Ritual
Lara could feel that she was making a decision and didn't press her, but instead patiently waited for her.
"I will do it.", she then finally voiced her decision.
This answer didn't come as much of a surprise as Lara had already expected something like this. Still, there was one question that had to be asked.
"Why would you do this? If you are able to do it, then you have to be at least Earth Rank and then none of the rewards should mean anything to you."
"Normally yes, but something has happened and I lost my strength. Now to gain it back, accepting this deal is the best thing I can do."
"If you lost your strength, wouldn't that affect the ritual?"
"No, not at all. The ritual only depends on the Bloodline Power, which hasn't been affected, since it is extremely complicated to do this without killing the target. And because the usage of Bloodline Power requires Qi there is no need either. So although I have lost my Qi and Vital Qi, I still have my Bloodline Power.", Celine explained.
Lara didn't know anything about Bloodline Power and as such couldn't deduce the truth, but she was inclined to trust the woman. "You lost your Vital Qi? Is that the reason why you look so old?", she asked curiously.
"Yes. I'm not sure if you are aware but without sufficient Vital Qi, the body will age at a fast speed. So after my body lost most of its ability to generate Vital Qi I have lived of my reserves and now that they are at their end, I have aged a lot."
After hearing this explanation Lara could guess one of the reasons, why the other party would make this deal. But to be sure she still asked, "Then the reason you have offered to do this is that you need Vital Qi?"
"That's one of the reasons. With your husband refilling my Vital Qi I can continue to live and my body will become young once again too, so don't worry. But besides the Vital Qi, I would need five 'Strengthening Pill'.", Celine clearly stated her reasons for making her offer.
"Alright, The Vital Qi is no problem since exchanging it is necessary to stabilize the Bloodline anyway. As for the pills, if the ritual truly works then there is no problem with giving them to you.", Lara agreed to the demands.
"Great, then I'll send you the description for the ritual so you can check it. And if you agree after that we will sign the contract alright?"
"Sure.", Lara readily agreed.
Just after voicing her agreement a System notification popped up.
<< Celine Lefair wants to share the description for the Ritual 'Bloodline Refining Furnace Ritual (Unique)' with you.
Do you accept?
>>
Without having to think about it Lara agreed.
<< Ritual: Bloodline Refining Furnace Ritual (Unique)
Alignment: Evil
Introduction through the creator:
This ritual is the work I am the proudest of as well the most disappointed in. When I started my research on how to strengthen Bloodline Aspects many of my brothers laughed at me, telling me it was impossible. But I persevered and finally found a way to do what others thought impossible.
By researching the most common way of bloodline transfer, which is giving it to one's children I found a way of strengthening existing bloodlines through the use of a female as a furnace.
This is the part I am most proud of.
The part I am most disappointed in is the requirements the ritual has for the female who is to serve as the furnace. Not only does she need to have a high Bloodline Power, but what is the worst is that she has to sacrifice it out of her free will. I have tried everything but there is no way to force someone to do it. Even using some rare treasures as the trade doesn't work. According to my observation, the female has to offer this ritual on herself, while the male can't have any knowledge of it beforehand.
I really hope that sometimes someone will execute this ritual.
Requirements:
(The System has detected two parties willing to do the ritual and as such will indicate which requirements are fulfilled.)
Furnace:
- Female (y)
- High Bloodline Power (y)
- Offered ritual (y)
- Bloodline Heaven Grade or higher (y)
- Mental State 'Clear Mind' or higher (y)
- Has given birth (y)
- Fertile (y)
- Red Jade Bones (y)
Refiner:
- Male (y)
- Bloodline Mortal Grade or higher (y)
- Mental State 'Clear Mind' or higher (no, currently only in 'Blurry Mind')
- Fertile (y)
Remark: The insufficient Mental State will only reduce the efficiency of the ritual until the Mental State 'Clear Mind' has been archived.
Items:
- Furnace uniform (y)
Ritual duration: Infinite
Ritual execution:
The ritual consists of two parts. The first is the primer which will only be done at the start of the ritual, while the second part, which is the main part, called repeater, can be repeated every seven days and has the effect of strengthening a selected Bloodline Aspect of the Refiner.
To learn the concrete procedure you will have to learn the ritual.
Remark: The System guarantees the effect of the ritual if not it's morality.
>>
Lara carefully read through the description of the ritual. Sadly there was no exact description of the ritual itself but remembering what Celine had told her about the creator as well as what was written in the introduction, she was sure that it would contain something sexual. Once again.
She was unsure what it was, but so many things about Ivan pointed towards sex. Especially anything that had to do with his bloodline.
"Alright, I have read the description. But I do have some questions first if you don't mind.", Lara then once again talked to Celine.
"Of course. Ask away."
"For the requirements, there are two things I am unfamiliar with. One is the Mental State and the other the Red Jade Bones.", Lara told her what she didn't know.
"Mental State is a measurement for the stability of the mind under stress. The first state is 'Muddy Mind' and it what every normal person possesses. The mind isn't that resilient. One can only concentrate on a certain amount of time and the reactions in surprise situations are instinctive.
When one reaches 'Blurry Mind', the time one can concentrate is highly increased. It's not a problem to concentrate on something for more than a day, though when surprised one's reactions are still mostly instinctive.
Finally, there is the state 'Clear Mind', which not only increases the amount of time one can concentrate but also means that the reaction to surprises is to first analyze it, which can be done very fast, before taking action.", she clearly explained the Mental States she knew, before continuing with the next explanation.
"As for the Red Jade Bones, it describes an innate bone type. Similar to how people are born with bloodlines, some are born with special features. There are three different categories of features one can be born with. Special bones, special meridians, special body. As the name says, special bones mean that your bones are unlike normal, but have different properties. One of such a bone type is 'Red Jade Bones', which I have. It enables the interaction of Bloodline Power with your bones, unlocking new skills, which should be the reason for it being a requirement.
Special meridians mean that the meridians are different, which usually has effects on training speed. A special body, on the other hand, is an all-around enhancement, resulting in special skills as well as increased training speed.
But before reaching the Mortal Realm it is nearly impossible to find out if one possesses any of them."
"About the furnace uniform mentioned..."
"Ah that. Don't worry, I have it. It came together with the ritual."
"I thought so. Then let's do it this way. Come over to meet my husband and I and then we can sign the contract, alright?"
"Sure."
After having decided on a time for the meeting, the two talked a bit more, since Lara wanted to know a bit more about this woman, who would soon be her husband's concubine. And who would play an important role in the stabilization of the bloodline.
Having then finished their conversation she leaned back. Now that she knew about the ritual there would be no need for Ivan to marry a multitude of concubines. Luckily there weren't many applicants to the job offer, but still, she had to decide if she still wanted to accept them or not.
"Hm, just to be safe I should accept them.", she then decided. After all, although the ritual should work, it couldn't be bad to have a backup plan ready. Having made her decision she then send a notifiaction to the first three women who had applied. As for Tanya she had to wait and see what she wanted to talk with her about, before coming to a decision.