Andrew could hardly tear his eyes away from the magic circle, known in social spheres of top sorcerers as an evolving spell model.
He had chanced upon it during his previous life when he risked his life and explored an ancient expert's tomb in a bid to accelerate the growth of his powers. It was called Aeon's Blessing of Death, a masterpiece at the peak of sorcery with the sole purpose of absorbing all forms of energy from the dead for its user.
'Could this be a blessing or a curse?'
Complicated emotions flashed within Andrew's mind as he dazedly gazed at the magic circle. He was a bit apprehensive as he was not the person who constructed the Aeon's Blessing of Death within his totem.
His thoughts subconsciously went back to his previous life's moments when he obtained the magic circle. He had unconsciously studied an ancient mural deep within the tomb of the fallen ancient expert at the time. But a kind of majestic will had separated itself from the mural before forcefully inscribing the magic circle on the second page of the book totem within his soul space.
He had struggled to erase the circle even at the cost of harming his totem. But he later gave up when he realized that the magic circle had somehow become an intrinsic component of the book totem.
What followed was acceptance of his circumstances. He mastered the magic circle's functionality and actively used it repeatedly.
He employed it to absorb the energy from the enemies he slayed, thereby accelerating the rise of his powers. That eventually allowed him to match some of the strongest demons during the war until the very moment he perished.
'Well, I should stop worrying about stuff I can't control. I should only focus on improving my powers for now.'
Andrew had planned to inscribe energy-absorbing runic tattoos on his body to accelerate the growth of his powers after leaving the family dimension. But since he now possessed the much better Aeon's Blessing of Death, there wasn't a need to carry out such a needless task.
He would 'simply' utilize his totem to cast the Aeon's Blessing of Death. Then, the magic circle would absorb the energy from the corpses in his ring before storing it in its reserves. After that, he would use the energy reserves to strengthen himself before looking for more energy sources.
That was the cycle he wished to rely on to accelerate the growth of his powers.
'Strengthening my mentality before casting Aeon's Blessing of Death is a must-do to avoid hurting my soul.'
Mentality always included a person's willpower, deduction ability, mental strength, and many other aspects related to the mind. All sorcerers required a robust mentality attribute to cast powerful spells. That was why they spent the majority of their time meditating in solitude.
As for Andrew, he had another way of going about the issue. He could rely on his totem to raise his attributes as long as he had enough reserves of energy to act as his fuel.
Andrew didn't waste any more time after confirming his next course of action. He returned to the first page before picking up the golden quill lying peacefully in the middle of the book-type totem. Then, after calming himself down, he focused on his attribute data again.
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[Name: Andrew Robinson, Bone Age: 18 years]
[Attributes:> Physique: 1.4, Agility: 1.5, Mentality: 2.1, Maximum Mana: 2.5]
[Combat Power Evaluation: Primary Stage Apprentice Sorcerer]
[Accumulated Origin Energy: 36 units, Accumulated Fate Energy: 5 units]
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He had around 36 units of origin energy and five units of fate energy accumulated. They were the reserves he stockpiled after consuming the awakening elixir and becoming an apprentice sorcerer earlier that day. Fortunately, they were enough for what he wanted to accomplish.
'It's now time for his book totem to shine.'
Andrew drifted forward through the soul space and placed the tip of the majestic golden quill on a small rune inscribed beside his five units of accumulated fate energy. His intention tightened and tugged on the quill, forcing it to absorb some energy from the rune.
It was then something incredible happened. The number of accumulated units of fate energy changed from five to four, meaning that the quill had absorbed one unit of energy.
Andrew smiled on seeing the change. He removed the quill from the rune beside the fate energy units before focusing on his mentality attribute.
With expert ease honed during another lifetime, he used the majestic quill to scratch on the value 2.1 that represented the quantification of his mentality. His movements were rigid but steady as he did what many would only ever think about in their wildest fantasies.
Another miracle occurred soon after, and the inscribed number faded from view. It was just as if a mysterious force had erased it.
Of course, this was one of the functions of Andrew's book-type totem. It could utilize fate energy through the golden quill to temporarily erase an attribute's quantification and, in so doing, create a void to allow its editing.
Andrew felt out of sorts for a moment, as if a mysterious force had cut something away from the source of his very being. Fortunately, he relied on his experiences to remain calm while placing the majestic quill atop the tiny rune beside the 36 units of accumulated origin energy.
Andrew was about to use another feature of the book-type totem, which involved utilizing accumulated origin energy through the majestic quill to inscribe stuff on its pages.
His will exploded, and the quill followed some enigmatic rule to siphon away the second type of accumulated energy within the book-type totem. Slowly but steadily, the numbers representing origin energy reduced at a crazy rate until they hit rock bottom at zero.
Andrew wasted no time going into action again. He moved the hand holding the quill slowly but in a sure way until he reached the point just above his mentality attribute. Then, just as deftly, he slowly inscribed a new value on the empty space representing his mentality.
He used all his focus to complete the task until the number 11.5 appeared beside his mentality value. After that, he placed the majestic quill back in the middle of the book before quickly floating away.
On cue, a tremor went through Andrew's soul space as the changes he had triggered commenced within his mind. His book-type totem exuded a soothing golden light that caused Andrew to feel like he was swimming in the clouds of the ninth heaven of comfort.
The golden light grew steadily in intensity until it reached a point where it overwhelmed his mental faculties. He slowly lost all his senses until he descended into a deep slumber.