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n301 Portia’s Reputation

nAo Zilong felt extremely aggrieved. There was some information about Beatrice in their database, but unlike Dante, Beatrice had never publicly revealed her SDI after being targeted in school when hers grew rapidly.

nSo while they were aware that Beatrice was strong given the displays of power she had made, they never did take her seriously, at least not as much as they should have given Portia was back and was more… verbose.

nBeatrice recently seemed perfectly content to be in the background and let Dante or her mother shine and stand out, leading to people forgetting her pedigree and her fearsome title as the Lady of Genocides.

nMy Brother in Christ, during an era of 10 or so years – an entire decade!! – many aliens couldn’t sleep well at night because of Beatrice, not knowing when their entire family or species would be removed from the galactic camp after randomly accused of being rebel factions.

nThe actual rebel factions were so badly beaten during her era that they literally stopped recruiting and basically went into hibernation for an extended period of time.

nAo Zilong was a fool to think she was someone to be provoked, even if Portia wasn’t her mother. However, she saw Beatrice’s calm and motherly nature while holding a baby and thought she was a soft persimmon.

nBeatrice retracted her auras and released the group, smiling beautifully while nuzzling her baby. “However, I don’t want Antonia to be fighting all the time, and I’m only here to support my husband and my mother, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

nSeeing the giggling Antonia who stretched her chubby little arms to touch Beatrice’s pristine fair skin, Dante smiled gently and even Portia was moved. The trio seemed less hostile and irritable all of a sudden thanks to Beatrice.

nThe meeting soon came to an end, but Ophelia caught up with Dante as he was leaving. When she saw the lovely Beatrice looking so perfect and that beautiful baby, her eyes flashed with a tinge Of jealousy.

nAfter all, she was a calm and composed young woman, driven for success and trained from birth, but she also wished to have a suitable companion to trust and spend her time with. However, her high capability meant that her standards were also high, so a partner around Dante’s current perceived level was the most suitable for her.

nBut Ophelia was a dignified young woman and was not willing to be part of a harem, especially when she could easily build a harem of powerful males on her own. Not to mention, she did not want to cross Portia, and now after what they just went through, definitely not Beatrice, by making any moves.

n“Mister Dante! I didn’t get a chance to ask, but how should we handle your itinerary? Will you follow a similar plan as Madam Portia, or do you have your own plans elsewhere?” She asked hurriedly. .

n“For now, I will mostly spend my time familiarizing myself with our captured territories, and the political situation of the nearby territories as well. In the long run, I hope to fully understand the system and mechanics of the First Gate before making any serious moves,” Dante replied after some thought.

n“No problem. I have assigned two personal aides to you and Madam Beatrice, to sort out all your requirements while here and set you up with anything you need,” Ophelia stated as she clapped her hands, and two young pure humans rushed over respectfully.

nBeatrice sized them up and nodded. “First things first, I need a quiet place to take care of Antonia. Please lead us to somewhere relatively peaceful.”

nWhether it was Ophelia or the two aides, their lips couldn’t help but twitch. This was the goddamn First Gate, where danger and bloodshed could erupt at any time, even in safe havens and captured territories.

nTo find such a place was rare and almost everyone wanted such a thing. Still, in light of Beatrice’s abilities, they had to accommodate her no matter what, so the aides could only lead the trio towards a small estate placed a little bit away from the administration center where the territory flag was located.

nThis area contained a row of luxury estates that were built with less aesthetics and more functionality in mind, with a hefty amount of defensive facilities as well as guards patrolling day and night.

nThe two aides had been worried that it would not be enough, but heaved sighs of relief when Beatrice nodded her head with satisfaction. As for Dante, he had no opinion on this matter, as he could teleport anywhere to lay his head if he so wanted, and was more concerned about the comfort of his family.

nEventually, they were settled into the mansion within, Beatrice seating herself on the large bed in the master bedroom and getting ready to breastfeed Antonia. Dante simply sat down and curiously tried to access the Etranet from here, but there was no success.

nTo his surprise though, he detected hundreds, if not thousands of different available quantum networks. Many of them were private, belonging to a specific universe within the battlefield, and he even saw the one belonging to the Eternal Universe, which was called the Gatenet.

nDante ignored all the others and logged into the Gatenet. Since this was his first entry, he was first assessed before his identity was authenticated, then he could enter. Inside, Dante realized that the Gatenet was basically a more condensed version of the Etranet, with many of the core facilities and webpages, but lacking more than 99% of the content.

nThere was an Etraverse alternative, a Bank of Eternity Alternative, and so much more. What Dante took interest in was the page called ‘The Eternal Domain,’ which was the news site for the Gatenet.

nAll the important happenings in the First Gate were documented here in categories. On the front page, pinned right at the top, was a headline that stated: ‘Eternal Nightmare Portia and budding talent Dante have arrived in the First Gate.’ .

nBelow were various comments from denizens of the Eternal Universe who were stationed in the First Gate. Dante scrolled through them with his eyes and saw that many were joyous about Portia’s return since she was a legend here.

nMost treated his arrival with a lukewarm nature. While they recognized his ability and potential, the First Gate was a meat grinder where every universe’s best talents were thrown to bring benefits to their home base.

nHere, only actions and victories decided your fame, not your possibilities. Other universes had brought out youngsters with seemingly more potential than Dante, but many of them now ate the dust.

nDante saw this and smiled. The young man was not yet capable of being indifferent to all things, able to react emotionlessly to things that concerned him. He worked hard to acquire the power he had, and to have someone somewhere doubt him because they were ignorant did not feel good.

nHowever, he channeled that feeling into a positive inclination to perform. He was here to do his best, conquer and seek benefits for himself, his family, and the two universes he carried on his back.

nIt was a good thing that in the process of succeeding, he would be able to get these guys to see just what separated him from them. In fact, many of those who were here currently had been forced to come due to the agreement with Dante, so it was natural thatthey were a bit miffed.

nDante came out of the Gatenet and checked out the other open networks. The largest one was called the Battlefield Space, which was opened and managed by the current number 1 universe in the entire First Gate, with territories spanning over 40 million, the Holy Universe.

nThe Holy Universe also had their own internal quantum network, but they also hosted a public one that was similar to the Gatenet in that it had a news and forum section, but not much in the way of entertainment.

nAfter all, if there was one publicly acknowledged flaw of the First Gate, it was that Spire Points earned from the Black Spire could not be traded or even used to purchase things outside of the Black Spire.

nObviously, this was the only valuable currency that each and every universe could claim to be useful to them, and there was no alternative. The Holy Universe, banking on their successes, tried to implement a digital currency for their network and services, but it failed badly.

nDante entered the new section of the Battlefield Space and checked the headline here too. Surprisingly, it read: ‘Nightmare of the Eternal Universe has returned to life with a vengeance! She has captured 458 territories in the span of 5 months, breaking all previous records!’

nNot only was Dante shocked, but those who read the news did as well. Majority of the comments were either skeptical or inquiring as to who the Nightmare of the Eternal Universe was.

nThe frequent answer was that she came from a Fourth-class Universe in the First Gate, which made many even more doubtful.

nUpdated from 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚

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