The first excerpt in The Body Of Foundation, correlated to the Skin Strengthening Stage, however, it was named the Skin of the Beyonder, it required one to recite an indecipherable text, Aryan, intrigued, left his thoughts and began reciting the text, incomprehensible words escaped his mouth causing inky black symbols that seemed to be melded from existence, pool together and sprinkled, excruciatingly slowly on his body like ebony snow, each individual flake burnt, froze, cut, and pummelled his body but it also seemed to replace the skin it landed on, strengthening it, this caused tiny black spots to appear all over his body seemingly ignoring his obstructive cloths. He continued reciting throughout the day and deep into the night, the unbearable pain seemed no more than an itch to his body, being nothing in comparison to the physical and emotional pain he suffered that day, with this new hope of obtaining power only fuelling his resolve to unrivalled levels.
Only when the sun started to rise did Aryan stop his training, he opened his eyes to see his body dusted with what looked like soot and ash all over his body, slightly worried he might have to stay like this he willed the black skin to disappear and to his pleasure, it did, however, he did feel that the toughness and defensiveness did decrease when the black skin disappeared, but even then he could feel the toughness surpassed anything he had before by multiple levels of magnitude, let alone when he activated the black skin. Just to test the toughness he punched a rock with full strength but normal skin a strong thump sounded, Aryan pulled back his hand that left a 2-inch imprint on the rock, and to his pleasure, he didn't feel a thing, not a bleeding fist or even a sore knuckle. "Hahaha. This is incredible!", excited, Aryan rushed into the house to show the old man his progress, "Old man look at thi-.", Aryan froze, sat on the bed was a pile of ash and a letter, shocked and worried, Aryan quickly walked up to the bed and picked up the letter, 'To Aryan', he carefully opened the envelope, pulled out the letter and started to read:
'Dear Boy,
I hope you were able to practice that technique, I must admit it's a shame I won't be able to see it in action myself, but just the thought of your unrivalled future brings me a smile. Anyway, I am regretful to inform you that I have passed away, this may come to use as a shock after seeing my youthful and ever so handsome body, but that was only with a technique that could prolong life and even then there was a limit, so I hope you don't feel too sad at my passing and once again, I wish you the best of luck on your next journey.
Sincerely An Old Man'
As Aryan finished reading the letter, a tear that held immense grief fell.
"At least he lived a full life.", As Aryan wiped away that tear an inexhaustible desire arose inside of him, a desire to explore, a desire to get stronger, and a desire to journey. However he still had one more thing to do before he began his journey, Aryan delicately scooped up the ashes on the bed and placed them in a bowl, he then walked outside with a sombre face, dug a hole, and sprinkled the ashes inside, "May you rest in eternal peace.", he then filled the hole.