In Secret of Mana, magic is handled kind of oddly. Every time you meet up with an elemental, you get access to their spells and then, in short order, you find its corresponding seed that you need to seal to complete part of the main quest. Each seed that you seal raises the maximum level of the spells you can cast, which makes them stronger, but to do that gets kind of tedious. You gain levels by simply using each of the elementals, but each additional level takes progressively more uses, and the new elementals that you meet start out at level 0. And that means you've got a lot of grinding to do.

But, let's assume that you do take the time to keep them all maxed out. What does that get you, other than the strongest casters in the game?

Excellent question!

Once your characters' skills with an elemental reaches the maximum of Level 8, weird stuff starts to happen. Their casts start to behave oddly, and just plain look cooler. You'll know when the effects go off because the game pauses for dramatic effect.

This works for defensive spells, too, but they're not quite as exciting to see in picture form. I haven't really bothered to find out if the spells get any stronger or not, because I was too distracted by their pizazz. But I don't really think it matters a whole lot. I just consider it a bonus for people who took the time to keep their guys in tip-top condition.