Chapter 12. Gifts and more gifts

Upon getting back to their dorm room Dante had found a box with his name on it on top of his bed. He opened it and saw the Gauntlets and boots he had used earlier. There was also a letter in the box. ( from instructor Raul, consider this a personal gift since you don't have any weapons yet. You seem to be doing quite well with these so you may keep them.) Dante couldn't help but be excited and decided to try all of his new equipment on together and looked at his stats.

Level 6 human (9,000xp out of 10,000xp)

Strength 25 (+15)

Endurance 25 (+20)

Agility 25 (+15)

Intelligence 25

Charms 15

Luck 15 (+10)

Health 150 (+50)

Mana 150 (+50)

Just putting on all of his equipment together made him feel better then he ever had before. He turned towards Vic and asked. " What do you think? Next time we go into a dungeon I think I'll be more then prepared." Vic replied " of his equipment is half as good as you said I'm sure it will be more then enough. I may even take my cores there next time." Dante happy with Vic's reply took his equipment off and stored it in his bag. It all fit but not much else would.

Vic noticing how stuffed his bag said " next time you have a good amount of credits you should see about getting a magic bag. Those can hold way more items, you just stick them in and they basically disappear. All you have to do is reach your hand in and think about what you want to grab and then you can bring it out again. I think the cheapest bags around 10,000-20,000 credits though. Even those ones can hold around a 50 sq foot room full of stuff."

Dante thought this was a good idea and replied " thanks I'll make sure to save up for one next time we get a chance to go into a dungeon again." With that the boys decided to take a nap until dinner time. The whole healing process and walking around the school grounds had drained them. They woke up a few hours later to the sound of the bells signaling dinner time. They both groggily got ready and headed to the cafeteria once again.

Upon arriving at the cafeteria they both got dinner and sat at an empty table. Not long after Timmithy and Lillith joined them once again to go over the notes they had taken for them. Most of it was about certain monster weaknesses and how mana had affected the world after the pillars had fallen upon Earth. After they got caught up with the notes from class and finished eating they chatted for a little longer before returning to the dorms after telling the other two goodbye.

Dante and Vic returned to the dorms still exhausted from the healing. The nurse didn't explain that the more healing magic had to be used on a person the more that person would feel drained. This exhaustion usually cleared up in a day or two so she didn't see the need to tell them since they had the day off anyways. The two boys talked about what life had been like before they came to school. Dante explained how life at the orphanage was simple but his school life was complicated since the orphans were seen as garbage and bullied upon. Victor was silent for a little while before explaining that he was actually from a big family that had been around even before the pillars landed. He told Dante how the Kromwells were almost all very good wind ability users and how they had managed to make a name for themselves after the appearance of monsters. Vic explained even though he was from this big family that he didn't care for them much or how his family operated. Which was why he had never brought it up before. After chatting a little more both the boys went to bed.

They both once again woke up to the sound of their alarms going off in the morning. The boys did their morning routines before getting dressed and throwing on their bags to leave for breakfast. Breakfast was ate quickly with Timmithy and Lillith once again joining them. Although this morning they didn't talk much. None of them seemed to be like morning people so they didn't mind. They all finished eating and headed to the combat classroom where instructor Raul had been waiting for the students.

After all the students had gathered up instructor Raul spoke loudly. " Yesterday we had a competition to see how many monsters you all could kill. While most of you did very well for first timers. One group excelled and even went beyond my expectations. Victor, Dante, Timmithy, and Lillith group one managed to kill 52 low tiers together. Not only did they manage that but two middle tier monsters had attacked the group and Dante managed to slay them while his team ran off to get help because Victor had been injured."

With him saying this all the students broke out in chatter and murmurs. They could hardly believe a group had gotten that many kills and a single member had managed to kill not one but two middle tiers! After letting the students gossip a little Raul spoke again. " Group one come up and you shall each receive a prize I deem worthy for this feat. A single lvl D skill can be chosen for each of you. I have a list of them here. You may take a while to pick one that suits you."

They one by one looked at the list and each picked a skill. Timmithy decided to pick a skill for his mana pistols called Homing Clips(a skill that shoots an entire clip that chases its target). Lillith decided to pick one suitable for her magic bow called Arrow Downpour( a skill that rains arrows down in a medium sized circle area). Victor decided to pick a skill called Wind Vortex( a skill that makes the user spin a sword creating a small tornado that can pick up small enemies or cause a medium amount of wind damage to a large target.) Dante scanned the list looking for something that would fit his style of fighting and only found a few. He once again saw the skill Alpha Claw along with a few he had never seen before. He looked at the few he didn't know with his skill Eye Inspection to see if he could get anymore information and to his surprise it worked.

Alpha Claw( a skill that can penetrate most defenses. Can be activated and deactivated at will for -10MP.)

Fire Lance( a concentrated beam of fire able to penetrate most defenses -10MP each use.)

Fire Tornado( a fire vortex capable of picking up lighter enemies or causing medium damage to a bigger enemy. -10MP per use.)

Ice Lance( a concentrated beam of ice able to penetrate most defenses -10MP per use.)

Water Lance( a concentrated beam of water able to penetrate most defenses -10MP per use.)

Earth Lance( a concentrated beam of Earth able to penetrate most defenses -10MP per use.)

Magic shield( a complete body protection, each hit drains MP until empty then shatters.)

Lightning Bolt( a compressed lightning bolt that can be shot at a target also has a small chance to stun -10MP per use.)

Reading all of these skill descriptions had Dante torn in between two choices. Alpha Claw and Lightning Bolt. He quietly approached Raul and whispered " Instructor Raul I am torn over two choices and want to know if there is any way to earn another skill choice." Raul was very curious with this and asked " which two skills are you wanting?" Dante replied " Alpha Claw and Lightning Bolt sir" hearing this answer Raul's eyes flickered with interest. Raul spoke " if you can last a full minute with me in a spar or manage to land a single blow upon me I'll give you both. If not you will have to take one and wait for another chance to earn it." As if the system was eavesdropping a mission popped up. (Survive the minute spar with Raul or manage to land a hit in one minute. One level up will be awarded for this achievement.) Upon seeing this Dante couldn't help but sigh and asked his instructor" can I used my own equipment? " Raul simply nodded and made his way into the sparring ring.

When he got to the center he explained that Dante wanted a chance to prove himself to Raul and they would be doing a spar. Everyone was to watch and take notes of the battle. While he was explaining this Dante was already equipping all his new gear. Suddenly he was very happy for buying all this new equipment. He was going to need every last piece if he hoped to even touch Raul or last a whole minute.

Before the match could begin Dante used two skills that saved his life against his first boss fights. He activated his strength booster and wolfs speed skills( with his current equipment his stats in strength and agility are at 40 with the 20% increase to both they rose to 48.) Raul counted down before signaling to Victor to start a minute timer. Raul seemed to disappear and appear right before Dante. Dante however could follow his movement and managed to barely dodge a punch that flew out.

Dante dodging away tried to throw a kick out at Raul's ribs but latter just danced around it fluidly before counterattacking. This time all Dante could do was leap with all his strength in his other leg barely missing a leg sweep that Raul had executed perfectly. Glancing at the clock only 10 seconds had passed but Dante was already feeling the pressure. While Raul was still recovering from the leg sweep Dante tried to execute a flying heel kick since he was already in the air. Right before the kick would of connected Raul lowered his body and pushed his body out with his own hands. Narrowly missing the kick surprised even Raul himself and not only that a small dent could be seen where Dante's heel had landed.

Seeing this Raul knew that boy had either gained enormous strength after the fight yesterday or his new gear was top notch of the low tier. This time it was Raul glancing at the clock to see 30 seconds had managed to go by in a couple exchanges with no one landing a blow. Dante saw Raul's eyes shift to the clock momentarily and rushed at Raul throwing a combo of a head punch, torso punch, and then tried a leg sweep of his own. Raul had barely been able to block the two punches since he had taken his eyes off Dante for one second to only have him appear right before him.

He swatted the two punches to the side with his arms and then jumped above the leg sweep and thrown a roundhouse kick at the boys head. He slowed down the kick trying not to kill the boy but that was a mistake as it missed him. Dante managed to copy the same move he just saw Raul do and lowered his body and pushed his body away with his own hands. Little did Dante know it was only possible since he had increased his intelligence or else he would of never been able to copy that move after seeing it only once.

This time Raul rushed him throwing a combination of 3 punches. Dante swatted away the first two punches aimed at his chest and right before the third landed the timer went off. Raul grinned he hadn't had this much fun in a long time let alone against a student of his. He spoke to Dante " come see me after class and I'll have the two things you wanted." He leaned in and whispered " can't let the other student see any favoritism going on after all".

After that class consisted of a few basic martial arts. One was the Open Palm Strike that could send little mana fluctuations through a target if mastered correctly. The other was called the Hammer Fist Strike it consisted of charging residual mana into the fist and releasing it on impact with a target for intense internal damage. The third move was a kick but a deadly one. It was much like the heel kick Dante used earlier but it used residual mana. It was called the Hammer Heel Kick. It consisted of taking residual mana and charging it into only the heel of the foot and when connecting with the target releasing the mana at that exact moment.

Most students were struggling with feeling the mana in these attacks and charging it into one part of the body. Dante repeated each move over and over until he could feel the mana fluctuating with his strikes. After half the time of class was over they were told to quit practicing and start sparring sessions. Dante and Vic teamed up to spar with each other. The each took it relatively easy on each other but practiced the moves they had just learnt along with basic fighting techniques. Before Dante knew it class was over. He told Vic he would catch up after he talked to Raul and then waited for the rest of the class to leave.

Raul had his two skill books in his hands after the other kids left. Before handing them to him though he asked a question. " how much of your power today came from you? I noticed yesterday you have an eye for good equipment. I'm guessing it's related to a skill you possess probably something close to appraisal?" Dante answered honestly "honestly about half of my stats are from my equipment and you're right I do have a skill closely related to that. Which is the reason I need more fighting skills." Dante decided to keep some secrets from Raul even if he did like him as an instructor.

Raul nodded at his response and replied " well then use these skills as you see fit. You have a good battle sense, if you manage to learn these quick I'm sure your growth won't stop any." With that he handed the two books to Dante. As soon as he touched the books his system flickered but he didn't want to read it in front of Raul so he just politely thanked him and left.