Affinity Determined (2)

The Sorcerers' Flame Circle allowed me to not only strengthen my supposed affinity, but it allowed me to directly combust the energy in the air without me having to take it in first.

It improved efficiency, quality, and quantity.

As long as it is done at the right time, I can possibly burn everything within the circle thoroughly.

The circle becomes mostly intangible and inactive when it is being moved remotely by me, but when set down it returns to how it was originally, meaning it will indeed be able to be cleaned off, and once there is a falter, the circle ceases to work completely.

I needed this Circle intact if I wanted to survive a bit longer against the single winged being.

-{Even Though You Are Like This, You Are Still Quick To Understand. Don't Lose This Chance By Wasting It On Just Cremating. Utilize Your Melee So Your Strengthening And Enforcing Shall Be Top Notch, Don't Be Overly Reliant On Your Affinity} Athena Advised.

Without even taking the time to speak to signal my agreement with her notion, I kept on Cremating. I followed Athena's advice and continued with my melees.

Streams of energy were constantly channeled to my limbs like gas to a burner, and my attacks either crushed bones or burned them to death.

After what could only be three days at most, I felt like this journey to the end of the route was coming to a close.

The Sorcerers' Flame Circle did get impaired a couple of times, but I had Athena to help, and after a while, I learnt to create the circle on my own.

It was just a collection of runic symbols that were directly or indirectly related to Fire or Burning, there were also a few shapes within and between the runic symbols as well.

At a particular point in my one-way route, I got to a place with a large door made with rusted and old steel, which was still quite thick anyway.

I sat down on the floor because the aches I felt were tremendous.

I could feel the bones in my joints scraping against each other. This was the reason that even though energy was limitless, it was impossible for power to be limitless or even nigh limitless.

Other than output, the most difficult aspect of energy utilization was circulating energy around oneself.

Although I quickly mastered both, absorbing, channeling, and accumulating energy within oneself used a very limited type of energy; stamina...

... Or better yet, as I call it, Brio. This Brio was what was needed to continue absorbing and utilizing energy. Brio would reduce when one was stressed, fatigued or exhausted and energy would no longer be able to flow into the body. Forcing the body to use more, even when fatigued and out of Brio, then one would go through exactly what I was currently facing.

Brio had no exact way of replenishing other than resting, and it had no other way of improving other than giving it opportunities to improve.

I believed I had cleared all the beasts within my route, and then what seemed to be a door was right before me.

I wondered if I may finally have started going crazy and started hallucinating, but I doubted illusions like that lasted this long.

Possibly, it was because I was hungry.

"Wait, hungry?" I thought to myself.

Last time I checked, I couldn't feel much pain.

I did have the broken dam feeling before I got here, but I doubt it returned enough of my bodily nerve functions for me to start feeling hungry.

But if you do think about it, I am feeling achy. Could it be that I had finally regained all of the senses that had been taken from me by only God knows who?

Falling into my bad habit, I just happened to mistakenly think about how good it would feel to have something get into my mouth.

-{You Don't Need To Constantly Channel Energy Into Your Body If You Are Battling. It depletes stamina much more quickly than normal.Just Absorbing, Utilizing, And Absorbing Again Would Most Likely Be The Best Option For You Now, Despite How Illogical It Sounds}

I had already realized my manner of energy utilization was truly whack, and there was nothing I could do other than what Athena had said.

But the efficiency of the method she advised I should use was not even half as good as the original.

But in order to make myself much stronger, I intently agreed to it.

It just so happens that what I call Brio and what the Sorcerers call Stamina is something that is directly affected by the state in which the body is in, so the better and more invigorated I am the more energy I can accumulate and efficiently utilize.

Then suddenly, this weird feeling just came over me.

I had never even felt it before. It was horrible.

I had nothing to think or wonder about.

I developed a bad habit of overthinking things that could possibly have little to no impact on anything, and even the ones that were worth my thoughts, I usually over-thought them beyond normal confines.

But now there was nothing. Nothing at all.

I soon understood what my passive underlying goal was all along.

Stein's facility was, in all honesty, a truly very vast place, and it seemed to be a location where one could witness quite a lot of things, but it would inevitably get unamusing at some point.

I wanted to escape from the clutches of Stein and move out into the vast world.

I wanted to explore the earth and see its wonders first hand. It was supposed to be quite easy due to the fact that I possessed the 'Bibliotheca', but currently I possessed very little access, so the only alternative was getting to see on my own.

I figured out that it was highly probable that Anastasia hadn't finished as well.

If memory serves well, I can remember the single winged being saying that if it wasn't for him preventing the dragon girl from quickly moving forward, then she would have finished.

I haven't even seen or felt The single winged being in a while, and my method of long range sight, where I project my energy outwards and feel all that is within it, didn't seem to be able to see past the door ahead of me.

Like my released Energy was negated by the door itself and I lost contact with the ones that managed to seep in.

Soon, my mind began soaring again.

"Could me and Anastasia be going through similar trials despite our difference in strength?"

"Was the single-winged being able to randomly attack any of us?"

"Did he lose interest in me after he thought he killed me?"

"Did the single winged being ever really take an interest in me?"

"Could he actually believe I was dead?"

I was randomly pushed out of my thoughts by Athena.

-{I Wouldn't Blame You If You Thought That This Version Of 'BIBLIOTHECA' [The System] Was Worse Than Usual. Originally, It Just Told You Exactly What You Needed To Know, When You Needed To Know It, Provided You Showed Desire To Know It And Fulfilled Particular Conditions. But Now There Is A Hot Lady Living In Your Body, Your Head Feels Like It Is Filled With Information That You Can't Access, And It Makes You Heavier And Slower.}

She just started gibbering rubbish from nowhere with a bit of self-praise. She should have added this as another of her listed 'Bibliotheca' disadvantages.

"So, what is your point?"

-{This Is How I Had Previously Explained It To You, If You Are Determined Then 'BIBLIOTHECA' And I Will Make The Heavens Average Footing For You}

"Average footing? I don't think I'd even want that. My aim is quite simple, actually, and it may change only if I get to understand more about what affects a person's wants.

If I can't get info from the Bibliotheca or its librarian, then I'd be glad to get knowledge on my own. I doubt Stein has this ability, but he has gotten far enough to be this psychopathic crazed lunatic."

I waited for a few seconds to hear a reply from Athena, but after I realized there was going to be none, I stood on my feet and approached the large rusted steel door.

When I pushed it open, the scene before me was shocking, but I felt it was to be expected.

The single-winged being was right there sitting in the middle of a large room, piles of dried out bones filled every corner of every inch, and there I saw Anastasia.

It seemed like she had also just recently come through. Her horns seemed to have grown a tad bit longer, and her aura was on full display. The only difference now was that I didn't feel it choking me.

Whether it was because I actually got stronger or because I was either overestimating myself or underestimating her, I don't know.

Stein has been awfully quiet for a while now.

I looked around, as if searching for a sign that Stein was watching, although I knew I wouldn't even know even if he was.

My doubts were corrected; the location we were in had high walls and the ceilings reached further than I thought anyone could reach.

It made me wonder how this place was constructed.

"Were there any construction Sorcerers?" I wondered to myself.

Then suddenly, a part of the wall had the cinder that coated it shattered into little dust particles, and then transparent glass was revealed.

Within it, I could see Stein and his goons peering down on us, and after that, Stein spoke out through a microphone on a counter.

-[Good day! It has been a pretty good run. You people even cleared this quite fast. About two months have gone by, but sadly, both of you are too persistent. Unfortunately, I don't need two successful subjects. I am not a greedy guy. Just one should do. So, I brought in a good friend of mine. Don't be confused, he isn't one of my previous subjects. He is like a slave to my will. He originates from a good creature species, and they are quite limited on our plane. Coming across one is hard enough as is, and here I am with one as a servant. Ahahahahahaha!]

The single winged being would stand up and bend his fingers in a rigorous motion to crack them and ease the joints.

"That's because you tricked me, you bastard!"

-[Watch your mouth now, Abezethibou. I made certain that you were aware of who you were dealing with, and aren't Fallen Angels supposed to be intelligent, far more intelligent than 'Mere Mortals' like me?]

"You know, you aren't a mortal."