I opened up the book and started reading it, The pages had all turned yellowish orange and smelled really good. The first page contained a Yin Yang sign, the next 2 pages were empty, and the next page had a heading, "QI"
And below it was quoted, "A force that keeps all living beings ALIVE."
I read what was written on that page, everything written on that page talked about this 'QI' thing, it said that it was the the life force of all living beings and that every living being emits 'QI', that even non-living things to an extent did. It also said that this life force could be used to fight and increase strength beyond the capabilities of a Human, It called those who used QI to fight as 'Adepts'
I flipped over to the next page, "Beasts" read the title. Below it was an exact diagram of what I saw floating out of the window during the attendance, below it read "Furfly", I continued reading, "A cute looking beast that sees harmless at first but tries to take your life the moment you touch it.". The ball of fur was so weak and harmless looking that I didn't think that it could harm me anytime.
I continued, "Many novices make the mistake of thinking of little and cute beasts as harmless, and that's where they make mistake. Even the smallest and tiniest of beasts will try to take your life.", There was something highlighted below, "Though there are several who are genuinely good, in the past, there have been several people recorded to have beast familiars with them."
I took on to the next page, On it was a photo of the Golem I fought, it said "Rock Golem", below it was written, "While some beasts evolved to be cute and tiny to look harmless, Some evolved to be big and strong. The Rock Golem is one such kind. Its skin is covered in rocks, the rocks are strong and quite hard to break. A normal sword would break the moment it tries to strike it. But the skin below the rocks is very sensitive and weak, thus a hit through the cracks in the rocks damages the golem greatly and also pains them a lot. The easiest way to defeat a golem though is to destroy its core which is situated right in the middle of its chest. The core when broken explodes, so it's best to stay away once you have destroyed the core.",
The things that were written were accurate to the bone, everything from the rocks to the explosion of the core.
I tried to flip open another page, but instead of just one page a whole bunch, around a hundred pages turned. I tried to separate the one page of the bunch but it just wouldn't open no matter what I did so I decided to check it later and focused on the page that had opened.
The page had the heading, "Adepts". Below it was written, "Those who use QI to fight monsters and protect humanity."
I read the page. The page instructed someone on how to become an adept, it said that normally becoming an adept takes years of training and practice that is, by the orthodox and traditional method. The traditional method which takes a lot of time, is to meditate and to feel and let the QI flow in, slowly you are able to control the QI that enters your body and you become an adept. But it also said that there was also another method, a cheat code to be exact.
What you had to do was get an expert adept to force the QI to flow into your body. But it also said that the adept had to be extremely skilled as even a single mistake would kill you and burst your meridians. It was a fast but highly risky method.
I tried to open up the next page but it wouldn't budge, no matter how much strength I applied it didn't even open a bit. I lost hope, closed the book, closed my eyes, and laid down on my bed. I signed and took a deep breath.
If I had read the book previously I wouldn't have believed a thing, but now that I had experienced it firsthand, I can't just ignore it. It will most probably take me months to become an adept if I try, but I can't even be sure I would be able to do it. There was no way I could do it by the second method. I know no person who is an adept, let alone a skilled one.
I just gave up on thinking about being an adept. After all, how would it even benefit me, these kinds of things aren't gonna happen every day. But why was I even able to see it if only adepts can? I had several questions but no one to answer them.
But what if, just what if? This kind of thing happens again, if Charles or Cassie are in danger again because of something like this; What would I be able to do? If not for that voice I wouldn't have survived even today. I despised my feeling of helplessness but there was nothing I could do. If only that voice would once again help me, if only.
"Want me to help?", I heard a voice in my head,
I was surprised and fell off the bed and tried to use the chair as a support but instead made it fall over with me, which also caused my study table to fall with it, a lot of things my books, pens, and several other things THUD!!! ...all fell down.
"What happened?", My mom yelled at me from below.
"Just fell over.", I yelled back.
"Be more careful and come down. Dinner is ready.", She announced
I stood up and pushed aside the table and chair for now, I looked around and found out I had made quite a mess in my room. "STOP JUST APPEARING IN MY HEAD WITHOUT ANY WARNING!!", I shouted in my head
"And how am I supposed to give you a warning…. without scaring you?", He paused, "Coward."
"I am sure a coward wouldn't be able to fight a 30-foot-tall golem. Unlike someone who just gives orders fro-", I stopped, I remembered he was the reason I was even alive today "Thanks.", I said softly, my pride still didn't allow it.
"What did you say? I Couldn't hear you.", the voice said teasingly
"Thank you. Thanks for saving me and my friends., if it wasn't for you today I probably would even be alive right now.", I bowed down, "Thank you, I owe you my life."
"You're welcome.", the voice sounded pleased
"Would you please mind telling me your name now? it's hard to talk to you without knowing your name."
"Maryu", he paused, "Maryu Daragonas "
"That's quite a fancy name you have got.", I stopped for a while, "What was that help you were talking about?
"You want to be an adept don't you?"
"Well, What good would me being an adept even do?", I mumbled
"It would. You defeated a golem.", He continued, "A golem that even strong adepts have trouble fighting. And you are saying that it would do no good."
"Yeah, but that was because you helped me. And what would I even do when I become an adept.", I said
"Even if I did help you, it takes skills to defeat a golem.", he consoled me, "You will save lives if you become an adept. Many people die every day due to rampaging monsters. Many murders happen because these beasts control the minds of humans. If you become an adept you could save a lot of lives."
"ARE YOU COMING DOWN FOR DINNER OR NO?", My mom shouted at me
"Coming", I yelled back
"Give it some thought, kiddo.", He paused, "Think of me, and I will answer.", and then he disappeared. I could tell that, I don't know how, but I could.
I went down for dinner because I knew any more delay and it spelled death for me. I was in a hurry to eat it so I was just gulping it down at this rate.
"You should eat slowly.", My mom advised,
I got up as soon as I finished eating and went back to my room. My room still looked like a garbage pit; I took some effort and tried to fix it. I put the fallen books back on the table gathered all the pens fallen and kept them in their stand. And lastly kept Grandpa's book back into the box of old things and slid the box under my bed.
I sat on my bed in a meditative position and said, "I will become an Adept, Maryu."
"That's the spirit.", His voice sounded excited and proud, "Now this might be a little painful. Try not to shout or else your mom will come."
"You sure you can do this? You won't kill me will you?", I said in a scared tone
"Don't worry. I won't kill you.", He paused. "It still would hurt a lot though."
"Well, I don't think it's gonna hurt more than it did after the battle with the golem."
"We will find it out.", He said
It felt like someone was pulling me up from behind, suddenly I started feeling pain.
At the start, the pain was bearable. It was still less than the time I had fought the golem, but still a lot. It was slowly increasing. My whole body was aching, It felt like I was thrown in a pool full of sulfuric acid. My skin was burning, and it felt like my bones were melting, and remolding with a constant feeling of my muscles being torn apart one by one. My stomach had me feeling insects biting into it.
Just stopping myself from screaming took all the strength of my body; the pain tore my consciousness apart. I could no longer feel anything except for the pain, not even the air touching my skin. The time felt like it had stopped, My head felt like someone was tearing it apart by hand. My veins, which I could feel from within my body felt as if they were about to explode.
I don't know when but I soon passed out from the immense pain.