Alex's entire body seemingly started burning, but this was only an illusion created by the fruit.
As soon as Alex swallowed the first bite, he felt like his muscles started to catch on fire.
Yet, for some reason, this sensation wasn't exactly painful. It had some painful aspects to it, but a certain feeling of excitement, restlessness, and energy came with it.
Alex had never tried steroids in his past life since that would ruin his career, but he imagined that steroids felt similar, minus the slight pain.
After some seconds, Alex noticed something.
'This feels very similar to absorbing Mana, just way more intense,' he thought with excitement.
Due to the intensity of the experience, Alex also noticed something else.
Alex looked at his body and touched his head.
'I haven't noticed it before since the Mana always felt gentle, but my head actually doesn't feel any of the Mana. My entire body feels like it's heating up, but my head remains cool. It's almost like my head isn't affected by the Mana.'
Alex frowned.
'The God told me that I would be unable to practice magic. Is that what he meant?'
'Logically, Mages should get their abilities to cast spells by increasing the power of their soul and mind. At least, that's how it always worked in RPGs. I guess it works similarly here. After all, these kinds of people are called Mages, and they harness the power of the environment to create powerful attacks.'
'The God said that Mana is the main reason how people could become so powerful in his world, which means that all the power of people hinges on the usage of Mana. There should be something in my body that allows me to absorb and control Mana.'
'I guess Mages probably absorb the Mana with their souls and minds, leaving their bodies weak. There has to be some drawback to an advantage. Otherwise, it wouldn't be entertaining. I mean, wasn't this the entire reason why the God made his world like this and why I'm here?'
'So, in essence, Mages probably don't absorb Mana with their bodies, but with their mind. If a Mage ate this fruit, they would probably feel this sensation only in their head, while I feel it across my body.'
'The thing that stores and distributes the Mana across my body probably has no connection to my head, making it impossible for Mana to reach it. That's probably also why all the Mana gets dumped into my body since it has nowhere else to go.'
'What am I doing?!' Alex thought as he gritted his teeth. 'I'm currently filled to the brim with Mana, but I'm thinking about such stuff that's so far in the future?! Get a grip, Al- argh, Shang!'
Alex immediately shot up and climbed higher on the tree.
Then, he jumped with all his power and readied himself for a huge impact.
BANG!
Alex felt pain shoot throughout his arms and knees as he hit the ground.
Then, he quickly stood up and ran to the tree again.
As Alex climbed up the tree again, he noticed something else, which made him narrow his eyes with a gleam.
'My legs and arms don't hurt anymore! This means that I don't need to rest!'
'I have to use this opportunity!'
Alex climbed higher than usual and looked down.
It was so high!
However, the burning sensation pushed him over the edge, and he jumped.
Alex never had had a good opportunity to see if the Mana's regenerating properties also worked on his bones. Logically, it should, but Alex wasn't sure of the extent.
Alex felt like time stopped as he fell towards the ground.
CRACK!
And Alex got his wish.
Alex didn't want to experiment with his legs since they were more important than his arms.
Because of that, Alex had initially landed on his feet but had then fallen forward to transmit the force of the fall onto his right arm.
Alex's right forearm broke apart.
Alex gritted his teeth violently as an incredible pain shot throughout his arm.
Breaking a bone was never easy.
Alex touched his right forearm with his left hand and felt the bone sticking out.
'Great, an open fracture,' he thought.
Alex quickly felt a change in his body.
The hot sensation seemingly got weaker all over his body and focused on his right forearm.
CRK! CRK!
Creaking sounds could be heard as the bone in Alex's right forearm seemingly moved back into place.
Splotch!
The sound of moving flesh and blood had a unique feeling to it, but Alex only focused on his arm.
The bone had been buried back into his arm, and the broken skin and flesh above it started to heal with speed visible to the naked eye.
Two minutes later, the hot sensation completely left Alex's body.
Alex touched his right arm and felt a stinging pain.
'Not fully healed yet, but all the Mana has been used up,' he thought. 'Apparently, Mana also accelerates the recovery of my bones, but the Mana required is incomparable. According to the intensity of the sensation, this one bite of the fruit probably gave me more Mana than I could get in several hours of meditation. The same amount of Mana could have healed my entire body twice.'
Alex looked at his right arm with shining eyes.
'However, if Mana can strengthen my muscles, it can probably also strengthen my bones,' he concluded.
'If my strength ever reaches a level that just using my muscles would break my own bones, it would be truly tragic. I can't make such a stupid mistake.'
Alex gritted his teeth.
'My training is about to become even more painful. I fucking hate that! Why does training have to be so fucking painful?!'
Alex ran to the tree and grabbed the fruit.
Alex had been careful with his first bite, which was why the bite had been relatively small.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ There was still a ton left.
Alex took a big bite and climbed the tree.
An even more powerful sensation engulfed his body as he jumped down again.
CRACK!
More broken bones, but this time, Alex had enough Mana inside his body to heal everything.
It only took half a minute for everything to heal again.
CRACK!
The process repeated itself, and Alex took another bite of the fruit.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
About 15 minutes later, the fruit was completely used up, and Alex grabbed the next one.
However, he hesitated as he gritted his teeth.
He wished that he had never come up with that terrifying thought.
What thought?
Well, what if he got more powerful and got punched in the gut?
Would his organs be able to resist the force?
Logically, no, but there had to be a way to fix such a glaring issue. After all, the God had said that there had been innumerable paths to power in the past. He refused to believe that they were all weak to body blows.
'I can't stop now!'
Crunch! Crunch!
Alex ate the entire fruit at once, and he felt like his body was about to explode.
There was so much Mana!
It was no longer a gentle situation.
No, Alex felt like his body was literally being incinerated!
Alex climbed up but hesitated.
This was very different from all his previous jumps.
If he misjudged this jump, he would actually die.
However, Alex had already burned the bridge.
There was no way back.
If he didn't manage to find an outlet for all this Mana, he would probably die.
So, Alex jumped forward and protected his head with his arms.
Then, he hit the ground.
Chest and abdomen first.
Meanwhile, the God was watching Alex with a mad grin.
Yes, that was exactly why he had chosen him!
This kind of insanity was why he had chosen Shang!