Apocalypse system: I have unparallel comprehension-Chapter 76 - Red Bubble

Dante was impressed by the power behind Tendo’s display. It was gentle and smooth. But it was also opposite, mixing in with the aggressive substance in his spell.

He tilted his head and asked, "Do you have the name?"

"Yep, I called it Grave Breeze. I created it a few days ago, observing the cold wind."

Dante extended his hand and channeled a ball of mana. It floated in front of him. He then turned this pure mana ball into a compressed wind energy ball.

After advancing to Tier 3, his concept was also strengthened. He could feel it.

He lifted up his hand, wind surroundings on his palm.

"Your skill is simple." Dante explained. "You created a regular wind wave and threw it in that direction. But during the assault, you added a new energy into the mix."

Dante paused, his eyes narrowing. He looked past Tendo and stared at the vast amount of trees. He inhaled a cold breath and blasted the wind he carried into that direction.

The wind pushed through, passing every single tree. During the passing, Dante manipulated his mana in a precise manner.

He didn’t create. Instead, he grabbed the surroundings energy and added to the wind. The cold energy.

The result was simple. The coldness seeped into the tree, building up.

Soon, unable to withstand the coldness, the trees exploded one by one like a chain reaction. Dante smiled.

He looked at Tendo. "Perfect replication."

Tendo clapped his hand. "Good job. Your manipulation is almost on par with me."

Dante’s lip twitched.

"I will take this as a compliment." He scoffed.

Tendo laughed. "I was complimenting you. As you know, my core ability allows me to be one step ahead of everyone. Let’s go back to your core ability. Do you have any clue?"

Dante nodded and smiled. "I think I have an idea."

He got a tingling feeling when he demonstrated the cold wind blast. The sensation was brief and almost negligible but he pinned it right down.

He crouched down and grabbed a pebble. He smiled as the memories of the earlier phase of tutorial emerged into his mind. It didn’t even take that long and yet he was feeling nostalgia.

As his thoughts ran wild inside his head, he paused. He looked up at Tendo and asked a serious question.

"Are there any flaws or side effects with using the core ability?"

Tendo didn’t react. He remained silent for a moment and nodded.

"Yes there is." Tendo said slowly. "It is called a flaw or restriction."

"Really?" Dante kicked his feet. "Even after Tier 3, I still have a restriction."

"Don’t get too disappointed, it is not that bad. In my opinion, the restrictions gave us more room to improve. Otherwise, we will be stuck in the same place." Tendo reasoned.

Dante nodded slowly, not giving in to the idea but he didn’t know what his power let alone his restriction. So, he couldn’t get that angry right now.

He sighed. "What is your restriction?"

Tendo smiled. "You seemed to get the wrong ideas about my words. The restrictions are created by yourself. You don’t need a restriction but without one, your core ability will be weak."

"Kind of like an equivalent exchange."

Tendo snapped his fingers. "Correct. My restriction is simple. Every time I activate my core ability, I have to only choose one person, just one."

"I don’t get it. How is that a restriction?"

"Hehe." Tendo chuckled. "Before I imposed this restriction, my ability went wild. Let’s say, for example, I used my ability on a group of Tier 3 monsters."

Dante nodded, envisioning the view.

"Let me demonstrate my core ability." Tendo smiled.

"Supreme Heaven." As soon as Tendo muttered the name, the world around him stopped. Air vibrated and mana echoed beside him.

A chill ran through Dante’s spine. A cold dread coiled inside his stomach like a snake. It warped around his heart.

Dante saw an aura coming out from Tendo. Enveloping the entire environment.

Dante felt weak.

"My aura expanded and covered my target like this. Let’s say, I expand my aura to a group of Tier 3 monsters. I will be stronger than their boss for sure. But that can change. As soon as the boss stepped out or died, I was dropped to the initial rate and had to adapt to the changes."

"That small change can be proven lethal in the battle." Tendo said, taking back his aura.

Dante let out a breath, he didn’t know he was holding. He gathered air and nodded, sweat dripping down his forehead in the cold forest.

"So I only chose one person. That restriction gave me a boost in many areas."

"I see." Dante muttered.

Dante understood the core ability of Tendo. It was simple and yet complex at the same time. It only pushed you to the higher step then your opponent but the push depended on various other factors.

Only a genius could use this type of core ability.

And Tendo was perfect for that.

As for Dante, he found a clue. A big clue about his core ability.

Bubble.

He closed his eyes and drew his will inside his core. He slowly took out the power he felt earlier, it flowed smoothly, travelling along his mana veins.

He guided the power toward his left hand and pushed it out.

Dante didn’t sense anything on his left hand but when he opened his eyes he saw a translucent bubble floating.

Tendo whistled.

"Ohh, you got it."

Dante shook his head. "It is not complete."

He then popped the bubble. It vanished without making a sound.

"Ahh."

Dante smiled and closed his eyes again. He then created a fire mana inside his core and drew out again.

This time, a red bubble appeared.

"I see a lot of fire mana." Tendo said. "Although I am not sure, the mana is inside the bubble or the bubble itself."

Dante smirked. "Even you can’t see it?"

Tendo shook his head. "You tell me"

"It is in both. I made this bubble using fire mana." Dante explained. "Now, let’s see the effect."

He pushed the red bubble close to the pebble. The bubble was absorbed by the regular pebble. There was leakage and no sign showed on the pebble.

Dante tossed in the air and gave it to Tendo. Tendo also tried. He even bites the pebble.

"It is like the fire mana just vanished in the air." Tendo said, giving the pebble back.

Dante smiled. "It is because I don’t activate it."

He threw the pebble at the tree and waited for it to strike. As soon as the pebble reached the tree, he commanded the trigger inside his head.

The pebble released a burst of energy.

It exploded. A numerous times stronger than the fire man he used.

"Damn." Dante shielded himself from the heat wave.

Tendo observed the explosion with silence.

The power to shove the energy into things and release it twice was a useful power. Dante was quite happy with it.

And Dante knew he was not done yet. He still felt like he could use more to improve his core ability.

But here came a problem. He scratched his head. "How am I supposed to add restrictions?"

"Don’t you already have a restriction?" Tendo asked.

"I don’t know."

"Your activation speed." Tendo pointed out. "It is not fast. And in order to use your core ability fully, you need many things. Energy, catalyst and trigger. Those steps are not that much currently but in the battle, they will be a hustle."

Dante nodded. "I have to agree but I think I can improve that."

Tendo patted Dante and smiled. "Train. Train. The final is coming soon. I have to go."

Dante waved his hand.

Tendo turned around after walking a few steps. "Oh, I almost forgot, I got a reply from the Rebellion. The ritual is completed. Your ring can awaken now."

"Oh." Dante looked at his black ring and nodded. "I also have this thing. I almost forgot. Guess, I will be leaving this place."

"You better start packing." Tendo said and left in a flash.

Dante watched and resumed his training, thinking deeply about how he could use his new found power fullest. He smiled to himself and created another bubble.

***

The next morning, Dante packed everything he needed into his bag. Now that his system shop was gone, he couldn’t purchase his weapon anymore.

He still had one small axe left but that was nowhere near enough. And he didn’t use the cane as much as he would like to. There was no opportunity for that weapon.

He grabbed the black cane and muttered. "One day. One day you will be useful. You better be."

He checked the content inside his bag again. There was food. He didn’t need water for obvious reasons but he didn’t forget to take at least a bottle with him.

After that, he grabbed the bag and entered the first floor.

Tendo didn’t say goodbye.

And Dante knew he didn’t need to. After all, if the prophecy was correct, they were going to fight side by side.

With that thought, Dante’s eyes went dark as he remembered the man he was supposed to kill.