Chapter 329 Origin Core
Dante's roar was accompanied by a loud shattering sound as a green light emerged from his eyes and mouth, surging out of his body and forming the silhouette of a spiky-haired great ape that was pounding its chest.
The moment it left his body, Dante seemed extremely exhausted and hollowed out, but he still managed to guide it into the sun-sized orange ball of light. Once it entered, the miniature sun pulsed greatly and rhythmically, like a beating heart.
Dante, Beatrice, and Etz Chaim watched silently and breathlessly as the heart pulsed once, twice, three times and continued to do so for what felt like an eternity. Its tempo increased with each pulse, becoming stronger and stronger with each run until a huge flash of light occurred, and the sun-sized sphere released a shockwave of orange light that passed through everything.
After this, an urge of orange energy leaked out from the sphere and pervaded the entire soul space, passing through the various soul projections and making them feel a certain warmth. Even within Etz Chaim's bark, the suppressed Lara's eyelids twitched when she felt that, but she did not wake up in the end.
As the warmth pervaded the space, Etz Chaim finally came to her senses and spoke softly. "You actually did it... just by hearing about it for the first time, you actually condensed an Origin Core and created Origin Source Energy for yourself..."
Etz Chaim currently looked like a person who had just watched a pig fly without wings while humming a casual tune. The sheer disbelief and shock told that if she herself had not witnessed it, she would rather die than believe it.
Heck, she had personally witnessed it and still doubted it, wondering if Lara had somehow affected her mind to force illusions upon her. However, Lara was not stupid enough to create such a fake and unbelievable illusion, so it had to be reality.
Dante sighed with relief and shook his head in reality, glancing at Beatrice beside him who had been dragged along here by Etz Chaim with a smile. "Thanks for the boost, babe, I couldn't have done it without you."
Beatrice smiled beautifully. "No problem, I'm going to accumulate some superpowers and raise my stats very high before replicating what you did to get my own Origin Core."
Etz Chaim was almost floored by this. "Hey, hey, hey! Do you think this is a joke?! Condensing an Origin Core is the most difficult part of becoming an Origin God because one needs to focus all their energy into a single point and create a form of energy genesis!"
Dante and Beatrice glanced at the red-faced Etz Chaim who looked like she wanted to bite someone and grinned. "But I just did it, right?"
"I..."
What could Etz even say to that?
After all, Dante had just done so right before everyone's eyes, and he did so without using her help nor a lick of the energy she provided him. He didn't even use Quantum Entanglement, but all the other thing he had gained on the side, with that legendary super- something playing the biggest role.
Even though she technically hosted them, they were not organically part of the superpower and were their own thing, especially the higher he raised his stats and produced his own energy.
It was like the relationship between landowner and the house owner. Etz only provided Dante with the land for free, but Dante built and maintained the house all by himself. Now that he had broken down the house and recombined it to build a mansion without harming or drawing upon the land itself, it was nothing short of impressive.
However, there was one problem, and it was the fact that...
"You do realize that while you now have an Origin Core and possess naturally produced Origin Energy, you have lost all your offensive abilities? Apart from Quantum Entanglement and all its own inherent abilities, you have nothing else." Etz pointed out bluntly.
Dante nodded. "I knew that from the start. The moment you mentioned the source of control, I realized that I could never become a proper Origin being or Eternal on my own because I had too many sets of powers that were too varied and of different types."
"Rather than that, I need to focus on one field and make it my sole power, gaining control over it." Dante stated as he clenched his fists. Etz Chaim was silent as she glanced at Dante as if she was meeting him for the first time again, then glanced at Beatrice.
"Unfortunately, the same goes for her. Apart from her own base superpowers, the quantum entanglement abilities you shared with her and those martial arts stuff, she has lost the other powers as well."
"Not a problem, they were always Dante's power, not mine. I'll gather up superpowers from the Black Spire and then shatter them all to form an Origin Core after securing a huge amount of energy by becoming a legendary super saiyan or something better too!" Beatrice said with confidence as she slammed her fists together.
Etz Chaim then glanced to the side. "And... what about them? I preserved their existence here since you might want to sort them out."
Dante and Beatrice turned to glance at the confused Summoned Beasts who had lost their connection to Dante, and so were returned to quantum existences that could not stay in the real universe lest they be ruined.
Not to mention the source of power they enjoyed from Etz Chaim that allowed them to act with greater power than they theoretically had, like Levi who could read secrets of higher-dimensional beings or Dorothy who could collect faith energy across universes with ease for Dante.
Dante smiled. "Of course, they are with me. Now that I have my own source of energy, I don't need to leech off you anymore. As long as they wish to stay with me, we can contract more intimately." "Naturally, I have no plan of leaving just yet, boss." Levi answered quickly.
"I still haven't had the chance to lead your armies to battle!" Barnard spoke in a deep voice.
"You may not need faith energy anymore given you now have Origin Energy... but I would still like to stay, if possible...?" Dorothy inquired in her usual elegant manner.
"We would also like to stay, master. We believe the current you could make the most use of our abilities, especially for your hellfire demons who might need to resynchronize with you." Synkoi pointed out smartly.
"I think... I would like to return. I have little use to you now and Anti-matter has nothing on the table against Origin Energy." Killian stated sadly, but resolutely.
"Hmm, me too. In terms of destroying enemies with black holes, you have technology that can do the same. In terms of storing items for your own personal use, you already have the quantum space. What is the purpose of my existence?" Blacko stated in its heavy tone.
"Well, I don't know if I will be useful, but I really don't want to leave..." Weaver said in a pitiful voice, the faceless cloud beast seemingly wanting to cry.
"I feel the same..." Brium also stated in a similar tone, its chiming full of despair.
"Hmm... the dao is endless, and all things are but dust and ash in the end. No banquet can last forever, and it seems my journey in this upper realm has come to an end. I would like to depart while we still have fond memories of each other." Dao made a fist salute respectfully.
"Haahh, I wanted to be as big as the universe, but I could not fulfill that dream. I will have to settle for being as big as a world instead." Biggie sighed and stated with lament.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDante was stunned when he listened to their words and then shook his head. "I dont plan on sending you back down to a mere quantum world, but after spending more than a year together. Besides, you have all bonded to this extent, how can I just separate you?"
"However, some of your points are valid. Given the paths I want to take, some of you are no longer useful to me or will soon not be useful. However, just because you are not useful to me currently does not mean that you have no use at all."
Dante glanced at some of them. "I will personally retain Levi, Bernard, Dorothy, Synkoi, and Weaver. Killian and Blacko, you will go to my daughter and become her summoned beasts, your job to protect her and provide her with your special powers. Dao, Biggie, and Brium, you will go to Beatrice and support her in all things."
"My beloved wife loves to use her fists to fight, meaning that you, Dao, who can allow her to counter all manner of powers with her fist, as well as you, Biggie, you can allow her to increase her size and thereby her raw power, are very useful to her. Brium, you are just as crucial because you will be necessary to help Beatrice keep her stats in a balanced state as the Balance Beast." Dante elaborated to each of them seriously.
All the summoned beasts listened attentively and were satisfied with their allocations. Even though for the other five, it was a bit disappointing that they could not stay with Dante, it was no different staying with the two people he was closest to in the entire universe, his wife and daughter.
"Huh, that's nice Dante, but only you have Origin Energy. Even if Beatrice is gonna get it later, which energy is she going to use to sustain them currently?" Etz Chaim asked the obvious question.
Dante blinked in surprise. "You, of course. Beatrice still has my quantum entanglement, so these beasts fall under that, meaning your sponsorship is required. As for the two going to my daughter, she doesn't need to worry yet because I will temporarily sponsor the energy they need."
Etz Chaim was speechless and felt like hitting Dante at that moment. What did he mean that she would sponsor Beatrice, and why did Dante make her sound stupid for even asking like it would be anything different?
Dante then turned to the Beasts and directly released a portion of his soul power to contract the five he chose. He noticed that with his stats reduced, he found such things much harder to do, but recontracting Weaver made things much easier.
As for the other three, Beatrice still had a lot of work to do in order to power them, so Dante took out a Concoction of Absorption and gave it to her. Beatrice still needed external energy for now to sustain herself and her newly contracted summoned beasts.
Once everything was settled, Dante nodded to Etz Chaim who was by far fed up with everything and returned to the tree in a huff. She had seen too much today and needed time to digest it all, while Dante and Beatrice also had other things to see to.
The duo refocused on reality, noticing that the Wasteland of Death was still as silent as always despite the events that had occurred here just now. In actual fact, it was likely that it would be silent for a long time since Dante's energy release had cleared many lifeforms within many territories around this one.
The two shared a look and felt reinvigorated to pursue their goals. Dante by making a huge breakthrough and Beatrice by seeing the path fonvard to even surpass her mother, her longtime idol.
"First things first, let's go get Antonia. She should be itching to get away from your mom by now." Beatrice giggled as she thought of her cute daughter.
Dante's lips twitched when he remembered the look Antonia always gave him when she had to suffer his mother's teachings. At the time, he didnt like it much either, but he had benefited greatly from it, so there was no way he would prevent his daughter from learning.