Free Web NovelChapter 15: Overpowered New Spell
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"You can control mana, can’t you?" she said.
When Alex nodded, she continued. "I can’t do that. The Guide said only Mages can control mana because they have the Mind stat. Rogues don’t have it, so we can’t learn skills by manipulating mana."
She paused briefly before adding, "For us activating skills is like pressing a button. We think about using them, and they work."
That immediately caught Alex’s attention. If she couldn’t control mana, then how exactly were her skills functioning? He had clearly sensed mana when she used [Taunt].
Was the System handling the process for her? Or was there some other mechanism behind the scenes that she didn’t understand yet?
"If you can’t control mana, how do your skills level up?" he asked.
"We just keep using them. The Guide said using skills under pressure, especially during battles, helps them level up faster." She looked at him curiously. "Seeing your expression, I’m guessing Spells work differently?"
"Yes. I need to figure out ways to improve them. They don’t level up by repeatedly casting them."
Emma blinked in surprise while Alex thought about what that meant. Every Mage would have to spend enormous amounts of effort learning and improving their Spells. Simply discovering a Spell was difficult enough.
Using Spells in combat would be even harder. It required concentration, mana control, and the ability to think clearly while facing danger. Most people would struggle with that combination.
Alex, however, wasn’t a normal Mage. His high Mind stat allowed him to perform precise mana control even during battle. The Body Reinforcement Spell could enhance his brain and sharpen his focus whenever necessary.
On top of that, the Spell Origin Physique helped him learn and improve Spells at a much faster rate.
The limitations that restrained Mages didn’t apply to him. That gave him advantages others simply wouldn’t have.
As they rested, Alex continued thinking about Emma’s skill. Since she didn’t know how it actually worked, asking more questions wouldn’t help.
If he wanted answers, he would have to figure them out himself.
The skill definitely used mana. He was certain of that. If mana was involved, then recreating it as a Spell should be possible.
The question was how.
Alex extended a hand and began releasing mana from his fingertip. The process was far more difficult than he had expected. Sweat slowly formed on his forehead as he struggled to maintain control.
The mana barely traveled three inches away from his finger before dispersing. The moment it left his body, maintaining control became drastically harder.
He tried again several times, but the result remained the same.
Alex continued experimenting while running through different possibilities in his mind. A pulse. A vibration. Some kind of signal. If [Taunt] attracted monsters, then perhaps mana was carrying information in a way he didn’t yet understand.
As he focused on the problem, something suddenly clicked. A familiar sensation spread through his mind. The Spell Origin Physique had activated.
His thoughts became clearer almost instantly. Connections that had seemed impossible to grasp moments ago now appeared obvious. Alex immediately focused on the mana emerging from his fingertip.
Rather than letting it spread out, he compressed it. The mana became thinner and thinner until it resembled a narrow white thread. Maintaining the shape required constant concentration.
Then he attempted something even harder. He began vibrating the mana inside the thread while keeping its shape intact. The effort pushed his concentration to its limits.
Pain built behind his eyes as he continued. The pressure on his mind felt even greater than what he had experienced during the fight against the five Netherclaw Prowlers. Despite that, he refused to stop.
He compressed the mana further and increased the vibration speed. When the results still didn’t feel satisfactory, he flooded his head with mana through the Body Reinforcement Spell. His focus sharpened even more.
The world seemed to narrow around him until only the mana thread remained. He continued refining it, pushing his control to the limit. Eventually, he felt it was ready.
Alex picked up a stone from the ground and guided the thread toward it. The moment the mana touched the stone, it slipped straight through. There was almost no resistance at all.
The stone split neatly into two pieces.
A grin appeared on Alex’s face. He hadn’t recreated [Taunt], but he had accidentally discovered something else entirely.
The result was far more offensive than he had originally intended.
A notification appeared in front of him.
[Mana Thread Spell detected.]
[Would you like to learn the Mana Thread Spell?]
[Yes/No.]
Alex stared at the message in surprise. The System was asking for confirmation before learning the Spell. He couldn’t remember seeing anything like that before.
Then a possibility occurred to him. Maybe the System had asked the same question when he learned the Body Reinforcement Spell. During the battle, he had been too focused on surviving to notice a notification.
Moreover, this System already had a tendency to make choices on its own. It had selected the Mage Class and Hell difficulty for him, so it must have chosen the Body Reinforcement Spell on its own as well when he didn’t respond.
’Why is it asking me if I want to learn the Spell though? Isn’t it obvious I would want that?’ Alex wondered.
He looked at Emma. She had already seen him use the new Spell, so there was no need to hide it.
"Do you know why the System asks if we want to learn new Spells? Well, skills in your case," he said.
"I don’t know. I only found out this happens after the Guide left and I opened the Reward Boxes." Emma shook her head.
Alex nodded. Since he couldn’t find an answer, he saw no reason to reject the Spell. He accepted it.
[Mana Thread Spell learned.]
[Mana Thread Spell, F Rank, Level 1]
[God dammit. Did you forget you are a mage and not a warrior? Stop trying to learn close-combat Spells. There are enough brutes as is.]
[Effect: Can be used for cutting.]
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