'This is the last one.'
Dante smiled as he wrapped the last claw wound on his body with a piece of cloth.
He had ripped a few pieces of his shirt to bandage his injuries. Maybe because of his bloodlines or his high vitality, his wounds healed slightly and weren't affecting him too much… if his broken arm was ignored.
'At least the stronger one is still there.' Dante thought as he gazed at his right arm. He only had to use it like how he lived with one arm before. It should be easy, right?
Taking a deep breath, Dante looked at the mark left by the shadow monster on the floor. More accurately at the black, round gem on it.
Dante covered his arm with mana and carefully grabbed the gem off the ground. It was smaller than his finger and was very smooth to touch.
Confused, he tried to bite it, crush it, and even channel different energies into it, but nothing changed.
'Maybe it's just the monster's heart, only used to make jewelry, just like pearls. Would I be able to sell it if I left this place?'
Dante smiled like a fool, imagining the amount of money he'd get if he sold the gem to a rich woman.
He didn't know why many rich people were obsessed with appearance and useless jewellery, but why would he care? He only needed to sell it for enough money to buy good food.
'Now, what should I do?' Dante squinted his eyes, looking thoughtfully at his runes.
He would likely get a power-up if he survived for less than 2 hours. It might have seemed easy after he had killed the monsters in the room. But considering that the shadow monster had come out of nowhere, Dante couldn't be sure anymore.
So now, he had only 2 options—either to walk into the mysterious corridor or stay here and hope nothing would emerge suddenly and try to kill him.
Facing this hard decision, Dante couldn't help but remember his rusty coin. It always helped him in these decisions.
'I miss it already.'
Just then, Dante's eyes widened as he remembered something—didn't he have magic?
He could make a bullet, a shield, and claws using his mana, so what about a coin?
'This could work!'
Excitingly, Dante started manipulating his mana.
Remembering how he had already shaped mana into different things several times, Dante used his will and imagination, a small blue coin formed easily in his hand.
'I did it! I fucking did it, damn!'
With a coin in his hand, he could make his decisions while leaving everything for chance.
In his childhood, all his decisions were followed by misfortune, so it was better to let something else decide for him.
Even though it was rare, this method had actually caused some good outcomes for him.
'The old rules. 3 heads, I go to the corridor. 3 tails, I stay in this place.'
Dante balanced the mana coin on his index and brought his thumb under it, ready to toss the coin into the air.
But just then, his brows furrowed, looking thoughtfully at the coin: 'Can I use my aspect on it?'
Dante's mind drifted instantly to the description of one of his traits — Sorcerer's Gift.
It depended on both understanding and will. With his imagination and current understanding, what spell could he make?
He wanted to toss a coin to choose one of two decisions, hoping that the one he chose would have the least amount of misfortune waiting for him.
In other words, he held a coin with two sides—one of fortune and one of misfortune. But, his power was only focused on misfortune.
'Wait, what if both choices carried misfortune? And what if I wanted to choose between more than two?'
If he used his will and imagination, could he make a spell that focused on showing the misfortune in every decision?
As Dante focused on this idea, his eyes widened, feeling his spiritual energy finally moving into the coin.
'It's-It's working! I'm a genius! HAHAHA!' Dante laughed inwardly as the mana coin changed.
The blue coin turned deep black—one of its sides was blank, and the other had a scary skull engraved on it.
The idea in his mind was simple—if he got three skulls, it meant misfortune, and if he got three blanks, then no misfortune was detected. Additionally, the number of skulls would determine the degree of misfortune.
In other words, even if he got only one skull, it would still mean there was misfortune waiting for him.
Of course, it was only a matter of odds and chance, not certainty. He might get three skulls and still face no danger. That was both a curse and a blessing when it came to luck.
As for why he chose the number three for his spell, it was because it was a famous number in coin tossing. Since his aspect was likely conceptual, then it was safer to take inspiration of such known concepts while creating his spells.
Now, he only had to keep focusing on these ideas, waiting for the magic to make them blend together into a spell.
'Now, let's see.'
Dante looked at the coin and asked inwardly: 'Is staying here the best option?'
Ting!
Dante tossed the coin in the air before catching it quickly, feeling it drain a point of his spiritual energy. Looking at the result, Dante frowned.
'Skull.'
Ting!
He tossed the coin in the air again and caught it while it was spinning. Strangely, it consumed another point of his spiritual energy.
'Skull. It's also draining my spiritual energy with every toss…'
Gulping nervously, he tossed the coin for a third time, consuming another point of spiritual energy.
Ting!
"...."
'Skull…'
Dante scratched his head, wondering about why he didn't get a single blank face.
'Is going to the corridor the best option?' Dante asked inwardly and tossed the coin in the air.
Ting!
Skull.
Ting!
Skull!
Dante's face twitched: 'Is the spell broken? Did I make a mistake?'
He couldn't think of any other reason for always getting skulls, or rather, he didn't want to think about the other possible reason.
Ting!
He tossed the coin again, feeling it drain his spiritual energy and expecting another skull. But unlike his expectations, he finally got the blank side.
His eyes lit up as he tossed the coin two more times, getting one other blank and finally completing a set of three skulls.
Dante frowned: 'It's dangerous, but less dangerous than staying here.'
How could moving to the unknown corridor be safer than staying in this room? Didn't he kill the only two monsters? Was there another shadow monster lurking?
Dante decided to trust his spell for now and moved to the corridor, not daring to touch the blue torches again.
But on his way, he decided to check his runes for one last time.
✧ Abyss Domain — Attunement: Normal.
⤷ Aspect: Shadow [Comprehension: 12%]
✧ Destiny Domain — Attunement: Greater.
⤷ Aspect: Misfortune [Comprehension: 6%]