Chapter 6: The Two Essential Energy Types
Andrew awoke with a start after an indeterminate amount of time. He jumped from bed and quickly aligned his body into a defensive pose. But a moment later, he relaxed after realizing he was no longer on a battlefield but in a quiet room shrouded in darkness.
"So, it was just a nightmare!"
He expelled a lungful before summoning a magic lamp from his ring and lighting it up. Its luminance immediately chased away the darkness of the night and soothed his unsettled heart.
A fantastic sensation of utter tranquility filled his mind, and he habitually started analyzing his condition. His eyes glowed with satisfaction as he detected that his perception was sharper than before.
He could effortlessly notice the details he had ignored, like the tiny spiders weaving cobwebs close to the ceiling and the dust traces in the corner of the room, among other things.
His ears could also make out the soft moaning sounds resulting from the intimate actions of couples occupying other rooms. It wasn't that they were loud, but his hearing had just grown sharper, and he could pick up more details, even from further distances.
"As expected, my mentality has improved. I can also remember and utilize the rank 0 spells I learned in my previous life."
Andrew immediately settled on the bed cross-legged and started meditating. He regulated his breathing and utilized the Robinson soul abacus technique to enter an ethereal state.
Everything proceeded as expected. Andrew opened his eyes and found himself floating in the foggy space that was his soul space.
He ignored everything else and quickly opened his book-type totem. He blinked and focused on the contents inscribed on the first page.
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[Name: Andrew Robinson, Bone Age: 18 years]
[Attributes:> Physique: 1.4, Agility: 1.5, Mentality: 11.5, Maximum Mana: 3.6]
[Combat Power Evaluation: Secondary Stage Apprentice Sorcerer]
[Accumulated Origin Energy: 0 units, Accumulated Fate Energy: 4 units]
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"Sweet!"
Andrew pumped his fists repeatedly while feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness settling upon him.
Everything was as expected, and he had successfully edited his mentality attribute using his book-type totem. He had altered the stat from its previous value of 2.1 and directly raised it to 11.5.
Such was how reality-bending his book-type totem was. He could use origin and fate energy as fuel for the majestic golden quill to change the very nature of his powers at their very core.
And as long as he had the fuel, he could even edit all his attributes to turn from a newbie spell caster to a peak-stage apprentice sorcerer in no time.
Apprentice sorcerers in Edhen, the Realm of Sorcerers, always went through four sub-stages of power before experiencing the metamorphosis to become official sorcerers. These were the primary, secondary, advanced, and peak stages of apprenticeship.
Primary-stage apprentice sorcerers were the newbies, with attributes below the average value of 4, or for clarity, with power quantification of less than four times that of a healthy adult human.
Secondary-stage apprentices had attributes ranging from 4 to 6, while those in advanced stages possessed average qualities ranging from 7 to 9 times a healthy adult human.
Finally, there were the peak stage apprentice sorcerers, who were just a step away from becoming official sorcerers. They possessed attributes averaging 10 to 12 times those of a healthy adult male.
Andrew had already raised his mentality to 11.5, which was almost the peak of that stat within the bounds of being an apprentice sorcerer. But he couldn't classify himself as a peak-stage apprentice since he had yet to strengthen his other attributes. He was, at most, a slightly experienced newbie who had just set foot in the secondary stage of sorcery apprenticeship.
'Raising my mentality has positively influenced my Maximum Mana attribute. It has raised it from 2.5 to 3.6. My mana reserves should now be enough for me to cast Aeon's Blessing of Death at least once.'
Most complicated magic circle spell models were at rank four and above. Their casting demanded large mana reserves and overwhelming mentality attributes, meaning that only rank four sorcerers would meet the requirements without facing any backlash.
But Andrew had long learned that the Aeon's Blessing of Death was the opposite. It wasn't very taxing on his mana and mentality, even as an apprentice sorcerer. Moreover, it was one of his innate spells models, and all he had to do was focus, and he would be able to trigger it within his six-meter radius.
Sorcerer's totems had such capabilities. As long as a caster managed to inscribe or embed a spell model into the totem, it would become an innate spell, able to be cast instantaneously.
Aeon's Blessing of Death had also become such an innate spell for Andrew after the majestic will from the expert's tomb forcefully inscribed its model on the second page of his book-type totem. He could effortlessly use it to devour the corpses of the magical beasts within his ring and, in so doing, replenish the 'origin energy' reserves of his book totem.
"I wonder what time it is?"
Andrew first glanced at his watch and noticed that it was already 2:00 AM in the night.
He quickly ate a few rations and washed up before drying himself. He then settled cross-legged on the floor and commenced the second phase of quickly strengthening himself.
His intention moved, and he summoned one of the beast corpses Cody had gifted him from his ring. It was a horse-sized quasi-rank one thunderbolt lizard with glittering purple scales. Its suffocating and menacing bestial aura immediately permeated the room after it appeared on the floor.
Andrew remained calm and triggered the Aeon's Blessing of Death. He could feel his soul space churning as the book-type totem opened to display the complicated magic circle inscribed on its second page.
He didn't bat an eyelid at the changes in his soul space. He just raised his finger and pointed it at the corpse of the thunderbolt lizard to cast the spell by relying on the experiences he had accumulated in another lifetime.
What followed was beyond incredible.
An enlarged version of Aeon's Blessing of Death magic circle manifested in the air. It spun and shrouded the thunderbolt lizard's corpse with an ominous shadow. Then, just as suddenly, the darkness faded, but what remained of the beast was only a negligible heap of ash.
Andrew quickly meditated and opened his eyes in his soul space. He drifted forward and arrived before the golden book-type totem floating above his sea of consciousness. He then turned to the first page that recorded his attributes and noticed that his accumulated origin energy had increased from zero to 41 units.
Andrew smiled on seeing the change. Sure, the Aeon's Blessing of Death was a scary spell he didn't understand. But its efficiency in converting well-preserved dead magical beings into origin energy was second to none.
His totem had only devoured the corpse of a quasi-rank one thunderbolt lizard. But he had already gained 41 units of accumulated origin energy, which were just enough to edit another attribute of his and raise it to a value at the peak stage of apprentice sorcery.
'The only downside is that I can only accumulate origin energy by devouring dead beings that I didn't kill myself. I can't obtain any fate energy unless I affect or sever the fate of other living beings.'
Fate energy was the other fuel required for the functionality of Andrew's book totem. It allowed him to temporarily erase a quantification of his core attribute, thereby making room for its editing.
He wouldn't be able to use the golden quill to raise his powers with origin energy unless he possessed reserves of fate energy to erase his attribute values.
Fortunately, there were ways through which he could accumulate fate energy.
The most direct route was to kill sentient creatures, magic beasts, or other enemies and immediately devour their fate with Aeon's Blessing of Death before it dispersed into the world. He could also accumulate the energy through techniques that relied on the most intimate relations with the fairer sex or by carrying out incredible deeds that benefited Edhen, the Realm of Sorcerers, which happened to be his home plane.
'It's great that I already have four units of accumulated fate energy. I only need a total of three to edit my remaining attributes.'
Andrew had not forgotten the demon invasion that would commence in a year.
His eyes gleamed with boundless resolve as he decided to seclude himself until he raised all his attributes to the standard of a peak-stage apprentice sorcerer. He had to raise his powers to an acceptable level before the beginning of the war.
'I will stay indoors and raise my maximum mana, agility, and physique to the standard of a peak-stage apprentice sorcerer before moving out to look for more opportunities.'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone