"Hmm... it's the same space..." Dante wondered after entering the portal, seeing what's inside, "No... the shape of the space is different, albeit a little."
He walked slowly, checking for signs of cracking. 'I spent a whole year creating this rune, this better not turn out like the last one!'
His feet went cold as he was nearing the exit. His heart pounds with every step he takes, closing his eyes and reached out to the other portal.
XXXXXXXXX
"Huh?"
Dante opened his eyes to see green grasses, blue skies, and... human civilization, and there were so many of them! 'A-Am I home? What happened to the portal... Did the connection break? I'm pretty sure I was set for Planet Beenz...'
He thought as he looked around, wondering where he actually was. He found himself near a pond, he could see women washing a bunch of clothes. He walked up to them to their surprise, 'Maybe it's my clothes?'
"Hey... this might sound a bit weird, but can you tell me the name of this planet?" Dante scratched his head sheepishly, making them tilt their head in confusion and look at each other.
A lady, the oldest of the group, paused what she was doing and decided to entertain the boy, "Did you hit your head or something boy? You're obviously on planet Earth!" She smiled in amusement.
"Maybe? hehe..." Dante laughed, "Then how about where we are right now? What country? What year?"
"A lake near the highland park, California, the United States of America, October 3rd, 2017..." The old woman coughed a little, "Have you been using drugs? Your clothes are weird."
"2017? Then why are you washing in the lake instead of a washing machine?" Dante raised his eyebrows, only to widen his eyes in question. 'Did the time stop here when I traveled? I'm so confused... fascinating....'
All of them stopped doing what they were doing and glared at Dante, "Are you mocking us, or are you that stupid to see? We're homeless!" A woman who kept silent sneered.
'Oops, I guess the medieval era has rubbed off on me. With what they're wearing now, they could be considered as rich in Novigrad...' The raven-haired decided it was enough talk and walked out of the place, avoiding the women.
He reached near the road and saw lots of houses. "Ahh... how nostalgic!"
Getting a little excited, Dante walked faster and didn't care wherever his feet led him. He didn't fly or put an invisibility spell on himself, no, he was just walking like he didn't care for the world. Just enjoying the view, the buildings, oh god he missed them.
"There you are..." Dante stopped, looking at a building that was named, 'Civil Coffee'. This was a business built by a friend of his. 'Could he be inside? It's almost night... Nah, who cares? Let's barge in!'
Not minding his thoughts, Dante grinned and opened the door loudly, "Dexter! Your best friend's here you sonofabitch!" He yelled, making the costumers turn their heads in surprise.
He looked around and saw that there were people using laptops, 'I wonder how it feels to use gadgets again? I've not touched these kinds of things for almost half a decade already...'
"D-Dante?" A blonde chubby man, wearing a black polo-shirt walked out of an archway that was only covered with curtains, he walked towards the raven-haired and elbowed his ribs, "You motherfucker, you're going to scare my costumers off!" he yelled, then faced the people who were sitting and scratched his head, "Sorry 'bout that, how about free coffees for everyone?"
The man named 'Dexter' didn't wait for the people's response, then immediately grabbed Dante's hand and led him to a secluded room, and hugged him. "Dude! W-where have you been!? I thought you died!? You're clothes look weird..."
'What the fuh?' The raven-haired widened his eyes but was fast enough to keep his composure, "What do you mean? Did something happen?"
The blonde slapped Dante's shoulder to feel if this was real or not, "Did you went on hiding or something? It was all over the news!" Dex explained hastily and took out his phone, opening youtube, and gave it to Dante, who was looking at a video where lots of people were wearing black suits and a coffin in a cemetery.
The video was posted four months ago, 'So I died in June...'
"Isn't that you? Even your face is not far off!" Dex yelled, although not too loudly as there were still costumers in the area. "What the fuck happened to you man?"
'I thought Zeno transported me to beenz alive, wait... that explains why my body was younger when I woke up... but if I died before being reborn, how did I die? All I remember was sleeping... was I assassinated? But only our family members know where my room is located... a rat...' Dante thought all these things for only a second before pinning it for now and come back to this later.
"Dex..." The raven-haired looked at his friend's eyes, "I think my family has a rat, the body you saw was not mine but a look-alike. However, all I know is that I was just sleeping at a hotel of mine at New York and woke up somewhere..." Dante explained, trying not to give any holes in his explanation, "Dex, we've been best friends since we were elementary, please don't tell anyone about this, not even your Fiance."
Dexter could only nod and gulp, this was a lot to take in. "What're you gonna do now? Go back to your family and announce your return?"
"Hm? I'll stay low, for now, the person behind my death could hide and fake his way in to avoid being caught if word gets out that I'm still walking with the living," Dante crossed his arms and looked at the phone one more time before giving it to his friend, "on the positive side, I'm no longer tied with a criminal family!"
Dante grinned, trying to cheer up the chubby guy in front of him. "Can I sleep here for tonight? I don't have money with me, and your Fiance hates my gut."
Dexter could only sigh, Dante was still Dante, the kind of guy who tries to lift any mood up, "Yeah, sure... it's still early in the evening, I'm closing at 9 pm. Do you have somewhere to be?"
The raven-haired thought a moment, cupping his chin, then nodded, "I'll come back before the closing time."
Dante hugged Dexter one more time to assure the man, then walked out of the premise after apologizing to the costumers. They didn't mind, especially when they received free coffee.
'Hmm... I can feel Whis' energy from here, it's so strong but it's too far for me to directly teleport... is he releasing constantly for me to find it? I mean, he knows about my space/time abilities...' Dante thought, walking across the road. The time was around 7 pm, so it was still early.
The raven-haired arrived at a Jewelry store. He wanted to exchange his scraps for cash, and he had lots of them. Thankfully, it was still opened, so he entered after being checked by a guard who had a holster but no firearm, 'This is why robbers get away so easily...'
He shook his head and continued to the jeweler, who was waiting for the customer to enter. "Hey, I wanted to sell my valuables."
"Hello! Good aft- evening sir, how about you let me take a look at what you're selling?" The teller smiled, not minding his slip-up.
Dante didn't care as he put his hand inside his pocket, creating a bunch of luxury watches and necklaces on the spot. 'Ahh... thank you Zeno!' he inwardly smiled and placed them on the glass counter. "How much will you buy for these? I know the prices so don't be too greedy."
The raven-haired secretly placed an illusion magic on the guy to make him think Dante was wearing nice clothes. The jeweler widened his eyes in shock at what he was seeing right now, Rolex watches and Cartier necklaces! "S-Sir let me take a look!"
The man stuttered and took his magnifying glass, trying to look for any imperfections. "Sir, I can only buy two of these watches and three on the necklaces for two-million dollars. These types of jewelry are very expensive and a simple jewelry store like us can't afford all of them"
Of course, Dante knew that. He was only showing off this many jewelries so that the guy wouldn't scam him out. He could spam lots of them, but he was a businessman. And he could use magic and just take their money but he wasn't that kind of person. "Then buy what you can."
It didn't take long for the transaction to complete as the jeweler brought out a big bag that's full of cash, "Sir, are you going to be okay carrying this amount of money? Just to be safe..."
"Yeah, yeah... I got a car waiting for me," Dante nodded and took the free duffle bag, walking out, "Thanks!"
XXXXXXXXXX
As Dante got out of the store, he immediately placed the bag inside his pocket space since no one was watching. 'Now I don't have to worry, all I need to is to either tweak the portal or just build another one that's going to locate Whis' exact location. But for now...'
The raven-haired then arrived at the now-closed coffee shop with Dexter sweeping the floor, he made his employees get an early out with full payment so that his friend could use the place.
"Dex!" Dante yelled, making the man turn his head and smile, "Why don't we go out for some food? I won some money from a small gamble."
The blonde could only shake his head and sigh, "Alright, let's close the shop first."