Ray sat in his school library. He leaned closer to the faulty screen and input his student ID, barely able to see the screen. His hand occasionally fiddled with the patch on his sleeve.
Amongst the pristine computers in the library, the one Ray was using really stood out, not for being the latest model but for the opposite. It was very outdated.
'I suppose I don't even need to use a new one. No one will rush me, and it'll be easier to search for old records.' Ray clicked his way through the system interface.
He placed his chin on his palm and lazily opened the search engine.
Ray's eyes darted around, checking for possible eyes on him. After confirming that there was none, he clicked on the search bar.
'What exactly do I search? Mad scientist goes amok? Missing researchers… or?'
He sat up and leaned against the chair. It was far more stressful than he had initially anticipated. Then again, he could go ahead and check for S.L. as was written in the journal, 'No. That's a bad idea. Assuming the book is real, so are the enemies and if they can take out someone able to create Tier 4 cultivation techniques, then finding me would be a breeze.'
Ray shifted slightly and opened a website of mental hospital records. The search results loaded slowly. Ray tapped his fingers against the desk.
Nothing.
He tried different keywords. Different hospitals. Different years.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
He leaned back, frustrated. 'So either S.L. was never caught, or he was never crazy to begin with.'
That second option was somehow more terrifying.
A notification popped up on the screen, his computer usage time was running out—barely 5 minutes were left.
Ray sighed and tried one more term: S.L. cultivation researcher.
The screen flickered.
One result.
His heart stopped.
'So he wasn't insane?' Deep down, Ray had hoped that he was actually reading nonsense. Now that he had found something… No, he still hadn't read it. It could be about someone else.
The article headline read:
[Beastial Researcher Shawn Loud found dead in apartment complex. Rumored to be suicide.]
Ray's eyes widened and he continued reading.
[It is believed that after the loss of his daughter, he had fallen into a deep depression and paranoia, and on the 22nd, he claimed his own life with a sword.]
The next series of images showed a sort of time-lapse of his life. Ray could hardly focus on any of the images.
'So he was mental? I can't believe I almost followed the journal.' He was about to close the tab when something caught his attention.
It was a colorless image of Shawn Loud when he was younger. He was smiling into the camera as he wrote something down on a poster. Ray looked at the hand holding the pen. His left hand.
'Wait…' Ray scrolled through the article and found the image of the sword he had used to kill himself. It was a single-edged right-handed sword.
Ray blanched, 'He is left-handed, why would he kill himself with a right-handed sword?'
Then again, it was possible that on the verge of committing, Shawn Loud hadn't cared about something so trivial but still… something wasn't right.
Ray logged out of the computer and stood on shaky legs. The library was still quiet. No one had noticed him. No one knew what he'd just discovered.
'Except whoever killed Shawn Loud. They might still be out there.' He limped toward the exit, his ankle throbbing with each step.
'They might be looking.'
Outside the library doors, a familiar figure leaned against the wall.
The fluid boy looked up as Ray emerged. His eyes—still slightly red—locked onto Ray's.
Ray gritted his teeth, "Not now." He pushed himself forward, limping past him but the fluid boy blocked him.
"Where are you going?" Fluid boy chuckled lightly and shoved Ray. He staggered, wincing as he landed roughly on his foot.
Ray let out a slow breath and rubbed his forehead, he could feel a headache forming, "Listen. I usually don't mind your stupidity but I am NOT in the mood."
He tried to walk past fluid boy but before he could get far, fluid boy gripped Ray's arm and pulled him back.
A small sphere of water gathered in front of the fluid boy's open palm and he slammed it into Ray.
The latter bent over, his stomach feeling like it had been hit by a sledgehammer. Ray gasped for air but struggled.
Ray looked at fluid boy with red eyes, 'Tier 2?! Since when?'
He had known that fluid boy was a Tier 1 cultivator. Everyone was initially Tier 1, that was the norm in the world but one needed extra grit and skill to reach Tier 2.
Fluid boy smiled deeply and walked away from him.
Ray stayed bent over, one hand on his knee, the other pressed to his stomach.
Students walked past. No one stopped. No one asked if he was okay.
He forced himself to straighten up. His ankle screamed. His stomach burned.
'Home. I need to get home.'
He limped forward, one step at a time.
Behind him, somewhere in the crowd, he heard laughter.
Ray made it home.
He wasn't sure how. The walk was a blur of pain and keeping his head down and not crying in public.
He locked the door behind him and slid down until he was sitting on the floor, back against the wood.
His stomach throbbed and his ankle screamed.
'Tier 2.' The words echoed in his head.
"Since when? Was this before yesterday or did it happen after what I did?"
He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes until he saw stars.
"It doesn't matter. He's Tier 2. I'm... whatever I am. Shrinking cores and a dead man's journal."
Ray looked at the wall where the journal was hidden.
'S.L. had a technique. Tier 4.'
He sat there for a long time.
Then, slowly, he stood up. His body protested yet he ignored it.
He walked to the wall, removed the TV and the panel then took out the journal.
'I'm not going to end up like him and if I don't do this, I will definitely end up as he did. Dead and abandoned.'
Ray opened it to the first page and began to read. It read:
[So you have decided to walk on this path with me. Welcome, young one, to the path of Profanity…]