Chapter 281: Evolution!

Alex looked at the notification floating before his eyes.

’So it’s called Mana Breathing Spell.’

A faint smile appeared on his face as he considered what he had just accomplished. He could now recover Mana by breathing in Origin Energy-rich air and separating the Mana from the Aura and Faith before absorbing it, which solved one of his biggest problems.

However, he selected No. His spell slots were already full, and he would likely get Mana Breathing Spell as one of the evolution options for his Sustained Breathing Air Spell, so there was no reason to use a spell slot on it now. More importantly, he could already use the technique even without learning it as a spell.

Alex continued breathing in the Origin Energy around him, breaking it apart inside his lungs and absorbing only the Mana. As he repeated the process, the amount of Mana inside his body began increasing at a noticeable rate, and his reserves started recovering much faster than before.

His Mana recovery speed had increased once when his Class evolved and again when his Species evolved. Even so, compared to his enormous Mana reserves, those improvements had still been little more than a drop in a bucket because recovering his entire supply took a considerable amount of time.

Now, however, things were different.

Alex continued using the technique for nearly half an hour, repeatedly adjusting and improving the way his Mana Disruption Blade Spell separated the Origin Energy. Whenever he noticed even a small problem with the process, he made another adjustment and tried again.

The spell improved tremendously during that time, and his Mana eventually became completely full. His entire body was now filled with rampaging Mana, while his Mana Heart was so full that it felt as though it might burst at any moment.

Alex took several deep breaths before slowly pushing Mana out from his Mana Heart. The concentration of Mana inside his body began increasing as he circulated it through his body, and the remaining Origin Energy from the adult Basilisk gradually started being forced outward.

With so much Mana inside his body, Alex slowly pushed the Basilisk’s remaining Origin Energy out of him. It took some time, but the process worked, and the foreign energy was gradually expelled from his body.

Alex finally opened his eyes and felt satisfied. Thanks to Mia, he had managed to deal with the Basilisk’s Origin Energy without needing to evolve his Soul Reinforcement Spell, which meant he could continue using his current spells without being forced to choose an evolution to deal with the foreign energy damaging his body.

He slowly pulled the Mana inside his body back toward his Mana Heart before looking around. Emma was sleeping, probably because her consciousness had returned to Earth, and Sarah was also asleep, while Joseph, Yulia, and Petra were nowhere to be seen. Daniel was sleeping nearby, Matthew was missing, and Samuel was keeping watch.

Alex then turned his head toward the other side of the area, where Mia was sitting quietly. He raised his head and noticed that sunlight was beginning to appear through the trees, making him realize that he had been in his trance for several hours.

The ground around him had also changed during that time. The Origin Energy he had expelled from his body had been absorbed into the surrounding ground, and the soil around him had hardened into stone.

"Meow."

Mia noticed that Alex was finally out of his trance and immediately walked over. She rubbed her head against his chest before placing it on his leg, almost as if she were telling him not to get up and simply rest for a while.

Alex scratched behind her ear and smiled faintly. It was rare for Mia to act this affectionate, so she must have genuinely been worried about him.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Mia meowed once before settling down beside him. Alex then looked toward Samuel and asked, "Where are the others?"

"They’re surveying the surroundings," Samuel answered. "They found another dungeon nearby. It only has Low Rank species inside, so a few people went there to clear it while some of the others returned to Earth."

Alex nodded before asking another question. "What about the water level?"

"It’s back to normal. The ground is still wet, but we think it should also return to normal by the afternoon," Samuel replied.

Alex nodded again, feeling somewhat relieved that they no longer had to worry about the water continuing to rise. Samuel then took some meat from his Inventory and sat down beside Alex, and the meat was still warm.

"Emma said you might be hungry when you woke up, so she prepared this for you in advance," Samuel explained as he handed it over.

Alex accepted the meat, but he didn’t eat it immediately. After what Samuel had done the previous night, his trust in the man had become somewhat shaky, so he wasn’t going to casually eat something given to him without thinking about it first.

Samuel seemed to notice that Alex wasn’t eating. "Give it to me."

Alex handed the meat back without saying anything. Samuel took a bite, chewed it, and swallowed before passing the remaining portion back to Alex.

"See? It’s not poisoned," Samuel said. "Even if it were and I had to rely on my Faith to heal myself, your Priest should be able to heal you as well. My healing isn’t very strong, after all. So your Priest can match me in that aspect easily."

Alex accepted the meat and began eating. "Your healing isn’t strong? Is that because your Class focuses on affecting space?"

"Yes," Samuel replied with a nod.

Alex continued chewing for a moment before asking, "How does that work? I thought Priests could mainly heal people or pull Will out of others."

Samuel didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and looked toward the forest before saying, "You can go ahead and eat while keeping watch. I need to relieve myself, so give me some time."

Alex nodded as Samuel began walking away. He had been destroying any waste inside his body with mana, and he assumed Warriors should be capable of doing something similar, although it didn’t seem like Priests could do the same.

Or perhaps Samuel simply wanted an excuse to move away from him.

Samuel was about to disappear into the forest when he suddenly stopped. Without turning around, he said, "I’m sorry about yesterday."

Before Alex could reply, Samuel entered the forest and disappeared between the trees. Alex watched him leave for a moment before shaking his head.

It seemed Samuel had wanted to apologize for what he had done the previous night, but he was probably too proud to say much more than that. Still, he had apologized, and Alex considered that enough for now.

Alex looked down at Mia, who was still resting beside him, before taking another bite of the meat. He tore off a small piece and gave it to her at the same time, and Mia immediately ate it before looking at him expectantly for another piece.

Alex continued eating while occasionally feeding Mia until the food was completely gone. Once he was finished, he raised his hands and covered them with an extremely thin layer of mana before pushing the Mana away from his skin.

The thin film passed between his hands and the remaining grease from the meat, taking the oils and other residue with it when he pushed it away. Alex had discovered that using mana this way was much more convenient than washing himself with water, especially since he could control the mana precisely enough to avoid leaving behind any residue on him.

After cleaning his hands, Alex brought up the evolution options for his Soul Reinforcement Spell. Several notifications immediately appeared before his eyes.

[Soul Reinforcement Spell can now be evolved. Choose an evolution: Advanced Soul Reinforcement Spell, Soul Guard Spell, Soul Recovery Spell, Soul Anchor Spell, Soul Mana Resonance Spell, Soul Mark Spell.]

..

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