Dante was surprised by the effectiveness of this 1st rank spell. On paper, it was like a very weak version of the famous Planetary Devastation, but the most it could do in the hands of a Novice Mage, even a peak one, was to disrupt, slow, unbalance, and trap.
It was like trying to run forward with a vacuum cleaner behind you, pulling you back. However, due to the fact that Dante was space element specialized, the spell was already boosted by 50% per each rank Dante was.
So as a 1st Rank Novice Mage, his 1st Rank spells were 50% stronger than the base. At the 2nd Rank Adept Mage, it was 100% stronger than the base. At 3rd Rank Advanced Mage, it was 150% stronger than the base.
'The base' here did not refer to the spell itself but rather the spell in the hands of an average non-specialized mage at the same rank. So a 2nd Rank Adept Mage with three Spiritual Cores of Fire, Poison, and Ice who used this spell would only be able to use it at base strength.