This hunting yielded a rich harvest, and the meat of one forest deer was enough for them to eat for more than ten days.
The two decided not to go hunting for the time being until the venison was used up. During this period, they could practice their sword skills and hunting bows. Steven also looked forward to accelerating the progress of visualizing the flames of the scroll.
My days have returned to the same state as in March, and I live a very regular life every day.
In the morning, Steven visualized the flames on the scroll, and in the afternoon, he and Kate practiced sword shooting and archery.
At this time, he was able to enter a state of silence without looking at the scroll paintings - this was the name Steven gave to that magical state.
As the number of visualizations increased, he found that the flames in his mind became clearer and clearer after entering a state of silence, until one day he could even observe the details deep in the flames: the flames did not seem to be the conventional reality version of the flames.
Instead, it was composed of very tiny things. He couldn't tell what these tiny things were. They were too tiny. Steven tried hard to see more clearly, but he exited the silent state at this time.
Steven rubbed his forehead with his hands. He felt a little tired after exiting the silent state due to the exertion of thinking. It seemed that this was something that should not be rushed. If you let nature take its course, you might be able to see clearly soon, so he stood up.
I walked out of the house to prepare lunch with Kate, but I was damn hungry again...
Before practicing swordplay in the afternoon, Steven picked up the stone he used to lift and lifted it over his head. He tried the weight and was surprised to find that the weight of the stone seemed much lighter!
He kept raising the stone to the top and lowering it, counting in his mind at the same time, until he ran out of strength. Steven dropped the stone on the ground, panted and turned back to Kate and shouted: "Kate, I am absolutely sure that my strength is there."
The quality has improved! Last month I could lift this stone up to 20 times without getting tired, but now I can easily lift it almost 50 times. This is amazing! It seems that the food in my stomach was absorbed by the food I ate.
Perfectly transformed into power, I think all this must be attributed to the scroll, which brought about these changes!"
Kate, who was warming up outside the porch, said: "Really? Has your strength increased so much? And it increased in more than a month?! This is indeed a bit incredible. I felt the same way about you after I came back from the last hunting trip."
The power on the sword is increasing, let's try it again with the wooden sword, and we'll evaluate it after a few moves."
The two picked up the wooden swords and started sparring. After more than ten minutes, they stood apart and gasped for breath.
Kate said: "Yes, your power has indeed increased tremendously! I can no longer suppress you with my power when fighting swords. I feel that your power even slightly exceeds mine! It seems that the scroll has brought you
The benefits are finally showing! By the way, apart from the increase in strength, have you made any further improvements in other aspects?"
Steven replied: "There may be improvements in other aspects but it's not obvious. Kate, do you think our swordsmanship levels are the same now?"
"Yes! Congratulations! Now you can tie with me! And with your improvement in all aspects, I may not be your opponent in swordsmanship soon!"
"Then you won't consider visualizing the scroll again?"
"Don't think about it! That thing is only useful to you. It has no use except for allowing me to sleep during the day! Maybe this scroll has a threshold, and people who have not crossed this threshold will never enter the state of silence!
There are many other ways to improve your swordsmanship."
Steven shrugged and said: "Well, maybe you are right. This scroll is far ahead of its time. It is normal for it to have entry requirements... By the way! I was visualizing it in my mind this morning.
When I looked up the flame, I found that the flame was made up of many densely packed small dots. These small dots were so tiny that I couldn’t see clearly what they were!”
Kate said: "Really? The fire in your head is made up of tiny dots? What about the pictures on the scroll? Is it also made up of tiny dots?"
"That's right, Kate! I didn't expect this, but I've seen the scroll painting so many times before that I probably wouldn't be able to tell what it's made of with my eyes alone!"
After speaking, Steven ran into the house, took the scroll to the yard, and looked at it carefully in the sunshine. Kate also came over and looked at it carefully.
Steven then raised the scroll above his head again, letting the sunlight shine through the scroll, trying to distinguish any findings that were different from before.
After looking at it for a while, the two of them didn't find anything different. The flames in the first frame of the scroll just looked brighter than indoors under the sunlight. These were normal reflections of light. The two of them could distinguish the flames carefully.
It can't be seen that it is made up of small dots.
Kate said: "We can't tell anything with our naked eyes alone. Maybe when we return to Bolt, we can use the academy's microscope to see the results."
Steven said: "I have a feeling that the flames in this painting are the same as what I visualized in my mind, made up of countless small dots! Ignore this matter for now, maybe as the visualization progresses, it will
It won’t be long before you can see clearly.”
So the two continued to train. After the sword fighting training, there was bow and arrow shooting training. They began to use hunting bows to shoot at targets dozens of meters away.
Steven feels that his bow and arrow accuracy has also been greatly improved today. When he draws the bow with his arm, it is easy and smooth. It was a bit difficult before... Now he doesn't even need to aim with his eyes. He can hit the target completely by relying on the feeling in his hand.
From drawing the bow to releasing the arrow, he did it all in one go, and his speed and accuracy completely reached the level of the archers in the Saiman hunting team.
The next morning, after breakfast, Steven came indoors as usual. He walked around on the ground a dozen times to calm himself down.
He knew that his mind must be calm now, and he could not be as impetuous as yesterday. After being quiet for a while, he sat on a chair, crossed his legs, and began to meditate.
As his inner peace relaxed, the flame slowly began to appear in his mind. The flame became more vivid and vivid. Steven could see countless tiny dots making up the flame.
He looked at the flames calmly, no longer trying to distinguish the tiny dots. After a moment, as if a long time had passed, Steven discovered that something seemed to be emerging behind the flames!
In the past, there was endless darkness except for the flames, and there was nothing but the flames. But now something clearly appeared behind the flames, but the flames jumped brightly, almost covering up what was behind it.
Steven still ignored it and looked at the flames quietly, calming down and not having any thoughts. After an unknown amount of time, the things behind the flames gradually became clear.
The flames at this time could no longer cover that thing!
In a trance, Steven saw that thing clearly. It was a back figure, a person's back, such a familiar feeling... Steven was shocked! Then he exited the silent state...
Steven opened the door and entered the porch.
Kate turned around on the lounge chair and said: "Steven, what happened to you inside this morning? That it took you a long time to come out after lunch time? I left roast venison and fish soup for you, hurry up
Let’s eat.”
Steven asked: "What time is it now?"
Kate looked at her watch and said, "It's already two o'clock." Steven didn't say anything anymore. He sat in front of the stove and quickly swept away the food left by Kate, then took the hot tea from him and drank it.
He took one breath and said: "Something did happen! Kate, I saw myself."
"Saw yourself? What do you mean?"
Steven described what happened in the morning, and then said: "When I was in a state of silence before, there was only darkness around the flames. This morning the situation changed. I later saw another person through the flames.
's back! It's not the kind of back drawn with pens! You know, that's the real back of a person, sitting in front of me, behind the flames, and I can be extremely sure, that's me!"