Chapter 45: Fire Bullet Spell
He immediately tested his idea.
Holding the wand in one hand, Alex raised his free palm. Mana flowed into the wand and transformed into Fire Element Mana, while pure mana emerged from his other palm.
He compressed the pure mana into the shape of a hollow bullet with its back left open.
The shell gradually became denser as he continued compressing it. It reminded him of the mana wall he had formed beneath his skin for defense, except this time the compressed mana became a solid container instead of a flat barrier.
Once the shell was complete, he carefully guided the Fire Element Mana into its hollow center.
He continued feeding more Fire Element Mana into the bullet until the pressure became intense enough for a spark to appear.
The spark immediately ignited the compressed fire-element mana, and the burning fire tried to tear apart the pure mana shell from within.
Alex calmly reinforced the shell while compressing the flames even further, making sure both remained balanced.
When he felt everything had reached its limit, he pointed the bullet toward the far end of the tunnel. Then he released his control over the spell. The compressed flames instantly destabilized and exploded inside the shell.
The hardened mana shell trapped the explosion for a brief moment, allowing the expanding flames to escape only through the opening at the back.
The escaping fire generated tremendous force, launching the bullet through the tunnel with a sharp, shrill sound. It crossed the distance almost instantly before crashing into the far wall.
The pure mana shell shattered on impact, releasing the explosion that had been trapped inside. Shockwaves spread through the tunnel as flames burst outward, leaving behind a deep crater in the stone wall.
Alex had deliberately reduced the spell’s power because he didn’t want to collapse the tunnel, but the attack was still powerful enough to kill a Level 10 Titan Reef Crab in one hit.
Alex stopped strengthening his brain with mana and let out a long breath.
Sweat soaked through his clothes after maintaining such delicate control over two different types of mana at once, but a faint smile still appeared on his face. He had finally succeeded.
A familiar notification appeared before his eyes.
[Fire Bullet Spell detected.]
[Would you like to learn Fire Bullet Spell?]
[Yes/No.]
’Yes.’
[Fire Bullet Spell learned.]
[Fire Bullet, D Rank, Level 1.]
[Fire Bullet is one of the most basic elemental attacks, yet it carries enormous potential. If this spell is developed properly, it can lay a sturdy foundation for a mage’s future development. See, we can give a proper description when we try.]
[Effect: Shoot a flaming bullet made of mana.]
Alex looked over the notification with satisfaction before closing it. Fire Bullet had become his first D-rank spell.
It gained it because of his hard work, giving him a sense of satisfaction and achievement.
The System’s strange comment at the end was still as odd as ever, but he had long since stopped trying to understand its sense of humor.
When he looked up, he found everyone staring at him with wary expressions. Emma was the first to speak after glancing between Alex and the crater in the tunnel wall.
"Are you actually planning to use that during battles?" she asked.
Alex looked at them in confusion before following Emma’s gaze toward the damaged wall. A moment later, he understood why everyone looked so uneasy.
They all knew that Mages needed concentration to maintain their spells, so if he lost control over something that destructive, it could easily explode beside the party instead of the enemy.
Even if he controlled it perfectly, firing a full-powered Fire Bullet inside a narrow tunnel might collapse the ceiling and bury all of them alive.
"You don’t need to worry. I can control the spell properly, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t harm us or collapse the tunnel," Alex said.
The others exchanged glances before nodding. Alex had expected at least a few of them to remain wary after witnessing the spell’s destructive power, but they accepted his words without much hesitation.
It seemed they had already started to trust him a lot.
Everything he had said was true. He had no intention of using a Fire Bullet powerful enough to bring down the tunnel because creating one of that strength would take too much time. Any monster worth using it against would simply attack him before he could finish preparing the spell.
There was only one exception. If he ever found himself in a situation where death was unavoidable, he wouldn’t hesitate to create the strongest Fire Bullet he possibly could.
If he was going to die, then whoever killed him would die with him.
Not that Alex intended to let things reach that point. Since everyone still had a few minutes before moving, he decided to experiment with something else.
The geometric circles inside the wand had been on his mind ever since he first examined them.
Using Mana Thread, he carefully recreated the pattern floating inside the Fire Element Wand.
The circles should have transformed ordinary mana into Fire Element Mana, yet his copy produced nothing no matter how accurately he shaped it. After several failed attempts, Alex concluded that he was still missing something fundamental.
Rather than wasting more time, he abandoned the idea for now. Though, he hoped to find a way to make a working circle later. It would boost his combat power by a great margin if he could use different elements through it.
He focused on practicing Body Reinforcement Spell. The spell already felt close to another breakthrough, and Alex suspected it wouldn’t take much longer the System recognized it as the Advanced Body Reinforcement Spell.
This showed one of the greatest advantages of his Talent.
Once he fulfilled the conditions for a spell to evolve, he could learn the stronger version instantly and perfectly, no matter how difficult it normally was.
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