SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Alex looked over the six choices once again. Every option had obvious strengths, and none of them felt like the wrong choice, which only made the decision harder.

Part of him wanted to choose quickly, and evolve the spell. A stronger spell was always useful, and after seeing what the basic Fire Bullet could accomplish, he had no doubt these evolutions would be even more impressive.

Even so, he held himself back and forced himself to think about what lay ahead instead of what looked exciting right now.

The Supermart was his next destination, and that changed everything. These evolved spells were almost certainly too powerful to use inside a building filled with survivors, and even if they only harmed monsters, the resulting explosions could easily injure nearby allies.

Fire Burst looked like a close-range spell, but Alex doubted it would be any safer in such a confined space.

Flare had its own appeal, but experimenting with it inside the Supermart would be just as reckless. He was interested in learning how to create brighter flames, yet testing an unfamiliar spell always carried some risk. If he made a mistake and the spell exploded instead of behaving as intended, innocent people could end up paying the price.

There was simply no advantage to choosing an evolution now. Until he left the Supermart, he would not be able to use any of these spells properly or even begin experiment with the knowledge they contained. Waiting cost him nothing, while making a rushed decision offered no immediate benefit.

After clearing the Supermart, he planned to head toward his sister’s high school. The area between the two locations was likely part of the Wild Orcs’ territory, and seeing how those monsters were distributed would help him decide which evolution suited the coming battles the best.

If the Wild Orcs were scattered into small groups with a good distance between them, Fire Snipe would be the obvious choice. Eliminating enemies before they noticed him would save both time and effort.

On the other hand, if the monsters gathered in large groups, Fire Missile would likely provide greater value by giving him a stronger projectile for tougher engagements.

There was another possibility as well. If individual Wild Orcs were spread far apart without forming proper groups, Flare would become much more attractive. A reliable way to reveal his location to allies or briefly blind enemies would let him fight in close combat without constantly worrying about another Wild Orc joining the battle halfway through.

Of course, there was no guarantee that any of those situations would happen. Once he reached the area, he might discover that another evolution suited the circumstances better. That’s why it was best to wait instead of choosing the evolution immediately.

He already understood the basic ideas behind several of these spells and could produce crude versions through experimentation, so there was no reason to rush into a permanent decision.

Alex had always believed that choosing the right tool for the situation was better than simply choosing one in hurry.

A spell that matched the battlefield would let him clear monsters more efficiently, and that directly affected how quickly he could reach his family. Every hour mattered now, so even small advantages were worth considering carefully.

It honestly bothered him to leave such an exciting evolution untouched. Still, he reminded himself that his rapid growth until now had not come from acting on impulse. Every major improvement he had made was the result of carefully optimizing his decisions, and there was no reason to abandon that approach simply because he was impatient to choose an evolution.

Satisfied with his conclusion, Alex closed the evolution window. He spent a few more minutes to show Charlotta magic while practicing his mana control. Once Ophelia called her over to help with the food, Alex smiled and sent the little girl back to her mother.

Now his attention shifted to another decision that had been lingering in the back of his mind.

The last battle had pushed his stamina far lower than he was comfortable with, and he still had two unassigned stat points. Logically, the answer seemed obvious. He should invest both points into Constitution.

Doing so would improve his stamina while also strengthening his body, including his heart.

His growing mana pool was already putting it under considerable strain, to the point that he had to keep reinforcing it with mana almost constantly.

If he continued increasing his Mana without strengthening his body first, the pressure might eventually become too much for his heart to handle.

The image that came to Alex’s mind was a balloon being filled with too much air. At some point, no matter how carefully it was handled, it would simply burst.

By every reasonable measure, spending both stat points on Constitution was the safe and rational decision.

Yet he still had not done it, and there were two reasons why. The first was the sense of foreboding that had never left him after meeting the Guide. The apocalypse was clearly a test to decide if they deserved to permanently live in the Land of Origin, and unless humanity passed it, Earth and everyone living on it would be ’eliminated.’

Alex was already facing Hell Difficulty, and he had encountered several Mid Rank species on the very first day.

If monsters like that could appear so early, he could only imagine what waited for him later. Increasing Constitution was undoubtedly the safer choice, but simply playing it safe did not necessarily mean he would survive.

Would increased Constitution actually help him fight against the powerful monsters waiting ahead? No. It would not.

Constitution was an excellent investment for warriors, but Alex was a mage, and the way mages grew stronger was fundamentally different.

Alex had noticed something already. For warriors, Aura multiplied the effectiveness of their physical stats.

Every point invested into Strength, Agility, or Constitution became even more valuable because Aura amplified those stats during combat. As a result, continuously increasing their physical attributes remained an efficient path to becoming stronger.

Mages did not enjoy that same advantage. The boost Mana provided to stats was additive rather than multiplicative like Aura. Unless his spells themselves became stronger, increasing his stats would not dramatically improve his combat ability on its own.

This meant, while mages could currently keep up with Warriors in physical combat, they could not do so in the future.

Alex was an exception, fortunately. Since he could evolve his spells into higher-ranked versions, he could keep improving the boost. To use these boosts, however, his Mana needed to keep up.

The stronger his spells became, the more mana they would naturally require, making a large mana pool essential if he wanted to fully utilize his Talent.

In fact, if he had not invested every free stat point into Mana until now, he doubted he would still be alive. Mana Thread alone had consumed an enormous amount of mana when he first learned it, and without putting all points into Mana until then, he could’ve not defeated the Mid Rank species Baby Badger.

By the time he faced the Jade Scythe Mantis, his larger mana pool had once again allowed him to keep using his strongest spells throughout the battle.

For Alex, Mana was clearly the most valuable stat. Every higher-ranked spell he unlocked would almost certainly demand more mana, and limiting that resource would only prevent him from making full use of his greatest advantage.

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