章 48: Keeper of the Tomes(Part 2)
Ra felt an irritating itch in his hands when the Tomes disappeared, "Where did they go!" Ra shouted furiously, he felt extremely dismayed.
"Ah...did you think the Tomes could be obtained so easily?" the voice had adopted a condescending attitude. "You, like the others, must first be tested. If you pass, the Tomes are yours. However, should you fail-" Ra rolled his eyes, "What test?" he was immediately dismissive, as he had no intention of failing.
"The test is simple," said the voice as a pitch black scroll with glowing symbols unfurled in front of Ra's face, "Master the technique imbued in this scroll and execute it once, you have 24 hours." Ra reached out and grabbed the black scroll, "Is that all?" he called out, but there was no answer, the space he was in was once more completely silent. Ra turned his gaze back to the scroll, he had never seen these symbols before and had no clue how he was supposed to read it. "What a strange language," he thought, and tried to recall if he'd encountered it at all in any of the books he'd seen in the library. With a start he realized that in all the time he'd been wandering he hadn't actually opened a single book! With that he ran to the nearest shelf and pulled a thin book from it, he felt a huge rush of energy filling him but he paid it no heed as he quickly flipped it open, there were the symbols. he dropped it and grabbed another, that rush of energy poured into him once again. When he flipped open the book he found those same strange symbols. His mind was reeling at this point, "I can't read this..." He suddenly felt a wave of despair, "What kind of test is this!" he yelled, slightly panicked. Ra tried to calm down, he went over the words the voice had spoken again, "The test is simple- master the technique imbued in the scroll..." he murmured quietly, "imbued in the scroll..." Ra looked over the scroll, turning it over, he held it up to the light and even tried scratching at the symbols, Nothing worked.
An hour passed quietly with no apparent change, Ra continued studying the scroll staring misty eyed at the glowing symbols. Four hours passed and there had still been no change, Ra was growing increasingly frustrated with the scroll, he couldn't figure it out! He flung it as hard as he could at a nearby bookshelf. He had used no small amount of force and he hoped the resulting damage would ease the bitterness he felt in his heart. However, no crash came, instead a pitch black circle had appeared near the shelves. Ra approached it tentatively, as he grew closer he felt drawn to the space, it was utter emptiness, a hole. He eyed it carefully, he wasn't quite prepared to throw caution to the wind just yet, he pulled a thick silver lined book off the shelf and promptly threw it in the hole. It wasn't long before he heard a distinct thud not far away. He craned his head and saw that on the other side of the shelf was another hole and nearby lay the black scroll and silver lined book that had disappeared earlier. "It's a portal?" Ra gasped softly as he hurriedly retrieved the scroll, "Is this the technique?" he wondered. Ra recalled how he'd felt when he had thrown the scroll, he focused on a point in the air and balled his fist, then he tried to punch *through* the space in front of him and open another portal. "It worked!" The pressure on Ra's brows lessened as the headache he'd acquired began to dissipate, he yelled out, "Hey! I've done it!" he reveled in his accomplishment as he waited, however after several minutes there had been no response. "Haven't I performed the technique? he wondered aloud. He went over the instructions again, "Master the technique imbued in the scroll, execute once..." He felt puzzled, "Well I have executed it, so does that mean I haven't mastered it? it's just a portal what else can it do," he thought feeling frustrated and sat down on the floor leaning against a bookshelf. "How did I even learn the technique, I can't even read it!" He flattened it against the floor and revealed the glowing symbols. His eyes stung a bit as he wiped them, he could understand it, not all of it but it was beginning to make sense. He could see patches of a decipherable description on the scroll but had no idea what had changed.
Translocation Technique
Beginners should pr- , the text devolved into symbols for several paragraphs, -at mid level. Once attainments have reached this standard a mid level practitioner should be able to extend the duration and increase the size of thei- , the text was once again replaced with symbols, -high level and mastery will see a qualitative difference of improvement between each, at high level the practitioner should be able to open Gates- several lines of text suffused with symbols and a rough explanation of the cultivation method for opening gates were described which Ra paid close attention to, -finally at mastery the practitioner should have gained the ability to set up permanent teleportation points and instantly move between points. Again, a set of instructions dotted with random symbols were suffused throughout the description, Ra's ability to understand it continuously grew as he read. Having a rough idea of the technique, Ra's hand holding the scroll fell limply at his side, "It's this amazing?" Ra had a rough idea of how much time was left, it had been a little over 8 hours and so he had about 16 hours remaining to master the technique, less if he fell asleep. With that he threw himself into practice, refining his technique. He began by testing his limits, he opened as many portals as he could and took careful note of their size. He learned he could maintain five and each one was about three feet long and three feet wide. After which he began practicing closing the holes, which proved to be a far more difficult task than opening him, costing him several hours before he managed to grasp the method to close one. This got easier as he continued to close the others until only one remained. He approached the remaining portal and tried to move it, however it seemed to be locked in place, he opened the scroll again and read it again but he could discern no information that implied that an opened portal could be relocated. He continued to research this fascinating new skill and before long he could open ten foot long portals. it had been twelve hours, he had half the time remaining, so after referring to the scroll one last time he began his attempt to teleport himself, he could of course walk through a portal and step through it but it didn't count even if physically he had crossed through space. He had to instantly teleport his body between two set points, this was likely the most difficult part of the technique but after he considered it for a while he determined that it was reasonable, this was after all mastery of the translocation technique. Teleportation had to be a result of someone honing the technique to a previously unknown level which is why it was called translocation and not teleportation.
Ra felt tiredness weigh heavily on his physique, he had taxed himself to his limits and yet the closest he'd come to a teleport was a brief flicker, it was the equivalent of blinking, enough to consider it a successful attempt but not enough to qualify as a success. Ra groaned loudly as he felt a wave of exhaustion come over him, he fell backwards until he felt the cold sensation of the floor on his sweaty neck. it had been 23 hours and he had roughly 40 minutes left. Or perhaps less, he'd lost track. He slapped a sweaty palm against the floor and tightly shut his eyes to keep the sweat from rolling in. He felt a strange sensation in his gut, it was brief and he attributed it to his lack of energy, grateful that it hadn't lasted long as he prepared to fall asleep, it was over.
"Well done," sound broke the silence prevalent in Ra's ears, he shot up with a start. It came as a surprise to him who had grown so accustomed to the quiet, the absence of noise, and yet he felt an immense rush of relief flood his tired body when he heard it.
"Well done," the voice said again, approval dripping with every syllable, "cut it quite close as well, others..." the voice laughed, "well the others- let's just say it's good that you succeeded," Ra was unconvinced, "What happened to the others?"
"..."
"Some things are better left unknown," said the voice.
And Ra nodded, no longer pursuing the matter.
Pleased with this agreeable attitude the voice spoke again in a much kinder tone, "So, how do you like the technique?" Ra smiled, "It's pretty amazing," he said tiredly, "very difficult,"
"Of course it's difficult! These are the Tomes we're talking about not cabbages!" The voice roared, it was clear that it attached great value to these Tomes. "Cabbages?" Ra asked slowly,
The voice realized it had said something strange and spoke dismissively, "I once knew a powerful being, very powerful , comparable to a God..." He fell silent, but Ra's curiosity was peaked, "And?" he prodded, "And he - I'm not altogether sure, but something happened to him and when I saw him again he had descended into madness, his golden castle had been filled with cabbages and all his valuable possessions, cultivation manuals, techniques, all had been thrown aside like so much garbage and his cabbages were treated like treasures." The voice sighed at this, "He had...erected shrines for them, thrones, pedestals...ugh! Even the Tomes had been discarded like common waste!" Anger laced his voice now so Ra quickly interrupted, "And so that's how you came to be in possession of these Tomes?" The voice grunted in affirmation. "I see, and you're giving them to me?" The voice snorted, "Giving them? if you possessed them for any length of time you would be hunted to death!" hearing this, Ra was considerably shocked, "Hunted? why?"
"Read them," the voice said wearily, "read them and understand..." the seven books materialised again as the voice faded away.
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