Roberion wasn't entirely confused by Cerulean Baroness statement—at least the ritual part. Since the first trial, he already saw hints of some spellwork; he didn't know what it was, though. The only magical things he knew for now were spells and enchantments.
Many times, he was puzzled with abilities that didn't quite seem like spells; take his second duel, for example, where the bearded warrior made impossible things with his body, but there wasn't the normal spell aura; he didn't see any fighter using it again. Maybe I just didn't see them, probably because of the safehouse; that technique wasn't exactly more powerful than a spell; that bearded guy would die easily against the orc warrior, for example. Actually, maybe not; that guy was dumb like a rock. Xenn, for sure, would defeat that warrior.
Talking about Xenn, he wanted his body into the space, right? Drop it or something, weird thing. Damm, ceoncentrate. The baroness told me that she would answer some questions when I won; now it's time.
"Say, Ceruelean Baroness, what do you mean by ritual? I noticed these runes all around this place; let's say trial grounds; could you explain it for me?"
The Ceruelean Baroness Hologram stopped "flying" and stopped just at his side, moving without any movement with his transport; it was eery but not more than being carried by two The Gentlemen in a palanquin. "I will entertain you. It's not like I have much to do before we reach there; the visitors are all occupied. This place has always been a ritual ground; long before us, the Emperor of Creation forces reached here, including me. Who did it, and what for? That's why we were here."
Giving a soft smile, the Cerulean Baroness continued, "What is the ritual for? We already had our suspicions. What did someone use rituals for? That's easy to answer—to summon a high power or achieve something great. In this case, it was the latter; this is a summoning ritual. What we couldn't possibly predict is that it was used to summon a Primordial God", for once Roberion saw the hologram show a hint of fear on her face, soon later it was dismissed like it was never there.
Roberion, however, could only think about the last sentence. Primordial God?!
"Wow, what is a Primordial God? Why—why would someone want to summon one? Why would a god answer anyway?", Roberion couldn't control his mouth; with each new question, two new ones sprouted in his mind. He forced himself to limit it.
"Nobody knows much about Primordial Gods. Just take the Emperor of Creation; he is godlike, that is true, but even though he has not reached godhood, he is already beyond our grasp, a sanctified existence by itself. As for the Primordial Gods, their existence we only know of because of the encounters of a few, most of whom, as you guess, came from rituals. It's said that in the beginning, these people were believed to be liars, but the power they were granted couldn't hide the truth in it. They soon became warlords and kings; some of the godlike beings that exist today are believed to have been granted power by such rituals. As far as I know, nobody can prove it nevertheless."
Even though the information given by the baroness is interesting, Roberion couldn't stop noticing that his palanquin had slowed down and that the two behemoths were now walking. The Ceruelean Baroness noticed it and soon kept talking.
"I'm already finishing the last processes; I made some alterations to the ritual; it was foolish of me to think it would take the same steps to start as before; don't fret though; we will begin soon."
"Wait, you changed a ritual to summon a god? Is the safehouse part of it? Their runes seemed kind of weak", Roberion only noticed that he told too much when the baroness grinned.
"Ah, so that's how you found two safehouses, like you already knew they were there. Weird, uncommon, but it happens that people gain this ability before reaching the Blessed incarnation, where they can connect with the line with their bodies. To answer your question, yes, they were changed. I needed to make some changes to improve the ritual for my purpose; honestly, most of it was to make it easier to activate; the spell work is used in an archaic form of magic; most of the ritual for the Primordial Gods is more like a demand and less that they actually need it. Many researchers tried to make new rituals instead of using the ones in ancient temples. It didn't work; only lesser but still powerful beings answered. The same happened when they tried to copy an ancient temple and its engraved ritual; the result was worse; it didn't even work. Something was missing."
The Cerulean Baroness hologram sighed, "What you need to know is that it will work; you will get powerful, and I will get what I want. Don't look at me like that; I won't tell you. You don't need to hide; it's obvious someone like you would have other questions. Ask."
Roberion tried to reign in his body; the need for the drug still assaulted him, but the prospect of getting more answers were enough to motivate him to control himself. "I never thought of asking your reason; they are yours to bear", actually I really want, but she will probably just stop answering me altogether, "In one of my duels, a bearded guy, I don't know if you remember him, used techniques that didn't look like spells, like his speed increasing from nowhere, no sign of any spells, just, I don't know, this weird physical aura."
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"That didn't look like a question", the baroness said petulantly.
"Sorry, you know what that guy used; is that some weird spell?", if it was before Roberion would get angry, but he already had too much on his plate. He had to control himself about not trying to get back and finding some drug similar at the convenience store or somewhere else. The null also got the feeling that the baroness knew of his addiction but tried to hide it.
"It's not exactly a spell. Most people call them abilities; they are what happens when you use mana directly in your body. Some people confuse it with what a Blessed person does, which is wrong. The Blessed incarnation lets you connect the line directly in your body; you can form the spell inside or outside it before finishing inside it. In the case of the abilities, the user will put mana directly in his body without the empowerment and boons of the lines, so they are limited in what their body can normally do."
They were reaching the center, where the ritual seemed to take place, but the baroness continued. "Obviously, some people get out of the norm, grafting new arms or even beasts into their bodies and trying to activate their racial abilities. Take a hydra, for example; someone grafted its head and neck and necessary organs for their water jetstream. Evidently, it was a complicated process, and sometimes they even use technological components to assist, only grafting the fundamental parts.
Finally, they reached the center, the palanquin stopping, as well as the baroness's hologram: "Anyway, when he directs the mana into the beast parts, he will be capable of making this head shoot the water jetstream. That mundane warrior you fought before used that in his own body, increasing his speed and power to fight a Touched like you toe to toe. Ability users like him have the custom of using a sequence of movements to ease the process, like when he used [Whirlwind] ability against you. Some people blessed by the line also use these abilities, but most of the time it isn't worth the effort. Add to that the danger of failing an ability. It isn't only a waste of mana; the mana is circulating in your body; any error could deform, wound, or even explode the part the user is using."
The palanquin was lowered, and Roberion got out of it. The two The Gentlemen separated, taking positions nearby, in front of him, near the dome. The two looked like guardians, and the wounded behemoth that followed them stopped near the palanquin.
Walking ahead, the baroness passed through the dome and turned to look at Roberion. All the null could see was only a few meters ahead of him; everything else was hidden from the dome. "Now follow me; it's time to start the ritual; no one else but you and me can be present at it. You, for obvious reasons, and me, because I'm not actually here", the baroness showed a playful smile and distorted its hologram as if making a point, changing its form from Roberion to all the people he saw in the research station, including Shade. She stopped the show soon after, and the null followed her.
Roberion couldn't control the nerves passing through the dome with his eyes closed. When he opened it, what welcomed him was both what he expected and surprising. Far ahead, there was a platform that reached far high, making it impossible for the null to see what was above it.
All lines of runes across the entire city seemed to find their way there, rising on the platform cilindrical body . When reaching the elevated platform, their purple color brightened further, but their color darkened immensily; the platform looked like a dark purple war beacon. Roberion somehow expected that; what he didn't expect were the enormous capsules in the ground all around the platform.
Following the baroness and nearing the platform, Roberion could take a good look at the capsules. Inside it, each had a being inside; some were human or lifelike, and Roberion could feel the power of the being from where he stood. No doubt if the human was awake and wanted to kill Roberion, his presence was enough to kill Roberion; he already felt pressure only from looking at him.
The null was already being used to pain, especially with the addiction getting most of his control, so he took a look around and saw all the capsules. The baroness didn't interrupt him but wore a serious expression and stopped in a circular spell work made of similar runes of this place.
In each capsule, there were different creatures; the ones he could see were humanoid and exhibiting unnatural might. An orc—what he could only guess as an elf was next. To the elf's capsule left is a demon like figure, wearing quality leather armor, with big red horns on its head and small horns all over its body; the being also sported a barbed tail.
Next is a crystal being, whose color is deep blue like the ocean. It looked similar to the Gemsteele participant from before; the difference is that his body was bigger, almost not fitting on the capsule. His body was burly, resembling more the golem form of the Gemsteele than the crystal being itself.
Walking around. Roberion saw on the next capsule a dwarf with a gray beard; his face was calm, and he looked more like an ancient wizard than a warrior. Wearing a fluttering yellow robe and emitting a powerful and serene presence. Next to it was a weird being that looked like a gray frog with a stubby torso, a big head, and long limbs. The frog seemed more like an animal than a human, though, but it seemed capable of walking straight and using tools; this one seemed to be a fighter by the scars around his body.
"We don't have all day. Let's go! That was enough to satisfy your curiosity", the voice of the baroness was serious.
Roberion nodded and ran the other way, trying to take glimpses of the other beings caged and in deep sleep on the capsules. What Roberion could conclude was two things: one, there wasn't any fiznault; two, he couldn't get heads or tails of what the others were; they were grotesque to unnatural, like spawned from another dimension.
The null entered the runic circle the baroness was in. Look at him. The baroness said calmly, sporting a grin, "Don't be afraid; it won't hurt."
Soon, Roberion floated fast from the ground. A dark purple aura envelops his body but does not obstruct his vision. Roberion felt free as he had never been; the null didn't know what flying was like, but he thought the sensation wasn't much different from this. With fear and hope, Roberion watched the intense light at the top of the platform nearing fast, almost blinding him.