Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in a riverside. I was silent for a second before I began looking around in a frenzy. Deep forest, sky stretching trees, dark shadows, a river right in front of me.
Then, I squinted to look at the sky.
The planet hidden amidst the clouds made me feel my heart thump. Yes, this was no longer Earth. It was the world within the book Divine Water of Gods.
"Now what?" I wondered.
Status, I murmured and to my surprise, a dark screen appeared before me with a golden dragon coiling like a snake in the middle of it.
—
Current Stats—
Dragon Marks: 0.
Dragon Rank: E.
Quest:
Find a way to enter the Divine River and drink Divine Water from it. (D-rank difficulty)
Reward:
Dragon Mark of Yin and Yang (D-rank).
—
Find a way to enter the Divine River and drink Divine Water from it?
How was he to do it?
In the book, all of the people in the world were trying to enter the Divine River but only a rare few could enter it successfully. And even those people weren't really sure what they had to do to enter, or what they had done to enter the Divine River.
For now, I just walked around, touched the water from the normal river infront of me, and felt the breeze. I wouldn't believe it if someone told me this was not real.
There were insects jumping around, there were small fish in the water, and birds were flying through the branches.
I wanted to try and log out.
With a thought, my senses warped again and I returned to the real world. I breathed in.
"Did something happen?" Jack asked.
"Did nothing happen?" I asked in return.
"You said the words just now… right?" He asked.
I said: "And I entered a new world and spent like 10 minutes there."
"It's not even been a second here. Are you tripping me up, Melvin?"
"I am not."
Time dilation. Time within the book and time outside the book was not the same. I looked towards the book and was surprised to see the place empty. Only the other books remained on the table.
"The book vanished," I said. Jack was also surprised.
He hadn't noticed at all and seemed flustered about it.
It worked. The magical books were capable of magical things. I explained what had happened to Jack.
…
I leaned back in my chair, my mind still spinning from what had just happened. The book was gone. The world inside it… it had been too real. Too vivid. I looked over at Jack, who was watching me closely, probably waiting for some grand revelation.
"So," he said, breaking the silence. "What the hell just happened?"
I rubbed my temples, still processing. "I don't know. I went into the world inside the book. Spent ten minutes there. It was… weird. Almost too real. Time there and here aren't the same."
Jack frowned. "You're saying time moves faster in the book?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "I was there for a while, but for you, not even a second passed."
He let out a low whistle. "That's wild. So, the book's basically a whole other world. And the fact that it disappeared after you used it? That means… what, it's a one-time deal?"
"Doesn't look like it." I glanced at the dark status screen in front of me. It was still there. "The screen I mentioned is still around."
Jack's eyes narrowed as he stared at the empty space where the book had been. "So, it's not completely gone? The status screen's still active?"
I nodded, glancing at the faint shimmer of the golden dragon coiling on the screen. "Yeah. I can still see it. The quest, the dragon marks—everything's still there. It's like I'm linked to the world, even though I've left it."
Jack leaned forward, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "So, it's not just about entering the book once. You're still connected to that place. Does that mean you can go back anytime?"
"I think so," I said, feeling the weight of that possibility settle in. "But the fact that the book itself disappeared… maybe it's tied to me now. Or maybe I can only enter a certain number of times. I don't know."
Jack drummed his fingers on the table, thinking. "That's crazy. It's like the book becomes part of you. Maybe the more you use it, the stronger that connection gets. But then the question is, can you still control it? Or does it start controlling you?"
"That's what I'm worried about," I admitted. "This whole 'sin to gain power' thing… It feels like a trap. The book didn't give me any warning about the cost of drinking the divine water, just that it would make me stronger. But what's the catch? What happens if I go too far?"
Jack shrugged, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. "Power always comes with a price, doesn't it? But maybe that's the point. Maybe it's not about avoiding the cost—it's about being willing to pay it."
I frowned, not convinced. "That's the kind of thinking that gets people into trouble. What if the cost is too high? What if I lose control?"
He met my gaze, his expression serious now. "Look, Melvin, you're already in deep with this. You said it yourself—your family's on the line. If there's a chance this power can help you save them, you have to at least consider it. You can't afford to hesitate."
I leaned back, letting out a breath. He wasn't wrong. But the unease gnawed at me. This wasn't a game, no matter how much the status screens made it feel like one. There were real stakes. And the deeper I went, the harder it would be to get out.
"Okay, say I do drink the divine water," I said slowly. "What then? I get stronger, maybe I gain some crazy power… but what if I can't handle it? What if I become something I don't recognize?"
Jack smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Then don't drink it all at once. Pace yourself. Figure out what the power does before you dive in headfirst."
"Like there's going to be time for that," I muttered. "You only get one chance and I don't have too much time, got enemies on my back."
He raised an eyebrow. "True. But like I said, they're not going to see it coming. Whatever's in those books is beyond them, right? They won't know what hit them, you can do whatever you want and be the king of the world if you have superpowers."
I ran a hand through my hair. No way a beginner's quest could do that. There was progression to these things.
"Yeah, maybe. But if I lose myself in the process, what's the point?"
Jack shrugged, but his grin didn't fade. "That's the fun of it, isn't it? Besides, you're the cautious one, remember? You'll find a way to make it work. Just… don't overthink it."
"Easy for you to say." I looked at the status screen again, the golden dragon twisting slowly in the void. Find a way to drink the Divine Water. That was the quest.
Jack stood up, stretching. "Well, at least now we know these books are real. And dangerous. We've got some serious firepower here. Now it's just about figuring out how to use it without blowing ourselves up."
I gave him a look. "You're way too excited about this."
"Can you blame me?" He laughed. "We're playing with the fabric of reality here, man. The rules don't apply anymore. We could do anything."
I sighed, shaking my head. "Yeah…if it were that powerful, those men who had these powers wouldn't be killed by your bodyguards."