***

A sigh echoed through a clean, empty room. The decorations in this room were different from what Arslan was used to. There were motifs of power, strength, and wealth. Drawings of divinities—whether of the stars or elements, their feats in battles or cultivation, and their riches in gold or treasures—adorned the room, inspiring him to desire all these for himself in the future.

Arslan willed his Innate Energy to retrieve two books he had traded for. One was made of gold, with pure white and dark lines running through it. It was one meter in height, unlike mortal books, and had thick pages. The other was black, absorbing light in a way that made it a part of itself, and was of the same size. "Possibly the same author," Arslan thought. Only the titles of the books were inscribed on the covers.

He used his Innate Energy to envelop both books and brought them closer. He sat on the ground, and the two books towered over him, making him feel ignorant.

"Show me if I really am," he said. In a moment, he revealed his Existence to his left hand and grabbed the book titled Cultivation of Divinity. His hands turned a deep, seductive red, making Existence itself weaken and swoon over his powers.

The rest was up to the book. Within moments, the book melted into his Existence. Closing his eyes, he felt the complex lines and particles within himself. An extra line caught his attention, tracing from the largest red particle to a central point where the book had revealed itself. He flipped the first page until he arrived at the title: Divinity Book 1 - Cultivation of Divinity. Below it was another title: Divinity Book 1 – Cultivation for Dummies.

He furrowed his brows at that. Is this meant to offend? he thought. For now, he decided to ignore it. Turning the page, he arrived at the foreword: "Are you judging a book by its title? A title that clearly states even a dumb person can understand."

Arslan did judge it.

"Originally, I wrote this for my creations. They were without the Haven’s blessings, so I blessed them myself in the form of a book—the very book that you are reading. They didn’t have the blessing of talent advancement through bloodline because they had no progenitor. They had no Mind Spark because their Existence was not wired to birth one even after consuming knowledge. With this book, I became their Haven. I was their teacher. I am the teacher of all who are under Haven."

"Now, if you are dumb and can’t even birth a Mind Spark, this book could grant you one. What about it? Deserves the name, doesn’t it?"

As Arslan read further, he could feel the smugness of the author of this book. A well-deserved one. Creating a way to birth a Mind Spark for someone who doesn’t even have the capability?

That was a new concept altogether. Arslan tried to imagine the level of this being, secretly placing him above the Celestials in capability. Even with his own Divinity, he might someday, far in the future, trigger Existence to grant someone a Mind Spark. But a method that was universal without his personal involvement? He didn’t think so.

“Don’t feel down,” the author wrote in the pages. “Power comes in many ways. The text you are reading is something to be grateful for, isn’t it? How many beings will you surpass just by having it? And the method of acquiring it, whether through bravery or cowardice, wouldn’t change anything about it. So, from now on, you are one of my students. Greet your teacher, the one above Divines but below Omni, the one and only Sage of Existence!”

Arslan felt his instincts going haywire, urging him to follow the words. Without hesitation, he entered the seiza position and said, “I greet you, teacher.”

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Arslan closed his eyes as a feeling of being seen through rattled his instincts. His whole Existence unraveled in this presence; a tiny bit of attention was granted to the red globe before it moved away.

The whole experience felt like being reborn with a fully aware mind in the presence of his parents. It was horrifying yet oddly gentle.

“What an interesting Existence,” he continued to read after that episode, and the moment Arslan saw it, he wondered if the book was being controlled. It was unnerving, oddly mysterious.

“Don’t worry, as the teacher of all, I usually peek into the existence of my new students. A teacher must know what he’s dealing with, after all…”

“I will direct you to the Mortal and Immortal parts with Chapters 3-5-8, and 15-20 specifically. You can still view other chapters, but these are what you will focus on for your training. Let’s start with Chapter 3, Existence Assessment.”

Before Arslan could process this, the book's pages started to turn until it arrived at Chapter 3. He continued to read: “From the information gathered by the book and my Presence, this is where you will know your Existence like the palm of your hand. It will be useful forever!

“What you need to know is that Existence is like a body, but it encompasses your everything combined. It can be strengthened, flexed, developed, and function in ways you will it. But with bad training, reversing it would take as much time as your initial training. That’s why you will always assess your Existence while cultivating each step of the way.”

With that, Arslan started reading and applying the commands. First, he mapped his entire Existence and identified his weaknesses. There were few, as his Divinity surveyed everything like a tyrant, daring anything to go wrong. However, this made his Existence inflexible. With a yank, he pulled the World of Red that stored his Divinity to the ends of his Existence. Without control, his Existence started deforming, entering into a different pattern. When he had gathered enough data, he pulled the Divinity back. The domination, with an aura that twisted his Existence and even the whole room, returned everything to its previous state.

He looked at his body, now skeletal. His teeth and hair had fallen out, his eyes bled, and his skin whitened—a living corpse. But he laughed, a laugh like a child playing with a toy, making it do whatever they wanted. He loved the feeling of being uncontrolled.

This was a different feeling from when Domination ruled his Existence. It awakened something in him—a desire. It was the desire to take control of Domination and his Existence for himself.

He continued to read, trying to find what he was looking for.

“Existence. Without becoming Evolved Formless, you can’t change its outer shell. But you can change the core, which is the most important. However, some have trash in their Existence, clogging space for nothing. Remember, if you have the knowledge in its entirety, nothing else is needed. So, get the knowledge of everything in your Existence, like your paths, and if it could be stored by your Mind Spark alone, then it’s not worthy of your Existence.”

He read how the more worthy a Path was, the less space it would occupy. Though it didn’t explain the inner workings, it provided enough guidance for his future Path. Either get a Path that was worthy of him or upgrade his current one to be worthy. And he already had a way to do it.

At that moment, he felt a certain weakness, slowing his progress. He pulled another bar to provide the necessary energy. He wished to become Immortal just to avoid such concerns.

He directly merged with the Path book, but unlike the Divinity book, it had no introduction or mention of the author. Nevertheless, he opened the table of contents and found Chapter 1: Path Detection, and Chapter 2: Ways of Paths. Path Detection discussed ranking a Path and assessing its suitability. Arslan’s Path was suitable, though it couldn’t be compared to more suitable ones. So, he entered Chapter 2 and saw his Path had Pathways:

Pathway 1: Science

3rd Grade: Momentum

8th Grade: Physical Force

9th Grade: Physics

Hypothetical Concept: Science

Pathway 2: Science

3rd Grade: Momentum

8th Grade: Energy

9th Grade: Physics

Hypothetical Concept: Science

…

Pathway 12: Domination

6th Grade: Domination

…

Path of Science? Was this even possible?