Apocalypse system: I have unparallel comprehension-Chapter 26 - Thousand Dreams

Chapter 26: Chapter 26 - Thousand Dreams
Splitting. Forming. Knowing.
Splitting. Forming. Knowing.
This kind of process repeated for a thousand times inside his head. Memories of the unknown poured deep into his brain, merging with himself.
He found himself going through stage one of the dungeon. But it was different. There was no looping hallway. There was no Hodag manipulating the space.
This different first stage was filled with goblins. Waves of goblins trying to kill his friends trio but they managed to survive through sheer willpower and perseverance.
Splitting. Forming. Knowing.
The next first stage was a puzzle. Dante had to find a way to find a solution using his mana manipulation.
Splitting. Forming. Knowing.
Dante found himself clearing thousands more in the first stage.
The second stage was the same. Knowledge about the unfamiliar past assaulted his mind.
Slowly, his mind processed the information.
Splitting. Forming. Knowing.
Dante slowly opened his eyes, blue light shining onto his face. He lifted up his hands, covering up his eyes. He blinked a few times, adjusting the light.
"Are you awake?" A familiar voice came from his left side, filled with worry.
Dante nodded, still covering his eyes. He began to think about his situation and quickly stood up.
He turned to the left and grabbed Julius’s shoulder. "How long did I sleep?"
Julius smiled and patted Dante. "Relax. You only sleep for one week. Are you okay? You suddenly shouted and started hurting yourself."
Dante gave a soft nod and touched his forehead. He remembered banging his head on the ground repeatedly but Tier 2 body easily healed this kind of wounds.
He sat down and let out a sigh. "Can you give me water?"
"Sure." Julius said and went to the other side, taking out a water bottle from Dante’s backpack.
He gave it to Dante.
Dante drank the water and poured the rest to his head, cooling off his heated brain.
He shook his head and let out a laugh. The laughter was devoid of joy, filled with pure malice.
Dante looked at his hands and clenched a fist tightly.
From the moment he arrived inside the dungeon,
Nyrax
put him inside the dream. The dream was endless, designed to repeat from start to the third stage until Nyrax got what he desired.
He didn’t know how he escape from the dream. According to Nyrax, the man was bored and decided to end this game.
That was why Dante always felt a sense of Deja vu. He had been repeating this dungeon for unknown times.
Dante frowned, remembering Nyrax’s words.
"He said this is not a dream. Not a dream." Dante muttered to himself, running his chin. His mind recalled every detail of the conversation he had with the entity called Nyrax.
’If this is not a dream, the most possible answer is not dream manipulation but pure time manipulation. No. But that shouldn’t be possible. Something is missing.’
Unable to find the answer, he punched at the wall in frustration. He used all his strength but the wall didn’t even crack a little. He wiped the blood from his hand and nodded to himself.
He burned the image of Nyrax into his mind. Each thought of that person enraged him.
That man manipulated him as if he was a puppet.
Thomas came to him and asked. "So wanna talk? Now that you seem calm."
Dante nodded. "Yeah. Come here." He called Julius.
The three friends sat down. Dante began to talk about his experience.
This kind of talk was also giving him a sense of Deja vu, suppressing the irritation in his heart, Dante told his friends everything.
"That is hard to believe." Thomas said, his eyes filled with dread. "I can’t believe there is someone powerful enough to mess you up like this. My buddies didn’t even notice the change until you started yelling."
"What did they notice?" Dante asked, confused by Thomas’s words.
"They say the mana inside you changes abruptly. It was like seeing a young child turned into an old man in an instant."
Thomas answered, truthfully even if he himself didn’t understand what the mana around him was talking about.
Dante nodded.
"Check your status." Julius gave advice, thinking something.
"Status." Dante called out.
He read the system window, the start was normal but his eyes landed on something. There was a new skill in his status.
The new skill was replacing the two skills,
Close
combat
and
Axe
mastery
.
[Reaper of ???]
He focused on this skill and nothing came up. Usually, the system would ingest basic knowledge about the skill to the brain.
He frowned. Losing the two skills was a loss for him.
"I got a new skill I exchanged for all my martial skills." Dante said.
"Is it good?" Thomas asked.
Shaking his head, Dante answered. "I don’t know yet. It showed question marks."
"I see. I was hoping that you will level up your skill." Julius said.
"Me too." Dante smiled, scratching his head. He got up from the ground and started stretching his body.
He looked to Thomas and asked. "I wanna spar. My body felt rusty."
Thomas flashed a devious smile. "Gladly. Don’t think I will take it easy on you because you just woke up from that hell."
"Appreciate it." Dante nodded seriously and gave a low kick.
Thomas, who was sitting on the ground, didn’t have time to dodge the kick. Instead, he threw a punch at the kick.
Normally, the kick was more powerful than the punch but Thomas was not normal. Dante stepped back, rubbing his leg.
"Monster." He protested.
Thomas let out a laugh and stood up. "That is what you get from cheating."
Dante shook his head and took a stance. Even if his Close combat skill disappeared, the knowledge remained. He could try getting the skill back but it would be harder to get since he was proficient in Close Combat beginner level.
To get the same Close Combat skill, he needed to get Adept level at understanding and fought with another person.
Dante slowly got close to Thomas, taking a fighting stance. He pushed his right legs and Thomas also took a stance.
The stranger could tell that Thomas’s posture was more refined and powerful than Dante.
Their back hands touched and the fight started.
Thomas quickly grabbed Dante’s arm and initiated the flow of the fight. Dante tried to break free of the grip but Thomas’s fists came to his chest.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three consecutive strikes pushed Dante back. He wiped the saliva from his mouth and took the stance again.
His eyes went serious, thinking how to outsmart Thomas.
"You think too much." Thomas dashed forward with a grin and punched at Dante’s guard.
"This is a fight. No need to think." Thomas said, twisting his body, throwing the back kick.
The kick connected with Dante’s chin, sending him flying in the air.
"Ok." Dante muttered and spat out the blood. He felt his tooth loosening from that kick.
They continued fighting like this for a few times before Dante gave up.
He managed to punch Thomas. It was just one punch but it was enough.
He cracked his neck and sat down. "We will continue our dungeon after this rest. My body is back in peak condition."
Julius observed Dante and asked. "What about your wounds?"
"I will use Heal."
"Are you worried about your mana?" Julius said.
"Oh that, I think we can finish this dungeon today." Dante said. "We have been staying inside this dungeon for eight days. Our rations are also getting thinner. It is time to get active."
"How are we going to conquer the dungeon? We don’t even finish the maze." Julius asked, tilting his head.
"Oh. I forgot to tell. My
eyes
return to normal. The range is now 300 meters. I can see the maze entirely."