Ray walked out of the hospital and into the open night, a huge grin on his face, 'I can't wait to cast my first spell!'
As the hospital faded out of sight, Onyx materialized behind Ray. He turned his head to the hospital where a figure was watching Ray leave through a window.
Onyx squinted his eyes but said nothing to Ray, vanishing as he had never materialized.
Ray felt like the journey to his house was extremely slow though he was sure that it was the excitement that was getting to him.
'I can't blame myself though. Not only did I reach Tier 2 but I did so despite Onyx and the dark core.'
The pep in his step slowed and his eyebrows furrowed. 'What exactly is that core?' All attempts at speaking with Onyx had yielded nothing except creating more friction between them.
'On the plus side, I won't need to cultivate the dark core further. It seems whatever happened in the park has benefited me.'
Ray came to his house and opened the door. Without bothering to close the door behind him, he waltzed straight into his room and came out with the journal and a rather old scroll.
He sat on the floor and opened the two simultaneously.
Ray looked between them. Naturally, he had no desire to strengthen the dark core and subsequently Onyx, but he had to make sure that the dark core wouldn't try anything while he was learning a spell.
He eagerly flipped through the pages, but S.L. avoided mentioning anything regarding the core after the process of acquiring and strengthening it.
"What had this psycho thought? That no one would practice it or…" Ray paused then remembered Onyx.
His eyes widened, "Don't tell me. He thought that whoever tried it would have already lost control to something like Onyx."
Ray turned to the next page but found that they had been ripped out. 'What?'
He continued flipping through torn pages of the journal until he came upon an entry that shook him to his core:
[I was wrong… WE were wrong. Test subject 001 has escaped… He's too unstable and far too contagious. Hopefully we can stop him before it's too late.]
His heart pounded against his ribcage as he read the next entry:
[We failed. It was a massacre— no, it was a success. We have collective evidence on the power of this technique.]
The next few pages were torn and the last entry was written in a strange cursive, clearly written in a hurry. It noted:
[Hail the Profane for while the divine can fall, we, born in the bottom, can only rise.]
Ray stared at the final entry for a long time.
'Hail the Profane?' His hand drifted to his solar plexus. 'What the hell have I gotten myself into? Contagious?'
He thought of Fluid Boy, "Hollowed. Empty. Massacre. I knew it. I knew I shouldn't have practiced something so convenient. Since when do I have such luck?"
Ray closed the journal. Panicking wouldn't change anything. At least he was still himself.
Onyx materialized in the corner of the room, watching him with those black eyes.
"So you found out about 001? I was waiting for that."
Ray's eyes widened.
Onyx smiled and Ray paled.
"You know him? A-are you him?" Ray stuttered a bit.
Onyx took a step closer to Ray, "Of course not. I just found out about him alongside you. I am not some kind of all-knowing genie. Wait! Is that what you think I am?!" He burst out laughing.
Ray gritted his teeth. Onyx had gotten him there but he wasn't going to back down.
"I guess it's my fault for relying on a hallucination from a madman's technique. I'll just rely on my actual core " He retorted and Onyx stopped laughing.
The smile on his face fell and his eyes darkened further until they seemed to absorb the light, "Your core? You think you got to the second Tier yourself? And you think I'm the mental one?"
Ray frowned and anger bubbled in his chest. He was rightfully pissed at Onyx for hiding what could be crucial information.
To make matters worse, he seemed to enjoy dangling it like a carrot over his head and Ray was tired.
"Shut up if you won't help me!" Ray yelled at Onyx and the latter tilted his head slightly.
Onyx flipped Ray off before vanishing.
Ray picked up the journal and kept it aside. While it was useless now, it had some other non-cultivation-related entries that could be useful.
'And if there's none, I'll just toss it into a bin or set it on fire to ensure none of this comes back to bite me.'
He sucked his teeth, 'Yeah, I'm sure this will eventually come back to bite me.'
With a shaky hand, he picked up the scroll his parents had left for him years ago. His eyes dragged over the details of the three spells contained within and he smiled.
[Fireball: This spell allows the caster to create a spherical mass of flames that travels for ten meters before dissipating.](Limit: None)
[Flame Coat: This spell covers the caster in a garment made of fire. Provides slight protection against physical attacks and boosts healing.](Limit: Rank 2)
[Fire Torrent: This spell unleashes a pillar of flames in all directions.](Rank 4)
Ray had read the spells' descriptions but now that he could actually practice them, he was beyond elated.
He focused on [Fireball] and started to cast.