SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Alex activated the spell and directed mana into one of his arms. Strength immediately surged through the limb, but so did the familiar strain. The sensation reminded him of stretching a rope until it was on the verge of snapping.

He still had two free stat points from the previous level up. Increasing Constitution would probably help his body handle the strain more easily. It was the easiest solution available.

Yet Alex felt it wasn’t the correct solution.

If the spell always damaged him when used at full power, then raising Constitution would only delay the problem. Eventually, he would encounter situations where even a tougher body wouldn’t be enough. Moreover, as a Mage, if he kept spending stat points into Constitution, he wouldn’t be able to increase his Mana or Mind. It would be detrimental to his strength.

The real solution had to involve controlling the spell itself.

Alex spent several minutes trying to reduce the mana flowing into his arm. Unfortunately, every attempt failed. Mana flowed out from his heart like a dam had burst. He couldn’t limit the amount flowing out at all, just the direction.

The repeated failures didn’t dampen him. For some reason, he was enjoying learning about mana and spells instead. Eventually, Alex stopped trying to directly control the mana and instead focused on visualizing controlling his heart. If brute force wasn’t working, perhaps a different approach would.

He imagined his heart as a faucet controlling the flow of mana. If the faucet opened completely, mana would flow freely. If it closed entirely, nothing would pass through.

Then he imagined opening it halfway.

Alex’s eyes widened slightly.

For the first time, the flow weakened.

Mana still entered his arm, but the amount had clearly decreased. The enhancement remained just as effective, and more importantly, the strain on his muscles lessened immediately.

Alex quickly realized what was happening. Until now, whenever the spell’s enhancement exceeded what his muscles could withstand, the muscles would tear under the pressure. Once that happened, any additional boost became meaningless because his body could no longer support it.

But things were different now.

By carefully limiting the mana flow and keeping the enhancement just below his muscles’ breaking point, he was achieving the same result while spending less mana. At the same time, he was avoiding the self-inflicted damage that had plagued him since obtaining the spell.

Alex continued experimenting.

He adjusted the mana flow little by little, increasing it, reducing it, and then increasing it again. Each time, he paid close attention to how much strain his muscles experienced and where the limit seemed to be.

Minutes passed as he repeated the process.

Sweat slowly rolled down his temple despite the cool air around him. The constant concentration was mentally exhausting, yet watching himself progress was addicting.

The more he practiced, the clearer his control became.

Eventually, he stopped and released the spell. Just as he was considering whether the effort had been worthwhile, a familiar notification appeared before his eyes.

[Body Reinforcement Spell has leveled up. Level 2 → Level 3]

Alex blinked at the notification. Then, a faint smile slowly spread across his face. That was definitely worth it.

The Spell had obviously become stronger. It would now grant a larger boost than before, which was excellent news.

His muscles could barely withstand the previous enhancement, so his first thought was to increase Constitution and make his body capable of handling the Spell’s full potential.

Just as he was about to do that, Alex stopped.

A strange feeling came over him. Something deep inside was telling him that he was misunderstanding how Body Reinforcement Spell worked. More importantly, it felt as though increasing Constitution right now would be a waste of stat points.

Alex frowned. Normally, he would ignore such thoughts because they had no logical basis, but this time was different. He possessed Origin Spell Physique, an SSS-Rank Physique that doubled his speed of mastering Spells. If anyone could subconsciously notice something important about a Spell, it should be him.

Instead of allocating his points, Alex activated Body Reinforcement Spell and began observing it carefully. Mana flowed out from his heart and spread through his arm as it always did. He repeated the process several times, paying close attention to every step.

Several minutes passed.

He reviewed the entire sequence in his mind. Mana left his heart, traveled through his arm, gathered toward his fist, and then empowered his swing.

Alex suddenly froze.

’Wait a second.’

His eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him.

’Why am I concentrating the mana into my fist?’

He had been doing it unconsciously ever since learning the Spell. It felt natural, almost automatic. However, now that he thought about it, there didn’t seem to be any reason for it.

Mana improved the quality of his body. As long as it flowed through his arm, his muscles would become stronger and faster. Concentrating additional mana into his fist shouldn’t make his swing any stronger than it already was.

At least, that was what he would have thought before.

Alex slowly use the Spell, and observed it.

If concentrating mana into his fist served no purpose, then why had he been doing it this entire time? The answer appeared almost immediately once he asked the question.

’Why is my fist fine?’

Whenever he used Body Reinforcement Spell at full power, his muscles suffered damage. Fibers tore under the strain of the enhanced movements, and his arm often became nearly unusable afterward. Yet his fist never seemed to suffer the same level of damage.

Thinking back, it had always been that way.

When he killed the second Netherclaw Prowler, his arm had given out. The muscles had torn so badly that even moving them became difficult. Yet despite that, he had still been able to hold onto the stone.

At the time, he hadn’t thought much about it. Now though...

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