Journey

Dante kept his binding with a Grimoire a secret. He had already been banished from this household to the Nugatory Island, and he didn't think there was a point in raising daggers against himself in the dark.

The world of Grimoires was quite a complex one. Controlling monsters required soul power. Thus, all cultivators who owned a Grimoire would cultivate the strength of their soul. This was done by improving the Soul Depth through deep cultivation of the soul.

When the depth of the soul increased by a certain amount, the grade of the Grimoire would.automatically upgrade. Dante currently had a White Grade Grimoire. The next stages were Bronze, Silver and Gold grade Grimoire's respectively. In the Bradley family, Norman was one of the few individuals to have a peak Gold grade Grimoire, a sign of respectability and strength on the Peninsula.

Dante quietly ruminated over what meagre knowledge he had about grimoires as he made his way to the small ship at the Azalea port. The flying horsewoman was a primary people carrier, carrying people from the Nugatory Island over to the South-Wind Peninsula where Azalea City was situated.

Displaying the scroll validating his travel, Dante entered the empty ship to be personally greeted by the captain.

"We rarely have people travelling to the barren island, my lord. It has been a long time since a member of the three families has made a journey to Nugatory Island." The captain explained after a struggling salute.

Dante could see that the captain and his men were brutes who weren't used to the protocol of the aristocracy. "No need to be so formal, captain. I am leading an exploratory mission to set up base on the island."

The captain nodded, but inwardly smirked. Exploratory mission to a barren island? He was sure that this young master had been banished, but he daren't risk his livelihood to try and antagonize this person. A special quarters had been prepared for Dante, which while simple, still had more facilities than all other cabins in the ship.

Dante was glad he hadn't just been sent out empty handed. A team of servants had been sent along with him along with some allowance. In his new quarters, Dante summoned his butler for the trip - a young page named Dalim.

Dalim was originally an immigrant from the Nugatory Island who found his way into the Bradley Household as a servant. Eventually, he had been found suitable to guide Dante on the island.

"My lord!" Dalim saluted and bowed. Dante carefully observed the olive skin and brown eyes that were typical of the Nugatory Island folk. Dalim was muscular and extremely well built. In height he towered over Dante, whose young and lazy physique were in stark contrast.

"Dalim, is it? What can you tell me about Nugatory Island?" Dante asked without much expression.

"My lord, our people call the homeland the land of Sumeria. It is what we address it locally as." Dalim spoke cautiously. Dante was slightly surprised by the coincidence of the name being the same as a middle eastern civilization back on Earth, but urged him to continue.

"While the Peninsula refers to Sumeria as an island, it is a very vast area, over a hundred thousand Parasang in diameter. The island is said to be shaped like an egg. There are many people on the island, most of whom look like I do." Dalim explained. (AN : Parasang is an ancient Iranian unit of measurement equivalent to 3.5 miles.)

"Why would such a large land be considered barren? Why do people want to escape from this...Sumeria?" Dante questioned.

"The mystical energy which pervades our universe is very thin on the island. The monsters are extremely weak and have a low potential for growth. It is difficult to improve the soul strength in that world and treasures are thus very rare as well. The resources on the island are very few and there is constant strife for them there." Dalim explained. "It is why we try to escape the land, searching for more bountiful pastures like the peninsula."

Dalim warned even further. "My lord, when we reach Sumeria, you might feel disoriented because the energy in the air is much lower than in Azalea city."

Dante asked the butler to leave him alone as he walked over to the temporary library that had been set up in the ship. He began reading up about the Nugatory Island, or Sumeria as it was known.

As the ship sailed through the sea, Dante could already feel a faint change in the air. It was like he was struggling to breathe, but he realized that as they grew more distant from the peninsula, the energy density in the air was getting thinner. His body, which was used to the lifelong permeation of dense energy around him, even he had failed to cultivate, now felt empty and struggling.

This universal energy most people took for granted was the main reason why this world was so different from Earth. Monsters absorbed this energy and became stronger, humans cultivated their souls by tempering it under the pressure of this energy and the Grimoire worked because of this energy which facilitated the book-soul connection.

Two months of peaceful travel passed by without event. The only thing that continued to change was the constant decrease in background energy density, which was disorienting and amplified by the choppy waves of the ocean which rattled the ship dramatically.

Dante learned a lot about Sumeria in the meantime. There were no nations or kingdoms on the island. Instead, the area was divided in perpetually warring tribes, who concentrated themselves in certain regions. These tribes had their own customs and religions and a complex political history. Yet they were extremely wary of foreigners.

The entirety of Sumeria only had one port town called Messop, which was where the ship would be docking. Those who wished to escape the island would travel from all over the island to Messop in a bid to escape. It would also be the place that Dante would be establishing his main bse.

Based on discussions with the captain at dinner, Dante learned that there were only a few more days to the journey ending. The journey to Sumeria was uneventful, primarily because of the direction. It was said that the opposite journey was much more dangerous - often because monsters flocked towards the higher density energy peninsula, causing more encounters in the deep ocean.

The ship was being manned by rogues, but Dante had learned that they were quite strong. Almost everyone on the ship were a bronze Grimoire holder. The captain, a peak bronze Grimoire user, had a giant whale as a pet that radiated intimidating aura all around, keeping any strays at bay.