After Ray had left him in the central living room with Jason, James stormed off into his room. Laura and Yogan looked at each other with a confused expression but they had their own things to attend to, so with a few words they saw each other off.
"I just can't believe it; Ray is my older brother. But that would mean that my… I mean our father lied to me." John was sitting at a simple desk in a relatively small room as he drew in a notebook, something that he started doing ever since he entered the subspace.
He could definitely have a larger room, as this one was much too small for him, but going from living practically on the streets to such a luxurious mansion overnight was a big change for him. Just the fact that he and Jason had separate rooms was uncomfortable, even though they were practically right next to each other.
Ray decided that he would slowly expand the size of his room until it reached a suitable state, and this was the 3rd expansion; in the first he could barely fit a bed but even that was much more than he had previously, so the expansions were happening slower than Ray had hoped.
"I really don't want to believe it, but I can't deny the evidence." He said as he switched the pencils he was using. "Plus, it's not like it's a bad thing that Ray is my older brother. It's just that the only reason that I could keep going for so long was because I thought that after my parents died it was my responsibility to provide for me and my brother. Now I know that not only do I have an older brother that is doing just that much better than I ever could, but my father and possibly my mother is alive. He lied to me once, so he could do it again."
He looked down at his notebook and realized that he had subconsciously drawn the moment when Ray waked away with Jason and tried to give him some words of wisdom, but vaguely in the background one could see two images of the same man. It was his father, one version being how Ray remembered him and the other was how he remembered him.
Looking at the surprisingly life-like drawing, John remembered the last phrase Ray said to him.
You can't let such things hold you back.
"Yeah, that's right. Why should I let that hold me back, as a matter of fact why should I let anything hold me back? I was given this opportunity to improve my life and now I am even closer to my savior. I should be grateful but here I am sulking in my room for something so trivial."
He pulled a metal plate from the draw in his desk and after hesitating for a few seconds he pushed the button in the center.
.....................…
On another flattened mountain top some distance from the mansion, Ray was planting the medicinal herbs that didn't require any special environments in organized plots while also introducing some pests to increase their quality.
They might have popped up in this forest with a diverse mix of elements saturating the soil, but if he wanted them to grow as healthy and as fast as possible, they require specific elements compositions and mana densities.
Each 500-meter plot was surrounded by a giant formation that controlled the pest density, mana density and element saturation and they were all part of one giant array with an empty core. There was about 50 of these plots, with many of them having only one or two plants, and enough room for thousands more.
He was going to use that area to plant another one of whatever tree he was going to pick as his origin artifact and by binding them together he would be able to freely control everything about this array at any time.
As for the normal grass and less than desirable medicinal herbs, he just planted them at random throughout the entire continent. Along with some gerp tree seeds they would eventually grow and spread, though it would be very slow at first because there was practically no wind in the subspace and no pollinators.
Just as he was about to move on, he felt a tingling sensation and after investigating he smiled. "That was fast."
"What was fast?" Asked Jason, he was covered in sweat and was pale faced. Ray had him help plant the less delicate herbs and even though he didn't do much he was already beyond exhausted.
"Nothing, let's move onto the next thing. I don't have much time; my real body is getting close." The tablet that James had was something that was tied to Ray's soul, but only very loosely. When the button was pressed, a message or signal would be sent to him.
James' message was short and sweet "I am ready".
With a single thought, the size of James' room expanded to that of a house, and it had its own amenities. There was a kitchen, bathroom, living room and even a few 'bedrooms', all of the full-sized rooms in the mansion were like this and it would be more appropriate to call them apartments.
"But before that, I have a few questions to ask you." Ray turned to face Jason.
"Uh, okay. Ask away."
"Do you want to know why you are so weak, especially when compared to your brother and I ... well, other brother." It was truly an oddity that Jason was so sickly. There was nothing wrong with his body, mind, or soul, Ray made sure of that, and innate strength seemed to be a common thing amongst Ray and his brothers.
At the very least both Ray and James had abnormally strong bodies for their size, especially James as he had grown up in relatively dense mana. Even back before his training Ray could snap the bones of stronger awakened and even near cripple someone whose talent was focused on strength and defense. Not even 4 awakened and trained S ranks could compete with him.
At first, he thought that it was because of his lifestyle and diet, but after thinking about it with his current perspective for more than a few seconds that didn't make any sense.
Also, both he and James had something special about them other than this immense strength, he had his sixth sense for other life signatures and James had his perfect memory and analytical skill.
Such a coincidence wasn't very likely, especially since they were brothers, so Jason should also have immense strength and special ability, but both were lacking.
"To be honest, it has been torture living for as long as I have. Every day is filled with immense pain, and I can never go numb. I have long lost hope for myself, and I only live for my older brother…. other, older brother." Ray hadn't expected something so eloquent to come out of someone so young, he was only 12 after all.
"Pain?" Ray was a bit confused; he had scanned Jason's body many times over so he would be able to tell if he was in pain. Pain is the result of nervous signals so if he was in pain Ray would be able to see his nerves firing erratically.
So that either meant that Jason was lying, which Ray doubted, or the pain came from somewhere else.
As if suddenly realizing something Ray pressed down a finger on Jason's glabella. "Don't resist."