SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Fortunately, it wasn’t an immediate concern. He hadn’t reached the limit yet, and there was no point worrying about a problem he couldn’t currently solve. For now, simply knowing the limitation existed was enough.

After organizing his thoughts, Alex decided to share his theory with the others.

"I think the Status has a limited number of slots for abilities. I can’t prove it yet, but several things point toward that conclusion," he said.

Frank looked surprised. "Is that really true? I don’t see anything mentioning slots on my Status."

"It doesn’t say it directly. But think about it. The System asks if we want to learn abilities, and it also gives us the option to remove abilities we’ve already learned. If there were unlimited space, neither of those features would make much sense," Alex replied.

Frank was surprised they could remove abilities. He checked, and confirmed it was true. Then, he considered Alex’s explanation carefully. Before he could respond, Sarah spoke up.

"Now that you’ve explained it like that, it actually makes sense. The System asked me whether I wanted to learn Spear Technique when I got it. I didn’t think much about it at the time," she said.

Alex nodded, though his thoughts lingered on a different detail. Spear Technique. It seemed Techniques were the Warrior equivalent of Mage Spells and Rogue Skills.

That would explain why Sarah’s proficiency with the spear was so good. A normal person couldn’t use a spear like she could.

Without drawing attention to himself, Alex glanced toward Petra and Emma. He still wasn’t sure how the Priest Class worked.

If Priests relied on Skills like Rogues, Petra could face the same problem in the future.

Petra’s expression remained calm and thoughtful. She didn’t appear particularly concerned by the discussion, though that didn’t reveal much. She had been difficult to read since the beginning.

Emma was easier to understand. She had become noticeably quieter since the conversation started. The possibility of permanently losing Skills clearly weighed on her mind more than anyone else.

The group fell silent for several moments as everyone processed the implications. Eventually, Frank glanced toward the dungeon entrance and broke the silence.

"We should enter the dungeon now," he said.

"Wait a second. I have an idea that I want to try first," Alex replied. He planned to create shields.

The others paused as Alex walked toward the corpse of the Titan Reef Crab. Activating Mana Thread Spell, he began cutting through the carcass and separating large sections of its shell.

The shell was tough, but the improved Mana Thread sliced through it steadily.

Most of the difficulty came from the monster’s size rather than the durability of its armor.

Once he separated a large section, Alex grabbed it and immediately realized how heavy it was. He used Body Reinforcement to strengthen himself before lifting it.

The increased focus granted by Battle Instinct Spell gave him much finer control over mana, allowing him to compress it more densely than before.

The denser mana produced a noticeably stronger boost.

As he worked, Alex continued experimenting with the knowledge he had gained from Battle Instinct Spell.

He adjusted how mana moved through his body, making small corrections whenever something felt inefficient. The process wasn’t easy, and it took time before he could properly implement what he had learned.

By the time he finished cutting the shell apart, he had finally succeeded.

The results surprised him. Even though Body Reinforcement Spell no longer existed on his Status, the technique itself continued improving.

The greater mana efficiency increased the strength of the enhancement beyond what he had achieved before. It was as if evolving the Spell had given him the tools needed to refine the old Spell even further.

Alex found that possibility intriguing. If he continued improving Body Reinforcement through practice and understanding alone, perhaps he could eventually recreate Advanced Body Reinforcement Spell without obtaining it through evolution.

The thought was exciting, though he had no way to know if it was actually possible.

While working, he noticed something else. Even though he was currently boosting his brain close to its limits, the familiar headache was nowhere to be found.

Previously, forcing mana into his brain for extended periods always resulted in discomfort, but now everything felt stable.

The realization made him pause for a moment. It seemed he had been reinforcing his brain incorrectly all along, just as he had once used mana inefficiently when strengthening his muscles.

If he had continued relying on his old method, he might have eventually caused actual damage.

Thankfully, Battle Instinct Spell had shown him a safer and more efficient approach.

After finishing his experiments, Alex cut the shell into three smaller circular pieces. He then used Mana Thread to create two holes near the edge of each one. The process took several more minutes, but eventually he had three crude shields sitting on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked as she watched him work.

"I’m making shields," Alex replied. He looked toward Frank and added, "Can you spare some rope? I need it to make handles."

Frank nodded and handed over part of his rope. Alex cut several pieces from it and threaded them through the holes he had created.

After tying everything securely, each shield had a simple handle attached to the back.

The result wasn’t particularly impressive. The shields looked rough, and they certainly weren’t comfortable to hold. Even so, they were made from the shell of a Level 9 monster, which made them far more durable than anything the group currently possessed.

When he finished shaping the last shield, several notifications appeared before Alex’s eyes.

[Hidden Quest completed: Be the first person from your planet to create an item.]

[Silver Reward Box gained.]

Alex blinked at the messages before looking back at the shields resting on the ground. He had not expected the system to acknowledge what he had done, or the shields to be counted as actual items.

Curious, he focused on one of the shields.

[Crappy Crab Shield (Trask Rank)]

[Ever heard of the saying ’A true master does not blame his tools’? This shield is the opposite. It was only possible because of the high-quality tools.]

[Effect: Can be used to block powerful force.]

Alex ignored the comment in the description. He had never practiced creating equipment of any sort before.

He was a student, after all, not a blacksmith. Yet, his first creation’s quality was good enough to be qualified as an item by the System. Maybe he had some talent in this path.

..

Author’s Note: Add the novel to library, and send support if you like it!