Blips

Dante weighed the pros and cons of the various possibilities. The fact that he started with six pages in his white Grimoire allowed him much more lee way than the desperate sacrifice of Jarod the Beastmaster and the Soul Cultivators of Sumeria and the emphasis on improving fundamental talents in Azalea City.

Eventually, Dante decided to follow the Sumerian path for his first potential summon. A summon that passively improves soul depth would be extremely useful in a land where Soul Cultivation is much more difficult because of how poor the energy density of the island is.

Dante singled out the monsters recorded in the compendium belonging to Jarod. If there were any monsters in the peninsula that had such properties, Dante had never come across them within his own memories. One of the reasons was probably that such monsters were probably undesirable for training.

In the compendium, however, there was a special section of monsters with this property. The Soul Strengthening Cactus seemed like the one with the most advantageous benefits. It constantly replenished the soul and made it easier to concentrate for extended periods of time. The first evolution even allowed for strengthening of the physical body.

Another one was a Bluewater Swamp Crab. It was an extremely weak monster that hid from humans. It could only be found in marshy swamps and lightly improved the tamers soul. It had no other known effect, but it was easier to capture and evolve than the cactus and thus soul cultivators often used it as an intermediary in their cultivation.

The others were recorded either extremely far away from Messop or only speculated to have soul tempering effects. Given Dante's duties, heading for a direct expedition far into Sumeria was not feasible at this moment. Just like Jarod had suggested to him earlier, Dante ended up choosing the Soul Strengthening Cactus.

As for how to find this particular monster, they were rather difficult to find. They only grew in the wild and in groups underground. Thus it was extremely difficult to spot them unless they returned to the surface to bloom during the full moon.

Dante called for Dalim to look for local guides in the Blank Moon Desert Plains, the arid region adjoining the Messop city past the dry gorge. That desert was the last spotted location of those cacti. Dalim worked on his master's request right away.

While the search for a guide was on, Dante excused himself from Jarod's palace and made his way to the Tea House he had constructed near the merchant guild. The Sumerians, Dante realized were rather fond of tea and willing to pay exorbitant amounts of wealth on the beverage. The fact that this wondrous tea didn't happen to grow in Sumeria made its allure even more irresistible.

When he entered the first floor of the Tea House, he found three luxuriously dressed guests enjoying themselves in the fragrance of the tea. Dante walked over to them as the owner in question.

"Greetings Sirs and Madams. I hope you are enjoying the wondrous teas of my Tea House." Dante politely introduced himself as was courteously expected.

"So you are the owner of this establishment. Aren't you young?" The leader of the trio, a man in his twenties who was haughtily dressed and draped in gold jewelry and an arrogant air asked. "The tea is good. Go get us some more of this fine beverage." He ordered.

The other two individuals gulped, but Dante simply nodded in acknowledgement before leaving.

"Hmph! Peninsular people are so weak! If I were born there I would have long been the ruler of Sumeria!" The man announced even more loudly. The other two men who were fawning on the man attempted the usual flattery to please him.

"Who is that person?" Dante asked a servant.

"My lord, it is the son of the City Lord. He goes by the title Junior City Lord La'ar." The servant respectfully replied.

"Oh, well." Dante shrugged before carrying out the tea for his guest. The junior city lord gloated at having the peninsular owner be subservient to him. In his excitement, he spoke again.

"Haha, good good. You can become my lackey. I will treat you well!" La'ar excitedly announced.

When Dante heard that he frowned. He wasn't just representing himself in the Tea House, he was also representing the Bradley family. La'ar's provocation could not be considered anything other than a broad insult considering how every socialite considered him to be on equal footing as the City Lord in standing.

"I don't think that will appropriate, sir." Dante replied curtly before walking away.

"Hey! Who gave you the permission to walk away, huh?" The man stood up in anger. "You've spoiled my mood!" He then flung the expensive ceramic teapot into the air, allowing it to smash the wall and crash into a thousand pieces. "Let's see how bold you'll be when my father learns of this."

The trio entered a violent spree and broke a few tables and chairs before running away. Even through this rage, the man didn't dare touch Dante, who simply shook his head with a smile.

"My lord, what do we do?" The servant from earlier asked respectfully.

"Get some laborers to fix everything here. Spread the tumors about the incident, but not from my name. Has Dalim returned yet?" Dante yawned. "I'll be heading to my chambers to rest. Tell Dalim to organize the guide urgently and also collect information about the monster."

Meanwhile, in the City Lord's castle, Jarod was hearing a briefing from his martial commander. "My lord, it seems like the Bradley kid is planning to follow your advice on the choice of a summon. His servant is searching for guides to the Black Moon Desert Plains."

"Very well." Jarod nodded with a gratified face. "The more he follows my advice, the more indebted he will feel to me. I can even consider becoming the brat's teacher, though it is surprising that he didn't contract any summon in the Continent."

"My lord, our spies in the Bradley Guild tell us that Lord Dante never contracted a Grimoire on the continent. Perhaps the Bradley family want to scope out the Sumerian Beastmaster tradition." The martial commander supplanted.

"Hm. That could be. Few know the deep history of our ancient lands and we need it to be this way. We can always dangle the carrot in front of the boy, having this powerful force from the continent on our side has helped keep the rabblerousers in check. The Tsumbe clan has been quiet ever since the guild was set up." Jarod nodded to himself.

"Dad!" The thundering voice of an arrogant fool entered the discussion chambers of the City Lord. "You must do something about that Peninsular bastard!