Chapter 84: Choice

That thought was unsettling, but also extremely useful. Until now, Alex never managed to send his mana directly into another living creature.

Pushing mana inside objects was already difficult enough, but living beings resisted foreign mana far more strongly.

He experimented with it several times already. Corpses accepted mana much more easily, and plants surprisingly offered much less resistance than animals or humans.

Every living creature seemed to possess an invisible coating that naturally prevented outside mana from entering their body.

If a future evolution of Emotion Regulation somehow allowed him to bypass that protective layer, its applications would be terrifying.

He could potentially create spells directly inside an enemy instead of attacking from the outside.

Just imagining that possibility made him realize how dangerous the spell could eventually become.

Finally, Alex looked at the last option.

Danger Sense Spell.

This one was the easiest to understand. It simply enhanced his ability to detect danger before it reached him.

The evolution most likely appeared because Mia’s warning and his Battle Instinct allowed him to notice the incoming spear moments before it struck.

Every spell on the list looked exceptional. Like always, he wanted every single one of them.

Moments like this made him happy that he was on the path of a Mage. Every time he discovered a new spell, he realized just how much potential magic held.

The possibilities seemed endless, and each spell opened another path he could explore.

If he ever got the time, he wanted to learn every spell there was simply to see what each one was capable of.

Alex let out a slow breath and calmed his excitement. Wishing he could choose all five wouldn’t help him make the right decision.

As always, he relied on the method that had served him well until now. He would eliminate the options one by one until only the best choice remained.

The first spell to go was Advanced Battle Instinct Spell. It was undoubtedly powerful, but he already had a glimpse of how to gain it himself.

Just as he had eventually learned Advanced Body Reinforcement Spell on his own, he believed he could naturally develop this spell as well if he continued training.

Choosing an evolution for something he was confident he could learn through practice felt wasteful.

Evolution opportunities were too valuable to spend on a spell he would probably obtain anyway. With that thought, he quietly removed it from consideration.

The next spell he eliminated was Emotion Regulation Spell. The only reason it truly interested him was the possibility that future evolutions might allow him to influence someone else’s emotions instead of only his own.

However, the more he thought about it, the less convincing that reason became.

Every evolution he received so far reflected how he actually used the spell.

If he wanted an evolution that affected others, then he would first need to figure out how to use the current spell on someone else, even if the result was weak or inefficient. Only then would the Talent likely offer an evolution based on that application.

That created an obvious contradiction. If he could already influence another person’s emotions, then he would have already learned how to make his mana enter another living being.

In that case, there was no need for the spell.

The entire appeal of Emotion Regulation was the possibility that it might teach him how to bypass the invisible protective layer surrounding every living creature. Yet to receive that evolution, he would probably need to overcome that very obstacle first. It felt like putting the cart before the horse, so he removed it from the list as well.

Next came Danger Sense Spell. Alex had no intention of underestimating it because the spell was genuinely useful. Even so, usefulness alone wasn’t enough to justify choosing it.

For close-range threats, Battle Instinct and Mana Sense already worked well together. Battle Instinct had even warned him about the incoming spear.

Now that he knew enemies could sense the death of a Wild Orc from a distance, he would naturally create more distance before staying in one place for too long.

There was also Mia. Alex knew he shouldn’t rely on anyone else, even his own cat, to make up for his weaknesses. However, he was looking for a spell that allowed him to do something entirely new, not one that improved an ability he already possessed, or his group members possessed. For now, Danger Sense simply wasn’t the highest priority.

That left only Battle Rhythm Spell and Lightning Reflex Spell.

Battle Rhythm was an excellent spell no matter how he looked at it. Whether it reduced stamina consumption or made mana flow more naturally through his body, it would improve his combat performance considerably.

The problem was that he already had, or would soon have, ways to deal with those issues.

He still had eight-tenth of the Energy Bar remaining because he had been eating it carefully instead of wasting it.

More importantly, he obtained the Life Element Stone from the Wild Orc.

Once he evolved his Class, he intended to research creating a life elemental rune and eventually use the elemental stone to craft an item that could solve his stamina problems more permanently.

That made Battle Rhythm extremely valuable, but not urgently necessary.

For the present, the Energy Bar covered his immediate needs, while his future plans already aimed at solving the same problem through another route.

Because of that, he reluctantly set the spell aside. Only Lightning Reflex Spell remained.

Despite everything it promised, Alex didn’t select it immediately. More than any other option, this spell was a gamble, and he understood that better than anyone.

Before making his decision, he carefully reviewed every possibility one last time.

The last time he faced a gamble like this was when choosing whether to take Sensory Mana Thread. He rejected it because there had been safer options with clearer benefits.

This time, however, Lightning Reflex carried a similar risk, but none of the remaining options were clearly superior enough to make ignoring that possibility an easy decision.

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