17 The First Level

Six months had passed.

Dante awakened his mother's lineage, and with Morgana's help, he tapped into a side of the world's positive energy. He didn't fully understand it, but he now possessed two energies besides his mother's.

The first was the energy granted by the "Hero's Birth." Several individuals could access this energy due to their characteristics that make them a Hero. Being a "Hero" doesn't involve saving people or fulfilling "god-given" missions, but rather being blessed with that title by the positive side of the balance. A hero is a necessary existence for the world, the balancing factor to the Demon King, maintaining both positive and negative aspects in order.

Dante didn't know, but he received something much more important than a mere Hero Title.

The second energy is a dark energy whose origins Morgana couldn't recognize. Valentina concealed the truth from Dante, but to turn him into a vampire, she performed a marriage ritual. Therefore, the trap for him to call her "wife" had been planned from the start. After all, if he couldn't accept it, he would suffer from blood thirst and never be able to satisfy it.

This dark energy belongs to Dante. When one is directly transformed by the marriage ritual, the vampire awakens their own power. Normally, this wouldn't be the case with regular vampires, but Valentina used her life essence for the ritual, so he inherited everything.

The third energy is the Mutated Mana Valentina possesses. She's proficient in Chaos Fire, a fire stronger than the elemental fire of fire mages. It's akin to dragon fire, but incomparable to it. Yet, on the pyromantic scale, it ranks just one level below Draconian Fire. Due to this proximity, Valentina can use one or two Draconian spells, but they consume almost three times more than if they were regular Draconian Fire spells. These are secret cards that should only be used if something extremely dangerous happens and she needs to protect herself or someone she deems important enough for such a sacrifice.

Dante was now accumulating mana in his body. Unfortunately, he couldn't train his fire or physical body.

He's too young to endure his mother's training, and Morgana's training can't commence until Dante reaches the first level of the mana core.

And that's what he was doing now, meditating in an area of high magical concentration on Morgana's property. Furthermore, every time he visits Morgana's property, he's treated like a Prince, and at this moment, Morgana's butler, Simon Cloht, is watching over and protecting him. He's a spatial mage.

"Honestly, why does the mistress want me to watch over a child?" A woman with white hair and blue eyes said while sitting next to Simon, who was standing guard.

"Don't be disrespectful, Ariel; this young man has a lot of potential," Simon called Ariel's attention as she sat on the grass, observing and analyzing Dante.

"A vampire training in magic; I find it really strange," Ariel said, waiting for Simon to explain why a vampire was training.

Vampires are more known as fighters than mages because of their strength and agility. Most of them choose the path of a warrior, knight, or fighter, thanks to their regeneration abilities.

"He's not a common vampire," Simon said, observing the Young Master levitating small rocks around him.

"What do you mean?" Ariel asked curiously. She knew Simon as the highest-rated spatial mage, and besides being a mage, he was a Master-level knight. So, if he praised someone, there must be a reason.

"I believe Mistress Morgana hasn't informed you of the situation, but she instructed me to treat him as the Mistress herself." Simon said, surprising Ariel. Morgana is known for her pride in the Witch Realm; if they were to assign her a sin, she'd easily be the Sin of Pride.

"Treat him with the highest authority?" Ariel said, looking at the Young Master who started sweating due to exceeding his meditation time.

"Yes, his name is Dante Scarlet, and his mother is that woman," Simon said somewhat disdainfully. Valentina is feared because of her massacres in past wars. He's not entirely against her, but he personally witnessed some devastating scenes that kept him awake when he was younger, especially twenty years ago when he was exploring the Human Continent at the peak of his life and encountered Valentina personally.

"Valentina Scarlet... I guess it's understandable since she's the most Destructive Fire Mage that has ever existed. Not even my Mistress would cause so much damage with fire magic," Ariel said, recalling a scene she had seen in a memory recovered by the witches from the Golden Era of the supernatural. It was Valentina Scarlet using the original magic she created, "Blood Dragon's Breath," on a mountain.

Dante was focused but didn't fail to overhear Ariel's words. He felt glad knowing his mother was the strongest. He had been more thoughtful about it lately; he didn't want to always be compared to his mother but wanted the comparisons to be fair.

Everywhere Dante visited, his mother was always the center of attention, and he often heard things he didn't want to in whispers.

Like the time he went to an ice cream parlor with Valentina in the Human City of the Eastern Empire; Valentina wasn't recognized, but he overheard two humans talking about how "hot" his mother was.

The anger Dante felt made his fist slightly catch fire before quickly stopping when he saw his mother laughing. When he snapped out of his thoughts, he finally managed to reach the first stage of his magical core.

"Congratulations, Young Master," Simon approached with a smile and said kindly.

"Thank you, Uncle Simon," he chuckled and got up.

"I need a bath," he said as he looked at Morgana's house, again, much like the tower, completely white and golden throughout.