Trying Out: Part 2

"Arghh!!!"

Lin Sheng fell from high up in the air and crashed violently into the verdant sea of trees.

*Uff!!*

Countless branches tore into him.

Due to the powerful impact, Lin Sheng's supposedly strong body was torn into shreds like a soft persimmon.

Countless pieces of flesh and blood rained alongside the broken branches onto the ground.

The verdant grassland was soon painted red with blood.

The last thing Lin Sheng saw was massive tree roots that crawled about in the woods.

...

"That was another new way to die..."

Lin Sheng calmly opened his eyes and sat up, laying against the headboard.

He then looked at the alarm clock. It was five o'clock.

"What was that translucent root thing? What was that monster knocking on the door? Why did it want to attack me? And what was that crimson light on me…"

Lin Sheng's mind was in flux.

He quickly got up and wrote the three main questions he had in his notebook.

"Ever since something changed in Blackfeather City, I've never been able to return there. What was this about, then? I was brought to that island by the root…"

Lin Sheng was intrigued by the fortress on the island.

However, he had just gotten his hands on the Beckoning ritual, and he had to record it down. He sat at his study and wrote everything he could remember about the ritual in his notebook.

This time around, he used a mix of Hanzi and pinyin.

With that, even if someone tried to decipher the meaning of the writing in Hanzi, the difficulty would be increased many folds.

That aside, what surprised him was his ability to memorize and write out about ninety percent of the ritual's details as well as diagrams in a single go.

He just could not fully replicate the drawings of some of the ingredients, but other than that, he believed that his reproduction was the same as the scroll.

He then went through the contents of the ritual again.

Lin Sheng felt that his memory was photographic since he could clearly recall most of the details.

"While I may have died again this time around, I still managed to get some good loot. Guess I'll go find the materials today!"

Lin Sheng was eager.

"Now, I need to confirm if Blackblooms exist or not."

He quickly stood up and changed into his casual wear. It was Saturday, after all, and he had plenty of free time to spend.

After washing up, he took his sword case and greeted his parents who had just woken up.

Lin Sheng was just about to leave the house when Lin Zhounian called out to him while he yawned.

"Wait up. Even if you're going out with friends, have some breakfast first, will you?"

Lin Zhounian pulled a big red apple out of a red pocket by the edge of the sofa and tossed it to Lin Sheng.

"Your cousin, Yueyue gave us these yesterday. Eat it on the way."

Lin Sheng deftly grabbed the apple and bit into it.

It was a juicy ripe apple that was fragrant and crunchy at the same time. It quenched his rather dry throat.

"Oh yeah... Dad, do you know about this flower called the Blackbloom?"

"What flower? Is it the one with the jagged leaves and six petals? The one that looks like charcoal?"

Lin Zhounian took an apple for himself too and bit it without rinsing.

"That's it!" Lin Sheng perked up. It was just a random question, and he never thought his father would actually know it.

"We call that Coalbloom here. It grows in dark and damp mountainous areas. Why do you ask? We used to feed them to the pigs last time," Lin Zhounian queried.

"Nothing, just asking. Where can I get it now?" Lin Sheng asked.

"Nanxi Mountain I guess. I saw some smattering of Coalblooms around the rock steps when we went hiking last year." Lin Zhounian ran through his memory a bit before he answered.

"Got it. I'll be heading off now." Lin Sheng was relieved as he bit the apple and went downstairs.

Since Blackblooms were available in reality, that meant it was possible for the Beckoning ritual to materialize in the real world as well.

Now, he needed to look for the ingredients, pronto.

"Ten Blackblooms, one standard unit of gold, nine standard units of silver powder, ten standard units of red crystal powder, and one standard unit of the host's blood."

The first thing he got was the silver powder.

It was the same pure silver powder he had obtained from that shop the last time.

Gold, on the other hand, was expensive, for the single standard unit of gold, Lin Sheng straight up bought a bar, the ones usually kept by the banks.

The price of gold in Huaisha City had been rising lately. It was about ¥400 a gram, and a standard unit would comprise about 80 grams.

That meant, he had spent about ¥32,000 on gold alone…

Then there was the red crystal powder.

After some querying, he decided to buy natural ones. Contrary to his expectations, a natural crystal was about ¥80 a gram, and he needed ten standard units or 800 grams.

With that, he spent about ¥60,000 on crystal powder alone…

As for the few thousand spent on the silver powder, it was almost spare change in comparison…

Lin Sheng was out and about shopping for the entire day just to get all the materials.

It was not until late in the evening that he managed to get everything.

He had gotten dried Blackbloom from the medicine shop, but that aside, there was a need for him to bleed this time.

So, Lin Sheng had bought a kerosene lamp and a fruit knife, plus a first aid kit with bandages as well as antiseptics.

He then placed everything in his bag, and after dinner, he went through them again.

After he confirmed that everything was in place, he decided to choose what sort of living being he would like to control.

The Beckoning ritual was, in essence, a dominating ritual used to control spirits that were weaker than the caster.

At the same time, he could not control any humanoid or any being with too big a difference in size.

From the fragmented memories, Lin Sheng knew that the ritual was a side-product of Sir Kaarman's research. It was meant to increase the understanding between the caster and his or her mount.

However, due to its monumental cost, the ritual could not be done en masse.

Plus, there were other systems that had similar methods to increase the bond with spirit animals at a much cheaper cost.

That resulted in the Beckoning being an occult ritual that was not very highly regarded in Blackfeather City.

Lin Sheng had no other choice, so he would already be thankful if the ritual succeeded.

He then brought his bag along and took a cab to the abandoned factory he had performed his previous ritual.

The factory was still deserted as usual.

Abandoned farm fields surrounded it, and behind it was a rather tall hill near Huaisha City called Ironedge Hill.

He then went into the same storeroom, where he had performed the ritual sacrifice.

Lin Sheng scanned the place, and there was a clean spot where the last ritual was held.

He had cleaned that place up on purpose and laid a plastic sheet over it.

Lin Sheng looked around and quickly put his bag down and pulled out a torch for some illumination.

He placed the light against the wall and used the reflection to light up the room, giving the place an ominous atmosphere.

Lin Sheng opened up the plastic bag and pulled out the various materials and powder for the ritual. He then placed them in a small basin and mixed them together.

Compared with the last time, he was a lot more confident this time around because the Beckoning ritual was a proper ritual and not a sinister, evil sacrificial ritual like the last one.

And from his memories, aside from the expensive materials, there was no inherent danger to it.