Dante laughed as pain overwhelmed his arms. The veins inside burst out and blood leaked due to the release of condensed mana.
Julius came to his side and teleported him under a large tree. He checked his arms and let out a yell, "Shit. It is kind of painful."
Dante smiled under the pain, "Well, because it is painful. But I can somehow stop the blood from coming out. Just need a bit of focus."
Julius nodded seriously.
"Wait here. I will check on Thomas and see what we can do."
Dante was left alone. He shouldn't lie to himself. Because pain won't leave his side, reminding that he was still human no matter how many extraordinary powers he got.
He closed his eyes and fully absorbed himself in mana manipulation. He knew that was the only skill that would stop the bleeding.
Mana didn't need veins to travel but Dante envisioned mana traveling during the troll's attack.
Because of the troll's aura, his mana couldn't penetrate into the flesh to do damage. So he created another method. He inserted his hands into the eyes and let the mana flowed from there.
Even then, he couldn't do much damage.
That's why, he condensed mana inside his flesh, veins and let the condensed mana blast near the hand.
The result was effective to say the least. He created the blast strong enough to shake the troll's brain. Under Thomas's blow, the troll was hurt badly enough.
He sighed thinking about his plan. He was too weak.
If this is a starting monster then, we are basically doomed.
Dante ignored his worry and started working on his skill. Mana manipulation worked wonderfully, after experimenting with it, he stopped the bleeding.
Although the wounds were not healed, it was still the best solution he got right now.
He opened the system and went straight to the shop. He got 148 points from the kill.
He was tempted to buy the manuals but calmed himself.
Right now, the manuals are not good for me.
He searched the items lists and found bandages. He immediately brought the item and warped it around his arms.
He used mana to stop the bleeding but if the wounds won't heal on time, the risk of losing his arms was definitely possible. After all, his arms were now supported only using mana.
He cut off the blood flow entirely.
Hmm, strange. I feel like I am controlling a puppet rather than moving my own body.
He clenched his fist. Despite the wounds and pain, he managed to see a glimpse of his skill's power.
Or potential.
Mana manipulation skill worked mysteriously. Everytime he made a breakthrough in understanding, the skill retained the knowledge.
Compression. It is a key for attack power.
Dante saw Julius and Thomas walked toward him. He waved at them.
Thomas came to the side and sat down. "I don't have juices left."
Julius nodded and asked Dante. "How are your wounds?"
Dante lifted up his arms, "I can move right now but I need to do something about it. Otherwise, it will rot."
"Not good." Thomas said, scratching his chin. "I heard that arms can't function again after not having blood for 4 or 6 hours."
Dante sighed. "I see. Then I need to speed up my plan. For now, I want to observe you."
He pointed at Thomas.
"Me? Why?"
"Because you are the only one who has regeneration. I wanna see how you heal yourself. With my eyes and mana manipulation, I am sure I can replicate the ability."
Thomas nodded. "But my blessing is not working right now."
"Yes. I can see." Dante said using his hunter's eyes.
[External eyes of the hunter.]
The eyes that could see through layers of realities. So naturally, he could also use it to see mana.
"That's why I am asking for help." Dante said.
Thomas looked at Dante and nodded. "Understand."
He took a knife from Julius and slashed at his right arm.
"Here." He extended his arm to Dante.
Dante activated the eyes and observed the mana.
The mana around Thomas gathered and absorbed into the body. It then merged with the flesh, creating another type of energy.
"Hmm. It is fascinating. I don't know mana can be transformed like this." Dante said.
He manipulated his mana and took the strange energy inside Thomas's flesh.
After grabbing the energy, he observed intensely.
Mana was the natural state that made up the physical plane.
"I see."
Dante closed his eyes and felt the mana inside his core. By extracting the mana, he infused it into his flesh.
Normally, the flesh would strengthen but Dante wanted another result.
Dante smiled. He finally got the technique.
[Do you wish to learn Heal?]
"Yes." Dante muttered.
As soon as he learned the skill, information about the energy entered into his brain.The process of transforming mana into life energy.
"Heal."
Dante's eyes slowly healed using the skill.
"I am fine now. I got a skill from learning."
Thomas nodded. "I see. That is good to hear."
"Yeah. The skill is simple. Transform mana into life energy." Dante explained, creating a ball of life energy. "Creating life energy relies on the strength of flesh. But it will put a strain on your body."
"Anyways, we need to discuss our plan." Dante sighed, putting away the life energy.
He looked at the two friends.
"How many points did you all get? I have about 145." Dante said.
"120 for me." Julius answered.
"I have 150." Thomas said.
"We all have about 400 points." Dante said bluntly. "We need to buy two things from the shop."
"What is that?" Julius asked curiously.
"Weapons and manuals." Dante spoke his mind.
Thomas agreed. "I think so too. We can't damage the troll."
Julius raised his arm and said, "I am going to be selfish for a bit. I want a sword. Right now, I am useless in combat. I feel like I can do more than just teleporting."
He clenched a fist and nodded to himself.
"Okay. I will give Julius my point." Thomas said. "I don't need a weapon. I can still fight using my elements and fist."
"Julius. I want you to check the weapon you want."
"Already did. I need 50 points." He said.
Dante transferred the points to Julius via hand shake.
Julius bought the longsword from the shop and took it out. The sword appeared in the air and Julius grabbed it.
After swinging around the sword, he placed it on the side.
"Alright, next is manuals. So many things to choose but tier advancement theory is the best choice." Dante said.
He paused for a moment to collect his reason. "Right now, we are quite weak. That troll is no joke but we managed to overwhelm it because it is too slow. Even then, our attack can't pierce the skin."
Julius sighed, remembering the futile attacks he made. "You are right."
Thomas created fire on his palm, squinting his eyes. "Yeah. I feel like I can do more stuff with my blessing but something is preventing me."
Dante shook his head. "Not preventing. More like restricting."
From what his eyes saw, the natural mana was restricting him. He couldn't extend his mana control to the surroundings. Thus, unable to construct the skill he wanted.
Every time he created condenser mana, the natural mana instantly tried to shatter it.
Even the attack inside the troll worked because the troll's aura shield the natural mana attacked.
Dante opened the shop and selected the tier advancement theory.
Tier advancement theory.
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
…
[The rest is restricted by the great being.]
Dante suppressed his urge to buy a Tier 1 theory manual. Instead he bought a Tier 2 manual.