Chapter 170: Species Level Up [POWER STONE BONUS]

Alex wiped the sweat from his forehead while slowly dialing down Advanced Battle Instinct. He smiled faintly as he looked at the orange thread in front of him.

Fire-Mana Weaving was a good spell, and although he would need to train with it before he could use it properly, he already understood that it could make him considerably stronger.

There was still one more notification in front of him. Alex had received it along with the earlier notifications, but he had been ignoring it while checking other things.

[Soul Reinforcement Spell detected.]

[Would you like to learn Soul Reinforcement Spell?]

[Yes/No.]

Alex raised a brow as he looked at the screen. He had refused this spell the last time the notification appeared, but it had returned now, likely because of how much he had used Soul Reinforcement during the battle.

He wondered whether the System would continue asking him about the spell in the future no matter how many times he refused, or whether it would eventually stop offering it after he rejected it a certain number of times.

Alex decided he could find out later if he had the opportunity. For now, he needed the spell, especially since fusing Mana Bullet Spell and Fire Bullet Spell had emptied one of his available spell slots.

’Yes.’

[Soul Reinforcement Spell learned.]

[Soul Reinforcement Spell, D Rank, Level 1.]

[Tsk, I was hoping you didn’t learn this immediately so that I could have some fun.]

[Effect: Allows you to reinforce your soul.]

Alex was already using Soul Reinforcement Spell, so the moment the spell appeared properly on his status screen, its effect improved almost instantly.

The change was soothing, and the soreness he had been feeling in his soul decreased by a considerable amount.

It was almost as if, until now, he had been trying to massage his soul by repeatedly hitting it. The improved spell allowed him to push more mana into his soul without straining it, which in turn allowed him to generate considerably more Will.

Alex finally understood why the soreness in his soul had never completely disappeared. He had been putting too much mana into it and had not been doing it correctly, so even though he was strengthening his soul, he was also constantly placing unnecessary strain on it.

Now, with the System’s assistance, Alex could push more mana into his soul while maintaining the proper structure. The process became much more efficient, and the amount of Will he could generate increased significantly. He decided to absorb how System was improving the spell before leveling up. Otherwise, he would become too much dependent on System to assist with the Spell.

With more Will, Alex’s Mana control improved tremendously. Previously, he had a hard time using his spells because most of his focus was spent keeping his injured body stable, but that problem had now become much more manageable.

He could probably keep moving in his current condition for several hours if necessary. It was still a limited amount of time, but it was enough for him to find a healer or gain his Class and level up again to heal his injuries himself, so Alex was satisfied with the improvement.

Alex opened his eyes and looked around the room. Roan was sitting nearby, examining the Gene Potentials they had collected and piled together after the battle.

Roan noticed Alex opening his eyes and immediately moved. He picked up the Mid Rank Species Gene Potential and walked over before placing it into Alex’s hand.

"I know technically we both fought together, but you killed far more Wild Orcs than I did. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to survive, let alone win against them, so I think this should be absorbed by you," Roan said.

Alex looked at the Gene Potential in his hand before shaking his head slightly. "You helped a lot as well. Without you, I would have had to fight all those Wild Orcs while searching for the Wild Orc Shaman’s location, and that would have made things much more difficult. So don’t sell yourself short."

Roan nodded, but he still pushed the Gene Potential firmly toward Alex. Alex understood that Roan had an intense desire to become stronger, although he did not know the exact reason behind it. He could guess that Roan had probably lost someone important to him, but he did not ask.

Even with that desire for strength, Roan was still willing to give the Mid Rank Species Gene Potential to Alex. Refusing it now would be like disrespecting Roan’s decision, so Alex accepted it without arguing any further.

[Your Species Level has increased. Level 5 → Level 6.]

[2 Stat Points gained.]

Alex now had two stat points. He could invest them into Constitution, which would immediately help heal some of his injuries, and under normal circumstances, that would have been the obvious choice.

However, Alex did not spend the points immediately. There were two reasons for his patience, and the first was the change brought by Soul Reinforcement Spell.

With Soul Reinforcement now properly supporting his soul, Alex could generate far more Will than before, which had increased his mana control by a large margin. His injuries would no longer interfere with his ability to use spells nearly as much as they had before, meaning he did not necessarily need to spend his stat points on Constitution immediately.

Secondly, Alex had likely killed most of the Wild Orcs already. According to Roan, who had investigated the Wild Orc defensive line, as well as the information from people who had not been summoned to the Land of Origin and had remained on Earth, there were not many Wild Orcs in the first place. Most people had only encountered one or two.

It seemed that these powerful monsters had not appeared on Earth in large numbers yet. That made sense when Alex considered what Guide had told him about the apocalypse being a test, even if it was a nightmarish one. If hundreds of thousands of Wild Orcs had appeared on the first day, Earth would have had almost no chance of surviving.

..

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