"Circulation technique, right? I forgot humans use those." Damjan paused. "Remember how I taught you to move and feel for Spirit Energy?"
Melchior nodded.
"Spirits are always a foot away from the state of Harmony, since we are much closer to the forces of nature than other races of the world. We live and breathe energy like humans do with oxygen. And we also developed methods for your kind to practice it as well to some level of efficacy, the human counterpart to that would be Circulation Techniques,"
"However, humans cannot breathe the energy the same way we do. I'm not sure if that applies to you, but it's the general rule in that case. So, they invented Circulation Techniques to make the most of their energy gathering. While they have to enter specific states to gather energy, they do it in short bursts comparable to what we Spirits gather in hours. This is the mechanism that fuels their increase through the layers"
"What's the difference, then?"
A small hiss emerged from the snake.
"The difference is rather simple. I would say the Spirit-version takes things slow, as Spirits would do, while Circulation techniques follow the human way of siphoning every drop of spirit energy to maximize their abilities.,"
That was a bit interesting. But he had a few doubts in mind.
'I can't breathe Spirit energy passively at all,' he thought, shaking his head. 'But I'm much more attuned to it than a normal human is. So I don't have to enter some deep meditative state just to gather energy. So it's unsure whether this will be useful for me or not,'
It was the crux of the main dilemma he faced so far, and eventually, he got tired of thinking.
Some actions were better taken than thoughts alone. There was no better way to find out.
Melchior plopped down to the ground in a meditative position.
"Give me a few minutes and ensure that there are no disturbances anywhere near me," he commanded.
Damjan nodded and went on high alert promptly. "Understood."
First, he looked at the system description of the circulation technique
[Name: Fallen Angel Circulation Technique]
[Details: Movement of energy through the canals mimicking the fallen angel race.]
It was a vague and rather useless description of things and only brought more questions rather than answers. How did it work? Who was the Fallen Angel race? What were the effects of the technique?
This was as though the Finality was indirectly threatening him to find out, knowing he would be curious and desperate enough for power.
And… he was.
Melchior tried gleaning more information from the system. Then, like a lightbulb going off in his head, some information appeared.
'Oh. So that's how you do it,'
As soon as he received confirmation, Melchior tapped into the energy all around him. It was way easier than the first time, and he only had to let his mind linger and come upon one of the countless veins of energy intertwining with this dimension.
It felt like a whole different sensation from the first time, but still nearly identical.
Compared to the feeling of steady absorption like the first time, this felt akin to feeling electric strikes passing through his veins multiple times in a row. It was a lot faster than if he just tried to absorb the energy with his body alone.
But that wasn't all. Far from it.
The strange electric-like shock passed through his entire body, starting from his feet till it went up. It concentrated majorly in his torso area and spread out equally everywhere else.
One thing was consistent with this time and the last, though. The feeling.
It was cold, like a bucket of water was splashed across his head upon waking up. He felt everything in the world; he saw everything in the world, and it was wonderful. And then this circulation technique made all the difference.
Then the feeling changed all of a sudden.
Melchior opened his eyes in shock as a large gaze was cast over him. He stood in an empty black space now, Damjan and the lake nowhere in sight at all.
The space folded and transformed into falling dark feathers everywhere, dissipating once they reached the floor. It was eerie, especially since the gaze didn't disappear at all.
He looked up to meet a massive eye opening in the void. It was nearly pitch black, with a single starry cross in the centre.
'What the actual hell is going on?'
This was frightening. He felt powerless in front of the large eye. He tried to move, but found himself in the same spot once more. Then he tried to run.
It was the same thing. Over and over and over again. No matter what he did. The feathers kept falling; the cold became worse, and the eye kept watching.
Melchior sighed, then stopped moving. There was no point in trying to move anymore. There had to be something to this space.
The energy movement in his body didn't stop the entire time, and the spirit energy kept circulating in the same telltale way. Except…
"Am I supposed to be able to move normally while using this?"
Silence.
The feathers kept falling. Nothing strange was happening to him, and everything was proceeding as usual.
"So could this be some part of the circulation technique?"
It didn't seem like this was supposed to happen with any generic technique, which confirmed his suspicions. The Finality didn't do things for no reason.
Melchior assessed his state more and realized what was going on.
"My body is… changing? My Innate Spirit Energy manipulation is changing my body in such a way that using this circulation technique is possible even in the background. So in the end, I'll be able to achieve the same thing spirits are doing, even with my strange physique,"
This was… marvelous.
But there had to be more to it, right? There was no way that this space just existed for no reason.
So he searched for more, and then finally… something.
Melchior's eyes shone with a strange glint, then he floated into the air slowly. He didn't jump or anything, he just floated.
"Flight."
Then, he raised an arm and called upon Damjan's power. It was like water coming down a parched runner's throat.
Without wasting any more time, he slung the power out.
FWOOOOOOSH!
A huge gust of wind emerged in the previously stagnant space, followed by a huge tsunami that came crashing down on everything around him.
He flicked his wrist, and down came massive balls of hail that shook the space like meteors crashing onto the earth.
"This is…" he gaped.
If he was correct, then within this space…
"I am limitless in this space,"