SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

The tension in Zach’s face eased slightly after the introduction, and Alex noticed the faint relief in his eyes.

Alex introduced the members of his own group one by one. Once everyone had exchanged names, one of the twins suddenly leaned out from behind his father.

"You’re the Alex Mercer? Wow, you don’t have much muscles. Can you really fight?" Caleb asked as he looked Alex up and down.

"Caleb! Don’t say things like that," Rose, the twin’s mother, said quickly as she pulled him back by the shoulder. There was obvious fear in her eyes as she looked at Alex, making it clear she was worried her son’s words had offended him.

Alex guessed Zach and Rose had probably seen at least part of his battle against the mantis monster. That would explain why they had left the safety of their house to follow him toward the police station, and why Rose looked so afraid of angering him. The boys, however, probably hadn’t witnessed the fight and were simply judging him by his appearance.

"Alright. Let’s get moving," Alex said, ignoring the twin’s words.

Rose quietly let out a breath of relief.

The group started walking again with a slightly different formation than before. Robert, Kevin, and Ophelia stayed at the front, while Tina and Zach covered the rear. Everyone else remained in the center, with Alex walking beside Rae.

Zach wasn’t an Ascendant, but he insisted on helping however he could. Alex appreciated the attitude, though he didn’t intend to let the man take unnecessary risks.

"If monsters appear, don’t try to fight them unless you have no choice. Just hold them off for a moment and keep yourself alive until one of us gets there," Alex said while they walked.

Zach nodded without hesitation. "I understand. I wasn’t planning to play the hero. My first priority is getting my family through this safely."

Alex gave a small nod. Someone who understood his limits was much better than someone who overestimated himself.

The group continued toward the police station at a steady pace. The streets remained unnaturally quiet, with only abandoned vehicles and damaged storefronts reminding them how quickly everything had changed.

While walking, Alex continued training his spells. He found ’exercising’ his mana fun. This time, he focused on Mana Sense Spell. He believed the Titan Reef Crab Boss had used Elastic Thread Spell in some way to launch its water bullets, but until recently, he hadn’t understood how.

Now he thought he had figured out part of the mechanism. Before attempting something as complicated as launching projectiles, he decided to test the concept using Mana Sense Spell instead.

Alex quietly formed a loose belt of compressed mana around his waist. The mana wasn’t compressed enough to become semi-solid, allowing it to pass harmlessly through his body. He then anchored the belt to his waist using several strands of elastic mana thread.

Next, he began pulling the mana belt toward the center of his body while the elastic thread anchors resisted the movement. The opposing forces stretched the elastic mana tighter and tighter, and beads of sweat slowly formed on Alex’s forehead. As he maintained the tension, he continuously adjusted the spell whenever he noticed wasted mana.

Once he felt the elastic threads had reached their limit, Alex instantly dissolved every anchor. The compressed mana belt burst outward, expanding rapidly in every direction like a circular wave. Since the mana was only loosely compressed, it naturally kept spreading instead of remaining together.

The ring broke apart almost immediately because the mana wasn’t perfectly uniform. Even so, Alex smiled faintly as he watched it disperse. There was no System notification. It would likely come after he could create a uniform wave of mana. More importantly, the experiment had clearly succeeded.

He now knew the idea worked. If he could make the expanding ring spread evenly without collapsing, Mana Sense Spell would cover a much larger area than before.

There was still another problem to solve. The expanding wave was far too dense, and Sophia suddenly gave him a strange look before looking away again. Alex suspected she had sensed the burst of mana, which meant monsters capable of sensing mana might notice it as well.

He continued experimenting while the group walked. He was gradually getting closer to creating a uniform wave of mana, and with every attempt, his control over Elastic Thread Spell became a little smoother.

A notification appeared before his eyes.

[Elastic Thread Spell has leveled up. Level 3 → Level 4.]

A faint smile spread across Alex’s face. Even though his goal was improving Mana Sense Spell, repeatedly using Elastic Thread Spell in a new way had deepened his understanding enough for the System to recognize the progress.

Alex continued practicing while they moved down the road. A few minutes later, his expanding mana wave reached farther than ever before, and this time it found something.

Alex immediately raised one hand and stopped walking.

"Three Doom Bulls ahead," he said calmly.

The entire group came to an immediate halt. Everyone turned toward Alex, waiting quietly for his instructions.

"Mrs. Ophelia, Tina, Robert, and Kevin, the four of you will handle two Doom Bulls. Miss Rae, stay behind them and support them whenever you see an opening. This time, I won’t interfere from start to finish. Even if someone gets injured, I won’t step in. I’ll only move if I decide that all of you can no longer fight, or if someone is about to die," Alex said calmly.

His voice was steady, but the words carried an undeniable chill. Nobody argued because they understood what he was trying to do. If they relied on Alex every time they were in danger, they would never become dependable fighters themselves.

The Doom Bulls appeared. Alex immediately formed a Fire Bullet and anchored it against Elastic Thread. As mana flooded into his eyes, he noticed several sword wounds across the approaching monsters. The cuts weren’t deep, but they were fresh enough to tell him someone else had fought these Doom Bulls before.

..

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