Atlas spent half a day looking at them and subdividing the tomes in order and actual usefulness. He was eager to start his new life and uncover the secret of the world, yet a manual was the prerogative now. So, he calmly freed his mind from those thoughts and focused on his research.
"Well... there are many of them practical for someone with affinity with the earth element, yet these two are pretty interesting."
In front of Atlas stood five books. Three that only those people with an affinity to the earth could use, and two that have fewer restrictions.
The young man was unsure of what to choose because, other than having different paths, all of them had limitations that would have led him to select another cultivation manual on higher realms.
Indeed, a cultivation manual had this kind of limitation because each major Realm differed and required variation in energy flow and passage to advance even higher.
"Hmm... the Art of the Divine Elements... It's simply a masterpiece."
He was talking about the one not related to the earth element. Indeed, that cultivation manual could grant him minor control over other elements. Most importantly, that manual could be used till the peak of the Sage Realm.
Also, the others were worthy of his interest.
Indeed, one entirely based on the Earth element was the Earth Elemental Fist manual.
All the passages till the Sage Realm were perfectly explained, and it was meticulously focused on a fist technique.
Then, there was one, the Path of the Earth Shaper, which granted him enormous control and manipulation over the element. Alas, it could barely give him access to the mid-Saint Realm.
He was in front of a hard decision, yet the young man remained calm and scrolled over them for the second time.
Another hour passed, and the only sound inside the library was the rusting noise produced by every time Atlas flipped a page. But suddenly, while he was entirely taken over by the content of the second manual, a firm thud rampantly attracted his attention.
"Mhm?!"
Atlas instinctively turned his head around, but there was nothing strange other than a tremendous pile of old books.
"Well... I should clean up this mess later..."
There was nothing worth his attention there, so he rapidly returned his eyes to the manual.
Still, that tranquility didn't last long because a sharp noise brought him away from the book.
"What the hell is going on?"
This time, Atlas didn't only turn around but stood up from the ground and walked toward that pile of books. He didn't want to be distracted anymore, so he rapidly stacked the books in small groups.
It didn't take him long, yet at some point, he noticed a weird old tome on the side. The young man had a good memory, but strangely, he couldn't recognize that peculiar cover.
"What is this?"
Atlas lifted the book from the flooring and read the ancient text on the cover: "The Devourer of Chaos... Hmm... it seems familiar..."
He tried to recall where and when he saw that book, and soon, a memory of the past resurfaced, clarifying his doubts: "The Devourer of Chaos... yes, this is that old book filled with all those absurdities..."
The young man had read the content of the book a couple of times when he was a child because it was indeed a peculiar story.
"Devourer of Chaos. The origin of everything in the Universe descends from a single source... The original power of everything comes from Chaos, which is precisely why the people in the Universe have renamed such energy... Chaos Energy..."
Atlas was immediately drawn to the book's contents, and his mind was carried away by the words.
"Chaos Energy... the purest energy with unlimited capabilities. In fact, even the infinite worlds in the cosmos are essentially a conglomeration of it. It took eons for the earliest life forms to find a way to maintain a concrete shape enveloped in such pure yet unstable power at the same time... The Prismatic Exilium defined themselves as those who were able to subdue and devour such power. They were the original beings of life in all its forms. They were eternal."
By now, Atlas was utterly lost. He didn't know what those so-called Prismatic Exilium were, yet the story was gradually capturing his heart.
Furthermore, he didn't even realize that the energy within his body was slowly flowing into the book...
"... Eras after eras... Civilization after civilization... the Universe changed incessantly, expanding its boundaries and generating infinite variations of lives. But like the Universe, the consciousness of those existences also changed and evolved in different ways. They were wanderers, creators, and destroyers of the endless Universe.
The young man turned the page, but reluctantly, the following few pages were blank: "Yeah... this shit contained only a bizarre story."
The young man immediately lost interest in that book and closed it without giving it much thought. But at that very moment, the tome vanished into thin air.
"What the..." Atlas gasped, surprised by the strange event.
The book had vanished as if it had never existed, but the young man could still feel the sensation of that worn-out old leather on his hands.
"Well... this is strange... it doesn't make sense..."
Still a little confused, the young man began to look around, but the room had remained the same. The only item missing was that old book.
"... Hmm..."
It took him a while to recover from that odd sensation. But then he began to mumble and unconsciously left the room as if possessed by someone, ignoring the five tomes.
It didn't take him much, and soon he was outside of the dwelling.
High in the sky, the sun shone ardently, and not a cloud was visible.
"What am I even doing here?
But when Atlas turned his confused gaze upward, stormy clouds appeared from nowhere.
BOOM!!!
A thunderous noise shook the world...
The sun vanished, and the clouds ruled the sky like terrible tyrants...
BOOM!!!
Dragons made of pure lightning power appeared from the ends of the world...
BOOM!!!
ROAR!!!
A frightening sight was taking shape above him, yet the young Atlas was already immersed in a foreign world.
A world outside of time and space...
|||
"In the end… You decided for Atlas the same path as him… sigh... I hope we didn't make the wrong decision..."
Seeing what was happening in the World of Oblivion, Nihilir, who had barely followed the young man's track since their separation, couldn't help but be perplexed but also relieved by the scene.
He didn't give Atlas a Cultivation Manual because he wanted to wait and see what the future had prepared for the young man, yet this outcome was even better than what he had prepared.
Looking at the world from afar, the creature's eyes wandered over it for the first time since its last visit to those lands and inevitably sighed at the horrible path taken by Oblivion.