"I'm fine," Alex replied, his voice steady as he touched down gently on the mountaintop. "Actually, I've never felt better."
In his hand, he held Voltbrand, his sword, now gleaming with a faint electric shimmer. He ran a fingertip along the blade, and a sharp spark flared out with a crackle in a lightning storm.
The centaurs, who had been holding their breath, finally rushed forward when they saw he was unharmed. The younger ones stared up at him with awe written all over their faces, their eyes filled with admiration and reverence.
"Alex," said Brand, deeply impressed, "after such a massive display, I'd say your Magical Artifact is finally complete. If it can cause that much power just being born, it must be incredibly powerful."
"This is thanks to your help," Alex replied humbly, smiling as he looked at the elder centaur. "Without your skills, we wouldn't have been able to craft anything close to this. Still, Voltbrand isn't a Magical Artifact just yet. It has a long way to go."
Alex know better than to compare it to true ancient magical artifact like sword of Gryffindor.
Brand gave a warm nod in return, and the others, including Fang, couldn't resist crowding in for a closer look. Fang even reached out to touch the blade, only to yelp and pull his hand back when a playful arc of electricity shocked his fingers.
After letting everyone admire the weapon for a bit, Alex flipped the sword over in his hand and seemed to consider something. A moment later, the blade shimmered and transformed into a sleek silver walking stick, fitting neatly into his grip.
As his main weapon moving forward, he needed to keep it with him, but carrying a long sword around all the time would only draw unwanted attention. A walking cane, on the other hand, was much easier to blend in with.
While everyone were focused on his new appereance, The biggest change was in something unseen, his spellcasting strength.
Normally, with his mental focus and willpower, if he could already reach a casting intensity of 1. But now, after being tempered by thunder, it had risen, at least to 1.1, maybe even close to 1.2.
That might not sound like much, just a 0.1 increase, but considering Alex's original spellcasting strength was already extremely high, it was a huge leap. When tested on a humanoid target, he used to hit over 400 point, close to the system's threshold. And for over a year, he hadn't seen much improvement.
Spellcasting strength relied heavily on willpower and emotion. Once you hit a bottleneck, progress basically stopped unless something intense shook you.
But now, if he were to take the test again, breaking through the barrier wouldn't be a problem. He wasn't even sure if the testing dummy could withstand that kind of attack power.
And it wasn't just his magic that changed. Alex could feel something different in his body too, maybe it was the thunder's influence, or the evolved magic inside him.
Either way, his physical condition had improved dramatically. His strength, endurance, and even reaction speed had all increased.
He wasn't quite on Hagrid's level, of course, but compared to an average person, he was something else entirely now. Inhuman, even.
After wrapping things up at the centaur camp, Alex apparated back to Diagon Alley. That's when he noticed another change: the spells he used regularly seemed to be affected by the thunder too.
Take Apparition, for instance. He could now lock onto a destination faster, and the usual pressure that came from moving through space felt much lighter.
He even realized he could control his landing point with pinpoint accuracy, something that had always been a struggle before. He'd always wanted to master advanced Apparition techniques, and now he might be on the verge of doing it.
Even stranger, the Thundris Tempest inside his body seemed to influence the Apparition process itself. While others left behind a faint puff of smoke when they appeared or disappeared, Alex now vanished in a streak of lightning, reappearing like a bolt shooting through the sky.
Shalltear and Wimzy on the Wilson's Arcane Alchemica witnessed this firsthand. One second, there was a flash of lightning in the air, and in the next, Alex stood before them, with Fang hanging limply in his arms. The poor dog looked like he'd stuck his paw in a socket, his fur standing on end with static electricity.
Both Shalltear and Wimzy were stunned. They'd only been gone for two days, but it felt like the man before them had completely transformed. Fang looked like a fried mop, and Alex… well, he now apparated like lightning.
"Mater," Fang whimpered, shaking out his fur, "I'll admit, your new way of traveling is definitely faster and smoother than before… but I feel like I got electrocuted just tagging along!"
"Sorry," Alex said with an apologetic chuckle. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet. It's a new technique, and I'm still getting used to how it works."
Shalltear tilted her head, narrowing her eyes slightly. "My Prince, what exactly have you been doing? Your whole presence feels different. Not just your magic, your aura, even your taste in things. Everything about you has changed."
As someone with a sharp eye, Shalltear could easily pick up on the subtle differences. She wasn't wrong, Alex had indeed changed, not just in strength, but in the very way he carried himself.
At the same time, Shalltear's sharp gaze drifted over to Fang, who stood next to Alex looking thoroughly disheveled. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "And you, how is it that you've turned cute after just a few days apart? Your fur's longer now… kinda interesting, actually."
Before Fang could respond, Shalltear leaned in and ran her fingers through his fur. To her surprise, it felt pretty good, soft, even luxurious.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing?!" Fang yelped, his fur standing on end again as static crackled along his back. "Don't touch me, you flea-ridden bat! You'll give me lice or something! Touch me again and I'll bite you!"
His bark was worse than his bite, though the bark was pretty loud. His fur, which had finally started settling down, puffed up again like a porcupine.
With his claws out and his teeth bared, he growled at Shalltear, who smirked and narrowed her eyes in return. Without warning, the two launched into another one of their classic squabbles.
Alex had to step in, grabbing them both by the collar before dragging them apart. "Alright, break it up. You two can save the drama for later."