Chapter 33
Advancement Ritual
Eivass could still sit in his wheelchair while crafting Illusion Cards.
However, this was not possible during the Advancement Ritual.
Fortunately, Eivass had already fed his Shadow Demon in the early morning. Even when he stood up and his body completely connected with his own shadow, the Shadow Demon that woke up showed no signs of losing control.
The shadow beneath Eivass’s feet squirmed slightly, occasionally lifting a little to prove it was still alive and present.
This intermittently floating shadow could evoke associations with the “ethereal mist” effect created with dry ice – except this mist was pure black, entirely devoid of any impurities.
It was more like a miasma surrounding him.
In fact, the materials and procedures for Advancement Rituals were not entirely fixed.
Rituals that were universally applicable were inherently less rigid. Much of the complexity and the difficulty in obtaining materials were due to deliberate encryption, similar in essence to the coded language in alchemy texts. The purpose was to prevent anyone from deciphering the ritual’s core.
This was why Eivass could craft Illusion Cards so easily.
As a new ritual born only three years later, it had not yet undergone repeated encryption, decryption errors, and re-encryption. Its original ritualistic meaning had not been distorted. Therefore, it could be easily replicated even by Eivass, whose “Basic Ritual” level was only one.
The Advancement Ritual was the complete opposite.
Each lineage and school of thought had slight variations in their Advancement Rituals.
The ritual Eivass adopted was a simplified version he had seen in his foster father’s books. This was a ritualistic practice commonly circulated among the Avalon Knight families –
Its advantage was that it didn’t require too much hassle, and its disadvantage was the consumption of a small piece of white crystal… about the size of a thumbnail and as thin as a coin. However, this item itself was not expensive, so it was manageable. Eivass drilled a hole in it and threaded it onto a string, creating a disposable pendant.
He prepared six pieces of silver ornaments, consisting of two bracelets, a necklace, two rings, and a forehead circlet.
He then coated them with Clove Essential Oil, Cinnamon Essential Oil, Cypress Essential Oil, Benzoin Essential Oil, Immort Essential Oil, and Chamomile Essential Oil, and placed them on the six vertices of the Hexagram Eivass had drawn. These six plant essential oils and the Hexagram magic circle etched with a silver sharp instrument were the most crucial and irreplaceable parts of this ritual.
Next, Eivass prepared three types of food he disliked.
He chose radish, bitter melon, and green pepper. He sliced them thinly as a symbolic gesture and placed them in the center of the Hexagram.
With this, the preliminary preparations for the ritual were complete.
Eivass put on his Seminary uniform. Although it was a school uniform, it was also a formal priest’s robe.
It had a pure white clerical collar, embellished with two golden thorn reliefs featuring roses – this ornament even contained real gold. It had brown-red sashes on the shoulders and chest, still featuring antler-like golden thorn decorations. The robe extended past his mid-thighs. Below that were brown trousers and cloth shoes.
Anyone looking at this attire would immediately recognize him as a priest of the Church of the Nine Pillars God.
After closing the room door and waiting until the full moon had risen above forty degrees, the ritual was to officially begin.
“—The Nine complete.”
Eivass chanted in a low voice.
As he spoke, he lit a bundle of dried sage and mugwort.
Like a lit cigar, he repeatedly roasted the tip of the herb bundle.
In fact, it could be considered a type of cigar – just as coffee, in a sense, is also a type of soy milk.
Sage is the most commonly used herb for fumigation and burnt offerings. When mixed with different herbs, it yields different effects. When mixed with mugwort, its primary purpose is to block the influence of powers from other Paths on the Advancement Ritual.
For Eivass, this was used to suppress the interference of his Transcendent Path with the ritual.
“Discarding the three…”
Eivass said softly, pressing the herb bundle, which was emitting green smoke, onto the center of the Hexagram.
“—Hengwo, Lord of Scales and Feathers, Amber.”
These three names represented the Pillar Gods of the Path of Love, Path Adaptation, and Twilight Path, respectively.
This was a necessary procedure for the Full Moon Ritual.
No Extraordinary could be adept at everything. Even the Full Moon Ritual did not permit improvisation.
Before encountering his teammates and enemies, one must declare their three least favorite Paths in advance, signifying their resolve.
In this ritual, he could not cooperate with teammates from these three Paths. Even if those Paths were powerful, he could not secretly change his stance.
These three Paths were also carefully selected by Eivass.
Although Path Adaptation excelled in survival, they would definitely sell out teammates when necessary; safeguarding oneself and fleeing at the opportune moment were characteristics of Path Adaptation.
As for the Twilight Path and Path of Love, it was purely due to the sheer number of oddballs within them.
—So-called Path of Love was merely a euphemism.
It was a Path associated with barbarism, bestiality, and impulsiveness, worshiping primal desires for reproduction and consumption.
What kind of people were in it?
Lecherous old men, gourmands, exhibitionists, big eaters… they seemed unserious no matter how you looked at it. It was quite suited for the modern internet environment.
The Twilight Path emphasized “the sun will set, and all things will perish,” a path that opposed death and decay, pursuing immortality and permanence.
Undertakers, taxidermists, gravediggers, as well as painters and sculptors who created memorial portraits, might all believe in the Twilight Path. The creation of mummies and wax figures also belonged to the crafts of the Twilight Path, as did the summoning of Undead and reincarnation.
It was unlikely to find excellent teammates from these three Paths.
As Eivass successively recited the names of these three Pillar Gods, a gust of wind suddenly arose in the room.
Three flames of different colors—black, emerald green, and amber—suddenly ignited over the three disliked food slices Eivass had prepared.
They quickly burned up in the flames, turning into a column of black smoke.
But strangely, although a peculiar whirlwind swirled around Eivass in the room, the green smoke from the roasted herb bundle rose straight upwards, condensing into a plume of smoke no thicker than a wrist, reaching the White Crystal pendant hanging from the chandelier above.
Following this, Eivass began to circle the Ritual Array, holding the herb bundle outside the array, bending low and turning, smoking the outer ring of the array.
“The Six bless me…”
He pointed the herb bundle sequentially at the six silver ornaments, while reciting the names of the remaining six Pillar Gods:
“Hourglass. Candlemaster. Great Philosopher. Silver Crown Dragon. Twin. Father.”
As he touched them one by one, the six silver ornaments gradually turned black.
Not as if they were soot-stained, but as if they had touched something poisonous, or had something detrimental drawn from the surrounding air.
The whirlwind in the room suddenly intensified—all the lit candles in Eivass’s room were blown out by the wind, yet nothing fell, not even a light piece of paper.
“I follow the Path of the Candlemaster.”
The next moment, the herb bundle in Eivass’s hand suddenly burst.
He let go, dropping it in the center of the Hexagram. It crackled, emitting a beautiful plume of pure white smoke, which once again covered the suspended White Crystal pendant, already darkened by the previous smoke.
—The ritual was successful.
Seeing his “Basic Ritual” progress by 20%, Eivass let out a sigh of relief, confirming the ritual’s success.
He took down the White Crystal pendant hanging from the chandelier and wore it close to his body.
Although he had known this ritual was simple before, this was Eivass’s first time advancing through a ritual.
Before, it was all theoretical; this time, he had truly performed it himself.
As Eivass put on the pendant, he felt a faint sense of tranquility and drowsiness.
It wasn’t strong; it could be resisted with willpower.
It was comparable to the drowsiness after a full meal or the level of melatonin taken before sleep.
However, Eivass did not resist. Instead, he sat back in his wheelchair. He closed his eyes to perceive that dragging sensation.
It was like slowly sinking in the deep, dark sea, and he clearly felt his consciousness being pulled into a deeper level while remaining awake.
“Good evening, Priest.”
Just as Eivass woke up again, a cold voice with a tone that Eivass found somewhat familiar rang out.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a pitch-black space. Although there was no light source, he could see everything clearly.
He was sitting in a large, wide armchair with a high back. Eivass stood over 1.8 meters tall, but even he could not fully occupy the chair. When he rested his elbow on one armrest, his other arm could not reach the other armrest.
Looking up, he saw eight other such chairs.
Nine chairs were arranged in a circle, and in the very center stood a giant stone hourglass statue, about five to six meters tall, like a massive decorative piece in a shopping mall.
Eivass found he was the fourth to arrive.
Ahead of him, three other people were already present.
The four of them sat consecutively. The first was an old man with his head bowed, holding a cane. The second was a young man wearing a brown double-breasted trench coat and a fedora.
The third appeared somewhat clumsy – wearing a fully enclosed knight’s helmet while donning a shirt and sweater for ease of movement.
Although Eivass could not see their faces clearly, much like how one cannot see the faces of passersby in a dream, he immediately realized that the second person must be Sherlock!
His tone was too distinctive, and his attire showed no disguise whatsoever.
It was as if he were saying – Yes, I am Sherlock Hermes.
Eivass’s clothes were the cover! They were drawn by the book’s operations manager, Guangan!
