Ritual of Sacrifice

Background, personality traits, recent activities, strengths, weaknesses, appearance, etc. It was this information that I had read through during the day. It all pertained to the five Elders that, according to the file report, were only somewhat lacking when compared to Telferr. They all scored within the top 50 of the competition held by the Jungle Lotus Sect annually, making them five of the strongest 1st half Coal Class Fruit Cultivators within the Jungle Region. And, that also meant that they held a degree of arrogance to them. Medisma is using me to crush that arrogance and mold their mindset. It was imperative that I formed a plan based on each of their unique personalities.

These pieces of data spared no information from my eyes, allowing me access to the minds of these individuals. I've had enough experience in manipulating people to be able to fix them with only limited information, let alone their entire life story. The difficult part of this will be using strength to shut them up. And since it was strength I needed, the "ceremony" Medisma mentioned was going to be a deciding factor.

I placed the file I was just reviewing back onto a corner of my desk and replaced it with another file, the dossier that held information for the ceremony Medisma was going to throw me at. I undid the seal and took out the contents inside. It was only a single sheet of paper. My eyes glazed over the paper, and it didn't take me long to grasp the material.

'Interesting... so this is a prototype more than anything. It was something given to them by Inadere around 100 years ago, which means it probably has something to do with a scheme of his.'

I threw the paper onto the organized, yet cluttered desk and sighed as thoughts rattled in my head, 'It's not like I can do anything anyways. Even at the peak of Dirt Class, I'm too weak to resist the wills of the strong. But, although I've only been studying this world's power system for a quarter of the year, from what I know so far, the ceremony seems plausible. And if it does work... it will be a big boost in power. One that would let me face off against a Stone Class Cultivator without any tricks. Though Coal Class will still be a stretch.'

Knock, knock.

A sudden knocking coming from my door sounded throughout the room and a voice followed, "The Master has told me to inform you the ceremony is ready."

I got out of the seat and put my half mask on before opening the door. I said my greetings to the male assistant, and he began to lead me toward the area where the ceremony would be taking place.

The basement.

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After guiding me for a while longer the assistant left saying this was as far he was permitted to go, giving me the instructions to enter the room in front of me before he was gone. I opened the single door, and the room the door was guarding became exposed before my vision. The room was all but empty except for the complex silver magic circle on the ground that brightened the room in a grey hue and the old hag that was reading a book while leaning on a wall, Medisma.

I walked on the outskirts of the room, careful not to step on the magic circle, lest I do something stupid and die because of it. The Genesis Essence radiating off of the magic circle was many times greater than the one hiding the Firearm Inheritance, so I had no doubt it could kill me if I wasn't careful. I walked over the the only entrance into the magic circle. It wasn't a hole in the exterior, but a bend that went into the middle of the circle in a rectangular fashion. I walked into the middle of the circle and it was at this point Medisma shut the book and began to talk.

"I see you went over the folder I gave you, as I thought you would... well I don't see why I should stall. Let's get this done with as quickly as possible."

As she said this she entered the magic circle through the same entrance until she was right next to me. I promptly sat down in the lotus position, awaiting her to commence the ritual... but that didn't happen. I opened my eyes and looked at Medisma, question filling my expression.

She didn't match my eyes, instead looking back into the book she held as she spoke, "You know, Inadere was a genius of the Firearm Branch, with new discovery after new discovery. I didn't know him, but my mother did. She told me about his ingeniousness. And this book holds some of that brilliance. It talks of how his journey made him believe that the Technology Path was a representation of the human will. He believed that the apogee of the Technology Path was man's ability to make the impossible possible. And according to his theory, with the power of Technology Path, anything could be done. And this ritual of his is a good representation of that. It uses the human idea of sacrifice to power the user. Of course, this means sacrifice is needed, but I'm sure you are willing."

I closed my eyes again and entered a meditative state, "Of course I am."

'She says that like I even have a choice in the first place, how devious of her. There is a good reason that this ceremony isn't used regularly for the sect. It didn't only sacrifice your mental well-being in the form of pain, but a much more needed thing in this world. Talent.'

Medisma smirked a bit and replied, "Of course you are. You understand your position after all. Alright then, now we can begin."

As those words left her mouth, a tremendous amount of energy erupted out of her. But just as this energy that I could only assume was Genesis Essence left her body, it was dragged into the ever-glowing magic circle below. As soon as the energy was sucked out of her body, she ran out of the circle as fast as she could before collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.

Very soon the magic circle grew even brighter, blinding my eyes. As the light slowly dimmed, a rush of energy flew into my body. Along with this energy was a rush of pain as my body dealt with something far outside its comfort zone. I'm not sure how long this went on for, the constant back in forth between my body wanting to blow up and the outside force cooling before attacking once again, but eventually, the energy found itself in my Duranian. As it entered, the ground began to fissure, the water torrented, and winds that I'd never seen before this blew madly. But the energy moved ceaselessly, not caring for the chaos it was creating. It made it to the center of my Duranian and then the cloud of formless energy balled into an orb. The condensation also made the chaos stop, but that was only for a moment.

Boom!!!

A loud boom sounded from the inside of my Duranian, into my body, and throughout the room I sat in. As this boom sounded, I felt the foundation of my Duranian crumbling, but at that moment the magic circle I sat inside of lit brighter than ever before. As it illuminated the entire room, my flesh began to freeze so madly that it burnt in certain areas. That with the addition of my insides being rattled, and the boost in pain due to my curse made this process unbearably painful.

I clenched my teeth and steeled my resolve, 'I can't afford to fall here. I have to get stronger. I have to ascend into the heavens and become a God. I have to get my revenge!"

With a burst of motivation, the pain suddenly felt obsolete and I was able to keep myself awake through the entire process.

After who knows how long, the magic circle stopped glowing and completely disappeared. Once I realized the pain was gone and the ritual was over, I slumped to the ground. This process was both taxing mentally and physically. So I accepted it when my brain shut off.

I needed some sleep for the upcoming trials.

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I awoke slowly as my sored body struggled to sit up. I looked around and, after confirming it was the room I had slept in for the past couple of months, turned my attention the the old lady reading on the side of my bed. She turned to me and after seeing me awake, blurted out, "You're awake now? I honestly was beginning to believe you would never wake up. But I suppose that ceremony was quite taxing for you to be out for so long... Well, the good news is that you are alive and succeeded! The bad news is... well... due to some unforeseen incidences... I don't think you'll ever be able to ascend into Coal Class. And if you somehow manage that, then you'll definitely never get into Iron Class."

I looked at my burnt body and noticed the silver magic circles imprinted into it in seemingly random spots. It was painfully obvious to see them with the contrast of my charred skin. After acknowledging that the ceremony was a success, my concerns moved over to the last part of her paragraph, "Is it an issue of Talent?"

She shook her head, "Nope, Talent isn't the problem this time. Even if you had an A+ in Talent you would still be limited to Coal Class at best. The reason is that your Duranian's foundation was hurt. It's not as bad as it being destroyed outright, but it makes it so that you'll never have the ability to ascend into Iron Class, but Coal Class may still be possible if you get lucky. On the bright side, with those magic circles imbued into you, I guarantee that not a single Dirt Class in the entire Jungle Region can leave a scratch on you. And this also means that you'll be able to finish the deal we had."

'That was the least of my worries right now. Would I actually never be able to get to Iron Class? That would be a big setback... no. I can't say that for sure. In this world where the options are endless, there must be a way to fix this. I'll just have to find it. First I'd better get a better idea of the components behind the ritual.'

"Ms. Nima... no, Medisma. Could you please tell me how that ritual actually worked? And not just the cliff-notes you gave me earlier. I want details."

Medisma seemed a bit interested in my nonchalant attitude, but answered my question nonetheless, "Well, from the book my mom gave me, I can tell you a little. The magic circle requires an initial use of Genesis Essence of any Branch to activate. From then on it uses the power bestowed within it from its creator and infiltrates the users Duranian. After getting in the Duranian, it blows up and forcibly infuses itself into the Duranian and body of the user by using your Talent as sacrifice, the magic circles representing this. And the magic circles aren't just in the flesh either, if I cut you open I would find silver magic circles all over your insides. Of course, this just gives you the option of accessing power above your own. To actually activate the power, you need an absurd amount of Firearm Genesis Essence. That's all I can tell you."

Tch, that wasn't what I was asking for. I tried to push my narrative and get more out of her, "I understand that much, but is there a way that you can tell me it actually "works"? I want to know the components and mysteries of it."

Medisma just shook her head, "It's not like I'm hiding it from you, I just don't understand it myself. I don't study the Firearm Branch after all. Though, if you want, I can leave the book containing the details you want with you for a bit. Though, if I didn't get anything out of it, I doubt you will."

I jumped at the opportunity before it was taken back, "That would be great. Could you just have it on the desk?"

She just shrugged her shoulders, "I guess. But that isn't what matters right now!"

She got up and with her wooden cane supporting her, licked her toothless gums as she cackled, "Haha! It's time for you to get to work Quis! Have you already forgotten? You still have to teach those useless apprentices of mine! And guess what, I'm not a patient person, so we're going right now!!!" She used her cane and, in an incredible show of strength, pushed me out of bed onto the floor.

'That's right. I still have this fiasco to deal with.'

I stood up and, against my body's better wishes, moved to follow behind Medisma.

'I just hope that these magic circles truly give the power she promised they would..."