Chương 31: B1 - Chapter 30: Ritual Magic

The very moment the first rays of the morning sun hit his face, Zeke's eyes snapped open. Eagerly, he took a shower and gobbled down some breakfast. He was giddy with excitement at the thought of being able to engrave a spell onto his magic core. All his hard work would finally pay off. This was a major milestone for any young mage, and Zeke couldn't wait to reach it. In many ways, this signified the first real step he was going to take in his journey as a Mage.

After weeks of nothing but hardships, it was a triumph he sorely needed. He searched the house for his mentor, hoping to start the process even a moment sooner. He found Maximilian in his study. He was engaged in a whispered discussion with David, the butler. As the two men noticed his approach, David bowed and left, winking at Zeke as their paths crossed.

"You ready?" Zeke asked eagerly as he walked up to the old man's desk.

"I heard they are extremely strict when it comes to time slots for engraving, I don't want to be late." Maximilian chuckled.

"Don't worry, Zeke, we are not going to be late."

"What do you mean?" Zeke asked with a raised brow. He hoped his mentor wasn't taking this lightly.

"How could we be late for an appointment I never made?" Maximilian answered with a smirk. Zeke's jaw dropped and all his good cheer vanished.

"B-but… but you said it was gonna be today," he stammered. Right now, he didn't even care about how much he sounded like a petulant child.

"Calm down, my boy," Maximilian said in a soothing voice.

"I'm a man of my word, you know I am. Do you think I would lie to you about something so important?" Hearing those words, Zeke got a hold of his feelings. He swallowed the lump that had started to form in his throat. Thinking about it, Maximilian had never explicitly stated where they were going to perform the ritual.

"We're not gonna do it at the academy, are we?"

"Smart," Maximilian praised.

"Thats right, we are gonna do it somewhere else, somewhere a lot closer — follow me." Zeke was confused, but he trusted Maximilian and did as he was bid. The old man led him down into the basement. Zeke had never explored this part of the mansion before, as it was mostly used for storage. Behind all the crates of grain and foodstuff, furniture and fabrics, they came to a halt in front of a massive wooden doorway.

"Welcome to my secret engraving chamber," Maximilian said with a smirk.

"This is where we'll be doing your engraving today." Zeke alternated between staring at the door and Maximilian.

"Why are we doing it here instead of the academy? And why do you call it your secret engraving chamber anyway? They are not illegal to possess, as far as I'm aware."" Becaaaause …" Maximilian said as he dragged out the word, "If we used a public chamber, there would be a record — and we can't have that. [Perfect Body Control] is not a recorded spell. Do you have any idea how rare it is for a new spell to be invented? One that can be learned by even an apprentice? The Mages Association would be all over us."

Zeke's eyes widened at the realization. He had not known that the engraving process would be monitored by a third party. He had no intention of being used as a lab rat, to be probed and prodded.

"But won't it be revealed anyway?" Zeke asked with a slight shake to his voice.

"Surely, you are not planning to not have me use the spell? What are we even going to tell the academy?"

"It's not that big of a deal," Maximilian said with a wink.

"We are just going to tell the academy that you engraved [Blood Manipulation]. The two spells are very similar at first glance. This is common practice for nobles — They keep their trump cards hidden by claiming to have learned some other spell." Zeke was not even surprised to learn that the nobles used such a ploy. Growing up, he had believed the academy to be a place where everyone had the same opportunities and goals. But his own experience had robbed him of that notion.

The more he learned, the less he was surprised by all the private deals and hidden favoritism going on behind the scenes. With his worries laid to rest, Zeke was once again excited to get started.

"What do I do?" he asked as he entered the room just a step behind his mentor.

"There's not much to the process, at least not on your end. Just sit down in the middle of the circle," Maximilian instructed.

"And please don't touch the mirrors, they're very delicate. If you disturb the array, they won't be able to properly focus on your core." Zeke inspected the scene, interested in learning more about the engraving chamber. What he found was an encirclement of mirror-like contraptions arranged around a small, round platform. Each and every one of them was perfectly identical. They had the appearance of a sunflower with its petals turned inward — towards the center of the circle.

He couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the setup as he made his way to the center of the circle. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. All of a sudden, a strange feeling caught Zeke's attention. He turned, intent on finding the source. His attention was automatically drawn to the figure of Maximilian, the old man was gathering ambient Mana.

The fact that he could feel this so clearly despite his untrained senses meant that there was a tremendous amount of mana being shifted. It almost felt like water flowing over his skin. Yet, when he looked down, there was no sign of wetness anywhere on his body. This had to be hundreds of times the amount of Mana that Zeke could handle with his core. Zeke had never seen such a potent magical demonstration in his entire life.

"Is this Ritual Magic?" he inquired excitedly. Despite handling an ocean's worth of mana, Maximilian appeared completely at ease. In a casual tone, he replied to Zeke's question.

"Yes and no. What I'm doing right now is just guiding unattuned mana; Nothing special about that. The special part comes later."

"What's going to happen?" Zeke inquired with a gleam in his eyes.

"I'm gonna feed it into the Ritual," the old man explained with obvious delight at Zeke's curiosity.

"You see, the way Ritual Magic works is by applying a specific effect to unattuned mana. All I am doing is supplying the Mana, the ritual is doing the rest."

"Isn't that the same as an enchantment on a weapon?" Zeke asked. He had come across the concept in one of his most recent reading binges. What Maximilian had just described sounded suspiciously like how an enchantment worked.

"Good guess, but it's not quite the same," Maximilian responded. Before continuing his explanation, he began to slowly guide his mana into the Ritual, causing the first of three metallic rings on the ground to light up. With a smile on his lips, he returned his attention back to Zeke.

"Both are branches of Magical engineering and work on the same principles. But there are some key differences. Can you tell me what you've learned about enchantments?"

"I only learned a bit," Zeke admitted.

"But as far as I can tell, an enchantment works by being fed unattuned mana. It somehow turns that Mana into a spell that is subsequently released. That means that a staff with the [Fireball] enchantment would be able to cast the [Fireball] spell even if the wielder doesn't have a fire affinity."

"That is exactly right," Maximilian praised.

"And therein lies the difference. Enchantments will attune the mana they are fed and then cast a predefined spell. But that is not what Rituals do. Rituals only use unattuned mana, from start to finish."

"What are they good for then?" Zeke asked with a furrowed brow.

"Any Mage can use unattuned mana. Why not just cast the spell yourself then?"

"Right," Maximilian said with a nod.

"Care to venture a guess?" Zeke was considering the matter carefully. This was a challenging question, as he didn't know much about the subject. The only Ritual he had ever seen was the one currently surrounding him. And as he looked at the intricate array laid out before him, a sudden insight came to him.

"It's complexity!" Zeke exclaimed. Maximilian nodded.

"Yes, that's a huge part of it. Even though any Mage can perform unattuned spells, I don't know anybody who has good enough control and precision to perform a spell as complex as what you see before you. It would require many Mages casting in tandem to match this one ritual." Zeke watched the complex structure around him. When the second ring lit up, the mirrors all moved at the same time. Like predators spotting their prey, the heads of all the mirrors snapped in place.

Each released a gentle beam of light that all met at a central point: the center of his chest. He could feel his core itching slightly in reaction. With his jaw hanging open, Zeke inspected the contraption in a new light. It had only now dawned on him what kind of a marvel this Ritual truly was. Hundreds of independent parts were working together to achieve a singular purpose. Surely, this had to be the pinnacle of human creation. For a moment, Zeke just watched the scene in awe.

"Who invented this?" Zeke finally managed to ask. He wanted to know the name of the genius who had designed this intricate tapestry. He could hardly imagine the precision on display being matched by any human spellcaster.

"I don't know," Maximilian confessed right away.

"To be fair, I'm not well versed in the lore of Magical Engineering. That being said, to the best of my knowledge, nobody knows who came up with any of the four Grand Rituals."

"What are those?" Zeke immediately asked. He had heard the term before but didn't know what it referred to.

"Spell Engraving is the first," Maximilian said with a nod to the Ritual in question, "Seed Infusion the second, Memory Sealing the third, and Spirit Summoning the last. Those four are widely considered to be the four Grand Rituals. We don't know where they came from, but what is certain is that nobody in our current era has the capacity to create anything comparable."

"Do you also have the other three?" Zeke asked with shining eyes.

"Unfortunately not," Maximilian said with a shake of his head.

"The Seed Infusion and Memory Sealing Rituals can be done in every branch of the Mages Association. There is no reason for doing them somewhere else, as those can be undertaken in private. There is little to be gained by building them here."

"What about the last one then? Spirit Summoning?" Zeke asked.

"The last one is not available to us, I'm afraid," Maximilian explained in a slightly distracted tone.

"Invocatia keeps it all to themself." Zeke fell silent. He didn't want to distract Maximilian any further. He also had a lot to digest. Zeke had learned that the Seed infusion Ritual was used to advance to a higher tier as a Mage as well. It was something that he would come in contact with sooner or later. The Memory Sealing Ritual was something Zeke had heard about before. Most noble families would force their members to undergo this procedure.

The Ritual made it impossible for the affected person to divulge any secrets. He didn't quite know how it worked, but out of the four, it captured Zeke's interest the least. What truly fascinated him was the Spirit Summoning Ritual. Maximilian had hinted at the country of Invocatia keeping it to themselves. If that was the case, Zeke could very well imagine what the Ritual did. After all, Invocatia was famous for one thing and one thing only: Summoned creatures.

From what Zeke had read, Invocatia was the only country that didn't favor any specific group of affinities. One's affinity only influenced the type of companion that would be summoned. But their focus on unattuned Mana made them the most egalitarian country in existence. He had often fantasized about fleeing there, during his darkest hours. However, the thoughts of his family, as well as the fact that the country was at war with the empire, had kept him from attempting it.

Unbeknownst to Zeke, the third and final ring of the Ritual had lit up while he had been deep in thought. He was only awoken from his deep contemplation when Maximilian called out to him.

"The Ritual is about to start. Begin casting, my boy."