“Come with you? To Airan?” Tim asked.

“Airan and many other places,” Ning said. “Remember what I said I was doing here?”

Tim thought for a bit and his face went pale. “You’re here to kill someone,” he said. “Who?”

“I don’t know yet,” Ning said. “That’s why I’m going on this journey. To find out, and I want you to come with me.”

Tim stood there, frozen, unable to piece together thoughts.

“But… but sir Ning,” Adrian spoke. “What is going on? Why do you need my son on this murderous adventure?”

“I am not going to lie,” Ning said. “I just want a companion on this adventure. Going alone is not very fun at all.”

“Still, why must my son come—”

“Because your son is special,” Ning said and turned toward Timothy. “Aren’t you Tim? Don’t you want to explore more of the world? Find more Zurin treasures and see what exactly it is that you are capable of doing?”

“I…”

Ning waited for the young man to answer.

Tim seemed incredibly confused and worried about the entire situation, so he couldn’t even say anything.

“Sir Ning, my son… he isn’t really the adventure type. He went to the seas to find a treasure for me, but that was only because I was in trouble. At heart, he is a scholar like me and wants to spend his time with the books.”

Tim heard what his father said and could not refute it.

Ning thought for a bit and said. “I can offer you 3 things if you come with me.”

“First, I can guarantee you the time of your life. You will visit many countries, and go through many lands until we find the person I’m looking to find. The knowledge you will get on the road is not something that can be compared to something you can get in a book.”

“Second, I will help you find 3 incredible Zurin treasures, all of which will be yours by the end. I can’t tell what they are just yet, just that they will be great.”

Tim’s eyes widened at the offer. 3 Zurin treaures? That would mean he would have 4 by the end of it all. There was no way he was going to have 4 Zurin treasures by the end of the year, was he?

No, what was he thinking? He still hadn’t accepted the offer yet.

“Finally, since you are such a scholar, I will give you this book at the end of it all.”

A book appeared in Ning’s hand out of nowhere and he let it slam on the table in front of him, rocking the half-filled cup of tea as the thick tome took everyone’s eyes.

The book was large with a leather cover, and golden fringe on the side. On top, a set of words spelled out its name in golden embossed lettering.

Book of Treasures

“What is this?” Adrian asked as he looked at the book. He had never heard of a book of such name. Not only that, he was curious about where Ning had even produced the book from. How had he not noticed a bulging in his shirt? Or had he used a Zurin treasure of some sort as well?

“Where’s your Horn of Domination?” Ning asked Tim.

“My horn? It’s…” Tim looked around and found it lying on the couch in the corner, where his father had been keeping a record of it.

He took the horn and brought it over to Ning. “What do you need my horn for?” he asked.

“Open the book and place it inside,” Ning said. Tim gave a confused look before understanding what he was being told to do. He opened the book to see a blank golden page and placed the horn on it.

“Use it,” Ning said.

“Is… this a Zurin Treasure?” the young man asked.

“Something like that,” Ning said.

Tim hesitated for a moment and touched it. He thought of using the book and the book activated.

Suddenly, it glowed golden, forcing him and Adrian to cover their eyes. When the light faded away, the horn was right there. And on what was previously a blank page, there was now some text written on it.

Horn of Command

/ Horn of Domination

/ Sound of Control

/ The Taming Horn

/ Horn of Calling

/ Horn of Animal Communication.

This horn is used to control animals of various sizes by blowing on it. One can only control one animal at a time, and it can only…

A bunch of text filled the entire page of the book, listing everything the horn did. Tim read the text with absolute incredulity in his eyes as he failed to understand how any of this was even possible.

The book went even further into describing things than he knew and even went into the past of the horn, explaining how it was that the horn was destroyed in the past.

It also listed the past owners of the horn, but none of the names were something that Tim could recognize. Adrian’s face was the same as well, as he read through the entire text. “Dear Zurinus!” he shouted in shock. “Everything I did for the past 5 days has been for naught. Can one document information this easily?”

“You can with this book,” Ning said. “Just open a blank page and put the Zurin treasure in it.”

Tim quickly turned the pages and saw that the rest of the book was completely blank. It had never been used before at all.

“This… this was the first time it was used,” Tim said, looking at Ning in shock.

“Yes,” Ning said with a smile.

“Then… this book belongs to me now,” he said.

Ning took away the book. “If you come with me that is,” he said. He stood and walked to leave. “I’ll give you a day to make your decision—”

“I’ll come!” Tim said suddenly. He turned toward Adrian. “Father, is it alright if I…”

Adrian was still reeling in shock but he looked up to see his son’s hopeful face and nodded. “Very well, child. Do what it is you want to do. I will support your decision.”