Chapter 9: Perfoming The Mana Ritual

MANA is one of the most special substances in this world. Mana cannot be seen by ordinary human eyes. But actually, mana is always floating freely in the air.

The function of mana itself is very much. Mana can strengthen the body, so that mana users can strengthen their attacks and endurance. Mana can also increase the five senses so that mana users become more sensitive in some situations. Mana can be used as food for some artifacts. And most importantly, mana can be used to cast magic.

But, how to become a mana user? The answer is simple, namely by controlling the mana in the body. However, to control the mana in the body, of course the body must first store a certain amount of mana. Unfortunately, the human body cannot automatically absorb the mana in the air.

On the other hand, Indra was currently in a situation where he had to quickly have mana. The situation was really urgent because his silver ring was starting to crack a little. But whether it was luck or what, the thin book Indra had just gotten was a book that discussed how to absorb mana. Therefore, Indra immediately opened the book again and followed the steps shown by the book.

The first step, referred to on the first page of the book, is to perform a ritual to connect with mana. It describes in great detail the various requirements and steps to perform the ritual. There is even a drawing of a spiral pattern and the correct way of sitting to be used in the ritual.

According to the description in the book, the ritual should be performed in the open and on flat ground. Therefore, Indra removed some of the grass so that there was a medium-sized circular piece of grassless land in the center of the cave courtyard.

Meanwhile, unable to help, Tin ended up falling asleep next to the grassless ground after watching what Indra was doing.

Back to the ritual preparation. Next, Indra was required to draw a spiral pattern on the ground using his blood. It said in the book that the outermost line of the pattern should be 80 cm away from the innermost line of the pattern. Indra then calculated by guessing, and to his surprise the size of the grassless ground was just right. Indra didn't need to do any extra work.

He then cut the palm of his right hand with his dagger. Then, a line appeared on the palm. Not long after, blood came out of the line, and that's when Indra started drawing.

The right palm was turned downwards to let the blood drip into the left palm that was ready to catch it. Then, once there was enough blood in the left palm, Indra turned his right palm upwards to prevent unnecessary blood spillage. After that, he drew the spiral pattern from the outermost line using his left hand.

At that moment, Indra felt an excruciating pain in the palm of his right hand. Both hands were shaking. But that didn't slow down his progress. He kept pouring his blood into his left palm and kept drawing non-stop. He didn't take a single break and stayed so focused on drawing that he didn't realize that the pattern was already finished.

At the same time, his right palm was no longer bleeding as heavily as before. That was due to the effect of his regeneration ability. However, that didn't mean that the pain was any less.

The next step of the ritual was for Indra to sit cross-legged in the center of the spiral pattern. He was then required to draw a spiral pattern in the center of his forehead. Therefore, Indra drew blood from the wound using the index finger of his right hand, then he held the hair on his forehead up with his left hand, and drew a spiral pattern in the center of his forehead.

Finally, the ritual preparations were almost complete. Indra took the final step to perfect his sitting posture. He straightened his upper body and placed his palms facing upwards on his thighs; near his knees. Indra then closed his eyes, quieted his mind, and sensed his surroundings. Then, according to the book, the mana ritual began.

The spiral pattern on the ground began to glow. A sky-blue light had emerged from the line furthest away from Indra. It traveled along the pattern and finally reached the innermost line; the one currently occupied by Indra.

At the same time, the light shone on Tin, disturbing his sleep, which eventually made him wake up. Tin immediately cursed Indra in his semi-conscious state. But, once he saw what was happening properly, Tin was instantly shocked and fell silent.

Not only that, the natural conditions also became strange. Tin, who felt that the sky was getting darker, immediately looked up, and his face became frightened.

Dark clouds filled with flashes of blue lightning had gathered above. The day that was supposed to be sunny had been interrupted by them. A strong wind blew through the surrounding trees, sending some insects flying, making the atmosphere even more terrifying.

At that moment, Tin, the people in the forest, the nearby travelers, and the people in the nearby kingdom, they could only say.

"What the hell is going on?"

But, of all the people who were shocked by this incident, only Tin knew exactly what the cause of this incident was. He looked at Indra and said in his heart.

"All these events must have something to do with him."

On the other hand, Indra who was performing the ritual was completely unaware of what was happening around him. He still closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the glowing pattern. The pattern shone more and more, and from it came a huge invisible energy that enveloped Indra's body and made his hair point upwards.

Not long after, the pattern on Indra's forehead also began to glow with a sky-blue color. Like the pattern on the ground, the outermost line was the first to glow, then it spread to the innermost line. But since this pattern was smaller than the one on the ground, the propagation of light happened very quickly. As such, the center of the pattern becomes luminous in just a few seconds.

However, the ritual did not stop there. After the innermost line of the luminous pattern, it had moved slightly and bumped into the line in front of it. From there, a circular white light appeared that made the pattern move around and was absorbed by it. At the same time, it made Indra cry out in pain.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

Tin who saw that immediately panicked.

"Indra, are you okay?! What happened?!" Unfortunately he was too scared to move. He just looked at Indra with a worried and frightened expression from where he was.

On the other hand, the pattern on the ground was getting shinier and shinier. The white light on Indra's forehead was also getting bigger, inversely proportional to the pattern lines that were getting smaller. Along with that, Indra's screams also grew louder as the pain increased. And all these things happened until the light from the pattern on the ground became so dazzling that Indra was covered by it. Finally, from Indra's body came an explosion of energy waves that instantly damaged the pattern on the ground; removing the light from the pattern, and spreading it around.

Immediately the atmosphere became quiet, the strong wind and dark sky began to disappear. That signaled the ritual was over.

Illuminated by the golden rays that penetrated the black clouds, Indra's figure became even more beautiful. His handsome face with pale white skin, his eyes with lustrous eyelashes, his black hair that was slowly falling down, and his forehead that had a circular mark that shone sky blue, all of it really made him look like a noble figure.

A moment later, Indra opened his eyes slowly, but unfortunately the mark on his forehead also slowly disappeared. At that moment Indra said in his heart.

"There seems to be something glowing on my forehead! That must be a mark. It's a pity that it will disappear before I see it. But that's not a problem. My body is now filled with something great. Is this what mana is called? It's incredible!"

At the same time, the extremely worried Tin finally dared to move and headed over to Indra's right palm.

"Indra, are you okay?! Are you hurt?! What exactly happened?!" Tin asked while looking at Indra's face.

Indra immediately looked up and smiled gently at him. He then said softly.

"I'm fine."

After saying that, Indra's mind was distracted by his cracked ring. He then closed his eyes, focused his mind on the ring finger of his right hand and started thinking about his ring. Instantly she felt that the mana in her body was diminishing as if it was being sucked away by something. After a while, the ring on his finger glowed less brightly and the crack in the ring instantly disappeared.

In his mind, Indra immediately heard a very energetic female voice.

"Master, I'm full! Thank you for the food!"

Indra, who was happy to hear this, immediately replied.

"Yes, you're welcome. I-"

But before Indra could finish his sentence, his stomach suddenly rumbled.

At the same time, Tin, who was confused why Indra had closed his eyes again, finally asked.

"Indra, why did you close your eyes again?"

Indra then opened his eyes and answered with a slightly shy smile.

"Tin, I think I'm hungry. Shall we start leaving this place?"

Hearing that, Tin smiled widely and said.

"Yes."