Chapter 13: The White Tower
In the blink of an eye, Dante and Valentina appeared in front of one of the Witch Towers. The tower was sophisticated, adorned with Greek carvings and white statues of women from different races and ethnicities.
"How beautiful..." Dante murmured, and his mother smiled, holding his hand and beginning to explain about the place.
"It's called the White Magic Tower, the second most important tower in the Witch Kingdom, only behind the Celestial Tower of the Witch Queen, Alice Arcano," Valentina said, walking toward the entrance while holding her son's hand.
"Who manages this tower?" Dante asked, walking casually with a smile on his face.
"You know her very well..." Valentina murmured mischievously, and then they passed through the entrance arch. Dante calmly released his mother's hand and walked a bit ahead, observing the place.
He read several plaques in front of statues referring to Super Witches who had existed and left their mark on history in their own way.
"Catherine Monvoisin — The Seer"
"Dion Fortune — The Golden Witch"
"Joan Wytte — The Healer"
He calmly read about their lives and was surprised that many of these witches, despite appearing young, were very old, just like the names he had heard on Earth, but they looked nothing like the witches he had studied. He concluded that age wasn't valid most of the time. For example, his mother was over two thousand years old and still as beautiful as a young woman in her twenties.
"Hello, welcome to the White Tower. What do you desire?" A manager appeared before Dante and Valentina, who was far behind them, allowing Dante to handle the situation.
"Hello, I am Dante Scarlet, here to speak with the Tower Mistress," Dante introduced himself and bowed, showing courtesy before stating his purpose.
The older witch didn't understand at first why a child came to see the Mistress. Well, it wasn't a problem, but an appointment needed to be made.
"I'm sorry, young one, you don't have an appointment to speak with the Mistress," the witch said, feeling bad for turning down such a cute little boy from achieving his goal.
Valentina already figured that Dante wouldn't be taken seriously, but the moment he used "Scarlet" in his name was simply the starting point of everything. Disrespecting Dante when he presented his surname was the same as disrespecting Her.
"Go quickly and call that old witch before I incinerate the entire tower, and learn to respect my Son," Valentina said, appearing behind Katarina.
Katarina turned to see who was speaking to her and disrespecting her Mistress, but when she turned... the shock was so great that she fell to the ground, murmuring.
"M-m-mo-monster!" Katarina screamed, drawing the attention of the higher-level witches who were on the upper floors of the reception, and they all looked at the woman called a monster...
"Valentina!" Several witches began to shout as Dante looked at his mother with a smile on his face. It was very funny to see several witches trembling in fear and his mother's name echoing throughout the tower. He wanted to burst into laughter, but he just put his hand over his mouth and tried to stifle his laughter.
"Mama really is a monster, hehe..." Dante said while smiling at Valentina, who raised her eyebrows and became a bit angry. She accepted being a monster to everyone, but she didn't like her son calling her that.
"I'm not a monster; don't call me that," Valentina said angrily to Dante, but his smile didn't fade, so he returned the earlier "dear."
"Yes, you're a monster, Mom," Valentina became very angry upon hearing this from Dante again, but then he added, "But you're MY monster." Dante said, and Valentina's expression softened, and she started to chuckle softly.
A few seconds passed, and a cough behind them was heard. When he turned, he saw Morgana Arcano, Valentina's friend, and quickly understood.
"Hi! Aunt Morgana, came to visit," Dante said and ran toward Morgana, who picked him up in her arms with a smile.
"Oh! If it isn't my favorite little bat," Morgana said while holding and hugging him.
"Hump!" Valentina huffed as she watched her precious son in the hands of the 'witch vixen.'
"Release my husband," Valentina said, scaring everyone who observed the scene. Dante blushed a little because he remembered the previous situation...
Yes, Dante continued to drink blood directly from Valentina's neck, and occasionally, she drank directly from his neck. Valentina didn't see a problem since he looked at her in that way; it wouldn't do much good to ignore her son's desire...
Dante, on the other hand, began to have problems with his former self and the taboo he was committing, but he started sweeping his problems under the bed and stopped worrying about trivial matters. He would deal with it when he reached adulthood.
"Husband?" Morgana said, looking at Dante, who began to turn his face to avoid directly answering her.
"Yes, he did this." Valentina said, slightly opening the neckline of her dress, showing Dante's somewhat aggressive bite marks...
"Dante!" Morgana scolded Dante, who once again ignored everything; he didn't care anymore.
"I didn't do anything, just love my mom." Dante said as he wriggled out of Morgana's arms and stood on the floor.
"But!" Morgana tried to contradict, but soon a chill ran down her spine, leaving her in a state of panic quickly... Only she felt it, but even a blind person would know what had happened—Valentina became irritated and projected her battle aura onto Morgana, who began to tremble.
She was a witch, not a warrior.
"Alright, we'll talk about this later," Morgana waved her hands, and many crows began to appear, surrounding Valentina, Morgana, and Dante. Soon, they appeared in Morgana's office, and she started to move toward the desk.
"Dante, Valentina explained to me that you want to awaken earlier. Although I think it's too early, I can't contradict her. Naturally, your mana will appear at ten years old when your body is properly prepared with mana veins," Morgana picked up a golden ball with several runes in a language that Dante didn't understand.
"This is the Sage Sphere; it will force your body to awaken its magical potential by forcefully opening your veins, and this can be very painful," Morgana said with a worried look.
"But the choice is yours. When you touch it, the sphere will start injecting mana into your body, and your magical potential should appear. There are several levels of talent." Morgana then summoned a magic.
Several colorful spheres began to appear, and then Morgana began to point to each one.
"First comes the Bronze, it's the worst of talents and is mainly more present in less populated areas or with low magical energy concentration, like the isolated realms of the Human Empire." Morgana pointed to a copper-colored sphere.
"Second is the Silver, representing the low-grade talent, and most non-combatant people have this talent. They can refine it to the next level only by growing and training, even though it's extremely difficult." She pointed to a silver, chrome-like sphere.
"Now comes the Gold Talent, it represents most people born in regions where there is magical concentration, but it's still a bit less common compared to Silver." She showed a slightly worn golden sphere.
"This is the Diamond-grade talent; it already ranks you as a good contender as a mage, indicating potential for achieving great things." She pointed to a blue sphere.
"This is the Amethyst grade; it's more present in royal families and rulers of each race. The Amethyst grade is very rare but not uncommon. Most heirs fall between the Diamond and Amethyst grades." She pointed to a purple sphere.
"And finally, the highest grade of all, the Celestial Grade. This grade is only for those who can challenge everything, those who have the talent to destroy, conquer, and rule." Morgana said with a smile as she touched the Sensory Sphere, and the crystal began changing from opaque golden to a very strong golden light.
"Aunt Morgana is Celestial." Dante said as his mother approached and removed Morgana's hand from the sphere, placing her own hand in its place.
The neon gold, now emanating even more light, became a complete ball of light. "Your mother is an aberration; she's almost reaching the next level," Morgana said disdainfully.
"Mama's strong." Dante said, and a smile appeared on Valentina's face.