After getting my ass whooped and handed to me, Arthur and i went our separate ways for the meantime. I managed to return back to my room and quickly had a bath to get rid of all the dust, grime, sweat and seething irritation.
By the time i was finished, an unexpected lethargy and wave of tiredness came over my body. Both mentally and physically.
I had been quite tense during the spar with Arthur, while also having to manage and control Ramiel's rogue emotions from going out of control, that now that i was alone and felt more relaxed, the mental and physical strain came back in a wave of tiredness.
I plumped down on the edge of my king sized bed with a head towel hung over my shoulders. For now i had changed into a simple, cream linen dress shirt tucked into straight black pants.
By this time, it was noon— barely halfway through the day but i was already feeling tuckered out.
Arthur was right, this body's stamina really is shit.
"How is Ramiel even an Awakened with such terrible physical traits like this?"
Didn't Moriah's will also say the most suitable body and vessel close enough to fit my soul was chosen? How the hell then was i facing so much problems with this guy? I was literally fighting against myself every moment.
I needed a plan. Immediately.
First step—get stronger.
Speaking of which...
I forced my groggy self to rise to my feet and walked towards my neatly set up desk before taking a seat. There was a small, rough pebble which was the only thing that sat out of place on it.
I had picked this up from the courtyard after the spar when returning. It was a dumb piece of rock, barely half the size of my palm.
I swept back my loosely pouring hair from over my eyes and grabbed the pebble in my right hand and stylishly avoided looking straight at my reflection from the mirror for now. I wasn't sure i wanted to deal with another identity crisis getting triggered again.
I felt the rough, uneven texture of the pebble against my soft palm and mumbled a confused question to no one else but myself.
"Eh...how does this work again?"
Mana. I was talking about 'Mana', how to channel it and stuff. I had never done it before, obviously.
But Ramiel had a few times, according to the memories. And yes, even for him with his pathetic talent, it wasn't so hard. I think.
'Well the times from the memories he did, it looked quite simple.'
Perhaps that had to do with the way and nature of how he did so.
Ramiel Awakened with a main Earth elemental Affinity. But according to the Status interface, i also had a lesser affinity for Fire, and a strange Conditional Affinity... for Fate. Whatever that last one meant.
But all that was mentioned and constant in the memories i inherited from Ramiel was his Earth Affinity. Which meant i wasn't entirely sure where the other two popped out from; i had suspicions, but we'd get back to that later.
In any case, that was why i had brought this simple pebble with me.
I exhaled a quiet breath and folded the sleeves of my shirt. "Let's see..."
Various other times, in a similar manner, using a pebble like this, Ramiel had channeled Mana and exercised his Earth Affinity. And by that very logic, i decided to do the same.
As for how exactly...well once again i just left it to the instinctive reflexes this body had so much proven itself to be notoriously known for till now.
I plunged a bit into the feelings and memories, just lightly and quickly caught a familiar, yet unfamiliar sensation stir from inside me.
Something almost ticklish and... dreamlike rose and moved from my stomach, just around my navel, and flowed straight through my arms and into my palms clasping the pebble inside, around my fingers.
My eyes were closed off as i concentrated, so i could only feel a warm current. The next second, i felt something about the pebble i was holding tightly... shift. My eyelids fluttered open.
"...!"
Cupped between my palms, the rocky pebble melted like mercury, then re-moulded itself back into an even more indistinct shape. It shape shifted before my very eyes, and it kept doing so for a while. It was like a living clay, full of its own will.
"Woah..." I exclaimed quietly in awe and shock.
This...this was amazing.
The small pebble floated a bit just above my palm like an indistinct puddle of liquid earth and kept stirring and shifting like a living, breathing creature.
Earth Affinity.
Control over the element itself.
It felt… unreal.
And curious. I felt my heart racing.
Someone with a mind from 21st century earth like mine couldn't help but desperately try to seek answers or understanding of how this was possible. But i also wanted to see how far i could go.
"Let's see..." I bit my lower lip, straining my focus on the shifting puddle that was the pebble a bit.
I was so careful, so delicate and precise like i was mindful of a rock being fragile that i hadn't noticed sweat had begun to gather against my forehead. My arms trembled a bit.
And just when i was about to see how far i could go with this, the current in my arms waned. The pebble molded into a final distinct shape before stopping and going complete still.
At the same time, i felt the ticklish sensation and energy coursing through my hands and stomach vanish abruptly.
It was over.
"Wha—"
Then came the wave of tiredness, crashing in against my mind in a new rush than last time. My vision swam as i felt my consciousness threaten to dirft and disperse like fog.
A tried to rise sharply feeling alarmed — a terrible mistake — and a tide of dizziness swept me off my feet and to the side of my bed.
"What the—"
Then came the urge to puke out my guts as i gagged and pressed my palm tightly to my mouth. It took me a few seconds, but i believe i understood what was happening.