Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

'How the hell can this be so powerful?' Mathew asked himself as he looked down at his palms.

They were responsible for unleashing this new spell of his. And yet, those palms of his appeared to Mathew to be exactly the same as in the past.

The young man raised his eyes to the pierced piece of concrete.

'Isn't this way too strong?' was Mathew's first thought.

To evaporate several inches thick holes in concrete would take an insane amount of energy, especially for it to happen instantly.

And yet, the facts spoke against what Mathew believed to be possible or not.

'The question is, how do I approach it?' the young man asked himself, recalling a quote from one of the obscure books written way in the past.

'There are two kinds of people. Those who listen to the facts are one. For the others, if the facts don't confirm their theory, then damn the facts!'

Mathew tightened his fists as he looked at the hole of his making.

"Am I going to be one of those people?" he muttered out the question, sharing it with the world.

This simple question was far more troubling than Mathew could ever expect. Because now that it came for him to answer it, he finally understood the weight that prompted the others to go with the easier route.

"I basically need to redefine the concept of strength, power, and pretty much most of physics I know and grew used to," the young man whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the pierced piece of concrete.

"It's just a small hole, yet it can change my way of thinking so much," Mathew muttered under his nose, only to then slowly close his eyes as he had no other choice but to accept the reality.

"Do all men really think about this all the time?" an unexpected voice startled Mathew when it came from behind his back. And yet, for someone to announce their approach most likely meant there was no danger involved.

Still, Mathew turned around on his heel, like a girl caught on stalking the social media of her crush. He jumped a little and opened his mouth, ready to rebuke...

Only to see Leila's grin.

"You came to test your abilities too?" Mathew asked, taking a few breaths to calm the beating of his heart. Changing the topic was his utmost priority!

"Did I disturb you, by any chance?" the girl replied, putting on a cute, innocent smile as she leaned her head to the side. Yet, her expression quickly mellowed down as she looked down, her energy vanishing on the spot. "Yes, I didn't want to put any further stress on the compound," she added only to raise her head and give Mathew a cheeky side look. "Well, not after I saw what you did a moment ago," she then added with a smug smile.

'Well, there is no way to refute that,' Mathew thought, internally admitting his mistake.

"Learning from my mistakes, I see," the young man spoke up, only to shake his head and then nod it towards the girl. "That's actually a great idea. I underestimated just how powerful we became, so it's better if the others won't repeat the mistake I already did," he admitted, praising the girl in a slightly roundabout way.

"I hope I won't trouble you by being here," Leila then added only to turn around on her heel, away from Mathew's eyes. She then took a stance with both of her weapons.

Leila held her saber at the level slightly below her hips with its tip pointed at forty-five degrees upwards and ahead. The girl held her machete in a reverse grip, with its blade pointed backward while holding the entire weapon at the level of her chest.

'I wonder what she will do,' Mathew thought, looking at the girl with quite a lot of interest.

And yet, even after a good while, Leila didn't bother to move, stuck in her position and with her eyes closed.

'Well, I better not disturb her either,' the young man thought, realizing his own rudeness. Rudeness, and wastefulness, as five out of fifteen minutes of break, have passed.

'I need to focus on my own abilities,' Mathew decided, tearing his eyes away from the girl before turning around and immersing his consciousness in the feeling of the energy flowing through his veins.

'Let's go through the process again,' Mathew thought, repeating all the steps that he made to unleash his first mana bolt.

And sure enough, after only a moment of concentrating, Mathew's palm lit up with the dim shine of condensed mana only for it to all disappear when the young man released the control over his own will.

"So that's how it works," he muttered under his nose, his eyes open yet with his mind too focused on his internal state to notice the arrival of the rest of the girls.

Nadia threw Mathew a long, longing look, yet ultimately decided not to bother him. Instead, she took a small spot to the side of the ruins before getting in position herself.

'Now that I've identified this feeling, I should be able to replicate it,' Mathew thought, too focused on his own training to pay any mind to the world around him.

He then repeated all the steps of unleashing his mana bolt again... Only to stop as soon as he could feel the familiar sensation welling up in his soul.

'So the mana starts to form once I create a final picture of what I want to achieve?' Mathew thought, quickly acting on his idea and focusing on analyzing how it worked.

And for yet another time, Mathew shot out a bolt of mana out of his palm, creating a fourth hole in the block of concrete he used as a firing target.

"Now then, to take it all into consideration..." the young man muttered, holding out his right hand as he closed his eyes and rested his left hand on his right forearm.

'Grasp what you want to do,' Mathew thought, manually replicating all the steps of casting his mana. 'Turn it into a picture,' he continued to follow up through the routine he came up with.

'Allow the will to carry on.'

'Let it separate from the mind.'

'Help by pushing more energy into the flow that the intent creates.'

'Release it out of the palm.'

Step by step, Mathew replicated the process that would normally happen on its own. And bit by bit, his body reacted, replicating the results of the formerly system-assistance-exclusive action.

Poof!

A small sound of a string bouncing reached Mathew's ears as soon as the energy expelled itself out of his palm.

This time, it wasn't just a small bolt of mana. This time, it was an arc of bright light that sped forward, cutting through everything in its path...

Only to disappear roughly fifteen meters away from the young man.

'This is...' the young man's thoughts halted as he stared down at the effects of his small discovery.

This time, he didn't create a small hole in a block of concrete. This time, Mathew's attack cut right through the block, only to continue severing everything that stood in its path, all the way to the point where it dispersed into nothingness.

'Did it run out of energy?' Mathew thought, squinting his eyes. 'Or maybe it's a matter of a distance?' he thought, trying his best to account for every possibility.

"Mathew!" Daria's shout finally forced the young man out of his immersed state. And as he turned his head around to look at the owner of the voice, Mathew was blasted by the massive shine coming out of Daria's eyes.

"Listen! I think we no longer need to fear the night battle!"