Chapter 231 APW Descent
The Apocalypse World welcomed Dante’s presence once more as he had to start another run. His previous account had long run out since he only used it to descend once and slaughtered the spiders to level up.
Oh, also, he gave the Spider Queen some resources to restore her power and grow her clan. He wondered how effective it had been since it had been more than 60 days since he last came here.
As such, he simply spawned in a random city and appeared in a wasteland carriage. He and some other ‘descenders’ were tied up and being taken somewhere in cages. Some of the ‘descenders’ were numb and seemingly lifeless, while others were communicating under their breath, their eyes filled with sharpness and disdain for the world.
This way, it was easy to tell which ones had students within them and which ones didn’t. When those communicating saw Dante ‘descend’, their faces showed surprise until they saw his name after checking his status.
Who didn’t know the famous and powerful Dante? His name was practically a household name among fellow pure humans and was used by alien parents to warn their children to sleep at night, alongside that of Beatrice, of course.
Dante was amused by their reactions and descended with his real body onto his virtual one. Feeling the extent of his power, he breathed comfortably and then scanned the area with his Spirit Sense.
Oh? It seemed like this was quite a big operation since there were many modified military caravans in a row, all flanked by jeeps with Gatling guns on top. All the men were armed and looked well trained, so they must belong to a big force, but Dante already knew that.
He had already found out what had twisted this world and the various factions at the top who were doing various things. After all, he had entered that city and even sold information to that broker to raise his Supercoin earnings.
Oh right, speaking of Supercoins.
Dante remembered that he needed a lot of those to upgrade his Bionics, Psionics, and AI chip from the Student Enhancement Center. The reason he had not done so earlier was the fear of harm while under, but now very little could harm him, especially with Gluttonous Inferno and the crazy Greed’s Ember Flow, which gave 1024 dantians full of hellfire.
Dante could sleep for 10,000 years, and his fire would automatically stretch out of his body to consume things to replenish energy as well as burn those who tried to harm his body.
So now that he was here, it was a good chance to earn Supercoins. He could not redeem his account in the True Martial or Magus World yet because they still had roles to play, so this short-term world would do.
As for raising his stats, it was not mutually exclusive. It was not like Absorption strictly worked on the spiders. He just chose them because they were packed together like sardines and convenient.
As such, Dante basically exploded in flame, his blackish-red hellfire consuming the entire convoy from head to toe, turning all the vehicles and weapons into scrap immediately. The humans burned into charcoal, except the fellow students who were spared from the gruesome death, as well as other captives.
The students were shocked stupid to now be seated on the ground among debris that had just been fully functioning vehicles. They glanced at Dante, who patted himself and retrieved his hellfire before teleporting away with looks of fear and amazement.
Dante had thought to himself, what was the best way to stand out in the Apocalypse World and fulfill his goal at the same time? Why, it was definitely by taking on a B Rank monster or higher for sure.
He still needed the Spider Queen, and she was at the bottom of the B Rank when he last saw her. He wanted a peak B Rank monster in the wild that could also drop Mutation cores of that grade so he could Quantum Replicate them for his superpowers users at the B Rank to upgrade to the A rank.
Especially the soon-to-revive Portia, who had been stuck at the B Rank with her three superpowers. If she could hit the A Rank, hehe, even Lara would have to walk around her while sneaking.
He also had plans to try an A Rank monster based on how tough a B Rank one was. He might be getting ahead of himself as he hadn’t even fought C Rank monsters before. The highest he ever fought was D Rank, like the Spider Lords.
However, he had easily crushed them back then, so C Rank monsters should not pose much of a threat. Just as well though, if he saw one he would kill it and acquire the Mutation core so he could add it to his database.
Dante appeared in the city that he paid the broker last time. He could go to the other ones, but it was best to deal with someone he already knew, as he could use that fact to his advantage.
For example, right now he was currently in the broker’s office, standing before him and a client who had been discussing something but were now glancing at the suddenly appearing Dante with ashen faces.
Dante raised a hand and banished the client to a pocket dimension that would not kill them, but would keep them from hearing or seeing anything that went on here. He then turned to the shaking broker who had never seen such a thing in his life despite his occupation.
After all, even if this world was old and had persisted on the academy’s server, he was a ‘native,’ which meant he was born and raised, his age not even passing 30. Despite the influx of students, this city was just one of many in the Apocalypse World, and he was just one out of many brokers.
Not to mention that while bold, students usually did not antagonize the quantum world natives for no reason. There were perfectly good monsters to hunt out there, and hunting them even required a good amount of help from the locals, so why offend them?
“I’m sure you don’t mind me taking your time for an emergency commission?” Dante asked with a smile.
“N-No! N-Not at all!!” The Broker stammered, which was much different compared to the last time when he spoke coldly and arrogantly to Dante.
Dante clapped his hands lightly. “That’s good. I need a full database of information on all C Rank, B Rank, and A Rank monsters in this area or in the known world.”
Just as the broker was about to respond, Dante interrupted him. “Remember, I said the full database. Don’t skimp on anything.”
The Broker swallowed his words and tentatively reached into his drawer. He rummaged around for a bit and took out a floppy disk, gingerly stretching it out towards Dante.
Dante collected it with a smile and then crushed it, giving the broker a scare. However, the broker did not know that the moment Dante had touched it, he had already interfaced with the data within using his AI chip and collected everything.
He did not need a slot or a port because his AI chip was not digital, it was quantum. The big thing about being quantum was precisely not needing to always physically interface with things, which was why Dante could access the Etranet from long distance away.
Dante smiled at the broker. “Don’t be scared, I got the data, which was why I did that. As for your payment, I will give you the right to sell this bit of information.”
Dante leaned forward almost conspiratorially, and the fellow opposite him couldn’t help but lean in too.
“I can grant people born naturally in this world the abilities that people like me have, as well as the way to ascend beyond the S-Rank. If they want to find me, they should go to these coordinates.”
Dante gave the broker a set of coordinates that led to one of his random quantum markers out in the wild. Dante decided that he would establish his faction there and welcome his wave of subordinates over.
As for protagonists, he would not create them in this world, so it didn’t matter if those who got this information came with nefarious intentions or true intentions. One look into his eyes and they would suddenly have a whole lifetime of being his subordinate and would actively beg him to use them.
That was for subordinates. The protagonist thing was just for **s and giggles, though Dante would not easily allow it to threaten him in the future, like Jameson. While Jameson himself was not much, Dante’s desire for the phoenix fire was not something he could casually reveal, and Jameson knew about his need for it.
Not to mention Jameson was just a **bag covered in perfume. The fake memories of a normal and nice man did not make his previous actions go away, just like the memories of a great assassin who killed innocents made Liang, the honest boy, a monster.
Anyway, with this information, Dante was now ready to hunt his prey.