Chapter 274 Divine Beasts!
The previous area had been truly vast and expansive, covering an area that Dante could not even fully see despite his soul tether being so large. There were likely billions, if not trillions, of those platforms that held various summonable beasts of different kinds and species.
However, this area was different. Its total size was not much, only about the size of a relatively large state in the North American continent at best. Each platform was spaced out equidistantly, though their sizes greatly varied.
The closest to Dante was twice the size of his soul tether, while the largest, which hovered at the very back, was so immense that Dante could not even fathom what existed within.
Interestingly, the hand that had even dragged him here slowly wafted towards that large platform and disappeared within the next moment. Immediately, Dante felt a wave of power wash over his soul tether as information came over.
Upon parsing it, Dante understood the gist of everything as well as what was going on. The previous area he was in was the normal summoning zone, and the highest rank of beast he could summon would be a Legendary beast.
The ranks for beasts were Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Usually, most people drew Common beasts, and the quality of beasts rose based on the quality of the person and their nurturing.
Like the Holy Saint Summoners, they expected Dante to get at minimum, a Rare beast and at maximum, a Legendary beast. Anything below that, and the typical scene you'd expect would happen; he would fall from the beloved Saint Child to trash that was bullied.
However, there naturally existed ranks above Legendary, which was the Divine!
As one might expect given the scene here, the gap between Legendary and Divine was bigger than the gap between a human infant freshly born and a max-power Legendary Dragon beast.
Of course, this particular ranking system was referring to the innate quality of beasts, not their level of accumulated/cultivated power. When in this summoning zone, regardless of Common or Divine, every beast was at 'level 1' or its equivalent in this world's power system.
Dante's soul tether had been too high quality for the lowly normal area, so the strongest Divine beast automatically dragged him over so that he could choose from among them.
This impressed Dante. In truth, seeing his large soul tether and the strongest Legendary monster in the previous area being 1/10th its size, he felt like he was even wasting his time with this power system.
He didn't expect it to have a crazy and unlimited power cap, but it should at least positively add to his arsenal, not drag him backward. It was clear that such a thing would no longer be a problem with how even the weakest Divine Beast was twice his soul strength.
Dante understood that he should not underestimate these quantum worlds. While his power might be able to shatter them on the surface, there were also very useful hidden elements that could be exploited.
Dante looked at the various platforms here and saw that they only numbered around a hundred. Some of them were lit up, but more than half were dark, which likely meant that someone had contracted the beast there in the past.
Those that were still lit up were covered by some veil, preventing Dante from seeing what lay within. This made him pensive, but he gingerly approached them. Suddenly, the group of lit-up ones seemed to realize they had a guest and became excited.
After all, as you could imagine, there were very few people qualified to come here since the dawn of time, or the less than a hundred of them would not even still be here given the sheer numbers of humans who were born every day or qualified to become summoners every day.
Not to mention that Dante was not a pushover. He might be smaller than them, but there was yet to be a human qualified to reach their level. Humans mostly benefited from the soul tether connection when summoning, but summoned beasts would soon be surpassed by humans as they were slowly strengthened.
Dante had a high starting point, meaning he would grow faster and reach the stage of feeding back to them very soon. As such, many of the Divine Beasts expressed interest in being his first summon.
Because of their interest, those that reached out to him revealed their forms, and they were quite splendid in terms of looks. What was more impressive were their powers, which caused Dante's face to change greatly.
They did not have element-based powers anymore like beasts of the legendary rank and below, but rather had esoteric and abstract abilities! There were even those with rule-based powers!
Rule-based powers!! n.-OvelbIn
One of the most overpowered and terrifying power systems in the multiverse, something Dante had previously dared not covet because rule-based powers dealt with the higher dimensional!
Among the Divine Beasts, ten of them actively reached out to Dante and sent him their information, so Dante quickly categorized them.
The first one was called the Timeless Beast. Its ability was Chrono Manipulation, which basically meant that it could alter the existence of time in a limited area or on a specific item. In terms of looks, it was like a small hedgehog with white fur and smooth spikes, appearing cute yet ageless.
The second was the Infinity Beast. Its special ability was Endless Expansion, which basically meant that it could expand or contract its form infinitely. It was similar to a pufferfish without thorns in terms of looks, but its body seemed to stretch into eternity, never fully visible.
The third was the Silence Beast. Its special ability was similar to the quantum fruit Dante gave his father, called the Aura of Stillness. This ability freely nullified sound and motion within a radius. The silence beast was more similar to a Sableye in terms of looks, and paced around its platform without making any sound. Strangely, it also had a calming presence.
The fourth was the Law Beast. Its special ability was to change the rules in a specific area, causing things to shift in reality. For example, it could make up become down and left become right. In terms of appearance, it was in the form of an aged wolf with eyes that gleamed like starlight.
The fifth was the Soul Beast. Its special ability was Soul Weave, allowing it to see the shape of souls and manipulate them. This was a very dangerous and cruel ability because very few people had soul-related defenses. Its form was a bit like a floating cloud of greenish-blue mist, ethereal and constantly shifting form, like a living dream.
The sixth was the Paradox Beast. Its special ability was called Contradiction Clash, which basically meant that it could create and resolve paradoxes at will. It informed Dante that it had no true form, appearing differently to each observer, which defied logic. In Dante's eyes, it manifested as a cat lying atop a box.
The seventh one was the Balance Beast. Its special ability was called Balance Echo, which basically meant that it could forcibly restore or disrupt balance in any system or situation. This beast was not even shaped like a beast, basically being a floating yellow with writings on its body in a weird language, two small red orbs forming its eyes. It seemed to release a visible harmonic resonance.
The eighth was the Oblivion Beast. Its special ability was named Banishment Will, which was crazy because it basically meant that it could erase or create nothingness. It was like a black hole, possessing a form that flickered between existence and non-existence.
The ninth was the Truth Beast. Its
special ability was called Truth Unveiling, which basically meant that it could, upon being prompted, freely reveal any hidden truths or secrets relating to a certain matter. It was a hawk-like creature with sharp eyes that seemed to pierce through all facades.
The tenth and final beast was the Anti-Matter Beast. Its ability was quite unique, in that it could freely turn things made of matter into anti-matter and vice versa. In terms of form, it looked like a small bat that had gleaming energies around it that fluctuated in potency.
Dante was naturally quite lost as he did not know what choice to make right away. All these abilities were super useful and could have many applications for him in his ambitions and pursuits in other quantum worlds, the real world, or even the First Gate.
In truth, he currently favored the Truth Beast the most. One thing he had heard growing up from both his parents was that 'knowledge is power,' and Dante truly believed that as a young adult.
If he had this beast previously, would he have been tricked by the Supreme Council and almost been killed in the First Gate? Would he have been ignorant of many things, like why the Cosmic Tree helped him, where to find resurrection items for Portia, and how to acquire the technology to host quantum worlds?
Yeah, this Truth Beast was not the strongest bloke, and its combat capability was not very high. However, Dante had 10 slots for contracting beasts, and his soul would only get stronger after this, meaning he would inevitably come back here when he broke through using this world power system.
What he favored was that its ability could resolve a lot of questions and problems for the current him, so he could not pass it up. As such, he directly linked his soul tether to the platform of the Truth Beast, causing it to be surprised and elated while the other divine beasts sighed with regret and decided to keep waiting.
Anyway, they also knew that Dante would be back 9 more times, so the chances of being selected were pretty high.
As for Dante, he easily managed to form a connection with the Truth Beast, and it was sucked over through his Soul Tether, entering his real soul space immediately. The Truth Beast curiously looked around at its new home, but it was shocked by what it saw.
To the left was a giant core that gleamed with a strange energy, and to the right was a cloud of small nanites that buzzed endlessly. Each of these manifestations gave the Truth Beast immense pressure despite being a Divine Beast, and it dared not go near.
However, what almost caused it to become crippled was the giant gate that stood in the center of the soul space and its various additions by the side. Behind the gate was a long number of threads connecting it to a glowing tree that radiated endless power.
Somehow, the Truth Beast felt itself connected to this tree, as if the source of its power came from it. Interestingly, this also expanded the scope and potency of its base ability, making it surprised.
Dante watched from the side casually with a strange look in his eyes at the beast's behavior. He then noticed that his soul tether was forced out of the summoning space in the next moment as the summoning ceremony was over.
Eventually, he opened his eyes in the real world and saw that the Truth Beast had physically spawned above the summoning circle. Unlike in the summoning zone, its size was not that of a small hawk that could sit on his shoulder, but around the size of a small car, big enough for Dante to stand on its back as it flew.
The hawk glanced around casually, taking in the sight of the human world for the first time. Meanwhile, the already battered crowd took a second round of blows from the hawk's aura, especially the wyvern, who wailed in agony as he shouted.
"Divine Beast!!!"
Zoom!
Xiu!
Whoosh!
Immediately, powerhouses from the depths of the Holy Saint Summoner faction rushed over upon sensing the aura, while some of the powerhouses in the crowd shared looks. Immediately, they stopped feigning weakness and charged at Dante, some going for him, and some going for the Truth Beast while summoning their own beasts.