Interesting. It was truly interesting.
The manuals didn't come from the system. They came from higher beings who make some kind of contract with the system.
Combat theory came from LordofBloodshed. The theory was about how to obtain basic martial art skills in any field. It described the essence of combat for a few lines and started talking about how to get skills.
Skill theory was a strange one. The creator was a higher being named WatcherofCountless. The main theory was that the skill came from the giant library created by the system.
The system gave access to the library. That is how the skill formed.
What Dante didn't understand was a strange concept called Leveling up. Skill theory talked a lot about leveling.
It is said that repeated usage skills will result in experience. Those experiences will fuel the skill to level up.
He closed the manuals and gave it back to Julius.
"Hey, does your skill have a level?" He asked.
Julius turned toward him and gave a puzzled look. "Of course."
"I see. I don't have a level in my skill. It just says Grade." Dante explained. "Maybe that is why I can twist my skill as I please. Because I am not bound by the level."
"Makes sense."
Dante began to pick up his pace and started dashing. They arrived at the fights and started collecting the cores.
They got about 14 cores. Soon Dante stopped and headed to the dungeon.
Like Thomas said, the entrance was huge.
A rocky entrance imbued into a cliff. Just as he was about to enter, a notification rang.
Dante stopped in his tracks and pulled up the system. What he noticed was how much smoother the system became. The status could now be called using only his mind.
[Detecting the unconquered dungeon.]
[Requirements not met.]
[Requirement - Tier 2.]
"Guess Thomas forgot to talk about this." Julius said.
"Yeah. Now we have our temporary goal. Come. Let's go to the cave. I have many things I want to do."
Julius grabbed Dante's shoulder and said. "Let's use the fast way."
Dante and Julius arrived at the cave. Thomas was sitting under the tree, meditating.
His broken arm was now almost healed.
Dante looked at Thomas and said to Julius. "We should give him a rest. I see the mana protecting him. Don't approach him with force."
Julius nodded and walked over to the opposite side.
Dante stretched his body and entered into the cave. He neatly placed the core in his area and sat down.
My advancement will take about 2 weeks with this many cores. I can absorb more mana into my core as well.
Dante thought. His theory was now confirmed. The more you use mana, the faster the connection becomes.
He grabbed the troll's core and tried absorption again.
After the session, he walked out and prepared the meal. He saw Thomas experimenting with his four mana.
He took a glance at Julius and saw his friend, dancing with the blade. It was impressive considering the fact that he never held the sword before yesterday.
Now, Julius was more proficient than the mastered Swordsman he saw in the movie.
After stressing his core, he stopped the absorption and started to think about gaining the skill. To be honest, his ideal skill could only be obtain when he reached Tier 2.
He wanted to freely manipulate mana around him.
'But this should be possible in Tier 3.' Dante thought. 'Tier 2 will somewhat give me a chance to protect my mana from the natural mana.'
He got from his seat and walked out of the cave. Thomas and Julius were sparring against each other.
Dante clapped his hand and gathered their attention to him. "Yo. I got a discussion."
Thomas walked over to him, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Julius also came and sat down on a wooden log.
"Is it about the dungeon?" Julius asked.
"Yes. Let's make a plan. We will enter the dungeon for sure. But I also have other things to say." Dante hummed a tone.
"There is a goblin village near us. I saw them with my eyes when you guys were facing against the wolves and goblins."
Thomas slapped his hands and said, "So that is why we are always facing against the goblin."
"The notification also said Tribe Goblin." Julius pointed out.
"We will stay here until we reach Tier 2. These goblins will definitely try to hunt us. We will use them to train ourselves." Dante explained.
The two friends nodded.
***
Time moved fast, in a blink of an eye two weeks passed.
Dante opened his eyes from the absorption session and nodded to himself. His body was almost now fill with mana. He just needed a final push.
'Status.' He called out the system in his mind.
Name- Dante
Tier- Tier 1 human.
Bloodline- Saga beyond the end.
Skill-
External eye of the hunter (Grade-8)
Mana manipulation (Grade-1)
Heal (Grade-1)
Dash (Grade-1)
Close combat ( Beginner.)
Axe mastery ( Beginner.)
He had been training his fighting skill for a while now. He mostly sparred against his friends. Thomas helped him a lot with getting up quickly from the pain.
Julius helped him refined his technique.
Overall, he could easily killed a normal goblin with ease.
During the past two weeks, they mostly targeted the goblins. Thinning them before the real raid against the village.
Dante estimated about 150 goblins living inside the village. By now, he suspected that only 40 or more goblins left. They were strong no doubt about that.
Some goblins could even use magic such as fire ball.
The other good things they had was how many points they got from killing the goblins.
They bought weapons and clothes from the system shop. Mainly clothes because the weather was slowly transitioning into the winter.
The night was getting longer.
Dante grabbed the long coat hanging on the wall and wore it. He also placed a giant axe on his shoulder and walked out.
Thomas was submerging himself in a pool of four mana. Dante saw that he was very close to Tier 2.
'He will advancement today or tomorrow. I will be hunting alone today.' Dante thought to himself.
Julius stood alone on the tree, overseeing the cave with his eyes. Dante whistled at his friend and gave a nod.
Julius looked back and seemed to understand what he was trying to say and nodded back.
Dante took out the axe and swung a few strikes at the nearby tree, instantly chopping down.
He smiled at his work and began to walk away from the cave. His hunter's eyes picked up a few movements from the south.
He was hoping them to be some kind of wolves because killing goblins had become boring lately.
Because they were so easy to fool that it was like stealing candy from a child.
At least, the wolves were unpredictable in their nature.
Humming a song, he walked over to the target he placed.