Chapter 351: More Than Double
Alex closed his eyes, carefully digesting the information entering his mind. His eyebrows rose several times as he discovered some rather innovative applications of Lightning Mana that he had never considered before.
The Spell’s effects appeared to be several times stronger than Advanced Battle Instinct Spell, making it a considerably greater upgrade than he had expected. More importantly, its mana manipulation method was surprisingly efficient despite the enormous amount of Lightning Mana involved.
After familiarizing himself with the information, Alex activated Neural Overdrive Spell for the first time. A pleasant tingling sensation immediately spread through his brain and spinal cord, almost as though someone was gently massaging his nervous system while he relaxed in a warm bath.
The sensation was so comfortable that Alex almost forgot he was using an extremely powerful Spell. However, the changes occurring within his body quickly attracted his attention.
His eyesight had recovered enough for him to observe his surroundings, and the difference was immediately noticeable. Everything appeared considerably smoother, almost as though he had upgraded a display from 60 Hz to 120 Hz.
Even the smallest movements seemed easier to perceive, while his thoughts flowed at a speed that would have been unimaginable before. Alex was extremely pleased with the improvement, but he knew that visual perception wasn’t the main reason he had chosen this Evolution.
‘Alright, now it’s time to test the most important part,’ Alex thought, beginning to construct Mana Bullet Spell.
However, the moment he initiated the Spell, something unexpected happened. The Mana Bullet formed almost instantly, with its entire mana manipulation process occurring so smoothly that Alex barely noticed himself performing it.
‘Eh? Was it always supposed to be this easy?’ Alex wondered, staring at the completed Spell.
He dissipated the Mana Bullet and repeated the process several times, but the results remained consistent. His casting speed had increased enormously, and even the calculations required to maintain the Spell felt almost effortless.
Alex then moved on to Fire Bullet Spell, intending to test how many he could maintain simultaneously. To his surprise, he managed to create ten Fire Bullets without experiencing any significant difficulty.
Previously, maintaining six Spells simultaneously had been his limit, yet he could now control ten with relative ease. Moreover, each Fire Bullet was considerably stronger than the ones he had constructed before, making the improvement even more impressive.
Encouraged by the results, Alex activated Mana Vortex Spell and began testing its effective range. After several attempts, he discovered that the maximum range had increased by nearly sixty percent, despite him not making any changes to the Spell itself.
‘This is an incredible improvement, especially considering that the Spell is only Level 1,’ Alex thought, feeling increasingly satisfied with his decision.
However, he soon remembered that Neural Overdrive was supposed to provide only a temporary enhancement. Since Spells weren’t restricted by the same fixed rules as Skills, he suspected that there had to be a physical reason preventing him from maintaining it indefinitely.
Alex closed his eyes and carefully examined the changes occurring within his nervous system. With his enhanced mental processing ability, it didn’t take long for him to identify the problem.
The situation was somewhat similar to how processors worked inside computers. When a processor handled demanding tasks, its temperature increased, and prolonged exposure to excessive heat could eventually damage its components.
Neural Overdrive operated according to a comparable principle, although the actual cause wasn’t temperature. The enormous amount of Lightning Mana stimulating his nervous system was gradually damaging its tissues, meaning prolonged usage would eventually result in permanent injuries.
‘So I can use it for a while, deactivate it, and allow my nervous system to recover before activating it again,’ Alex concluded, considering the implications.
It was similar to how muscles needed rest after intense exercise. As long as he allowed sufficient recovery time between activations, he could continue using Neural Overdrive without suffering serious consequences.
However, another possibility soon occurred to him.
‘Wait, couldn’t I just use Life Mana to repair the damage while Neural Overdrive is active? That should increase how long I can maintain it,’ Alex thought.
He immediately began testing the idea, redirecting the Life Mana that had previously been healing his eyesight toward his brain and spinal cord. Fortunately, one of his eyes had already recovered, allowing to redirect the Life Mana without any problem.
With Neural Overdrive enhancing his mental processing ability, manipulating Life Mana had also become considerably easier. Alex carefully monitored the damaged tissues and soon confirmed that Life Mana was repairing them even while Lightning Mana continued stimulating his nervous system.
Although the healing couldn’t completely eliminate the damage, it significantly reduced the rate at which injuries accumulated. After performing several calculations, Alex estimated how long he could safely maintain the Spell.
‘Without healing, I should be able to use Neural Overdrive for roughly ten minutes before serious damage becomes a concern. With Life Mana, that duration should increase to approximately fifteen minutes,’ Alex calculated.
A five-minute improvement represented a fifty percent increase, which was already quite impressive. Moreover, as Neural Overdrive and his healing Spells advanced, he expected the duration to increase further.
Satisfied with his experiments, Alex finally turned his attention toward another benefit of his recent evolution. Since Advanced Battle Instinct Spell and Lightning Reflex Spell had fused into a single Spell, he now possessed an empty Spell Slot.
Fortunately, he had already decided what he wanted to learn next. Mana Heart Reinforcement Spell was his preferred choice, since strengthening his Mana Heart would be extremely beneficial for his future development.
As for the weaker version of Neural Overdrive that he intended to create, Alex decided not to assign it a Spell Slot. Since he already possessed Neural Overdrive, occupying another Slot with a similar Spell seemed unnecessary when he could reserve it for something more useful.
Of course, developing that weaker Spell and learning Mana Heart Reinforcement would require additional experimentation. Considering his current circumstances, Alex couldn’t afford to spend time on either project.
He still needed to complete the Trial, and the mysterious diagram remained his most promising opportunity. Now that Neural Overdrive had enormously improved his mental processing and mana manipulation abilities, he finally had a reason to believe he could reproduce its complicated structure.
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