Extra's Ascent

Aldrich and Dante walked side by side on their way back to class.

'Damned cheat. How the hell is he that good at a game?!'

The result of skipping punishment to play a game turned out to be highly unfavourable for Aldrich.

'No. How can anyone be that good at a game?!'

It was infuriating. Jovially, but bitterly, Aldrich questioned how he had been so shamefully dragged around by Dante in a game.

A game was supposed to be his thing, alongside marksmanship.

It was supposed to be his moment to shine against the untainted genius that was Dante Pendragon.

'He does have that photographic memory, though.'

Yes, he did. Yet, Aldrich still couldn't wrap his head around how that could possibly help in a game that required skills and intellectual gameplay.

It was only when he vocalized it that he realized how photographic memory could polish gaming skills to monstrous proportions.

If used right.

What made it even worse for Aldrich was that after all the boasts he'd made earlier, he lost so miserably that he couldn't even score a single point against Dante.

"A question for you, Pendragon," Aldrich said, his voice tight. "What does it feel like to be you?"

Dante stopped, caught off guard by the sudden question.

"Where is that coming from?!" Dante asked, surprised.

"I saw you fight at the Cotillion event. I watched you face Edward, and how you shoved your arrogance around for everyone to see."

It had been menacing for Aldrich to witness.

Of course, it was all the more unsettling because Dante was the protagonist—the shining face of the novel Arthdal Chronicle.

"Talent? Prestige? Honour? Authority? Charisma? You've got it all. Even beating me in my best field. So, I just want to know—how does it feel to have everything, all in one person?"

In the novel, Aldrich had never really given much thought to that side of Dante.

To him, Dante had always just been a character to follow, a character to watch as he challenged hurdles and overcame obstacles.

But seeing him up close—seeing him as a person who was real, breathing, and alive—it was different.

It felt strange to meet someone who had everything a person could want.

The novel had painted him as being born perfect, born to be the best, shining above everyone else.

It remains to be asked realistically, how did that even happen?

Aldrich knew it was a mystery he couldn't solve.

He knew that thinking about it too deeply would only hurt his head.

The only way to make sense of it was to figure out how his transmigration into the novel had happened—outside of... belief.

"I don't know, Aldaman," Dante replied after a pause. "I never really thought about it that way."

"I guess to me, being perfect is nothing special," Dante continued, almost carelessly. "It's just my everyday deal, like how you sneeze and breathe. It's who I am, always have been... the best."

Aldrich couldn't believe what he was hearing.

A man standing next to him, attributing perfection to the same level of mundanity as sneezing or breathing? He thought, as he always did, that reality could be very unfair sometimes.

"So, it doesn't bug you that no matter how much effort others put in, they'll always pale in comparison to you?"

"Why should I be bugged about that?" Dante responded, almost incredulously.

Aldrich winced internally. What a stupid thing to ask.

Of course, it wouldn't bother Dante.

It wasn't his fault that he was written to be greater than everyone else.

"Though I must say," Dante continued, "I do find it boring sometimes, without the competition."

"Competition?" Aldrich asked, perplexed.

This part of Dante's character had been expressed in the novel, around chapter 200, when Edward and Dante had a scuffle.

Edward lashed out his frustrations at Dante, only for Dante to coolly dismiss him.

In retaliation, Dante had told Edward that he knew Edward's deep desire to best him, that Edward had been trying so hard to surpass him, but Dante had no interest in that because, to him, Edward wasn't worth the effort.

For Dante, Edward was always the guy who kept bugging him, constantly trying to get under his skin.

Dante knew that whenever he wanted, he could crush him, like a tiny nuisance, in an instant.

He had even gone so far as to say that the only reason Edward had ever believed he could surpass him was because Dante had let him think that.

Dante always held back, even more so for Edward, because Edward had been the one persistent enough to challenge him when others would either fear, admire, or envy him from afar.

He found it amusing to see Edward struggle for the impossible.

"I am the best. I know that. But shouldn't the others at least try their best to challenge me?" Dante mused. "You asked if it bugs me that I'm the best. Well, it doesn't. Just sometimes, I do wonder... does it bug them? That they're not as good as I am? Not even close to my level?"

A vein bulged on Aldrich's forehead as he listened to Dante speak.

'I seriously want to smack that arrogant face of his into the mud.'

As usual, Dante wasn't wrong.

For someone who had always been at the top, never stepping a foot lower, his thoughts seemed sane.

For Aldrich however, it was straight-up infuriating.

"I think that might change very soon," Dante added, his voice thoughtful.

"Really? Why?" Aldrich asked, his curiosity piqued.

The only person who could ever make Dante feel that way didn't come around until about chapter 300, and they were from the Elven continent.

There is another one not too far off from the current timeline, but that one is more of a senior type figurehead, someone whose record Dante aims to surpass and not really an individualism rivalry.

"Because..." Dante paused, his voice almost smug, "I saw that guy from the cotillion who stood up to me. I thought, Okay, maybe he has some balls. But I was wrong. And then I met you..."

Aldrich couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"...And once again, I got that same feeling."

"Me? You think I could be your competition?" Aldrich asked, incredulously.

It was laughable, really. Aldrich couldn't even muster the energy to laugh.

"Not my competition exactly," Dante corrected, "But there's something about you that stands out from the rest. Something that makes you different from the others in that classroom. And I'm going to figure out what that is."