He just triggered his Gust spell.
He pulled the ambient mana into his veins and forcefully compressed a tiny, spinning ball of air right in front of his fingertip. He held it there for exactly one second. Then he fired.
BANG.
The force of the compressed air shot across the empty stone room like a cannon round. It slammed into the dungeon wall so hard the entire room shook.
Adrian’s eyebrows shot up.
The kinetic force was extremely intense. It was infinitely higher than what he was used to. It wasn’t just a slight boost. It felt like it was much higher than double the raw power he was expecting.
He looked back at the floating blue screen.
’System.’ Adrian asked. ’Why does the impact feel so much stronger than I expected? You said the output increased because of the new veins. But I don’t really know by how much. So tell me exactly what the math is here.’
The screen flashed.
[Suggesting the user to experiment with different spell combinations. System requires more data to compile accurate information.]
Adrian didn’t complain. He just pushed himself up.
He waved his hand and the hot ceramic bathtub instantly dissolved back into the stone floor. He grabbed a towel, dried himself off quickly, and threw on some fresh clothes.
He walked to the center of the empty dungeon room.
He started casting. He triggered his Frost skill, a spell he practically never used in active combat. The last time he even bothered casting frost magic was when he built the giant refrigerator back in Oresfall. The air in the room instantly dropped to freezing temperatures as thick ice spikes formed out of thin air.
Then he switched back to wind. He cast Gust in a dozen different ways. He created heavily concentrated wind blades, pushing the mana compression to its absolute breaking point. He cast massive, diluted wind walls that washed over the entire room.
He switched to his telekinesis. He mentally grabbed massive steel balls and lifted them toward the ceiling. He tested his limits.
He quickly realized that the maximum number of invisible mana threads he could control at the exact same time hadn’t changed at all. He was still stuck at his old limit. But he knew exactly why. Telekinesis was tied directly to his brain capacity. It was purely based on how much he had trained his brain to multitask.
But the raw strength behind the magic was completely different.
Each individual mana thread could now effortlessly lift significantly more weight than he ever could before. It felt like his telekinetic lifting power had easily doubled, if not more.
After thirty minutes of throwing magic at the walls, he finally stopped. He let the system process all the data from his rapid-fire experimentation.
Adrian looked at the floating screen.
’System.’ Adrian ordered. ’Tell me what you found from all of this data. Tell me exactly how much mana output I have right now compared to before the healing. And tell me exactly how it mathematically impacts my spells in general. I want the final result of how my spells perform now.’
[Calculating based on physical data received.]
[Mana Veins output has doubled. The raw internal output has increased by exactly 100% accuracy.]
[Due to the internal output doubling, the amount of natural ambient mana that mixes with your spell formula has also doubled. Due to this reaction, all of your spells have significantly increased in raw power.]
Adrian frowned slightly.
’Okay.’ Adrian reasoned. ’But why did that wind bullet feel like it was more than double the power?’
[It is a placebo effect.]
[It is just the host feeling that it is more powerful because of the sudden jump in output. It is not a mathematical fact. The real fact is that it is exactly double. Both your internal output and the final output of your spell have exactly doubled when compared to your previous baseline stats.]
Adrian let out a soft chuckle.
’Okay then... if you say so.’
He dropped the smile. His expression turned dead serious.
’But based on that fight I had with the high elves in the woods,’ Adrian analyzed, pacing back and forth across the stone floor. ’I have fully realized that I can’t just spam one or two spells and expect to win every single fight anymore. A tiny arsenal of magic isn’t going to cut it against experienced mages.’
He stopped pacing.
’I need to spread my experience.’ Adrian thought rapidly. ’I need to learn multiple different types of spells at the exact same time. And I need to find spells that actually work well together to fit my specific fighting style.’
He crossed his arms.
’And on top of that,’ Adrian continued. ’You recorded the data. You saw how those high elves fought. They were way too strong for normal mages... physically. Tell me what exactly was going on there. I know for a fact they were not using Knight Auras. The way they moved and struck was completely different from how Knights fight in this empire. They seemed incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat too.’
Adrian rubbed his bearded chin, thinking back to how Ilyndra had punched him so hard his ribs cracked.
’Aside from learning new spells, I feel like I really need to focus on my Knight training.’ Adrian concluded. ’But I need to do it in a way where I integrate my magic directly into my physical fighting style. I need a true hybrid combat style. But I think I can figure the mixing on my own.’
He clapped his hands together loudly.
’Okay.’ Adrian ordered the system. ’I have Draconic Mana Veins now. I passively absorb ambient mana from the air just by breathing. I don’t really need to waste hours sitting on the floor meditating to refill my mana anymore. So compile a brand new training manual for me.’
He looked at the screen.
’Give me a manual where I can maximize this new passive mana gain while I am simultaneously training and casting spells.’ Adrian commanded.