Apocalypse system: I have unparallel comprehension-Chapter 75 - Chilling gaze

Snow fell without pause.

Thick, heavy flakes drifted down from the gray sky, layering the forest in white. The cold here wasn’t sharp. Dante felt the small inside the surroundings.

It was deep, slow, and suffocating.

His boots sank into the snow with a muted crunch. The sound barely traveled before the forest swallowed it whole.

Tall trees surrounded them.

Their trunks were thick and ancient, bark split and dark. Bare branches stretched overhead, tangled together, blocking most of the sky.

Only thin slits of pale light slipped through.

The wind moved quietly.

It slid between the trees, carrying the smell of ice and old wood. Every breath Dante took felt heavier than the last.

He exhaled. White mist spilled from his mouth and vanished.

Dante rolled his shoulders, followed by his neck. Joints popped softly as he stretched, testing his body. Strength flowed smoothly through his limbs.

Tendo stopped a few steps behind him.

"Do you like your current physique?"

Dante nodded slowly. "Yeah. Mana flow is smooth and I can draw in more strength. And I can also imbue more mana without damaging my skill."

"This feeling is just a start. Go on." Tendo smiled.

Dante extended his arm and used his mana. Mana responded instantly.

Not with the sharp pull he was used to, nor with the explosive feedback of a spell, but with something far smoother.

It flowed through him naturally, circulating through his limbs and skin as if it had always belonged there, responding more to intent than to command.

"...This feels strange," Dante muttered, staring at his hand.

Tendo tilted his head slightly. "In what way?"

"I am not just gathering mana anymore." Dante paused, searching for the right words. "It is coming at me. It is strange."

He lifted his palm slowly, and the air around it distorted almost imperceptibly. A thin, translucent layer of mana formed, not dense or aggressive, but firm in a way that made the space itself feel defined.

Snowflakes drifted down into it.

The moment they touched the invisible boundary, their descent slowed, as if the world itself had applied brakes.

One by one, the flakes stopped entirely, hovering in place, suspended in midair without sound.

Dante’s eyes widened slightly. "Oh."

He manipulated mana into the shape of a hand and grabbed the nearby tree brunch. Mana hand missed but he continued trying.

After a few attempts, he got it. He snapped the brunch and brought it near him.

He dispelled the mana hand and the brunch fell to the snow ground. He smiled as the natural mana was now like his own.

He turned to Tendo and asked. "Do you think I can use this in a battle?"

"You could but I don’t recommend adding it to your kit." Tendo shrugged his shoulders. "Because those abilities are the fundamental part of Tier 3 and above. Here."

Tendo demonstrated by conjuring his own mana hand.

"Try taking control of my hand." He smirked, waving his mana hand in front of Dante.

Dante accepted the small challenge. He extended his hand and paused. No matter how much mana he surrounded Tendo’s mana hand, he could gain the control.

"That is the difference between mana levels." Tendo said. "I will lower my output." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Dante immediately felt the difference and grabbed a hold of mana hand. He turned the hand direction to Tendo and manipulated to give Tendo a middle finger.

Tendo smiled and waved his hand. A tiny mana flew toward the mana hand and it vanished.

Dante nodded his head as he saw what Tendo did. He used a small mana to distort the mana hand.

"I see. Even Tier 2 can overcome this ability."

"Yep. I learned it the hard way. Consider this as my bug advice." Tendo said, reminiscing the battle he fought before.

Dante ignored Tendo and started trying every arsenal inside his bags. He first tested his mana output and control.

It didn’t reach his satisfaction but he could train it. So he moved on.

Body enchantment skill.

He positioned himself into a runner stance and pumped speed energy inside his lower body. He then dashed.

Dante crashed into the tree. He didn’t hurt but noted inside himself to not attempt full speed in the battle until he mastered his body.

He then fired the standard mana bolt, aiming at the tree. Mana gathered around the tip of his hand. The compression was visible to the naked eyes and could feel the intensity into the air.

He tried adding a twist to the mana bolt but it was rejected. So he just fired a plain mana bolt.

"Ok. That is a skill I can use without training." He murmured.

Tendo was now sitting on the tree, whistling at Dante’s training. He sometimes gave advice and sometimes ignored him.

Dante didn’t mind him tagging along but he definitely could use some privacy. But he still needed Tendo’s advice in the next step of his testing so he couldn’t kick him out.

His core ability. Dante had been avoiding training this for two reasons. One was he didn’t know what the core ability was. The manual didn’t tell him about that.

Dante now developed a trust issue with the system. He chuckled and called out Tendo.

Tendo jumped down and landed gracefully.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah. No need to look cool."

Tendo looked at him with a clueless expression. "What do you mean? I am always like that." He smiled.

"How can I use my core ability?" Dante asked. "Now that the system shop is gone, I can’t buy the manual. Not that I know it existed in the first place."

Tendo shook his head. "No, you won’t find useful stuff in the system shop. Wanna know a little secret?"

Dante nodded.

"The system manual shop is old." Tendo whispered. "The stuff inside was gathered around when the first universe was discovered by the system. Ah.. alright. Alright. I won’t tell anymore."

Tendo jumped up as if he felt a shockwave inside his spine. He then looked at Dante and said. "Sorry, that is all I can say."

"It is fine. I can piece together." Dante’s eyes narrowed and felt a chill run through his spine. A warning entered his head.

He looked up as he felt an intense gaze starting down. It was not the usual gaze anymore. Now, it was more intense, more purposeful.

"Forget about it." Tendo slapped Dante ’s back. His eyes showed that he knew what was looking down.

Dante nodded and returned the conversation to the core ability.

Tendo nodded and started explaining. "Core ability is your innate power. Think of it as an extension of your will. We are different from the leveled humans. At the start, we didn’t have any superpower."

Dante squinted his eyes. "I can fire stuff and my other friends have unique abilities."

"I know. That is because we are special. Regular Tier humans or beings don’t have access to these special abilities until they reach Tier 3." Tendo explained.

Dante nodded and listened. "So core ability always exists within us."

Tendo nodded. "It is the same in the leveled beings but also not the same as well. It is complicated and I can’t reveal it yet. You will know one day. I am sure that you will know everything."

Tendo gave a knowing smile.

"My core ability is called bubble." Dante rubbed his chin and thought. "Any ideas?"

Tendo shrugged his shoulders. "Don’t know. Your thing is knowledge right? Maybe it depends on this. Ability is usually tied to yourself."

Dante frowned and began to think. After a few minutes, he scratched his head and let out a sigh.

"I can’t think anything. I also try doing everything and still can’t activate my ability."

"Well, just think more."

Dante nodded and sat down, letting the white snow rain down on his body. He closed his eyes.

Time passed and yet he still didn’t learn a single thing about his ability.

"Maybe I don’t need to worry about this right now."

"No." A flat sound echoed in the white forest.

Dante looked up and saw Tendo playing with mana up in the tree.

"Core abilities are the most important part of your being. You just train that as if your life depended on it."

Dante sighed and called Tendo down.

"Can you demonstrate a few of your skills?" Dante asked.

Tendo nodded. "What kind of skill? I can use everything."

"Hmm." Dante thought. "Try the wind related skill."

"Okay. Don’t expect it to be low level." Tendo smirked. "Since you are a sage, I will show you a grand one."

Tendo lifted up his hand and struck his palm at the air in front of him.

Dante’s eyes widened as he observed the changes happening in the air. In the wind. In the mana Tendow was manipulating.

At first, the air moved swiftly like a standard wind but sometimes mixed in the second step as it passed through.

The wind Tendo created didn’t slash or damage any trees. Tendo lowered his hand and turned toward Dante, smiling.

"Three....two...one." As soon as Tendo said one, the tree behind him exploded one by one.

"Do you see it?" Tendo asked.