Tier 2 manual cost about 35 points.
As soon as he bought the manual, a thin book manifested in front of Dante. He grabbed the book and looked at the front cover.
The cover was plain, only describing the title.
To be honest, he didn't expect the system to shower him with special effects but definitely not this. It was kind of underwhelming.
He flipped through the book and started reading.
It only took him about 15 minutes to read the full book. After that, he gave the book to Julius.
"How is the manual?" Julius asked.
"There are a lot of interesting things in there. I am sure that Tier 2 is the start of power."
Dante stood up and stretched his limbs, feeling a slight weight in them.
He then walked over to the troll and activated his eyes. Under his eyes, he saw through the flesh, bones and blood.
Mana was slowly returning into the surroundings. He then noticed a condensed mana near the troll's heart.
Must be mana core.
He climbed up the body and crouched down. He condensed mana inside his body and placed it on the flesh. It exploded.
After repeated attempts, he saw the mana core. He grabbed the core and nodded to himself.
This would be the first step to reach Tier 2.
According to the manual, Tier 2 is the process of connecting mana and the body. There were two ways you could use it.
One is the easiest way. That was to allow the mana to naturally develop connections. It would take about 2 to 3 months depending on your physique and mana manipulation skill.
Dante rejected this method from the start. He didn't want to stay at Tier 1 for long. The restrictions were starting to work on him.
He couldn't do anything.
The second method was simple. Just absorb mana in your core. Much more mana than your core could handle.
Dante noted that the troll's core would speed up the process about 40 days. But it was still too slow.
He walked back to his friends and sat down, throwing the core at the center.
"I am going to the second route." Dante said.
"Same." Julius agreed, reading the manual.
"Yeah." Thomas said, cracking his knuckles. "But I don't need this thing."
He threw the core back to Dante.
"Why?" Julius asked.
Thomas waved his hand and mana gathered around him. "Because I am blessed. The world around me is gathering mana for me. I think it will take about 2 weeks before my advancement."
"Now that you mention about it, I don't think I need the core as well." Julius said, scratching his head.
"Huh?" Dante yelled.
"To be honest, having the core would speed my advancement but I am in the same position as Thomas. My spacetime body absorbed the mana in various layers of physical realities and stored them in my body." Julius explained.
Dante nodded. "Okay. Then I will monopolize this core."
The three of them started walking away from the corpse. They had already solved the water problem since Thomas could just create it with Mana.
Dante worked as a scout with his eyes. Both of his friends followed behind him.
"Okay." He stopped and turned around.
"I don't see any humans around 300 meters from us. But I sensed a few monsters roaming around. Their mana is quite low compared to the troll."
"We should avoid the monsters for now." Julius said and continued his explanation. "Right now, we are too close to the troll. I am sure other monsters would start coming here due to the smell and sound we made."
"Yeah." Thomas nodded.
Dante rubbed his chin, "That is smart. I never thought about that. Then I will pick the path where we will encounter a few monsters."
With that, Dante surrounded himself with mana and dashed forward. Wind passed by his body.
The speed at which he ran surpassed every human before the system. Each step pushed his body faster.
[Do you wish to learn Dash?]
"Yes." He mumbled.
As soon as he learned the Dash skill, the mana in his legs flew more easily. Dante smirked and nodded to himself.
They all ran for an hour and stopped when they found a cave. Dante extended the range of his eyes, checking on every monster around here.
He noticed a few packs of wolves roaming around.
Dante walked to the cave and touched the wall. He then looked at his friends and said, "Let's make this our base."
Thomas knocked on the wall. "This cave is quite unstable. I will try improving the defense."
"Okay then I will go absorb the core over there." Dante said and walked away from the group.
His eyes saw Julius took out his sword and started swinging.
The core was filled with Mana. Dante suspected that the troll was close to reaching Tier 2.
Before he absorbed the core, he decided to check his status.
"Status."
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)
Dante didn't know whether his status was impressive or not.
'Guess this is a drawback for being away from other humans.' Dante shook his head and closed the system.
He had a feeling that his skill display was not the same as others.
Dante grabbed the core and closed his eyes, infusing his mana into it.
He then slowly pulled out the mana and absorbed it back into his core. He also wanted to split his mana into absorbing the surroundings but the troll's mana core was intense.
One wrong step and the mana would leave his body, that meant wasting the core.
The mana in his body filled up quickly.
Dante didn't stop his absorption. Even when his core was full, he didn't stop absorbing.
His body was releasing a ton of mana.
He stopped the process only when the core couldn't release back the mana anymore. Dante cracked his neck and rubbed his eyes.
He also stood up and stretched his body. Sitting for hours stiffened his joints a bit.
He looked up at the sun and noted the time.
Absorption takes about an hour or so. I will spend the rest on improving my mana skill.
Dante thought silently and walked over to the cave.
He saw Julius meditating with a sword. Immediately, he activated his eyes and noticed the space fluctuating near his blond friend.
He decided to ignore it and went to Thomas.
"How is remodeling, Mr.Enginner? I want a full bathroom and a master bed." Dante joked.
"It will cost you a lot." Thomas shook his head. "I hardened the wall with Mana. We should rest today."
Dante nodded and walked away from the cave. "I will hunt some animals around here. I saw some deer wandering nearby."
"Okay, take care."
Dante waved and disappeared from Thomas's view.