Chapter 55: Chapter 55- A Figure
Chapter 55- A Figure
What occurred after that was perhaps the most interesting experience Elio had since coming to that cabin. For almost three hours, he started reading all the material Fiona gave him. Each book was hundreds of pages long with an extremely complex and thorough analysis of all these theories.
There was even math, scientific experiments, and a complete academic view of all these fields. Elio’s mind was in complete shambles at first as he didn’t understand many things.
For example, the Blood Energy theory is basically a subject that studies Blood Energy, how it forms, where it’s stored, its effects, and the anatomical changes it causes in the body. This naturally not only required a complete understanding of the human anatomy but also a decent understanding of math, chemistry, and even physics at a high school to college level, if not more.
Elio was at that level, and he was good in all these subjects, but he still struggled to understand everything. However, with Fiona being present, she explained all these hard concepts to him in a very easy manner.
She had a very good way of giving examples and using words that he could understand. After that bumpy first hour, Elio started understanding more and more concepts on his own. Since his intelligence had increased and so had his mental capacity, he was able to link all these ideas together to create a full image.
Slowly, he got more and more engrossed in reading, taking notes, and memorizing all the necessary information. By the end of the second hour, Elio was already midway through the first book.
[Your intelligence has increased by 1 point.]
"Ehh?" Hearing the notification, he looked up from his book.
"Is everything ok?" Fiona asked as she stopped reading her own book.
"No... I just randomly gained a point in intelligence." He said.
"... It is most likely because of the knowledge you’re gaining."
’Intelligence is by far the most ambiguous of all my stats. Like, when it increases, I can tell that I’m... smarter. But, I don’t know how.’ He rubbed his head.
He couldn’t describe it, but the world suddenly clears up more for Elio. His brain feels like another hurdle has been broken, and it is now using more of its capacity. It was a very weird but pleasant feeling at the same time.
"Anyway, focus on your studies. I’m going to make some tea for us." Fiona said as she stood up to leave.
"Ok..."
Elio shook those thoughts away and looked at his book again, his eyes locked into its pages.
Walking into the kitchen, Fiona put the water to start heating up. She stood there, her arms crossed, staring silently at the fire burning. A thousand thoughts were crossing her mind every single second, and nobody knew what they were. If it been anyone else, they would’ve never been able to handle the pressure of being in her position.
She carried a burden not a single other human could carry other than her, and that was ever since she became aware of this world.
*Whistle*
At that moment, for some reason, Fiona felt a gush of cold wind blow against her out of nowhere before reaching the stove fire and making it flicker for a second before returning to normal.
"Hm?" She frowned as she looked up. ’Where did that wind come from?’ She stared around her, searching for the source. But, surprisingly, the entire cabin was closed, and all the windows and doors were also closed.
"..." She squinted her eyes. A rather odd feeling crept into her heart. Something was off, she thought.
So, she walked to the window and stared outside. It was still sunny and bright outside. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, the feeling she had at that moment didn’t go away. She stared left and right, searching for anything out of order. Her eyes analyzed every small detail.
’What was that feeling?’ Her expression darkened. ’That gush of wind wasn’t normal. It somehow was able to get into the cabin even though it’s completely closed.’
Her fists clenched tightly, and she started channeling her energy, ready to spread her senses far and wide to look for any anomaly. However... At that moment, at the peak of her tension, she suddenly heard the kettle start whistling, snapping her out of her daze.
Turning around, she walked toward the stove and turned the fire off, and started pouring the water into the cups. However, her eyes kept wandering around, still thinking about what just happened.
Bringing the tea back, she sat down and sighed. ’Maybe it was just a small gush of wind from some small hole in the wall... I’ve been stressing quite a bit for a while now.’ Rubbing her temples, she sipped the tea to try to calm her nerves.
The past month has been quite rough on Fiona. A lot of things were going wrong, and she was being tasked with dealing with them.
The world was getting more and more chaotic. More invasions, more monsters and vampires, and more cases of death and attacks to handle. Vampire Hunters were on edge, trying to control everything.
Fiona, precisely, had it the worst since she was the leader of these squads. Her dad gave her the authority over them, so she had to constantly deal with these attacks, deploy the right group to handle them, and generally manage them.
While she did that to perfection and never made a single mistake, it still took a huge amount of mental strength to handle it.
She thought that made her far more paranoid than ever before, and constantly on the edge about everything.
Meanwhile, Elio, who took the tea, thanked Fiona. But the girl didn’t reply as she sat down and seemingly fell into deep thought.
"Hm? Is everything ok, Fiona?" Elio asked.
"..."
The girl didn’t reply.
"Fiona?" He called again.
Still, no answer.
So, he put the book down and approached her. "Hey, Fiona, can you hear me?"
"Huh?" She blinked and looked up, as if she was completely lost for a moment there. "What?"
"I’ve been calling for you, and you didn’t reply. Are you ok? Did something happen?"
"... No, I’m fine. I was just... thinking." She said.
However, Elio didn’t buy that excuse. He could tell that she wasn’t feeling well. Fiona would never behave this way for no reason. So, he sat down at the table facing her.
"Is it a problem I can’t know about?" He asked.
"..."
Fiona looked down, sighing quietly. For some reason, Elio’s soothing voice made her relax a bit, and she found herself speaking before she even realized it.
"Just some stress from work and other things. It’s not that big of a deal."
"... Eh, but it is a big deal if it’s stressing you out." Elio said, tilting his head in confusion. "Stressing yourself out isn’t good. What matters the most isn’t the work done but your own well-being."
"My well-being is irrelevant. I must keep order."
That was the oath Fiona took upon herself, to keep everything under control. So that no disaster ever happens again. For her to not experience what she experienced, she must keep everything within her hand.
She was Fiona Vaylor. The heir to the Vaylor clan and the person who could change the world. She wasn’t a person, but rather a figure. A symbol that must carry the faith of the people.
Fiona... didn’t see herself as a human.