about to check the current situation of the battle unfolding behind her, she heard an utterly deafening sound.


    When she finally went to see what was happening, she saw the worst.


    She saw all those men who had previously appeared as disorganized farmers now systematically killing her master. And when she finally saw Dante''s head being cut off, and those strange men starting to celebrate, she was ready to simply destroy the entire village.


    The emotions running through her mind at that moment were ultimately pure insanity and madness. She just wanted to kill these things. But even before she could start acting, she began to feel another emotion, an emotion that didn''t seem to originate from herself.


    As she watched this event and its unfolding, she began to feel pure fear.


    At first, she didn''t understand why she became so terrified so quickly, but as she looked more closely at Dante, she realized that this fear actually originated from his body, or so she thought.


    Because just seconds after the celebration began, both parts of their bodies started secreting a pasty black liquid in immense quantities. When this black liquid from their bodies and heads met, they simply began to fuse together in an unimaginable way.


    During this time, Amelia understood where the pure terror that made her want to get out of there as quickly as possible came from. This slime seemed to be a weapon of colossal life force energy, almost radioactive.


    Before she knew it, everyone around Dante started to wither, and it seemed that every living being was somehow attracting that thing.


    This black slime oozing from Dante, while black as pitch, seemed to have nothing in common with the surroundings. It also appeared to be not purely physical, creating various ripples in space as it passed through.


    Releasing an utterly incomprehensible aura to Amelia, it left her simply terrified. She didn''t understand what had happened, what it was. Was this Dante''s true form? No, it didn''t make sense to her. Perhaps this was some form of self-defense from his own body.


    Amelia quickly realized that internally, Dante was something no human should comprehend. She herself had doubts about whether she could or should try.


    But, even though she knew it would be best never to meet her master again, she knew she couldn''t do that, not when her life was about to finally be reset.


    At one moment, the slime seemed to be confined to one part of the village courtyard, devouring most of the bandits who didn''t seem fast enough to escape. Unexpectedly, Amelia felt great terror, and before she knew it, the slime, which shouldn''t have been more than a few dozen meters away, expanded in an instant until it almost entirely covered her body, resembling some kind of massive slime bomb, which soon vanished, leaving only destruction and nothing more in its wake.


    At that moment, Amelia trembled, trembling like she had never trembled before. She hadn''t been touched by that thing, but she knew she hadn''t come out of that situation unscathed.


    When she realized she might be safe now, her body instinctively relaxed, and at that moment, she simply began to vomit. Her empty stomach due to her current situation only worsened this event, making her feel like she was trying to empty her entire stomach.

 Chapter Sixteen

    The sensations of having one''s head unexpectedly ripped off, and one''s consciousness plummeting to the ground, just waiting to fade into complete darkness, should at least be an unfamiliar sensation for anyone who hasn''t experienced it.


    A dead person obviously can''t provide reports, or even confirm or deny a fact.


    But Dante now didn''t feel like he was truly dead. When his consciousness finally recovered, he quickly tried to open his eyes, but found it quite challenging.


    However, with greater effort, accompanied by a strange pain he hadn''t felt in a long time, he was finally able to reopen his eyes. He realized that he wasn''t in the same village anymore. Instead, it appeared to be night, and he was lying in what seemed to be the cabin he and Amelia had entered before.


    Fortunately, it seemed he was back in his own body, which appeared to be functioning nearly perfectly, except for the pain that permeated every part of his being.


    With a bit of effort, he managed to sit up on the hard bed, gaining a better understanding of his surroundings.


    Amelia appeared to be sleeping on the floor, and for some reason he couldn''t recall, he was somehow alive, to the extent possible, and completely intact.


    However, when he saw the three heads Amelia had kept for him, he finally remembered what might have happened.


    These were strange memories because they didn''t seem to trigger physical sensations like sight and sound, but he simply began to remember what had occurred. Somehow, on that day, he had come closer to understanding his condition as this strange type of zombie.


    He realized that just a few seconds after his mind simply went blank, he felt as if he was expanding his own body to a size thousands of times his natural size, and with each passing moment, it seemed he was coming into contact with spheres, energetic spheres that seemed to bring him more and more vitality until, in an instant, everything went dark again, and he finally awoke in this place.


    Dante didn''t know what had happened, but he knew the blame probably lay with his strange species, which, with its unusual vitality levels, allowed him to escape death.


    This wasn''t the first time Dante had definitively awakened from the dead, but at least this time it wasn''t as dramatic as the first.


    After painfully moving his body, which, aside from the pain, felt much harder and stiffer, he realized that the mask he had worn until now had been removed, but the ring still appeared to be with him.


    Perhaps after this event, Amelia had found him, maybe finished off the other bandits, and brought him back to the old cabin.


    Dante, however, didn''t worry about the fate of those villagers, because if they weren''t in the village now, it certainly couldn''t have been good.


    Exerting even more effort, and feeling hungrier with each passing minute, he finally decided to feast on the brains Amelia had kindly saved for him.


    As he got up, he almost stumbled but, with great effort, managed to avoid stepping on the sleeping Amelia, who was too close to Dante''s bed due to the cabin''s size.


    After a short walk, he was finally able to easily open those heads and began to feed on the first brains he would consume in this new world.


    This world operated in a completely different way from his previous world. Of course, if he were found killing an innocent person, he would be hunted down just as before, and maybe here, with legendary beings, it could be even worse. But crime and war ran rampant throughout the world, as far as he knew.


    Criminals not only existed in large numbers but were also easily found, completely different from ordinary people. Dante was well aware that from now on, he could have a much greater abundance of brains.


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    After finally starting to feed, that same sensation he had always tried to savor as much as possible returned, but now he was so hungry, probably from nearly dying again, that he didn''t wait for it to pass before eating even more. In just a few minutes, he devoured the entire brain, bite by bite, and the more bites he took, the more that sensation seemed to intensify.


    It wasn''t something an ordinary human could feel, and in fact, it was quite different from the feeling of freedom that meditation brought to the human consciousness. This, however, was like pure happiness. If this sensation was the same as what other zombies felt, it was natural to think that they devoted their entire existence to maintaining this addiction.


    At this moment, he had basically just devoured something like a kilo and a half, and he hadn''t even noticed that he had finished when he finally started to feel his own fingers in his mouth.


    Afterward, it seemed that he was able to return to reality, and he finally began to think about the current situation.


    He was certainly not going to be hungry for a few more days, and he already had two delicious brains waiting for him. Unfortunately, he had no way to keep them well-preserved, but he could easily find more bandits on the way to the nearest city, which they shouldn''t take more than two days to reach.


    At this point, Dante began to observe Amelia more closely.


    She seemed somewhat different. It was strange that he had woken up, and she hadn''t noticed the movements around her. If she were a normal person, that would be understandable, but she was definitely an entity constantly manipulating the forces of life, so these should have nearly merged with her senses.


    Thinking about it, he realized that perhaps the situation he imposed on her had been too difficult, to the point where she was simply exhausted.


    If that were the case, it would be best to let her sleep as long as possible. Dante believed that he had already created several problems for this young woman, yet she seemed to save him or help him in every possible situation.


    He would think again about how to repay her kindness, but nothing came to mind. Realizing that now, after eating, his body seemed as normal as possible, he decided he would leave the cabin for a while to continue practicing that spell, which, if complete, would have prevented all that had happened. With his own reserves, he believed that, with a few minutes of preparation, he could have bombarded several meters of bandits without them even noticing.


    Outside, he was finally able to witness something he had no information about until now.


    This planet, or at least what he believed to be a planet, had not only three grand moons but also seemed to be in a location so privileged in its galaxy, probably at its extreme, that during the night, a significant portion of the magnificent star formation occupied much of the sky.


    Perhaps, like the Large Magellanic Cloud, this planet could be in some micro-galaxy orbiting a much larger one.


    On Earth, such a sight would be impossible, but here, in addition to the magic that blessed them daily, they were able to live to see such beautiful scenes.


    However, he quickly pushed that to the back of his mind, as he finally resumed training his control over his internal aether.


    At least now, some results were becoming truly visible to him. He wasn''t just constantly wasting aether but was actually generating tiny sparks in the air. And that indicated he was on the verge of complete success in creating his first spell.


    Only the rest was left, but for magic, that rest seemed to be the simplest part.


    Strangely, when he was almost done with his preparations and already beginning to believe he was close enough to perform his first spell, he started to hear something approaching.


    Without even knowing what it was, he quickly hid behind one of the massive trees, and before he knew it, he saw, deep in the forest, what appeared to be an entire battalion of knights.


    These knights rode on strange six-legged horses that seemed phenomenally agile for moving through a forest that wasn''t as dense as this one.


    There were hundreds of people on horseback, and realizing that if he stayed where he was, he could easily be detected, and since he didn''t know exactly who these people were or what they were looking for, he decided to climb the nearest massive tree as quickly as possible.


    After the first horses started passing very close to him, the tree itself seemed to start shaking, and after a few moments, the deafening noise of hundreds of galloping horses passed rapidly beneath his feet.


    Fortunately, none of them appeared to care about the desolate cabin a few hundred meters away, much less the nearly two-meter-tall albino perched on a branch as if he were at a gala event.


    And before he knew it, they were finally dispersing in the distance.


    Not wanting to stay in that place any longer, Dante decided he would get Amelia and try to leave as quickly as possible.


    He didn''t know what he had done, but he knew it probably wasn''t a good thing.


    After running for less than a minute, he finally entered the cabin, only to find Amelia already awake and ready, but she seemed unable to look Dante in the eye.


    "Did you see the battalion of knights too? They seemed to be in a hurry to reach the village. I think the best thing we can do now is to continue our journey, or rather, our run, preferably."


    Amelia silently agreed, and they finally set off toward their new, and hopefully, definitive destination.