Chapter 16

He took out a bow and arrow from the storage. Again he tried firing a few shots at one of the trees. Despite the massive size of the trunk the arrows somehow missed it completely, going completely in some other directions. Additionally, he could not pull it back with full force. There was only a small hole after fletching and he could not grip it comfortably. He felt some regret now. If he had been practicing it, he could have etched the Incinerate pattern upon its time to make the arrows explosive. With a sigh, he placed it back.

During the rests he kept searching for the mechanism that controlled the hand movements within the Incinerate but it was still work in progress.

After thousands upon thousands of usage he started understanding the structure of the Cloak of Fire and so he again started trying to manipulate the shape and size of the barrier. With the enhancement he got after completing the 15th floor he could feel it easier to control the energy which allowed him to feel hopeful of accomplishing it soon.

Hovering above his palm was a flame. It looked weak as though a small blow of air would be enough to extinguish it. It only seemed that way. Spark was his most used spell and the one that he had come to rely upon in most situations. He faced a consistent problem. The flame always appeared above his palm. It required him to keep his hands free making it especially dangerous high up in the trees.

Closing the eyes he sharpened his senes and cast the spell. It was instantaneous just like always but his time he he feel the flow, blindingly fast but not invisible now. One after another he kept on casting the spell and he felt the growth in terms of energy hit him now.

It was difficult to cast ten to fifteen spells straight. How would start feelign sever headach but now he was nearing sixtith cast but all he felt was a slight throb while his reserves more nearly half full. The crystal within his mouth was slowly sending its energy to his reserve but it was still not at the speed which would make an impact during a fight.

With each cast he felt the pieces coming together allowing him to peak in how it worked. The headach slowly deepened, form a light throb to a constant pulsating pain. Another spell casted and his hand trembled but he casted another, then another. He could bear it some more. With each spell casted his reserver dwindled.

Along the way he had tired lowering the energy but as soon as he tired to increase the energy form the original amount the energy signature became that much more difficult to understand. He kept casting until he felt it becoming dangerous, his instincts cautioning him. His back was against the tree trunk. The moss felt soft, inviting him to sleep but despite intense desire he took out the crystal and started focusing upon them, speeding up the suction of energy.

Even here he could feel a slight difference. As the energy was sucked out from the crystal he could feel it entering his body but soon after it disappeared. Currently he was holding it within his right hand. The energy entered from his fingers and moved up. As it moved up it was slowly absorbed within his body. There was no apparent place where it was headed too, it just moved within his body until all of it was absorbed. He took out a crystal from the 10th floor and lower. The energy that was released from within it was much smaller. It too moved throughout his body dispersing along the way at a similar speed.

Only after absorbing ten crystals did his reservoir become full. He tried absorbing more but the energy refused to come out no matter what he did. Exhausted, he took a nap now that his head was quiet, no longer feeling constant pain.

He fought, he experimented and he rested and prayed. His life became a cycle of these steps. As the time progressed the fire started making its presence known. The forest started becoming illuminated in some parts though most of the places he visited were still draped in darkness.

With each fight he became more and more comfortable and as the motions and patterns started being imprinted into his muscle memory he started shifting his focus. How could he make it even quicker but with lesser risks. Each time he changed something, observing the results and then incorporating if it seemed helpful. This allowed the fights to end quicker, lowering the amount of times he needed to take rest which in turn kept him ahead of the fire that kept chasing him.

Whenever he did rest he spent most of the time upon the Spark, feeling closer and closer each time. Each time he spent nearly half of his usable energy inspecting the Spark. The remainder was used on the other projects.

He could feel the progress happening slowly. The bottleneck had felt like a prison, the time just passed away without any improvement. All his efforts seemed to be meaningless, spiralling his thoughts down into the negativity. The only reason he was able to operate in this abysmal environment was the rush that swept through his system during each fight. The adrenaline made him excited, allowing him to perform feats he would never have performed if he was in his normal state.

The battle swept his mind clean of all the worries, the rush something he had started looking forwards to.

Finally, after a long while he started seeing some hope for growth in the skills and this pushed him to try even harder. Despite the improvement in his skills he was not satisfied. It was not enough, that he was sure of.

The cycle continued; fight, experiment, rest and repeat. The fire kept in growing, it speed increasing with time. It forced him to stop the experiments and focus upon resting as much as he could within the limited time.

He took in large glups of air. It felt warmer now. Looking behind he did not stop for rest this time as the fire showed no sign of slowing down. His head moved up towards the top which too had now become light orange in color.

The fires blaze forward, suddenly reaching towards the unburnt trees and envelopes them. He quickly ran and hid behind a tree while the hot winds swept by. The crystal within his mouth, he resumed his journey.

As he traveled he took out a small, circular wooden disks etching Incinerate upon them. It's power was reduced to the extent that it took even less energy compared to the Spark.

A hum sounded, he suddenly sped up moving in a zig zag montion. Placing the disk back in the storage he pulled out knives from the makeshift sheath one on each arm. Like routine he chased after the archers forcing the fighters out. Determining all of their locations he kept an eye as they moved while escaping from the arrows. He got the opportunity soon, one of the fighters jumped it's needle mouth from which he had been bitten uncountable time opened savegly. He grinned, ricocheting towards another trees dodging the arrows. He spun mid air positioning his feet upon the tree and his arm jerked. A sharp cry sounded out as the disk cut through th air and into its mouth. Bom. It bit upon the disk and he pulled the trigger. A rush came in again making him feel giddy. Refocusing, he turned his attention towards others.

The fight ended. Though dangerous fighting high up in the trees became more advantageous for him once he became adjusted. He exploited the 3d space to its fullest as he slipped through the fingers of the monsters whilst all he needed to end them was a good shot while they were mid air, letting the gravity do the rest of the work.

He panted running at the highest possible speed. The longest straight strip was no longer than a meter or two, afterwards were sharp cuts that forced one to slow down. This pattern repeated throughout the forest making it difficult to sprint.

Feeling his limit approaching he slowed down, taking out a disk and started etching while on the move. Connecting with the spell module, he started adjusting the energy leve when he stumbled and fell down. His focus was still upon the matrix so he became confused but the energy was already moving and due the sudden interruption the adjustments he was concluding messed up causing all the parts near to be messed up. The caught himself and in sudden anger kicked at the root, crushing up all the moss covering it.

something unexpected happened. The flow of energy had increased and it was coming out of his knuckles. Surprise, then elation. He prostrated, thanking God and then got up laughing merrily. Remembering how he kicked it, he became apologetic putting back the moss that was torn off to its original place.

With an urgency he went back into the module and quickly searched for the energy control mechanism. One by one he started tweaking the mechanism around them. Finally, he had found a concrete lead.

The search started. It still took a long while. Despite the field of search being narrowed down there was still a lot to search through and his inability to understand what the mechanisms were, it was like a blind person walking through an unknown environment. He needed time which became harder and harder to find as he needed to be on the run from fire most of the time. When not on the run, he had to rest and this place now actively sucked out his energy.

One stab after another, the ground became visible. When he was just a few meters above the ground he jumped down. The fire was burning. He connected to the Incinerate module and one again observed the mechanism. Closing his eyes he connected to the reservoir.

Even after all his time he still had not been able to find the location of the reservoir within his body. He focused on the spell module and separated the mechanism connected with the manipulation of energy. Activating them in isolation the energy started moving and he could feel it reach within his fingers. Shifting his focus upon the Spark module, he searched for the mechanism that focused the energy out of his body, converting it into the spell. He isolated it and then activated it upon the other mechanism. He felt tingling within his fingers and a headache suddenly struck him.

Sweat covered him from top to bottom. He felt sluggish, the double vision making it difficult to navigate. Sitting against a tree he looked at the white washed forest. The bright orange fire was visible behind him, inducing fear within him as he felt his skin burning as a hot gust of air passed through.

He stopped. Just ahead the moss was crushed as though something had fallen. He looked around, alearted. Moving further he encountered a few more similar bumps in the moss. All of them were near the trees, he observed. Inspecting them he could see the moss damaged in some areas.

There was nobody, most likely it had already disintegrated after the archer crashed on the ground. After moving further he found a trail on the ground of the moss being torn as something moved. Around the trail was a red color which popped out in the sea of white. He took out a spear and a sword and started following.

At the end stood an archer. Its scales were broken, bones piercing out and blood dying its body and the area around it.