Dante travels the land, obsessively learning and growing, and embracing the very essence of moving forward without a surefire plan to victory. If his pragmatic and chaotic approach to strategy or, indeed, his life ethos as a whole could be summarized, I think it would be something along the lines of that he'd rather be moving 100mph in the wrong direction than doing nothing at all - he has faith in his ability to adapt, learn, and pivot should the need arise, and he does what he thinks is best for the whole and for himself. My favorite part about this series is that it teeters on being a villain as the protagonist.  He's a necromancer, he's caused all sorts of problems... but he's doing what he thinks is right. I think writing like that is brilliant. Do make sure to read his second series as well, the cycle of Galand.