SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

The group continued down the alley at a cautious pace. As they walked, Alex resumed practicing the Mana Cable Spell, repeatedly creating three thin mana threads over his hand before making them disappear.

He focused on controlling each thread as precisely as possible instead of simply repeating the motion.

He tried to hold on to the mana and reuse it to create new cables instead of letting it dissipate into the air and drawing more mana from his heart.

Kevin watched him for several seconds before his expression grew thoughtful. Soon, he began making small movements with one hand while walking, clearly practicing his own mana control as well. Alex noticed but said nothing, quietly approving of Kevin’s attitude.

Near the end of the alley, they found a small shop with broken windows and decided to stop there.

They could have entered one of the abandoned houses they had passed earlier, but none of them had seriously considered it. Fighting monsters to survive was one thing, yet walking into someone else’s home, even an empty one, still felt wrong after a lifetime of respecting other people’s property.

The shop felt different, so everyone quietly settled inside. Once Alex confirmed the surroundings were safe, the Gene Potentials dropped by the Grave Hyenas were distributed.

Kevin, Ophelia, Sophia, and Rae each absorbed one.

As everyone rested, Alex found himself thinking back to the battle. Rae’s marksmanship had impressed him.

Not only had her aim been incredibly accurate, but she had also shown enough judgment to shoot only when the monster was away from everyone instead of risking hitting an ally.

After everyone found a place to sit, Alex took the bottles of water and a few packs of snacks from his backpack before passing them around. Everyone accepted them gratefully, happy to have something familiar after everything that happened.

The quiet inside the shop was a welcome change after the chaos outside.

Alex sat down against one wall, and Mia immediately climbed onto his lap as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Smiling, he absentmindedly petted her soft fur while continuing to practice Mana Cable with his free hand. He kept re-using the mana, trying to improve his efficiency. Three mana threads repeatedly wove into each other and dismantled over his fingers as he trained.

Only after everyone had settled down did Alex finally bring up the notification he had been waiting to examine.

[Battle Instinct Spell can now be evolved. Choose an evolution: Advanced Battle Instinct Spell, Battle Rhythm Spell, Lightning Reflex Spell, Emotion Regulation Spell, Danger Sense Spell]

Alex studied the five evolution options in silence. Every one of them looked useful, which only made the decision more difficult.

Instead of rushing, he caressed Mia’s fur and carefully considered each choice. A careless decision now could influence every battle he fought in the future.

The first option was Advanced Battle Instinct Spell. At first glance, it looked like a simple upgrade to Battle Instinct, but Alex knew that didn’t make it ordinary.

The current spell already improved his concentration enough to let him manipulate mana more precisely during combat. A stronger version would likely push that ability even further.

Greater focus meant he could compress mana more efficiently, and compressed mana was the foundation of almost everything he did.

It would also allow him to boost his brain more effectively, reaching an even higher level of concentration.

Creating mana knives and daggers would become easier as well, since those required much finer control than simple mana bullets.

The biggest advantage was that it wouldn’t improve only one spell. Better concentration naturally benefited every spell that relied on precise mana manipulation.

It was the safest evolution on the list, but that didn’t mean it was weak. If anything, it might become stronger than the others simply because of how broadly it affected his abilities.

The second option, Battle Rhythm Spell, was much harder to understand. There was no description, so Alex spent several minutes thinking through what it could actually do.

Eventually, he concluded that it probably allowed him to enter a special "rhythm" while fighting.

If his guess was correct, the spell could reduce the stamina consumed during combat by making every movement more efficient.

Another possibility was that mana flowed through his body more smoothly while he remained in that rhythm, reducing the effort needed to move it.

Either outcome would be immensely useful in prolonged battles.

Fighting longer without tiring was an obvious advantage. On the other hand, if mana naturally moved more easily through his body, he would spend less concentration controlling it and could devote more attention to casting spells.

Unfortunately, there was no way to know which interpretation was correct from the name alone.

His eyes moved to the third option.

Lightning Reflex Spell.

This evolution was much easier to understand. It clearly enhanced reflexes, something he had boosted since boosting his spine during the fight against the fast Level 10+ Titan Reef Crab.

He continued using that method in later battles whenever he needed faster reactions, so it wasn’t surprising that the evolution appeared.

Improved reflexes were valuable on their own. If his body reacted more naturally during combat, he wouldn’t need to consciously think about every movement. That would free up more of his attention for casting spells and manipulating mana.

Still, one word caught his attention.

Lightning.

Fire Bullet used fire elemental mana because of the word Fire in its name. If the same rule applied here, then Lightning Reflex should require lightning elemental mana. The thought immediately struck Alex as strange.

It seemed absurd that someone would need to hold a wand containing lightning element rune, use it to create lightning element mana, then use it to enhance their own reflexes.

Unless... there were people capable of using elemental mana naturally. Were there people in the Land of Origin who were born with an innate lightning affinity? Maybe they wouldn’t need a wand at all.

That raised another question. If he chose this evolution, would he be unable to use it until he found a lightning-element wand, or until he somehow awakened a natural affinity? Or would the Talent itself grant him the ability to use lightning mana?

His Talent was SSS Rank, the highest possible rank. If any Talent could grant an innate elemental affinity during an evolution, it would probably be his. That possibility made the spell far more tempting than it initially appeared.

Normally, Alex avoided making decisions based on uncertain assumptions. However, if Lightning Reflex truly granted him an innate lightning element, then it would likely do so by creating a lightning elemental rune inside his body.

If that happened, the Additional Task for his Class Evolution would also be completed.

The task required him to create an elemental rune. Since the Talent belonged to him, a rune formed through the Talent should still count as one he created himself.

Even if the spell didn’t give him innate lightning affinity, it would give him knowledge of how to create lightning affinity rune inside his body.

Alex believed that having a lightning affinity rune inside the body was what allowed someone to wield the element without a wand.

Even if the spell did not grant him a lightning affinity rune, it would at least give him the knowledge of the Lightning Reflex spell. If that spell relied on lightning mana generated within the body, it would also contain the knowledge of the lightning element rune.

Learning the knowledge about the rune would tell him how to create an elemental rune for his Additional Task for Class Evolution.

So, this spell indirectly helped with his Class Evolution.

His attention shifted to Emotion Regulation Spell. That evolution wasn’t surprising, considering he had recently learned to slightly suppress or amplify his emotions. Amplifying his anger helped him overcome the fear caused by the Origin Orc’s Origin Energy, and he could now do something similar whenever necessary.

Even so, Alex wasn’t particularly interested in relying on a spell to control his own emotions.

He would rather develop that ability through experience and discipline. Depending on magic for something like that didn’t sit well with him.

Still, another possibility came to mind. What if this spell continued evolving? Could it eventually influence someone else’s emotions instead of only his own?

..

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