"My dear son,
My heart weeps whenever I think about you. How are you? I hope you're doing alright, although that might be a little too much to ask for."
The start of the letter made Neo's brows shoot up.
He found it a bit rich for their hearts to be weeping over a child they were comfortable parting with just months after his birth.
Heart weeps? Heart weeps indeed.
Their very souls could twist in despair for all he cared!
Truth be told, Neo had nothing but hate for his parents. Hate and curiosity. He was curious to know why they would leave their child at the doors of an orphanage merely months after he was born.
How massive were the problems they were facing for them to have no other option but to abandon him like that?
Where exactly were they, that they couldn't even check up on him? For eighteen years?!
Do they have any idea how terrible his life had been?
'Hope you're doing alright? The f*ck I am!'
"I cannot bear to imagine all you must have experienced. The pain and the suffering, alone and helpless. The dark nights of unimaginable agony and the lonely cries of a wronged child.
You surviving long enough to read this letter is already more than we could ever hope for, and this hateful father and mother will forever remain proud of you."
Neo thought there might be some onions around. Why were his eyes getting moist all of a sudden?
He definitely wasn't about to cry!
"I know you have nothing but hate for this father and mother of yours. We understand perfectly. The fact that you hate us is proof enough of the love you once had for us. Love that has now withered over time."
Neo was waiting for the fat 'but'...
"But to call the cause of our parting with you a massive problem would be a cosmic understatement. To save you, we had to make the cruel choice. But it was the only choice at that time.
The wheel of fate is infinite in its cycles, like an unstoppable tide of cause and effect. The circumstances surrounding your birth left us no choice but to stall fate, with your pitiful soul bearing the consequences."
All this talk about fate and destiny made Neo feel like his parents were a pair of diviners instead...
Come to think of it, he had no idea what they did!
"This might sound like despicable excuses we made up to cover our wrongdoings, but in due time, when you can bear the weight of the karma that comes with forbidden knowledge, you will understand.
You need not forgive us, as we have truly wronged you too much to even hope for such. We only wish for you to survive and have some lovely grandchildren for us."
Neo choked on his spit. How could his parents go from being so serious to talking about grandchildren all of a sudden? He hurriedly cleared his mind of the thought of having kids and focused on the letter.
"All you need to know is this: Your future is fraught with danger, too much for one person to bear alone. Your path leads through the high heavens and affects even what lies beyond. Your destiny is not yours until the prophecy comes to pass. The sooner you get stronger, the better prepared you will be for what is to come.
The Void Stone shall be your companion as you battle through the heavens.
The Finality Art shall make you undefeatable for your future adversaries.
The Immortal Pendant shall protect you when nothing but your will is left, and this letter shall be the mark that brings you home and makes you the owner of what is rightfully yours.
This might be too much for us to ask, but we sincerely hope your father's first spear becomes the first weapon you wield."
'Gifts, huh?' Neo thought.
Did these people think they could bribe him into forgiving them just by giving him loads of priceless treasures?
If so... They were right!
But these were nowhere near enough to appease him. Neo was going to suck them dry, shamelessly.
Surviving alone for eighteen years had added a staggering seven inches to the thickness of his skin! He was as thick-skinned as they came!
Heck, his skin was thicker than an alchemy cauldron!
And was it just a coincidence that his favourite weapon was also a spear, like his father's?
Or was it in his blood?
Neo took another look at the three other items that had emerged from the silver pendant, which he was just now realising was the Immortal Pendant.
The Void Stone looked like an ordinary pitch-black stone. The kind Neo would have attempted to kick on a bad day and would have missed.
The other item was a small black tome that Neo guessed was the Finality Art, and the last was most likely the spear, as it was a long, pole-like object wrapped in black fabric.
Neo soon focused back on the letter, and he couldn't help but notice it was coming to an end...
"We hate to say this, but the clan elders have decided to add some... incentives for you to train harder."
At this point, Neo's eyes flashed with greed, thinking there were more treasures to come. He looked around once more and found nothing he hadn't seen before.
He decided to read what it was first.
"The silver pendant around your neck also acts as a time bomb."
Pffttt!
Neo had a fear fart right then and there. His heart leapt against his ribcage so hard Neo could almost see it poking out of his chest.
'What kind of demonic incentive is this?' Neo asked no one in particular. He once again attempted to yank the pendant off his neck, but it remained glued to his collarbone.
"Any attempt to remove the Immortal Pendant is futile, as it has been bound to your soul. The pendant will only explode if you fail to make a breakthrough in your Ascension within the set time frame.
To view this time frame, all you have to do is tap the back of the pendant thrice, and it will automatically project it.
Son, do not doubt the pendant. You will die if you do not break through in time."
Neo's hands moved so fast they blurred.
He tapped the back of the silver pendant thrice as instructed, and his eyes soon widened in horror when he saw the countdown to his own execution.
59d: 20hr: 32m.
Neo deflated like a balloon.
It was truly over. He had to break through to the Infusion stage in 2 months?
Neo didn't know whether to cry.