Chapter 372: Banshee's Blessing
After accepting the scroll, Lucien calmed down a bit and asked curiously, "Sir, you mentioned that you did many ridiculous things when you were young. What are these things?"
Fernando immediately threw a furious stare at Lucien and roared, "That's not what you should pry into! Go back and study Spell Trigger! Don't think you can easily become a senior-rank just because of the rite!"
Lucien was startled by Fernando's roaring and he hurriedly jumped out of his teacher's office. After closing the door, Lucien murmured to himself, feeling a bit amused but also perplexed:
"So Mr. Fernando indeed did some really ridiculous things..."
...
Five days later, in the empty hall on the thirty-third floor of the headquarter of the Congress.
On the floor, a creepy magic circle in the shape of a human body was drawn using Banshee's blood and some other precious materials. The head, left chest, hands, and feet of the human body shape were drawn with the many magic lines forming into the many beating dark-red hearts.
"Lie down in the magic circle," said Felipe.
After setting up the basic magic circle, Felipe finally let Lucien and the Lord of Storm come in the hall, leaving them out until that moment to prevent them from learning the special soul rite, called Banshee's Blessing.
After taking off all of the magic items he was wearing, the Holm Crown rings, Ice Revenger, Ogre Glove, Sun's Corona, Fire Weaver bracelet, and the magic and arcana badges, Lucien also took off the Immortal Throne magic robe and the Sidestep boots. Then, he handed all of these items to Alferris to safeguard them, who was longing so badly for them on the side.
A soul rite like this should not be disturbed by any magic items.
Alferris was not focusing on the rite at all. Staring at the items, its big amber-colored eyes were shining, and from time to time, it would lick the amulet and rings with a great sense of satisfaction.
Wearing a white shirt and slim pants, Lucien lay down as told by Felipe. The necromancer took out six huge bone nails made from senior-rank Banshee's fangs.
"Don't scream," said Felipe in a very cold tone.
As soon as he finished his words, Felipe picked up one of the nails carved with the complicated patterns and directly knocked it in Lucien's right hand.
The nail was even sharper than Lucien expected. Lucien was a level two knight, but it still directly went through Lucien's body and nailed him to the ground. Lucien grimaced in pain although he was mentally prepared. However, he had experienced something even worse, so he did not scream.
Lucien's drops of blood shining with the dim moonlight dyed the Banshee's bone nail in crimson. However, soon the color faded very fast and finally disappeared. Lucien's blood was sucked in by the bone nail and the blood slowly went into the lines of the magic circle.
After nailing Lucien's left hand, right ankle, and left ankle to the ground, Felipe gently stuck the remaining two bone nails into the skin of Lucien's forehead and his left chest respectively. Although the two nails did not go in deep, they were immediately connected to the magic circle that Lucien way lying on, and thus they stood still in Lucien's skin, although it seemed that the two bone nails were directly knocked in Lucien's head and heart.
After finishing all of these processes, Felipe took a few steps backward and started to cast the spell. The lines of the magic circle lit up one by one.
Felipe's casting was like singing, and the hypnosis power overwhelmed Lucien through the bone nails and the magic circle. Lucien began to have a difficult time keeping his eyes open when his mind was wandering. Lucien remembered that the analysis of the spell, Spell Trigger, had been done over half... and in the next second, Lucien started to wonder what Arthur and Florencia thought of his effort on improving the structure and the material used for the magic crystal lights.
"The wind from the Land of Death, please embrace the helpless soul, and always embrace it." Felipe lifted up his black magic staff inlaid with many colorful gems. The language he used was the special language of necromancers created by the ancient Empire of Meshkate. He walked around the magic circle about one-third of the distance.
A big white gem lit up, and Felipe's long coat flapped in the air like the wings of a bat. The wind smelled a bit decayed.
Lucien fell into a deeper trance.
"The fire from Skeleton Land, please warm the helpless soul. Please bless the soul forever." After walking around the magic circle about one-third of the distance, Felipe cast the spell again.
The clusters of faint white flame grew out of the magic circle. Instead of doing any harm to Lucien's body, they warmed Lucien and made his soul even purer.
Fernando was standing on the side, observing what was going on with his eyes half open. In the white flame, Fernando saw the indistinct figure of a monster wearing a long black robe and holding a sickle, behind which was the background of the wasteland, where countless ghosts were loitering.
"The coldness from the silent hell, please surround the helpless soul. Give him the eternal peace." Felipe finished the last part of the walk and a silver-colored gem lit up.
The endless silence and coldness surrounded Lucien's soul and further substantialized it.
After all of these, Felipe raised his left hand and screamed silently.
The six bone nails were engorged with Lucien's blood, and now they were distorting like real snakes, and their shadows suddenly rose into the air.
The shadows turned out to be the phantoms of some beautiful females. The fair-skinned women were half-naked, but their faces were written with great pain. However, as Felipe's silent scream continued, they opened their mouth and started to sing.
The singing was beautiful, but it could only be heard by one's soul. Vaguely, Lucien saw his own soul ripple in the singing and it slowly absorbed all the flowing liquid in the magic circle.
Two minutes later, Felipe's forehead was beaded with sweat. Putting down his left hand, Felipe took out a strange black mirror inlaid with small gems in the shape of leaves and some pale eyeballs. The back of the mirror was covered with the facial skin of a horrible Banshee.
Felipe tossed the mirror into the air and the mirror floated above Lucien. The black mirror floated right above him.
Felipe started to cast the creepy necromancy spell again. At this time, all the gems on his magic staff lit up together, which even managed to draw Alferris' attention.
The mirror slightly trembled. The six Banshees' song was turned into a bitter scream. The black mirror then cracked, and a white eye was revealed! In the pupil, the creepy and distorted figures were dancing in a weird manner.
The eye looked at Lucien, and Lucien's soul suddenly rose high. Higher above the clouds, high above the sky... His soul went straight upward and finally met his Host Star of Destiny. Lucien could feel that, in the far end, in the place where Lucien could not reach, something had already been connected to his soul.
It was overlooking Lucien, with a condescending attitude!
The lines of the magic circle started to tremble as if they were alive. Then, Lucien's body was entangled by the lines. The lines went into his body and fiercely pulled his soul back. After shivering for seven times, Lucien finally sobered up.
"I have done what I promised," Felipe wiped his forehead with his white handkerchief. "I don't owe you anything now."
Felipe turned around and directly left. Lucien still felt a bit dizzy, for he was not yet used to the power of his soul. After a few minutes, he casually exerted his spiritual power and turned the bone nails into powder.
"My spiritual power and soul can interfere with the reality now..." Lucien murmured to himself with mixed feelings. He must be the one in the Congress of Magic who made the fastest advancement but at the cost of his future progress.
Lucien stood up, and his body was completely unhurt. The magic circle on the floor had disappeared completely.
"What was that eye?" murmured Fernando, feeling a bit perplexed.
A grand arcanist like him always saw the nature of the things through the fancy form of the rites. He could understand most part of the rite, but Fernando could not figure out what the last step was.
Recalling the last step, Lucien asked a bit concernedly, "Sir... I feel my soul was connected to something very far from us at the end of the rite. Is it normal?"
Before this rite, Lucien didn't dare to ask Fernando things like this because he was afraid of revealing the secret of the spirit library. However, since Fernando also did not fully understand the rite, Lucien could use the rite as a perfect excuse for almost everything strange about him.
"That is what I said..." Fernando sighed. "Your foundation is not solid. There is still a large portion of the knowledge about becoming a senior-rank that you do not know. This is more than normal. It is believed that it is because of the interaction between the cognition and the real world and the illusion produced by the nature of the real world."
Hearing that, Lucien was more relieved.
Fernando took a glance at Alferris and asked it to return all the items back to Lucien. Then he said, "Take a rest for a week to get used to the power. Don't rush to hold the rite for your senior-rank advancement."
"Yes, sir." Lucien nodded seriously.
...
In the advanced warehouse section on the twenty-eighth floor of the Congress.
"Red Dragon scales...
"Scarlet Tree sap...
"The green Soul-eater Flower...
"Six sunstones...
"The brain of Ghast...
"The tear of Ghost..."
...
"Mr. Evans, these are the materials you need," The warehouse guard, a fifth-circle sorcerer, Smith, handed Lucien the materials. He could not help but ask, "So, Mr. Evans... You're reaching the senior rank?"
Many of the materials used for this magic rite were precious and expensive. So all of the fifth-circle sorcerers who were in need could report it to Sorcerer Administrative Department to get the materials from the Congress at half price. Holding the documents, Lucien came to the warehouse. However, he had only gathered one-third of the things he needed after almost spending all of his arcana credits and Thales.
It seemed that Lucien had to give Fernando his following three years' annual earnings to collect all the things he needed. Thinking that he still had to pay Alferris in advance with his subsidy from the Congress and the Will of Elements to make Alferris transform into himself during his absence, Lucien's heart twitched.
Then, he grinned, "I am just preparing in advance."
Smith did not believe what Lucien said. He had never heard anyone buying the materials in advance. The warehouse never moved!
Smith was deeply shocked by Lucien's pace of advancing.
...
Seven days later, Lucien came to the hall again where his previous rite was held. He was a bit nervous as the rite for pushing him forward to become a senior-rank was very likely to fail. Three to four out of ten fifth-circle sorcerers would not get the results they wanted. And for Lucien, this would be even more difficult as his power just came from Banshee's Blessing rite.