Mysterious Book

"-ake up, Ray. Wake up." Raymond groggily opened his eyes to find himself on a king sized bed in his room. His father was sitting beside him and was calling his name.

"Sigh~ you are finally awake." Thomas heaved a sigh of relief.

"Drink this young master." Jasmine handed him a bowl of medicinal soup. He got up from the bed and leaned against the headrest. He took the bowl but couldn't drink the soup because of his parched throat.

"Cough, give me some water." After drinking the water he hungrily downed the medicinal soup, he was so hungry he didn't even care about the taste.

"How long have I been unconscious?" He asked after gaining some strength.

"Well, it has been 3 hours. How are you feeling now?" Thomas asked.

"I have an intense headache other than that I am fine." Raymond replied.

"Hmm, that must be due to mana exhaustion. Strange! You shouldn't have exhausted your mana reserves so easily." Thomas scratched his chin.

"There were many cracks on my core, and I think that's why I had so little mana inside the core. " Raymond told them everything he experienced in Heaven's Door.

"That's absurd. You can't live with a fractured mana core. Are you sure you saw it right?" Thomas asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes, father. I clearly saw it." Raymond said helplessly.

"Hah, don't worry son. As long as you are alive, we can fix everything. I will definitely find some elixir for you to heal your core." Thomas patted him on the shoulder and reassured him.

Raymond forced out a smile and didn't say anything. Everything that happened today felt like a dream to him. He was excited to start cultivating and had been eagerly waiting for this day.

"But how am I going to cultivate now? Is it possible to cultivate with a broken core?" Raymond asked hopefully.

Thomas sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry son. I don't think you can cultivate with a broken core. It's a miracle that you are still alive, so don't try anything funny with your cultivation, alright?" His father's words completely crushed his dreams.

'How am I going to find Grandpa, if I can't even cultivate?' Raymond hung his head down in defeat.

Seeing Raymond so depressed brought tears to Jasmine's eyes.

"Don't worry young master Ray, I will protect you until you are cured." She said clenching her fists.

Raymond dumbly nodded and didn't look up. Thomas sighed helplessly and got up from the bed. He went outside and brought something covered in decorative papers.

"Cheer up son, we will surely find a way out of your predicament. Here, I have a gift from someone special." Thomas handed him the gift.

"Who gave a gift to me?" Raymond took it and unwrapped it to find a dusty old blue coloured book, his face blossomed into a smile when he recognised it.

"Its Grandpa's, isn't it?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes, he gave it to me a few days before he left, told me to hand it to you after you sensed your core. Sigh~ if I had known he was going to disappear out of nowhere, I would have asked him to give it himself." Thomas shook his head thinking about Theo.

Raymond nodded and started flipping the pages of the book. The book seemed to be some kind of diary and he had no idea what was written inside. He couldn't read a single word in the book, all of it was written in a language he didn't know. It all looked like weird symbols to him.

"Father, what is this language? Do you recognize it?" He showed a page to his father.

Thomas scrutinised the page and couldn't recognize it either.

"Hmmm, I have never seen these symbols." He frowned.

"Nevermind that, you should rest for today, I am going back to the border after tomorrow." Thomas said.

"Alright, I will rest." Raymond said half heartedly, he was really intrigued by what was written in the book.

With that Thomas and Jasmine left the room and closed the door.

Raymond started perusing the book from the first page and spent a long time looking through all the pages. He couldn't understand anything even after reading all the pages. Just when he was giving up, he turned to the last page and found something written.

"Phew, finally something I can read." It was written in his mother tongue.

𝘔𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘯,

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘏𝘦𝘩𝘦, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 9 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘱.

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴.

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩?

𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵?

𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘙𝘢𝘺.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘺.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬.

𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥.

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦,

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘕.𝘕.

Raymond sniffed a bit after reading his grandfather's letter. He wiped the tears away and took a deep breath to calm down.

He gently tore open the back cover and found a neatly folded letter inside. He took the letter and read it carefully.

After reading the training method mentioned in the letter Raymond had a strange expression on his face.

'I knew it, this book really has something to do with perverts.'

He shook his head and started thinking about whether to go through with this training.

'Father said not to mess with cultivation for the time being. What to do?' He scratched his head in thinking.

'Fuck it. I am going to try this.'

He got up from the bed and took a breath to ready himself for what was coming.

He started running around in his room without rest and did all kinds of exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and squatting without stopping until he collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

'This better work geezer, or else I will find you even if you are hiding in your mother's womb.'

He circulated whatever scraps of mana was left inside the bottom of his core and expelled it out of his body.

He was instantly assaulted with nausea due to mana exhaustion. He felt like someone had rammed a hammer into his gut.

Blurghh

He buckled over and emptied out the medicinal soup he drank earlier.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness due to being physically tired and intense headache and gut wrenching pain caused by mana exhaustion, he felt something warm inside his core.

Suddenly the mana floating around in his room surged towards the space below his navel where his core was located.

His core greedily sucked in the mana and spread it evenly across his body, slowly invigorating him physically and mentally.

Raymond felt like his body was being soaked in hot water on a cold winter night.

Hahh~

He sighed in content and immersed himself in this euphoric sensation. After sometime the strange phenomenon stopped and Raymond stood up feeling disappointed. He wanted to experience more of this feeling.

His eyes lit up with excitement when he thought about this training. He again started running around his room to exhaust himself.

And thus began Raymond's hellish training to become stronger.

Neither Raymond nor Theo had any idea about what Raymond would become at the end of this training. Only time would tell.