Chapter 115: Nonstop Growth (Part 1)

[New substance detected... Mana Recovery Pill...]

—

[Energy accumulation threshold reached.]

[Please select a method to utilize the gathered energy.]

Magna felt the energy filling his body in an unbelievably satisfying way.

He had just eaten one pill, and Gaia was already fully charged, which was just insane.

His mana reserves were at around 50%, having partially recovered by absorbing the Faceless Witch’s attack spell, as well as from eating ordinary meals.

So, just a single pill had instantly refilled at least 50%.

To be more sure exactly how much it had given him, he opened his status panel and checked.

Strength: 10

Agility: 16

Reaction: 16

Stamina: 21

Mana 168.7%

When he saw the number written in red instead of blue, his eyes went wide.

’Oh damn, so that’s why my stomach started hurting.’ His mana reserve had just gone over its limit, and it was making him feel sick at the moment.

He could even feel the energy leaking out of his body, there was so much of it.

Mana 168.6%

And as if to prove his feeling, his mana just dropped by 0.1%.

Slightly panicked, not wanting the energy or mana to go to waste, he quickly checked the options so he could pick one right away and spend the excess energy.

[Option 1: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain the trait to accelerate thought process by 2x.]

[Option 2: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain full immunity against low-tier illusion magic.]

[Option 3: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain the trait to memorize and store up to three spell patterns for instant cast.]

"Holy..."

Magna felt a rush of excitement as he looked over all the options.

Given that since two of the options were listed directly as trait gains, Magna wasn’t sure if Gaia was updating its vocabulary based on the new information Magna had learned, or if it was hinting at something deeper.

Either way, every one of the options was insane, since each one was probably an ability that any Witch would pay a fortune to have.

Especially the one about instant casting, that one was just... too overpowered.

It was the Witches’ greatest weakness, the delay when casting spells due to their chants.

’I wonder if it covers chanting the honorable names too.’

The description was vague again, so Magna had to figure out the hidden details for himself.

There were two key words in the text that caught his attention, ’Memorize’ and ’Store Up.’

What Magna understood from that was that instead of having to draw out a spell pattern with vocal commands each time, he’d be able to bring it out instantly. So there was nothing to suggest it would remove the need to chant the honorable names.

Still, it was very good.

Option 2 also looked very tempting. It said low tier, but giving him full immunity was enough to make his mouth water.

If Magna guessed correctly, the spells Renna used were generally low tier, since she was only a 5th Trial Witch.

The Faceless Witch, being 10th Tier, had quite advanced spells, though they all had flaws, like her time and space barrier, which was the reason Magna and Faye had been able to get inside in the first place. ℯ

The same went for her recovery spell, the one Magna had recently copied, which also had a major flaw that prevented him from moving while it was active.

So thinking it through, these spells should probably be classified as mid tier, just very close to high tier.

Since Gaia was clearly using the knowledge Magna already had, his guess should line up with Gaia’s own wording.

"Then I can say Trials 1 through 9 count as low-tier spells, and from Trial 10 onward, it’s mid-tier," he reasoned, framing the logic purely from Gaia’s perspective.

If he chose this option, he would basically be unbeatable against a Witch specialized in illusion spells, up to the 9th Trial.

After finishing his analysis of Option 2, his attention turned to Option 1.

As soon as he looked at it, he instantly felt this trait would go perfectly with the choices he had made earlier.

For one thing, increasing his thought process would directly increase his combat capability too.

His assassin trait was mostly built around fighting through reflexes, but considering the cautious nature of an assassin, the ability to analyze his opponent and surroundings before a fight was just as important.

With this option he could make instant decisions during a fight, ones that could turn the whole battle around in a single moment.

It was also a perfect combo with his golden eyes as well as his casting speed.

With a faster thinking capacity, he could copy spell patterns much faster, and just as quickly trace those patterns through his mana channels to activate the spell.

This wouldn’t let him cast spells as fast as the instant cast from Option 3 would, but overall, thinking it through, this seemed like the more sensible choice.

Especially considering that in a place like the Tower he probably wouldn’t get many chances to actually cast spells without risking his secret being exposed. For that reason option 1’s general improvement to his combat ability seemed like the more reasonable pick.

Not wanting to spend too much time thinking, since he had already lost another 0.1% mana while deliberating, he immediately made his choice.

[Option 1 selected. Utilizing gathered energy to gain the ability to accelerate thought processes by 2x. Prepare for sudden physical pain...]

Of course, there had to be pain again.

Either way, it wasn’t enough to bring Magna down anymore, since by now he had started to get used to it. Gaining unimaginable power after every bout of pain was enough to prepare him mentally.

3...

2...

1...

Then, when the timer hit zero, he realized maybe he should have cared about the pain a little more. An unbearable agony, one that couldn’t even be compared to the previous times, hit his head all at once.