SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Everyone immediately likely tried following his instructions. Frowns quickly appeared as they attempted to manipulate their energy the way Alex described. Even with his explanation, it was far from easy.

The Mages were the first to give up because Mana wasn’t easy to control, and it was quite dangerous. The Priests followed soon after since Faith was much easier for them to project outside their bodies than control within them.

The Rogues only smiled wryly without even trying because they couldn’t manipulate Mana at all.

Only the Warriors continued practicing, though even they struggled to circulate their Aura properly. After several more minutes, the preparations were finally complete, and there wasn’t much point delaying any longer.

Half of the Ascendants moved out with Alex while the others stayed behind to protect the civilians sheltering inside the temporary base. Before leaving, Alex had given his own friends the choice to remain behind since rescuing the people inside Jaelo Supermart wasn’t their responsibility. Despite that, every one of them chose to come.

The group quietly approached the streets surrounding Jaelo Supermart. As they drew closer, Alex immediately felt the Origin Energy in the air becoming denser. It pressed against his senses with every step, making the atmosphere feel noticeably heavier.

Without hesitation, Alex activated Advanced Body Reinforcement and Battle Instinct at full power. Mana surged through his body like a raging river, continuously circulating beneath his skin and preventing the Origin Energy from settling inside him. One by one, the other Ascendants slowed before eventually stopping altogether.

Only Stefan and, surprisingly, Ophelia managed to continue advancing beside Alex. The three of them quietly used abandoned vehicles and damaged buildings for cover as they moved closer.

Before long, they found enormous footprints pressed deep into the cracked asphalt. The massive prints circled around Jaelo Supermart, leaving behind broken pavement wherever they passed. Just looking at them was enough to imagine the size of the creature that had made them.

The three quietly hid behind an abandoned van and finally saw it. The Wild Orc stood nearly as tall as a four-story building, its enormous body radiating raw brutality. Every heavy step shook the ground beneath it, while its long claws, stained with dried blood, almost scraped across the road as it continued circling Jaelo Supermart.

Alex silently observed the monster.

’It’s stronger than the last one I killed. I could already tell from its dense Origin Energy, but its physical strength is definitely higher as well,’ Alex thought.

He shifted his attention toward Jaelo Supermart. Despite the devastation surrounding it, the supermarket itself remained—strangely—mostly intact. Long glass walls stretched across the front, though several panels were fractured by spiderweb cracks, and a few had been completely shattered, leaving jagged edges that caught the faint morning light.

Above the entrance, the massive signboard still clung to the building. It featured the store’s cheerful mascot: a plump shopping bag with oversized eyes, a wide smile, and cartoonish white gloves giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up. The apocalypse had stripped away its charm; the sign hung crookedly, one corner barely attached, while faded paint and missing sections gave the mascot a hollow, almost unsettling grin.

The spacious parking lot before the store was deserted, littered with abandoned shopping carts, scattered debris, and a handful of dust-covered vehicles left exactly where their owners had fled.

The first rays of sunlight were beginning to creep over the horizon, but the supermarket’s glass concealed its interior strangely, leaving nothing beyond the windows but an impenetrable darkness.

Scattered around the building were the corpses of reptilian-looking monsters. Most of them had been crushed beyond recognition, making it impossible to tell exactly what the species looked like. Judging from the enormous footprints covering many of the bodies, the Wild Orc had simply walked over them.

Alex looked around, then back at the supermarket. The strangest thing here was supermarket itself.

Even with daylight beginning to spread across the city, he couldn’t see through the windows at all. They looked unnaturally dark, as though something inside was blocking his vision.

Alex narrowed his eyes as another thought crossed his mind. The Wild Orc’s Origin Energy should have easily spread throughout the supermarket, yet Ben and the others had clearly been able to move around inside.

Something about the building was different. Maybe, the Wild Orc’s Origin Energy couldn’t enter it. Why? Alex didn’t know. He decided to leave that mystery for later because the Wild Orc standing outside was the more urgent problem.

Before Alex stepped away from the van, Stefan quietly stopped him. "Are you still sure about this?"

"Yes." Alex gave a small nod.

"Are you trying to fight it in close combat because... No, never mind. It’s nothing," Stefan said, shaking his had

He studied Alex’s face for several more seconds before letting out a slow breath. "All right. Then I won’t stop you. Good luck."

Before leaving, Alex looked at both Stefan and Ophelia. "The supermarket is strange. Don’t send our groups inside until I’ve killed the Wild Orc and come back. I don’t know what’s happening in there, and I don’t want anyone taking unnecessary risks."

Stefan immediately understood what Alex meant, and Ophelia silently nodded as well. Neither of them questioned the warning. They simply watched as Alex slipped away from the cover of the van.

Alex weaved through the abandoned streets without slowing down. With nobody else to worry about, he used Advanced Body Reinforcement and Lightning Reflex freely, allowing him to sprint over broken roads and dodge scattered rubble with ease. Within moments, he reached the street he intended to use to lure the Wild Orc.

The Wild Orc continued circling Jaelo Supermart, having not noticed him.

’Last time the Wild Orc came after I fired Fire Bullet into the sky. It probably reacted to either the noise or the Mana. But if that’s true, what exactly is keeping this one here?’ Alex thought.

The question remained in the back of his mind, but he didn’t stop moving. Instead, Alex used Mana Sense Spell, shaping Mana into the ring-shaped pulses he had spent the entire morning practicing. This time, however, he did the exact opposite of his training.

Instead of making the Mana pulses as thin and difficult to detect as possible, he made them thick, dense, and impossible to ignore. Brilliant white rings spread outward one after another, and even the surrounding air seemed to tremble beneath the weight of the concentrated Mana.

The pulses struck the Wild Orc, causing the giant monster to stop in its tracks. Its enormous head slowly turned until its bloodshot eyes locked onto Alex, and for a brief moment neither of them moved.

Then the Wild Orc roared.

The deafening roar echoed across the surrounding streets before the giant suddenly broke into a full sprint. Seeing a hulking figure as tall as a four-story building charging toward him was a surreal sight. It was absolutely terrifying, like watching a hill rush at him with the speed of a car.

Even Alex couldn’t help wondering if fighting something like this in close combat was a good idea. He knew with certainty that a single clean hit would kill him, no matter what defenses he used.

Yet despite the danger, Alex found himself fascinated. The Wild Orc’s Origin Energy was remarkably similar to Mana, and it was clearly acting as the fuel that allowed such an enormous body to move with incredible speed and strength.

If Origin Energy could do that, then Mana should be capable of the same thing.

The thought was astonishing. A strange energy stored inside the stone within a monster’s heart was enough to power a creature the size of a small building. The more Alex learned about Mana and Origin Energy, the more convinced he became that they held far greater potential than anyone understood.

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