Chapter 63: Testing new divine skill

On the Floor 14. The checkpoint station. Five guards in blue uniforms lay scattered across the floor, face down and motionless. Their electric clubs had rolled away from their hands. At the far end of the hall, a long reception desk was split completely in half, and a line of black smoke curled up from the wreckage.

Esabella stood in the center of the destruction.

But there was nobody left alive to see them.

She looked down at the only guard who was still breathing. He was a young man, dragging himself slowly across the bloody tiles with one broken arm. He stopped moving the moment her dark shadow fell over his hand.

"Please," he whispered, his voice trembling violently.

"I asked you a simple question," Esabella said.

"I told you! I swear I don’t know where he is!"

"But you spoke his name." She stepped closer, looking down at him like he was an insect. "And you said it as if it were a joke. You laughed at him."

"I didn’t mean anything by it..."

" Really."

She stared at him for another second, her face completely expressionless. Then she crouched down and picked up a piece of paper that had fallen from his pocket. It was the bounty poster showing the scarred drawing of Dante’s face. She folded it once, very carefully, and slid it safely inside her cloak, right next to her heart.

"Tell the others," Esabella said, standing back up. "If they want to touch him, they have to come through me first."

The young guard stared up at her, shaking so hard his teeth chattered. He nodded as fast as he could.

She walked past him toward the doors at the end of the hall.

’Floor 15’, she thought. ’Then 16.’

She closed her eyes for a brief second. Her fingers curled tightly against the tile. For a single fraction of a second, the terrifying gold in her eyes faded, and a soft, deeply painful longing washed over her face. But it was gone almost before it appeared.

Her eyes snapped open again and lethal.

"Wait for me, Dante," Esabella whispered. "I’m coming."

Floor 44. Dante sat on the stairs of a closed shop and watched the clock in the corner of his eye turn to midnight. Few days had passed since the tavern.

He had counted every hunter he passed. Most didn’t look at him. A few glanced at his hood, then at the posters on the walls, then at his boots, and went back to their business. A man with long hair, a thin beard, and a hoodie didn’t look like a face on a poster.

But the posters were everywhere now. They were on lamps, on doors, on the sides of lifts. Two of them hung together on almost every wall, a scarred man and a woman.

He didn’t look at the second one anymore. On the night, he sat on a rooftop and leaned on a chimney, watching the lamps below flicker and go out.

[Midnight reached. You receive 1x Free Daily Spin.]

In these past few days he don’t get any better he get same skills he have already many times and some more useless skills.

"All right," Dante said. "One more try."

[Spin Complete!]

[You got: ’Faded Name Tag’ (F-Rank Common Utility Item).]

[Description: A scratched metal tag on a string. It shows the wearer’s name, and nothing else.]

A small tag dropped into his palm. It was dull and cheap, the kind new recruits wore on their first day.

’Garbage,’ let’s see how it’s goes’ he thought.

[System 2: 100x Sovereign Multiplier Triggered!]

[’Faded Name Tag’ (F-Rank) ---> Multiplied by 100x!]

[Calculating Highest Transformation Path... Complete!]

[You got SSS-Rank Divine Skill: ’The Sovereign’s Ledger of Hearts’ (Bound).]

[Effect 1: ’Open Profile’ - Look at a person within twenty meters to see their name, true rank, and a short summary about there loyalty and more things like these.]

[Effect 2: ’Heart Reading’ - Shows how the person feels about the host right now, Trust, Loyalty, Respect, Fear, Greed, Suspicion, Obsession, Love, Hate, Killing Intent, and more. Only feelings above zero are shown.]

[Limit 1: Three readings per day.]

[Limit 2: Reads only the present. It cannot see the future or what someone might do later.]

[Limit 3: Cannot read people whose mind is stronger than the host’s.]

[Limit 4: A person who believes their own lie can fool it.]

The tag turned to light and sank into the back of his hand. A faint grey mark stayed there for a moment, like a name written in dust, then faded.

Dante stared at his hand.

’It reads people,’ he thought. ’Not only their rank. What they feel.’

He thought about the 55th floor. Marcus smiling in the corridor. Kenneth saying the word "calculation." Elena’s face, not looking at him.

’If I’d had this two years ago...’

He stopped the thought before it went further. It didn’t help to think about it.

’Three a day. I need to be careful how I spend it.’

Floor 45. The next morning.

The market street was loud. Vendors shouted prices.

Dante walked slowly . He stopped at a stall at the edge of the crowd and looked at a pile of bread. An old woman sat behind it, wiping her hands.

"One for two coppers," she said without looking up.

He put the coins on the table and picked up a loaf.

’Test it,’ he thought. ’Something small first.’ He looked at her face.

[Open Profile]

[Name: Maren Hollis.]

[True Rank: None (Civilian).]

[Summary: Widow. Bakes sixty loaves a day. Sends half her money to a grandson on Floor 12.]

[Heart Reading]

Trust: 12

Respect: 20

Fear: 5

Greed: 10

[Dominant Feeling: Tired.]

[Intent: Wants to sell the bread and go home.]

’Nothing hidden,’ he thought. ’She only wants her coppers.’

"Thank you," he said, and meant it.

"Mm." She waved a hand. "Eat it warm. It’s no good cold."

He walked on, tearing the loaf in half. It was warm, a little salty, and better than anything he had eaten in a week.

’One used,’ he thought. ’Two left.’

At noon, he stood at the end of a crowded checkpoint line. Six Radiant Dawn guards stood at the gate, checking passes. They wore red capes and carried short spears. A big man in a captain’s armor leaned on a table, eating an apple and watching the crowd.

Dante stopped about fifteen meters back.

’Second reading,’ he thought. ’Someone dangerous this time.’

He looked at the captain.

[Open Profile]

[Name: Dorran Vask.]

[True Rank: A-Rank.]

[Summary: Veteran guard captain. Paid by Marcus. Believes the guild keeps the lower floors safe.]

[Heart Reading]

Trust: 0

Loyalty to Marcus: 91

Suspicion: 8

Greed: 30

[Dominant Feeling: Boredom.]

[Intent: Watch the line. Take bribes if offered.]

Dante’s eyebrows went up.