The question nagged at me. Body Enhancement was a staple, a workhorse skill for adventurers and knights alike. Physical Enhancement was… mine. A variant born from my half-elf intuition and Support Mage mindset. But what was the practical difference?
I activated Physical Enhancement (G). The effect was internal, a subtle hardening that began in my core and radiated outwards. My muscles felt denser, my bones more solid, like I was wrapped in an invisible layer of flexible armor. I walked over to a medium-sized rock in the training yard, one I usually struggled to lift. Wrapping my arms around it, I strained—and it came off the ground. The strength boost was tangible.
So it works for strength too, I noted. But it feels… different.
I recalled the novel's descriptions. When a character used Body Enhancement, visible energy—mana or aura—would flare around their body like an aura of power, granting a raw, explosive boost for about ten minutes.
My skill produced no external glow. The mana worked from the inside, reinforcing the cellular structure itself. The implications hit me like a lightning bolt.
First: Efficiency. Internal reinforcement required less energy than projecting a field of enhancement around the body. My mana consumption was significantly lower.
Second: Precision. Because the effect originated from within, I could focus it. I willed the enhancement to concentrate solely in my right arm. The mana flowed accordingly, making that arm feel like forged iron while the rest of my body remained normal. A B-rank expert with supreme control might manage that with the standard skill, but for a G-rank novice? It should be impossible.
I had hit the jackpot without even realizing it.
A new hypothesis formed. Could I learn the standard version as well? To understand the rules before I broke them?
For the next hour, I reversed my approach. Instead of internal infusion, I focused on emitting mana to form an enhancing shell around my body. It was cruder, more wasteful, but conceptually simpler. By the hour's end, my Status screen updated:
[Skill: Body Enhancement (G) Acquired.]
I tested it. A faint, shimmering white haze surrounded me. My strength increased to a similar degree as the physical version. But it was a blanket effect—I couldn't localize it. And my mana drained noticeably faster.
The proof was undeniable. I had two tools for the same job: a blunt, powerful club (Body Enhancement), and a sharp, efficient, precise scalpel (Physical Enhancement).
The true test, the mad scientist idea that popped into my head next, was inevitable.
What if I used both at once?
The logic was simple: reinforce the structure from the inside and amplify it with an external field. Synergy.
I took a deep breath. "Physical Enhancement." The internal fortification settled in, a comforting solidity. Before that feeling could normalize, I layered the second skill. "Body Enhancement."
The external shell snapped into place around me.
For a single, glorious second, it was incredible. Power, raw and exhilarating, flooded my limbs. I felt like I could punch through the cottage wall. My senses sharpened to a painful degree. I was double-enhanced.
Then, the cost hit.
My mana pool, which had been comfortably half-full, imploded. It was like a drain had been opened at my feet. The two skills weren't cooperating; they were fighting for the same fuel, burning it at a catastrophic rate.
Two minutes. I can hold this for two minutes at most.
A wave of dizziness washed over me. My vision tunneled. The incredible power became a leaden weight. I tried to dismiss the skills, but my control was fraying under the massive drain.
No. Not here. Cancel!
But it was too late. The last of my mana vanished. The enhancement fields shattered. A backlash of utter emptiness, a vacuum in my soul where energy should be, slammed into me.
My legs gave out. The world spun, then went dark as I crumpled to the hard-packed earth of the yard.
---
I came to hours later, lying in the dirt under a blanket of cold stars. A profound, aching hollowness filled my core—mana exhaustion. My head pounded. I was shivering.
I pushed myself up onto my elbows, every movement an effort. The cottage door was only ten meters away. It might as well have been a mile.
A cold dread, sharper than the night air, cut through the fog in my mind.
I was inside my own walls. This was the safest place in the territory for me.
What if this had happened in the woods? On the road? During the wolf attack?
I would be dead. Not from a monster's fangs, but from my own reckless ambition. A corpse with a neat new skill, ready to be scavenged.
This was my first real lesson in the true danger of my path. Power wasn't just something you gained. It was something you had to control. And the price of losing control could be fatal.
Dragging myself inside, I vowed two things. First, I would never attempt a dual-cast without a full mana pool and a safe environment again. Second, I needed to find a way to increase my mana capacity, and fast. Brilliant ideas were worthless if they killed me.
Survival wasn't just about becoming strong. It was about managing the cost of strength.