Rhode realized he was about to grasp the crux of the matter, so he stopped reading.
Based on his experience, demons or other evil things often use people's curiosity, impatience, greed, and other traits to set traps.
Thus, in such times, one must proceed step by step.
Even if he finds himself locked in a battle of wits with the air, it's better than falling into a trap due to impatience.
Therefore, Rhode stopped in time, followed the previous rhythm of being vigilant, checking, living, and only then slowly continued reading.
It wasn't until the end of the month that he discovered the book's secret.
"In 780, Erza became an S-Class Mage, and Natsu started training hard with S-Class as his goal.
He had an unfounded belief that once he became S-Class, he would be able to meet Igneru.
(The story of challenging Kildas, Laxus, Erza, Mirajane, and others, constantly getting beaten up, is omitted.)
In 781, Mirajane became an S-Class Mage, yet Natsu still didn't qualify to participate in the exam.
That year, Loki joined Fairy Tail.
It was heard that a strange person named Mystogan joined the guild, but Natsu had never seen his true face.
(Training hard, challenging Laxus, Erza, Mirajane, and others, the story of constantly getting beaten is omitted.
—Because Kildas took an impressive task and went abroad, Natsu lost one challenge target.)
In 782, Lisana went to perform an S-Class task with her brother and sister, and then…
Lisana did not return.
Natsu quietly built a cenotaph for her, believing he would never see his best friend again.
That year, Mystogan became an S-Class Mage.
Natsu's training was harder than ever, with one less demon to challenge and needing to protect one more person, Mirajane.
…
In 783, the old man picked up a person named Rhode.
This guy started learning magic from scratch, always practicing hard, and liked to find people to fight…
Natsu felt he was a good person.
The first time teaming up with Rhode on a mission, Natsu found that although he was a nagging guy, he was indeed a good person and seemed fairly reliable.
Most importantly, the River Crab was amazing…"
"There's really me." Rhode felt a bit shocked when he got to this point.
A 400-year-old ancient book, having 'future people' in its content is one thing, but why was there a person like him outside of the 'story'?
Rhode patiently read a few pages and found that most of the words involving him matched his own memories.
The few mismatched places were due to the passage of time, leaving him with little impression.
And although the book was narrated in the third person, all the events were from Natsu's point of view, so they might slightly differ from his memory.
"Thinking about it this way, those previous events involving others are all from Natsu's perspective, all related to Natsu.
"The Book of END...is it truly Natsu's Book?"
With a mindset of verification, Rhode read the book all the way to the 'end.'
Let's call it the 'end.'
Because this book does not have a conclusion at all.
When flipping through a small part, the pages behind were already devoid of text.
But on the last page with text, black and red fiery-like words were continuously forming!
Rhode watched with wide eyes as the last line of text appeared out of thin air:
"After completing today's training, Natsu went to Lucy's house to bathe, falling asleep in the bathtub."
Rhode almost didn't need to personally go to Lucy's house to confirm; he felt the book's statement was true.
The credibility was simply too high.
If another line were to appear:
"Natsu was startled awake by Lucy's shouting or kicked awake by Lucy, then tearing away Lucy's towel in his mind…"
That would be even more credible.
"It really came true?!"
Though there were minor differences in details—Reby went to Lucy's house to stay over today.
The two planned to take a bath together but found Natsu in the bathtub.
Though Reby was there, the development was not far off from expectations, with the unlucky one being Lucy.
After the surprise, Reby was responsible for teasing her.
Rhode closed the Book of END and came to his family:
"Lisana, could you go to Lucy's house to see who's there, and whether you can solve... um, just quickly come back and tell me, it's important."
"Okay." Although Lisana wanted to ask why, seeing Rhode's anxious appearance, she decided to act first.
She lightly jumped, transforming into a green-feathered bird mid-air, flapping her wings towards Lucy's house.
Mira asked in confusion, "Why specifically have Lisana go?"
"Uh…" Rhode thought for a moment, "It's late, it wouldn't be very polite for me to go."
"Running to a girl's house at night isn't polite…" Mira tilted her head and smiled, "But it's Lucy's house, no problem."
"…Should I thank you on Lucy's behalf?"
"You're welcome!" Mira said eagerly, "I want to go see too? I feel something interesting is happening."
Rhode said, "It probably already happened…let's wait for Lisana to return."
Mira thought for a moment, then asked, "Is it related to those flying texts?"
Though the distance was far, every time Rhode opened that book, she could see the glowing text from afar.
Above those texts resided power she was quite familiar with.
"Yes." Rhode nodded, "Give me a moment."
He swiftly flew away, returning to the previous position, flipping open the pages.
Seeing the newly added content inside, Rhode frowned: "As expected."
The book included content about Lisana, even the words Lisana spoke to Natsu were written inside.
When Lisana returned, Rhode asked a few questions, and her responses about Natsu matched the book's account.
This means that the events described in the book were true, and the texts were automatically generated based on Natsu's experiences!
This book was entirely 'Natsu's Book,' its content being about everything related to Natsu!
It would even, after a certain period, appropriately delete and compress unimportant content to prevent the narrative from being overly verbose.
Rhode even suspected that if all the pages were filled, and Natsu continued to experience more things, then would the book continue generating new blank pages to continue recording the story?
To achieve such a remarkable feat, only one method could be applied, which is the live-link magic on the book…
No, it's a magic higher than live-link magic.
Rhode was unsure how this magic was named in ancient times, but following modern rules, it should be called 'Super Live-Link Magic'!
Besides generating texts, this magic also possesses the usual functions of a live-link magic, namely linking Natsu's life to this book.
If Natsu died, this book would disappear; that's not the problem. The most troublesome part is, if this book were destroyed, Natsu would die as well!
After reaching this conclusion, Rhode broke out in a cold sweat.
——Fortunately! Fortunately, King Maldo protected this book well.
Otherwise, in previous battles, if this book were damaged, wouldn't it be equivalent to inadvertently killing Natsu?
"Why does brother-in-law show such an expression?" Lisana wondered, "Such things happening at Lucy's house are quite normal, right?"
Mira sensed a bit and held Rhode's hand, asking, "Is this book troublesome?"
Rhode frowned, "I can't exactly say if it's troublesome."
He thought of another possibility, with the effects of this super live-link magic, if the text in the book could be altered, could it possibly change Natsu's past and present?
The Chronicle of Years—Natsu's Solo Edition?