Chapter 114 Reaching The Next Boundary
A person with devouring talent would be a fool to let go of anything that could increase their power unless it literally brought no numerical increase to their power. Dante knew that many behaved this way due to laziness, feeling that these small morsels were not worth the effort.
Well, he didn't particularly mind anyway. The more of them he killed, the higher his payout score at the end of the 30-day period. Not to mention, all the F-rank Mutation Cores could either be sold for money or traded for higher-level Mutation Cores from those in need.
In this run, Dante's Absorption superpower had reached the E Rank, just like in the previous one, so his conversion rate on absorbed stats was 20%. If he could raise it higher, the conversion rate would increase, and he could gain more per corpse, reducing his workload.
BOOM!
BANG!
PEW!!
Continuous explosions and shockwaves resounded throughout these zones, causing all nearby F, E, and D-rank monsters to feel uneasy. The higher their rank, the more they felt this because even with limited intelligence, they could tell that these reverberations were dangerous.
The kind of being that could do this was not something they could handle. They might be territory masters, but they still didn't want to die, so many began to either flee, hide, or plan to flee.
However, against Dante, who was moving at the speed of Mach 10, faster than The Flash during years 1-5 until he met Wally West, how could they match? Just knowing the kind of things The Flash could do with Mach 3-4 speed should tell you how insane Mach 10 speed was.
Before many could even run, Dante had entered their territory and casually sliced them in half with his halberd while lazily absorbing their corpses, then moving on. By the time an hour had passed, he had already killed over a thousand F-rank monsters, most in passing, more than 70 E-rank monsters, and 30 D-rank monsters.
Now, his SDI was at its peak once more as Dante sweated painfully and exploded with a heatwave mixed with his infernal hellfire energy that sprayed over an area of 3 kilometers, incinerating everything in the way.
Dante panted and checked his SDI with a smile, even as his armor and halberd had been reduced to nothingness.
「Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 5000/5000
Strength: 250 -> 500
Agility: 250 -> 500
Dexterity: 250 -> 500
Intelligence: 250 -> 500
Constitution: 250 -> 500
Vitality: 250 -> 500
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.」
Dante's power in all regards had doubled comprehensively.
In terms of Strength, he could now perform a kiai cannon if he wished, just using a flick from his finger. Or rather than the obscure kiai cannon, one could say that Dante could use force push by just waving his hands and create a tempest by slapping his palms together, like the Hulk.
In terms of Agility, he was akin to someone with the spatial power to teleport over short distances. His current maximum speed had gone from 12500 km/h to 25,000 km/h, which was Mach 20.
25,000 km/h meant that he crossed 1 kilometer in 144 milliseconds, or 0.144 seconds. In 15% of a single second's span of time, Dante could cross a whole kilometer, something that took a normal person on a treadmill more than a few minutes to achieve if they were running.
In terms of Dexterity, he could probably become a Lego builder in real life and disassemble as well as reassemble even the most broken things together. His attack speed with weapons was just as crazy as his movement speed, and before you could even say hi, you were probably cut into hundreds of cubes of meat and blood.
It also meant that in terms of writing and art, Dante would probably make every artist in the home universe worship him. Aside from that, if Dante ever chose to do Tradeskills like blacksmithing, alchemy/pharmacy, or the like, which had coordination requirements, he would be at the level of a grandmaster from the start.
In terms of Intelligence, well, even if Dante never had the AI chip, he could perform supercomputer-level calculations using his mind alone. He could lie down and simulate different scenarios in his head and come to various conclusions. His brain could also move at flash speed, making the world pause around him so that he could react to things freely.
Most importantly, he was now at the basic threshold to safely use psychic power. However, he could only use a very rough telekinesis that was weak, not very precise, and heavily taxed his mental stamina, as well as short-range telepathy.
In terms of Constitution, Dante could now take a tank's shot head-on and rebuff it with only a light scratch on his chest. He could also take a hit from a railgun and only smoke a little as a black patch would appear on his chest, but he wouldn't even move a step back.
He had already experienced this when he started increasing his SDI above 50 points, but the need for excretion dropped severely as very little of what he consumed was wasted. His consumption was too high for there to be waste, and his body would greedily take all it could get. Likewise, his energy consumption had doubled, and what could last him 3 days now could last 1 and a half in idle time.
In terms of Vitality, Dante's lifespan was longer than that of some immortal cultivators. His cells were too powerful and vibrant, full of lifeforce that was spewing out casually. If he got injured, he could probably regenerate everything but his heart and head. Everything else was negotiable as long as he was willing to replenish the energy consumed to regenerate them.
Overall, Dante had reached a new level of competency that he enjoyed greatly. Of course, he could only smile wryly at his destroyed weapon and friction-resistant armor that cost a lot and were strong enough to even defeat D-rank monsters with relative ease.
In the face of his Internal Force at a mere level 1, even these things could not withstand it. That went to show just how powerful Internal Arts and Internal Force were, especially the type Dante had.
He wasn't surprised though, as even in the world it originated from, which was a power/strength-based world, Internal arts users were already very dangerous from an early stage against the mainstream power system of external arts.
How much more a lesser world like this Apocalypse World? While they had far superior technology and could likely match the True Martial World in other aspects at the highest level, it was still not a power-based world.
Dante clenched his fist and stood up. He looked down at his donger that was flapping in the wind and
felt a bit embarrassed, so he packed up the Mutation Cores he had collected this time. They were not affected by his hellfire as they were indestructible unless used.
Dante decided to upgrade his Absorption to the D Rank using 10 E Rank Mutation Cores.
[Superpower Name: Absorption
Superpower Rank: D
Superpower Description: Allows the user to absorb the energy of a defeated foe, increasing their own SDI by a large amount.]
The conversion rate was now 40%, which made Dante's eyes light up. Wait, did that mean that rather than additive, the conversion rate increased multiplicatively?
So rather than it being F rank = 10%, E Rank = 20%, D Rank = 30%, C Rank = 40%, B Rank = 50%, A Rank = 60%, S Rank = 70%, SS Rank = 80%, SSS Rank = 90%, and EX Rank = 100%, it was rather F rank = 10%, E Rank = 20%, D Rank = 40%, C Rank = 80%, B Rank = 160%, A Rank = 320%, S Rank = 640%, SS Rank = 1280%, SSS Rank = 2560%, and EX Rank = 5120%?
That was certainly a very terrifying thought. The person who had this ability in real life must be going crazy with the desire for the Black Land, wishing he could slaughter Headmistress Lara and all the new students, then live there 24/7 to increase the grade of his superpower.
According to what Dante knew, most unique batch students upon graduation did not surpass the C Rank in terms of potency unless they had a potential above the A Rank. Only once in a blue moon did talents reach the B rank at graduation, and only one person in history had reached the A rank at graduation.
Yes, you guessed it, that monstrous talent that had set a new universal record was the headmistress herself!