Capítulo 21: Beatrice's Reputation
Dante didn't even get a chance to introduce himself before the atmosphere of the small circle they occupied changed. The two men immediately went on guard and positioned themselves in front of Louisa as if being one second too slow would be worse than death.
Louisa herself began to tremble, her expression scandalized as if she had been bitten by a snake. The two Lieutenant Generals prepared for a fight, sweat forming on their faces through their exosuits, which was a rare sight.
Dante stood there dumbfounded, not because he didn't know how to react or was shocked, but because he simply couldn't react fast enough compared to how quickly they moved. Beatrice may have enhanced his genes, but he still had a lot to catch up on, especially considering that these individuals likely had elite bionics enhancing them.
As for Beatrice, she didn't react much. She maintained her casual smile and seemed to have expected this reaction. "Why the sudden hostility? Are we not all pure humans?"
The trio opposite her froze, realizing their reactions had been extremely rude and excessive. They relaxed significantly, their expressions filled with shame and apology.
"Haha, that's right. It's just that Admiral Portinari's reputation precedes her," the burly, brown-haired man on the left laughed awkwardly.
"It's like thunder in the ears of normal combatants like us," the lithe, slightly shorter man on the right remarked with a bitter expression.
"Haha, that's good to hear. If my allies react this way, then the reaction of my enemies should be even better," Beatrice chuckled amiably.
Seeing that Beatrice wasn't bothered, the two guards heaved audible sighs of relief. Louisa gathered herself, taking much longer to control her mental state and compose herself compared to the seasoned veterans.
"I sincerely apologize for my behavior, Lady Beatrice. You can be sure that I will work on making it up to you in the future on behalf of the Nicolaides family," Louisa bowed slightly with a serious expression.
Beatrice smiled. "I respect and honor your apology, Louisa, but I've told you, Uncle Mikael is no stranger to me or my clan."
Louisa smiled bitterly. "Oh, trust me, I know. I have long heard about you and your siblings growing up, and it's shocking to meet you in the flesh for the first time."
Louisa then turned to Dante with a strange look. Both her guards also focused on Dante, their expressions unnatural. It was as if they were looking at Beauty and the Beast, where Beatrice was the Beast and Dante was the Beauty.
There was an obvious question in their eyes as to why a fine young man like him would choose to be here. Initially, Louisa had even shown interest in him because, by their higher standards in this universe, he was a relatively good-looking, pure human male around her age. But now, she regarded him no differently than a tablecloth.
"And may I know the name of this fine young gentleman?" Louisa asked with a smile.
"Me? Dante," Dante introduced simply, folding his arms casually.
Louisa's eyebrows twitched as she tried to furrow them, but she quickly suppressed it. Dante could obviously tell that he had made more than a few social gaffes with that introduction, but he had no idea what they were, and he couldn't rapidly learn them in such a short period of time anyway.
Maybe in the future, to avoid unnecessarily offending others, he would learn them and put them into practice. For now, since he didn't know them, he would act the part of an uncultured brute. While it might make this girl dislike him, it wasn't impossible for dislike to change into admiration later on.
Beatrice saw Dante's actions and smiled widely, misunderstanding his intentions. "Don't mind my Vice-Admiral; he is a recently discovered pure human who was lost."
Louisa and the two guards seemed surprised by this. Random discoveries of pure humans had become pretty rare in the past few centuries, so they were naturally startled to hear about one and see one in person.
Louisa, in particular, seemed to understand something as her smile became wider and her gaze towards Dante became less offended but more arrogant. There was a slight sense of superiority in her eyes, as if when a human raised in a bourgeois family met a country bumpkin from the countryside with a broken accent and 'poor' manners.
"I see. Well, Mr. Dante, I'd advise you to sign up for etiquette classes on the Etraverse to catch up on how to behave among your peers," Louisa stated with a nod.
Dante decided not to bother with her for now and simply agreed to her suggestion amiably. Beatrice slightly understood Dante's nature and knew it was better for her to take over from here, so she began to chat with Louisa about various things while the two guards kept watch.
By listening in, Dante learned many things about pure humans, the clans and families that formed the upper echelon, and the current state of allegiances and enemies of the two clans the women belonged to.
Dante wondered if Beatrice did this intentionally, but then again, it didn't really matter. What he cared about now was how quickly he could get this over and done with, and his prayer was soon answered as a broadcast was made for all prospective Cadets to line up.
They were guided to different booths based on their assigned classes, which were split into three rows: the Normal Batch, the Elite Batch, and the Unique Batch. The distinctions between these batches were already well known galaxy-wide.
The Normal Batch consisted of individuals with average backgrounds and/or capabilities who came to learn and use the school's resources and name to graduate into top positions in society. They formed almost 98% of the school's entire student body and at least 89% of those signing up.
The Elite Batch included individuals with average capabilities but top-grade backgrounds. The class was further divided into three categories: aliens and mixed races with superior capabilities and talent but average backgrounds, pure humans with average talent but superior backgrounds, and pure humans with superior capabilities and backgrounds. They formed about 1.99% of the entire student body and more than 10% of those signing up.
The Unique Batch consisted of individuals with exceptional talents that were one of a kind or those who possessed born/awakened superpowers without using the fruits from the Zero Gate. Here, background and race didn't matter; only their uniqueness counted. They made up less than 0.1% of the entire student body, and only five people queued up for this line.
Surprisingly, Louisa was among them. She was surprised to see Dante queue up behind her but then smiled and nodded. Meanwhile, the others in line were two mixed breeds and one alien species.
The two mixed breeds were females, while the alien was likely male. The first female was a mixture of rock and human, with a humanoid body and human features along with rocky skin that rubbed against itself, causing dust to fall.
The second female was a literal Lamia, with a human upper body and a large snake-like lower body with reddish scales that gleamed in the light. However, she was conservatively clothed, unlike typical depictions on Earth where their large breasts were barely covered.
The first girl only wore bracers and bands on her wrists and ankles, and the rest of her body, while possessing a feminine form, was not necessarily 'naked' in a way that would expose genitals.
As for the 'male' alien, he was a tall 7.5-foot insect man with a large proboscis on his face, two black compound eyes, and sharp yet thin wings that looked capable of slicing a person in half. He was somewhat humanoid and bipedal but lacked any features linking him to the human genome.
Dante glanced at them briefly before looking away. However, they had no qualms about casting more than one glance his way and at Louisa. The looks were not exactly hostile, but they were not friendly either. There was a clear intention to compete and prove superiority in the glances they gave.
Louisa remained unfazed by this and maintained a sweet smile that both alienated others and made them understand that she was looking down on them. As for Dante, he kept his arms folded and his expression neutral in order to present a seasoned and mature front.
Capítulo 22: Entrance Examination
They didn't have to queue where they were for long as a light scanned over the entire group slowly. Each person received a message directly to their AI chips informing them of the details of admission and the entrance examination about to be held.
Dante was surprised when they were told that they were to be examined on the spot by going to the Etraverse. The Eternal Academy had set up a seed world for them to carry out their examination.
Because the test might take some time, they were admitted into a comfortable lounge and made to sit while their bodies would be watched over by guard robots as well as their own AI chips that monitored their bodies' processes.
Dante was led into an ultra-luxurious lounge reserved for the Unique batch with the other 4 people including Louisa. Everyone took a seat away from each other and sat down. They sunk into their couches or sofa and closed their eyes as they connected to the Quantum Network with their minds.
Usually one wouldn't need to prepare this much when casually browsing the Quantum Network. Despite how it seemed, it would be like looking through twitter on your phone or watching a short video, you can even chat while doing it or even do it while walking or running.
It was quite different when you considered the fact that the Etraverse was advanced FIVR, so naturally it would require a more in-depth connection, just like if you were played a high-stakes ranked match on your phone, you certainly could not do so without seating yourself somewhere with less noise to focus yourself.
When Dante logged in to the Etraverse, he didn't have to enter the lobby. In his Quantum 'homepage' which was basically your personal server on the quantum network, he could directly decide to hop onto any of the words accessible for free with the basic Etraverse subscription.
As for those custom ones uploaded by the community, he would have to pay for them directly. Luckily, he did not have to pay for the world that the Eternal Academy set up and he entered the seed code that was delivered directly to his AI chip by them.
Immediately, Dante jumped through the Quantum Network to his target location, and he couldn't help but note that it felt awfully similar to how he felt when using Quantum Entanglement to go back and forth between universes.
When he 'landed', he noticed that he was standing in a void-like space, hovering between planets. In this space area, there were two platforms suspended in space as if tethered by something, and Dante was standing on one.
Before Dante could be allowed to be confused, a pure human woman of obvious Asian descent appeared before him. She wore a tight-fitting exosuit that hugged her svelte body and her purple hair was tied into a Chinese bun.
When she saw Dante, she raised an eyebrow in surprise. After scanning him from head to toe, she muttered to herself.
"A pure human of African descent…? How rare nowadays…. Hmm, is he from the Mensah Family?"
Dante's expression became dark and he glared at the woman opposite him. She seemed to realize her gaffe and smiled in a lovely manner.
"Ah, forgive my surprise. My name is Xue Bing and I am one of the instructors for the Unique Batch of the Eternal Academy. I have been assigned to you as your examiner and possible instructor since it's been reported that you have a space-related superpower?"
She ended her introduction with a questioning tone, but Dante did not reply. Xue Bing did not seem to care about this and opened a holographic screen before her and sued her screen to scroll through it.
"Right, it says here that you are Dante… huh, no family name. Oh I see, you were recently discovered, not even amounting to a week! That explains a lot."
Xue Bing read some more details from the screen and then closed it, focusing on Dante once more. "Right, Dante. So your file and admission form states that your superpower has to do with teleportation, right?"
This time, Dante answered. "That's right, it's in the general category."
Xue Bing hummed. "Well, I'd like to believe you, but we have received falsified admission before and had students try to sneak into the unique batch, so we have to test your abilities before letting you in. That's okay, isn't it?"
"It makes sense, but I have a question. If those fellows tried to sneak into the Eternal Academy, why use the conspicuous Unique Batch? Why not the normal or elite even?" Dante asked with confusion.
Before Xue Bing could answer, Dante stopped her with a raised finger. "And please don't say something like 'the safest place is the most dangerous one' as that concept requires the administrative/punitive party to be utterly braindead and ignorant."
Xue Bing giggled with a mature tone. "Of course, it isn't that. The reason is simple, it has to do with why everyone comes to the Eternal Academy despite there being billions of other academies that can teach just as well as we do."
Xue Bing pointed at herself and then Dante. "Naturally, it's for the Zero Gate, the holy land of superpowers. Where the most common bloke can rise to prominence by consuming one of the Fruits of Condensation produced in each of the 10 sectors on the other side once a year."
Dante folded his arms and nodded. If it was for that, then it made sense. However, there was still something missing.
"Still, as I said, any batch can do. Why specifically the Unique batch?"
Xue Bing shrugged. "Priority. There are many benefits to being in the Unique batch like early entrance to the Zero Gate when it opens, better training and facilitations for its inner workings, and priority choice for some of our academy special bionics and psionics."
"Oh."
That was all Dante could say. He could understand now why would want to sneak into the unique batch, but not why the unique batch was given such special treatment.
The obvious first conclusion would be that because the unique batch had superpowers already, it would make it easier for them to navigate the Zero Gate? Maybe the Zero Gate had special rules that limited Bionics, Psionics, and/or technology, making it such that the only usable things were superpowers?
If so, that would make a lot of sense and seemed to be very likely.
"Okay, so basically I was chosen as you're examiner and instructor because my superpower is also of the space element, so I'm best suited to guide you in the use of yours." Xue Bing reminded as she clapped her hands.
"So go ahead, use yours and let's see what it's all about." Xue Bing prompted with a cheery smile.
Dante hesitated and did not use it. He rather visibly narrowed his eyes and inspected Xue Bing from head to toe with obvious distrust on his face.
Xue Bing chuckled and shook her head. "It's good to be wary because your superpower is your biggest secret and should be protected."
She then gave him a pointed glance. "I could give you a list of reason and soothe your wary spirit in order to loosen your guard, but I don't think you're worth it."
"There's nothing about you that requires me to give you special treatment or makes you worth me fawning over. Everything you have that makes you special, I have as well, and even better."
"If you absolutely value your superpower, there's no problem. You can cancel the application to the school and return whence you came." Xue Bing concluded with a soft smile.
Dante rolled his eyes internally. Beatrice had already explained this to him, so he knew that there was theoretically no harm in just displaying SOME of your superpower and hiding the rest as trump cards. However, Dante had to act the part of a country bumpkin who was slightly ignorant given his background, otherwise it would be a bit too weird.
"Sure then." Dante 'acquiesced' with a slightly sullen expression.
He paused for a second or two and breathed in deeply, steeling his heart for anything that happened next and used his Quantum Entanglement ability.
The moment he activated it, he could feel the universe warping at its very roots as reality began to shatter, the chaos and paradoxical nature of his current location coupled with the nature of his superpower causing both universes to shatter and merge into one, changing the trajectory of fate forever!
… or that was what Dante thought would happen, but in reality, he just found himself back in his apartment with his real body. He patted himself from head to toe to make sure everything was okay and then raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't been here for a day or two, and the place was still new so everything was spick-and-span. Dante connected to the digital network of earth with his AI chip and logged into his various accounts to check for anything interesting.
Apart from a message from Dahlia, one of his female friends, and a swarm of messages from the other social groups he was in as a partial socialite, there was only a call from his bank.
Seeing that nothing was out of order, Dante teleported back.
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