Chapter 88: Time to Choose

Inside the pouch Magna was holding were 9 red pills, and eating just 7 of them would already fill his mana reserve completely.

So when he looked at the other things Renna had pulled out of her robe, he started thinking.

’I can trigger one of Gaia’s options first by taking 7 pills, then use the rest to refill my mana again so I can cast Glacial Calamity.’

As for how he would explain casting a spell to Renna once she saw it, that was something he could figure out later, after they killed the Witch and got themselves out of here.

He didn’t waste time, since they were still in the danger zone, and swallowed 7 pills.

When he checked his mana reserve, he saw it had reached max capacity, and then some. It read exactly 101.2%, and the blue text had turned red.

’Does that mean going over is dangerous?’ He wondered, realizing that must be what his true capacity actually was.

He also realized something else, a thought that had crossed his mind before but that he hadn’t given much attention to.

Every time he filled his energy before, filling it again the next time required eating more, taking in more nutrients than before.

Now that the energy had finally turned into mana, he was sure that every time he triggered one of the options, his mana capacity, the amount he could store, kept growing.

That made Magna quite excited, since it also meant he could use spells more often with the extra capacity, or even try out stronger spells that needed more mana.

He even wondered if triggering his options counted the same way as passing a Witch Trial, since from what he had learned, a Witch’s mana capacity increased every time they passed a trial, for reasons and ways still unknown to him.

It was definitely something worth thinking over carefully, but right now he needed to focus on the three choices in front of him.

—

[Energy accumulation threshold reached.]

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

—

[Option 1: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain mana-detecting eyes.]

[Option 2: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to double speaking speed.]

[Option 3: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to increase presence detector range by 1.5x.]

—

’Good, all of these are good.’ Magna once again found himself wishing he could take all three.

If he guessed right, mana detecting eyes would let him find mana rich food in the forest much more easily. An economy type trait that could serve him for the rest of his life.

Doubling his speaking speed was also great, since it would cut the time he spent chanting honorable names in half.

And increasing his presence detector range, the ability he had been relying on the most lately, would be an incredible upgrade too.

Right now he could only detect people within a few meters around him, about 5 to 6 meters at most, based on his last test.

After this upgrade, that range would grow to 7.5 to 9 meters, which was no small boost to an ability that was already overpowered.

"Let’s find a safe place." He said before choosing one, and started walking.

He knew that whatever he chose would come with pain, so he didn’t want to go through the change out in the open.

Renna quickly gathered up everything she had dropped on the ground and started following him, her eyes fixed on his back as he walked ahead.

She was already looking at him like he was some kind of monster after watching him swallow all those pills.

Normally, when an ordinary human took one, it would kill their hunger and wipe away all their fatigue. But taking a second one would start causing side effects, even lead to death.

Even Renna, a 5th Trial Witch, would start feeling her body react badly after taking more than 3 of them.

But Magna, who had just swallowed 9, looked completely fine.

"Don’t you feel like your body is about to explode or something?" She asked curiously, since that was the side effect one would normally expect.

"Huh? Nope. Why?" Magna glanced back at her as he asked, then realized why she was asking.

He didn’t feel any side effects in his body, but he felt full, as if he’d eaten until his stomach was stuffed, even though there was no visible change physically.

’I think it’s because my mana reserve went over its limit.’ He reasoned to himself.

"What about your bloodline trait? Can you feel what kind of power up you’re getting?" Renna asked again, curious, quickening her steps to catch up beside him.

There wasn’t much of a height difference between her and Magna, as Renna was also of a fairly petite build. She only needed to tilt her head down slightly to look him straight in the eyes

Witches usually stopped growing old as quickly once their bodies started storing mana past a certain age, so in the coming years, she might only grow a few more centimeters at most.

"Yeah, it’s about to happen and give me new strength. It’s usually painful though, so I’m holding it back for now. I just need to find a safe place first." He said, wincing slightly as he spoke, as if he were holding back the urge to use the bathroom, to make the act more convincing.

"Oh... Okay." She also started looking around to see if there was anywhere nearby they could hide for a short while.

Soon, they spotted a place where three trees grew close together, their bases hidden behind wide, thick bushes.

"This place looks good enough." Magna said, stepping into the bushes and finding a decent sized space where the two of them could sit comfortably.

After spending a little more time checking the area to make sure the Witch wasn’t nearby, he finally spoke.

"Okay, I’m going to go through the change now. If I make too much noise, make sure to keep me quiet." He warned her beforehand, since he had no idea how much pain he would have to endure this time.

Renna nodded and started waiting patiently to see what kind of power this cave boy was about to gain.