Alex
Others who are less knowledgeable might wonder why your talent is so important. It's quite simple. Skills. Skills are the bread and butter of any classer and correlate to most of the strength a classer has, and your talent decides which skills you can receive. A Knight might get the [Heavy Armor] skill but they would never get [Stealing].
Which is why Runemaster is widely known as the worst talent. Runemasters can make runic arrays that they can use to empower something or fulfill a function. The only problem is that it has limited viability in weaponry due to enchanters being able to enhance weapons better with less effort. Runemasters' common path to power is rituals, which, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on who you ask, is a magic field severely lacking in knowledge.
Information on rituals is all but gone because of the Great War 400 years ago. During the war, the country known as Le'tiyav, the land of the Le'fay, used hundreds of runic summons from different planes against Camoway. Sensing its impending plight, King Tithus of Camoway (my homeland) allied with two other nations, ushering in a ten-year bloodbath on a national scale. Upon the ending of the Great War, only two countries were still standing, Camoway and one of our partners, Lenova. Following this, all knowledge of rituals was scrubbed from history and literature.
Because of the lack of ritual options, runemasters, and changing of administration after King Tithus died, it is no longer illegal but is most definitely frowned upon. Now, why does any of this matter? It matters because I am in the process of doing a ritual, one which I have spent years devising myself. By all means, I should not believe it will work or even attempt something so dangerous. My reasoning is simple, though. It will not fail, and even if it does, it is much better than being some second-rate noble with the strength of a commoner.
Any other miserable idiot might fail this, but not me. I'm made for greatness; I know this. If my moronic family had opened their eyes, they would have realized it as well. Walking to the other side of my small room, I finally placed the material I had stolen from my father's study all those years ago. "Perfect", I utter with a smirk.
The ritual was in a pentagram-like shape with 6 lines coming off of it, all with circles at the end containing objects. Muttering to myself, I identified all the items I had, "A pint of dragon blood for strength, a griffon feather for speed, a mithril ingot for durability, a troll eye for regeneration, a mana crystal for stability, a sphinx tongue for intelligence, and finally... " I slowly grin to myself, eyes full of avarice, "the still beating heart of an eldritch beast."
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My desperation for the success of this ritual is evident in just the beast heart. Eldritch beasts are horrors of impossible strength, able to grow stronger the more enemies' souls they devour after defeating them. The fact I had gotten away with stealing something so valuable from my father's study this morning had me giddy already. The end goal was for the essence of each of my items to work together to feed the eldritch energy into the runic function node I had poorly scribed onto my stomach. If I was correct about what this ritual would do... Everything, EVERYTHING, would change.
With a deep breath, I stole one last glance at my status before pouring my mana into the activation script to begin the ritual. After 5 seconds of getting incredibly woozy, I hurriedly stepped back to watch the ritual. Patiently, I waited, sitting there for 30 seconds, for a minute, for two before letting out a long sigh and holding back tears while turning around. "Shev this stupid ritual, shev this stupid famil-" I was interrupted by a vast influx of mana and an intense green glow. Turning around quickly with an ecstatic grin, I clenched my fists. "I did it! I actually did- AHHHHHH".
That's when it started, my skin peeling off, my organs liquefying, my bones breaking, all to be rapidly regenerated the next second before it happened all over again. Alex didn't know how long it took, whether minutes or hours, but by the end, he was a soaking, crying, screaming mess on the floor. Agony, agony, AGONY, all-encompassing until he passed out.
Upon waking up, all he could do was whimper, curled up in a ball for a minute before biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. The pain, giving him something to draw on, allowed him to stand up and survey the room. Before, the simple wooden room could not be described as anything but plain, but now? Blood everywhere, skin, bones, hair, and whatever else made him "Alex" was lying in piles on the floor. In growing horror, Alex slowly stumbled to the simple blood-splattered mirror along the wall.
Upon reaching the bloodstained mirror, Alex almost could not recognize himself. He had always been attractive; he was able to realize that. But now... Now, he was PERFECT; his teeth were perfectly straight with longer fangs than before, framed in a mouth with plump lips. His jaw had been chiseled in an approximation of a god, and his eyes... his eyes, they were... Bright green. Just like before, but eldritch? Glowing? With a sigh, he pulled up his blinking status.
You have attempted a ritual!
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You have completed the ritual to mixed results!
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By completing your first ritual, you gain 1 Title!
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By completing your first ritual, you gain 1 Skill!
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You gain an upgraded Title and skill for completing a Supreme ritual without any relevant skill!
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Ritual Results: You have gained the traits Mana Saturated, Eldritch Touched, the title Ritualist (Lesser), and the skill Ritualism (Lesser).