Even Miss Rae stared at him. Her gaze lingered on his rather lean arms, and she looked genuinely unable to understand how someone with that build could casually carry something so heavy.
Alex ignored those looks, picked the shield up, and stored it back inside his inventory.
"You can use it once your Strength or Aura becomes high enough. Until then, I’ll keep it," he said.
Ophelia nodded awkwardly while rubbing her sore palms. The shield had been far heavier than she expected, and judging by everyone’s expressions, nobody else had expected it either.
With that matter settled, Alex told everyone to spend some time practicing their class abilities, or weapon. The sooner they became familiar with their powers, the better their chances would be when another monster appeared.
Kevin was the first to approach him.
"Can you teach me a spell?" Kevin asked.
Alex taught him Body Reinforcement Spell. It was the easiest spell he knew.
Mana naturally rested in the heart, and the very first step was drawing a small amount of it outside before guiding it toward the muscles that needed strengthening.
Unfortunately, Kevin couldn’t even complete that first step. No matter how hard he focused, the mana refused to leave his heart.
Alex scratched his head. When he had first learned the spell, the difficult part had been controlling how much mana flowed out and adjusting it for different muscles.
Drawing mana from his heart had never been a problem.
’No, it’s not Kevin who is bad at this. It’s me who had a high Mind stat, which allowed me to use Mana easily,’ Alex thought.
"For now, keep practicing. A higher Mind stat will make mana easier to control, but practice should improve it too. There is no reason to give up on training," Alex said.
"I will do that." Kevin nodded.
After giving everyone else a few pointers as well, Alex left them to practice on their own. He walked over to an empty corner of the corridor, sat against the wall, and brought up the spell evolution notification he had been putting off.
[Mana Thread Spell can now be evolved. Choose an evolution: Advanced Mana Thread Spell, Shock Absorption Spell, Elastic Thread Spell, Sensory Thread Spell, Mana Sword Spell.]
Alex read through the options carefully. As expected, Mana Cable Spell disappeared from the list after he learned it. That confirmed evolutions were removed if he knew them.
His eyes stopped on Mana Sword Spell. He had expected he would need to evolve Advanced Mana Thread Spell into Mana Sword Spell, but instead both were listed in the same list.
’Mana Sword Spell is the last option,’ he observed.
He had developed a theory after observing the previous evolutions. His Talent seemed to create evolution choices based on how he used a spell, and the order of those choices appeared to match the order in which he had performed those actions.
If that theory was correct, then the final evolution should correspond to the last thing he had done with Mana Thread Spell.
’The last thing I did...’
His eyes narrowed as he replayed the battle in his mind.
’I created a slab of mana and vibrated one edge until it could slice through the Doom Bull.’
Understanding slowly settled in. Mana Sword Spell was probably an optimized version of that technique, creating a proper mana blade with much greater efficiency.
All five evolutions looked useful, but he could only choose one. That meant he needed to eliminate options until only the best remained.
Shock Absorption Spell was the first to go. Alex already knew out how to arrange mana into patterns that absorbed impacts, so although the evolved spell would certainly perform better than him currently, he believed he could eventually gain it through practice.
Next to be removed was Sensory Thread Spell. It was simply too much of a gamble. If it allowed him to leave detached threads around an area to detect movement, it would be an incredible scouting spell. However, if the threads had to remain connected to his body, it would only be a weaker version of Mana Sense Spell, making the risk of choosing too great.
Alex didn’t want to waste the evolution chance by taking a gamble, especially when he had several spells that guaranteed good results.
That left Advanced Mana Thread Spell, Elastic Thread Spell, and Mana Sword Spell.
Advanced Mana Thread Spell most likely improved the thread’s length, density, and sharpness, but Alex believed all three could eventually be achieved by improving his mana control.
Even the sharpness aspect would probably overlap with Mana Sword Spell, making Mana Sword Spell a better choice.
In the end, only two choices remained: Elastic Thread Spell and Mana Sword Spell. One would greatly improve his long-range combat, while the other would strengthen his close-range fighting.
Both were powerful enough that choosing between them wasn’t easy.
Alex remained silent for nearly a minute before reaching his decision. He chose Elastic Thread Spell. There were two reasons for his choice.
One, he believed Mana Sword Spell was something he could eventually recreate through experimentation.
After all, he already understood the principle behind the vibrating mana blade he had used against the Doom Bull.
Elastic Thread Spell was different. It appeared on the evolution list because of something he had done while using Mana Thread Spell, yet he genuinely had no idea what that action had been.
Whatever had triggered that evolution must have happened by accident, and there was no knowing how long it would take him to discover it again if he passed on the spell now. That uncertainty alone made Elastic Thread Spell a much better choice.
The second reason was mana consumption. Right now, covering his sword’s blade in Mana Thread already required a large amount of mana and concentration.
Creating an entire blade out of condensed mana would drain him even faster, leaving too little mana to use his other spells. At least for now, Mana Sword Spell wasn’t practical.
Alex reached out and tapped the screen.
[Elastic Thread Spell learned.]
[Elastic Thread Spell, E Rank, Level 1.]
[Sniff, my son has grown. I thought he would go through the brute route all the way and choose Mana Sword Spell even though it was a stupid choice here. But he proved me wrong. I’m so happy!]
[Effect: Can create an elastic thread of condensed mana.]
Alex ignored the ridiculous description. He had never chosen the brute-force options. Instead, he always went for the efficient choices, choosing the spell best for his immediate and long-term needs. The System was just spouting nonsense.
The instant he learned the spell, information naturally appeared in his mind, explaining how to use it.
He pressed his thumb and index finger together before slowly separating them. A thin, highly condensed thread of mana stretched between his fingers, almost transparent under the light.
He could have formed it directly in the air, but that required greater concentration, and he preferred taking things one step at a time.
He had already learned the price of being reckless. The first time he tried creating a Fire Bullet after obtaining his wand, he had nearly blown himself up by going all out immediately. Since then, he decided to test a new spell carefully before pushing its limits.
Alex opened his other hand and released a small amount of mana. The mana gathered into the shape of a bullet, floating just above his palm. Creating a bullet casing with Mana Cable Spell wasn’t possible because the spell couldn’t maintain a rigid shape by itself.
It only worked with Fire Bullet Spell because the fire cable was placed inside an existing bullet casing.
The cable acted as payload instead of acting as the casing. Without that casing, the spell simply couldn’t hold the proper shape.
Alex levitated the mana bullet onto the elastic thread. He deliberately used ordinary mana instead of fire-element mana because he wanted to measure the spell’s raw power first.
Using mana control, he pulled the bullet backward like a slingshot. He quickly discovered he could adjust the elasticity of the thread, making it softer or stiffer depending on how much mana and concentration he invested. The stiffer the thread became the harder it was to maintain.
Sweat slowly formed on Alex’s forehead as he pushed the spell to its limit. Once he couldn’t increase the tension any further, he released the thread.
The mana bullet shot forward with a sharp crack. It punched cleanly through the restaurant wall before slamming into a traffic light across the street. The thick metal pole bent from the impact before collapsing onto the road.
Alex stared at the damage for a moment before smiling faintly. He hadn’t even used fire-element mana, yet the attack was already this powerful.
If he combined this spell with Fire Bullet spell later, its destructive power would likely increase by another large margin.
Another thought quickly followed. The way the spell launched the bullet was familiar. It resembled the Titan Reef Crab Leader’s method of firing its water bullets.
He never saw Elastic Mana Thread around the monster, and he still didn’t understand the monster’s technique completely. Even so, Elastic Thread Spell felt like it was pointing him in the right direction. All he needed now was enough practice and experimentation.
Several notifications suddenly appeared before him.
[Elastic Thread Spell has leveled up. Level 1 → Level 2]
[Mana Bullet Spell detected.]
[Would you like to learn Mana Bullet Spell?]
[Yes/No]
’Yes.’
[Mana Bullet Spell learned.]
[Mana Bullet Spell, E Rank, Level 1]
[Good! Continue learning long-range spells! Love you, my boy!]
[Effect: Shoot a condensed mana in shape of a bullet.]
..
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