Free Web NovelChapter 21: Opening The New Reward Box
Emma nodded. She had already considered that possibility herself. The young Ironclaw Badger had nearly killed both of them. If an adult of the same species appeared, their chances of survival would be close to zero.
The two immediately resumed traveling through the forest. They moved carefully while keeping an eye on their surroundings. Neither of them encountered another monster during the journey, though Alex remained alert the entire time.
After roughly an hour, they finally slowed down. By now, they had covered a considerable distance. Even if the mother badger existed, finding them would be much more difficult.
The two sat beneath a large tree to rest. Alex’s mana had partially recovered, and the fatigue from the battle had faded somewhat. It seemed like a good time to check their rewards.
"Let’s open the Reward Boxes," Emma suggested.
Alex nodded. A moment later, he noticed Emma staring into empty air. Whatever she was seeing remained completely invisible to him.
That confirmed his suspicion. Reward Boxes could only be seen by their owners. The System apparently cared enough about privacy to prevent people from peeking at rewards.
Alex focused on his own reward.
A golden chest appeared before him. The lid slowly opened, and an object dropped onto the ground beside his leg.
[Fire Wand (F Rank) gained.]
Alex picked it up and examined it. The wand was about as long as his forearm, with a thicker upper section and a pointed lower end. It looked simple, but it felt different from ordinary wood.
He focused on it.
A screen immediately appeared before him.
[Fire Wand (F Rank)]
[Go forth, Harry. From today, ye are a wizard.]
[Effect: Allows you to convert your mana into fire element mana.]
Alex raised an eyebrow. The description was useless as always, but the effect immediately caught his attention. The wand could convert ordinary mana into fire-element mana.
Could he create fireballs with it? Or perhaps something similar to Mana Thread, but made from flames, like fire whip? There was only one way to find out.
Alex activated Body Reinforcement Spell and strengthened his brain. His focus rose. Then he slowly pushed mana into the wand.
The process was surprisingly smooth. Unlike stone, dirt, or trees, the wand conducted mana extremely well. As his mana flowed through it, he gradually sensed its internal structure.
Near the top of the wand, he detected something unusual. It resembled a geometric circle made from multiple rings and interconnected patterns. The structure reminded him of the magic circles commonly shown in fantasy games.
Curious, Alex pushed mana into it. One side of the structure immediately absorbed the mana before releasing it from another side. The sensation changed almost instantly.
Alex could feel a different type of mana leaving the wand. It was not fire yet, and it wasn’t even hot. However, it carried a distinct warmth that ordinary mana lacked.
More importantly, he could still control it.
Alex guided the fire-element mana through the air. Nothing happened. He moved it around again, but the result remained the same.
The wand could create fire-element mana, but it clearly wasn’t producing flames automatically. There had to be another step involved. Alex decided to experiment.
He began compressing the fire-element mana just as he compressed ordinary mana when creating Mana Thread. The process felt familiar, although the mana behaved slightly differently. He continued compressing it while carefully observing every change.
Then something shifted.
It felt as though he had crossed an invisible threshold. A tiny spark suddenly appeared within the compressed mana.
The spark touched the surrounding fire-element mana. The reaction was immediate. Flames burst into existence.
"Woah!" Emma exclaimed as she suddenly noticed the fire. "You can make fire now?"
Alex only gave a brief glance in her direction, and a nod before returning his attention to the flames. This was his first time working with elemental mana, and he wanted to understand how it functioned.
The fire burned by consuming fire-element mana. That much was obvious after only a few moments of observation. The realization immediately led to another question.
Would ordinary fire ignite fire-element mana as well?
The possibility seemed likely.
Alex spread the fire-element mana outward. As the mana became less concentrated, the flames weakened noticeably. The fire shrank and became less intense.
Then he compressed the mana again. This time, he pushed it much further than before. The fire-element mana condensed into a sphere roughly the size of a fist.
The flames remained orange, but the difference was obvious. The temperature had increased significantly. Even from a short distance away, Alex could feel the additional heat radiating from it.
’So concentrating fire element mana increases the temperature of the fire. How exactly does that work? Am I improving the quality of the fire element mana, which acts as the fuel, and that’s why the flame becomes hotter?’
The questions only made him more interested. Learning spells was unlike anything he had experienced before. Every small discovery seemed to open the door to even more possibilities.
Alex wanted to know what else the wand could do. Could he throw a fireball?
He tried controlling the fire-element mana and pushing it away from the wand. The attempt failed almost immediately. A few inches away from the wand’s tip seemed to be the limit of his control.
Even then, it didn’t feel as though he was throwing the mana.
If the compressed fireball was a tennis ball, then throwing it should have been simple. Instead, it felt like he was holding the tennis ball with an invisible hand and trying to push it away while still gripping it.
Alex considered a different approach.
He reshaped the fireball into something closer to a bullet.
Then he attempted to ignite and expand the rear portion, hoping the resulting force would propel it forward like a missile.
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