"It's just… I don't know how to approach someone like you," Kaela said, her eyes still fixed on the lake's surface. "Someone who always seems like he's calculating the entire world in his head."
Dante laughed again, softly like the breeze. "And you're the puzzle I still haven't solved."'Phew, so she doesn't have any hidden meaning behind this.' Dante nodded slightly, a little surprised by her words. 'She wants to approach me? For what? That sounds really strange.'
Kaela turned to look at him, this time without a smile—only silence, with a hint of seriousness.
"Then don't try to solve it. Some things… the more you try to understand, the more lost you'll become."
Then, all of a sudden, Kaela shifted her tone and turned her face away, gazing at the lake again as if admiring its quiet, artistic beauty.
"You know, Dante, actually… I'm really impressed by your combat ability. The way you can read and adapt so quickly to your opponent in battle… like you can always figure out the most efficient way to counter someone stronger than you. How do you do it? I really enjoyed that fight—who would've thought I'd find someone who could grow and adjust so fast. It truly made me happy, even if I didn't show it. Before, I didn't pay much attention to you—I thought you were just ordinary. But your skills… they're genuinely incredible."
Her voice, which had been calm at first, gradually gained energy and enthusiasm as she spoke, and by the end, her eyes were sparkling as she looked at him. She had been holding this in for a day or two since their match, and now she finally had the chance to say it.
Dante was caught completely off guard by her words. 'Wait—she likes me? No, calm down, she said she likes my fighting style. Please don't misunderstand this, Dante, please…' He waved his hand awkwardly, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Ah, uh, thank you for the compliment, haha. About that, it's because of my innate awakened ability. Umm, I'd like to keep it a secret, but, well, it's an A-rank talent… called, uh, what was it again—I forgot. And… and…" Dante stumbled over his words, losing the natural calm he usually carried. Who would've thought that someone as quiet as Kaela had such a passionate side? He was so shocked he couldn't even speak properly.
Right at that moment, Solène came strolling back, a muffin in her hand. The moment she saw Dante's flustered face, a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
'No way… she actually bought that muffin? Unbelievable.' Dante glanced at her with a twisted expression, already predicting what was about to happen as he saw the playful look on her face.
"Aha! I caught you two in the act—romantic intrigue, huh?" Solène giggled, teasing him.
'Ahhh Solène, you're driving me mad—could you please, just this once, not say anything?' Dante screamed internally, exactly as he'd feared. Right now, he wished he could crawl down into the lower levels of Tessarune city, book a hotel room, pull the blanket over his head, and sleep for a week—even though he'd always denied that place until now.
As for Kaela, she simply kept quietly admiring the lake, as if nothing had happened—except for her ears, which had turned a bright shade of red.
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Now, after getting to know Kaela better thanks to Solène's help, Dante came up with an idea: to ask Kaela for support in his upcoming final battle with Kara. If he could win his next match, he would face Kara in the championship round. He didn't want to let the first place slip through his fingers—especially since he desperately needed the prize money to upgrade himself.
Kaela cheerfully agreed, in exchange for a few shared meals—the two of them quickly settled the arrangement.
Fighting Kaela would allow Dante to gather more data and further refine his personal combat skills. The truth was, his battle abilities were decent thanks to his predictive talent, but he wasn't fully strategic or calculating yet. He still lacked a lot of skills—and Kaela would help him with that, guiding him to plan out strategies for victory while sharpening his abilities.
Dante had good reading instincts and could react quickly, but he lacked that bigger tactical vision. Training with Kaela could help him overcome that weakness.
Honestly, he didn't think he had much chance of beating Kara on his own if things stayed as they were. After all, Kara had easily defeated Kaela—even if Kaela had seemed to be holding back. And even if she was, Kara was still incredibly strong. But with Kaela's guidance, Dante started to believe again. His biggest problem was figuring out how to counter Kara's lightning element powers. On top of that, his body clearly wasn't as robust as Kaela's.
In the meantime, he'd installed some quick-boost components to enhance his agility, strength, and endurance. But these were just simplified versions of real stat-boost components.
That's because a roomborn like him could install stat-boost components—but during the foundation and framework phases, these components only worked at a fraction of their intended power. That's why people used these simplified versions, even though they were unstable and required frequent maintenance. In these early phases, most of an awakened's physical stats came from natural growth and strong genetics. Only at the circuit phase, when the essentium circuits were built and linked throughout the body, could an artificer's system support permanent body enhancement components.
But over the past few days, Dante had discovered an interesting fact—thanks to his Akashic Architect talent, he could install a stabilizer component that helped reduce the risks of using body-boost components. He still suffered from severe capacity limitations, though—so he could only boost his physical stats by about 15%. Still, that was enough to make him feel satisfied and more confident for the coming fight.
He even installed a lightning resistance component that he'd found buried in the Spellbox laptop—just in case he made it to the match with Kara. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any insulation component yet, but he figured he'd search for one later. For now, this would have to do.
Thinking back on his past fights, he also realized that it was getting harder to track fast opponents. So he added another component—one that processed visual data and expanded his field of vision to cover his entire eyes. Thanks to the natural 6-eye trait of an awakened, he adapted to this new vision quickly without much trouble. And luckily, that visual enhancement component didn't take up much of his capacity either.
Curious to see how it worked, Dante tested the new field of vision right away, eager to see the world through these upgraded eyes.