The pain was more intense than Alan remembered it, but not enough to make him hesitate or give up. He had opted to start with his feet and go up. After the initial show of drilling into his toe bones, the rest went on smoothly. Soon, he was done with his left foot up to the knee, but the mana stone he had gotten from the System hadn’t dimmed in the slightest.
Time was irrelevant as he lost himself in carving his own bones using the pale werewolf blood. When both legs were done he moved to the ribs, leaving the spine for last. The pain was getting worse and worse and he felt himself almost faint a few times. Be it due to exhaustion or something else, Alan didn’t know. The blood moved like a burning symphony of pain and promise of power. It cut through, leaving deep groves waiting to start pulling in magic.
At one point he felt something press into his back. A hand? It took him a while to remember Zirida was watching over him. Her skin was warm and the pain more than halved as a soothing aura flowed into him. His control over the bubbling blood grew and the process sped up.
Alan cheered silently as he finally reached the spine. He wasn’t sure he would’ve been capable of finishing it in one go without Zirida’s support. It was excruciating and the pain lasted an eternity. Each separate vertebra was like a new work of art and agony. The pain reached deep into his soul and made all of his limbs tingle dangerously. He knew that if he fucked up, things would be bad. Hopefully, Zirida was capable of healing as Kalyntha had claimed. No. He chased away the thoughts of failure. There was no place for them.
The process continued and he felt that he was learning something. This was not shaping mana and bringing it under his will. This was craftsmanship, and his first practice material was the work of a lifetime. Finishing the last vertebrae felt like the greatest accomplishment in Alan’s life. His whole body rejoiced in relieved silence, as the tension left him like a giant tidal wave.
He hesitated. He could take a break first and see what he had achieved. His eyes were closed but he felt the turbulent mana in the stone and it had enough for the whole process and more. It was in a league of its own compared to the Lesser Mana Crystals he had been gifted in the dungeon.
Alan was tired. He was clammy and sweaty. He could feel each of his pores working tirelessly to bring relief and cool down his boiling body. The burning blood drilling his skeleton hadn’t left his flesh unaffected and he was sure that if he could see himself from the outside, he would be red as a lobster. Alan breathed out and was about to open his eyes, preparing to let the magic go, becoming one with his mana pool when a voice reached him from somewhere far away.
“Finish it. Come on.”
Fuck, she’s right. Better to do it now.
He refocused and decided to pull through. He wouldn’t have the support of a knowledgeable cleric again anytime soon, so it was better to finish the ritual. It was for the best. That’s what he had set off to do in the first place. The idea of carving his skull was more terrifying than anything so far for some reason, but he got to it. Zirida’s hand moved to the back of his head and once again helped him go through the motions. The blood, guided by sheer determination slowly drilled into the bone, sizzling and creating marks as it passed through. The thin skin remained unharmed in the process but it burned worse than even the spine had.
Another long agonizing eternity passed, and everything slowed down as the final drop of blood drilled the final line. As it did, everything changed.
Alan felt a massive stream of energy rush into him, ignoring his flesh and going straight for his bones. The enhanced forearm containing the shadow space seemed to resonate with the rest of the skeleton. It remained where it was, but at the same time, a part of it spread to drink from the resources of all the newly enchanted bones.
Then the bones themselves started affecting his flesh too, spewing some of the mana out and letting it run amok. It was like a precursory scan, nothing more, but it made something dark and foreign come out. Alan didn’t know what that was but he was not overly surprised. Some questions swap up to the front of his mind. Why was it in his body? Was it his sickness? Poison? Something else?
Without being focused on his inner workings he wouldn’t have noticed it but it was similar to mana, only it didn’t seem to mesh well with it. The two opposed each other, but the stream of mana was much stronger. It seeped out of his skin and the flesh and into the bones under the push. Alan could swear his skeleton became just a bit darker in color. Not by much, just a bit. The mana waves pouring into his bones cornered the new energy, isolating it, containing it.
Alan frowned as some dark blood seeped out of his mouth. He didn’t feel pain, no, he actually felt relieved to some extent. The action still brought him out of his concentration and yanked him back to the real world. He gasped and fell forward, using his hands for support.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Zirida repeated next to him. Her voice offered little relief. What had gone wrong? Did she sound worried?
“I’m okay.”
I hope.
The system messages came like a ray of sunshine and he looked through them, trying to figure out what had happened. There were quite a few.
Congratulations, you have fully completed Ritual: Enchanted Bones.
Then came what he was looking toward the most, after the advancement. The sheer number made him want to cheer and laugh. It was more than he expected. Each leg had given him 20, instead of 10 like the arms had done. Then his torso had amounted to 30, and the skull provided another 10. Alan didn’t completely understand how the amounts were determined but didn’t care for an in-depth explanation. He had enough on his plate already.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
+80 to the Magic attribute.
The surge of magic made him feel like he would explode. He heard Zirida gasp behind him and step away. His bones were a charged battery that was struggling to contain the sudden magical wave. This was by far the highest boost he had ever gotten, and it was not done.
A high concentration of vital energy was detected in the reagent.
Additional effect gained.
+30 to Vitality.
Error! Vitality cannot be raised.
Due to the trait [Limited Vitality], your Vitality cannot be raised above the value of 5 by any means.
Vital energy is converted to magical energy.
+13 to the Magic attribute
The conversion amounted to quite the loss, but it was still appreciated that he didn’t have to spam [Sacrificial Attack] to live. A sudden thought made him pause checking his System messages. Couldn’t he convert the curse energy he stole into magic? One was vitality contained in the pale werewolf blood he was using as a reagent for the ritual, while the other was pure energy from the curse connection.
How did they compare? It was a road worth exploring. Although the black ichor-like energy that had seeped out of his flesh and was currently contained in his bones worried him, and he briefly wondered if it also had something to do with the curse. All of his [Epic] skills had drawbacks; some stated them in the description and some didn’t. He couldn’t imagine what the next level of a skill would be like. Was it some… void? A poison? The flowers had been deemed safe by Byrr and Feyrith and he hadn’t touched much else.
The piece of bark in my inventory? But it is isolated there. He had taken that with the hopes of doing what he had done to the Bazaar token. That seemed silly now.
“Zirida,” he rasped. Even moving his mouth felt difficult now and he almost reached for the curse to replenish some energy, then stopped himself.
“Yes?”
“Did you sense anything void-related in me?”
She didn’t answer for a few moments and when Alan turned toward her, she looked to the side. That was uncharacteristic of her and made him worry.
“Zirida?”
“Yeah. A bit. It might be nothing. Don’t go thinking you’re dying and all that.”
“I’m not thinking that? Why would I be thinking that? I mean, I’m dying but not because of a void-related reason.”
She sighed. “You were warned about void poisoning, right?” When he didn’t reply she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “There are ways you can get… infected so to say. Void is an unstable element. It can be harnessed and used by higher tiers. It disperses regular mana easily and controlling it takes a very careful balance and a lot of skill, or a natural disposition such as a bloodline. Otherwise, there’s a risk of poisoning yourself and your mana. Most cores are used for the energy stored in them, while the element itself is removed for alchemy, enchantments, and so on. It is foolish to introduce it to your mana pool at such an early stage.”
“I haven’t!”
She nodded, “Yes, but sometimes you get exposed to… things in the fractals. Despite the boring landscape and silly monsters, this is a fragment of a world. It contains powers beyond our understanding. Remember, a God died for this place to exist. If you have been in contact with anything strange or ingested a fragment of a void core… there’s a chance you’ve poisoned yourself with the void. A bit won’t do much to you as long as it is contained to the body, but each time you cast a skill that energy gets a direct line to your mana pool…”
“And void and mana don’t mesh well together.”
“Void can be seen as a type of elemental mana. It is closely related to space but it is more volatile and dangerous. This is without focusing on the fact that early tiers like us should focus on one or two elements at most. You have shadows and blood so far, although one is very dominant over the other. Unwittingly introducing void can erode the artificial balance created by the System when you choose your skills and class.”
“I have skills that don’t fall into those categories though.”
“Those are probably neutral or come from enchantments and enhancements, so there’s no issue. Most elements can work together quite well, to be honest. Skills do a perfect job of being separate from the whole. The issue comes when with time more and more use makes your mana take on a certain characteristic.”
“Like shadow.”
Zirida nodded. “Yes. Your mana seems well acquainted with the element from what I saw during my help. Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
“That’s fine,” Alan said. “So, what do I do now?”
“You can speak to Wilbis and pay for a very thorough cleansing ritual. It is unpleasant, and while it will purify your body further and maybe help you with tiering up down the line, it’s best to avoid it. Don’t know the reasons personally, just advice I got. The other option is… considering what the skill did to your bones, to try and use the void to your advantage.”
That was kind of my plan, although I think I’m branching up way too much. I should focus and strive for level one hundred as soon as possible. I might make use of that bark though, I doubt the skill will kill me.
“I will think it through. Let me check the rest of the System messages.” Alan said.
You have learned a new skill: Ritual: Infused Flesh (Rare)
Ritual: Infused Flesh (Rare)
Slowly refine your flesh using mana, making it tougher and more resistant to magic. The results may vary depending on the attribute of the used mana.
He hadn’t lost [Ritual: Enchanted Bones] to an advancement, which was a first. Maybe he could really turn it into a business. And he was given a second (rare) ritual skill which seemed to be the next step.
That’s interesting. Will this too give me attributes or will the effect be more passive? What if I infuse my mana with shadows and void? Will I become harder to hurt, more resistant to magic? Will I turn into a monster? I doubt the skill will do that, otherwise I would’ve been warned.
Things were looking up for him.
“New ritual skill, nothing blood-related though. Well, kind of.” He said for Zirida’s sake. She looked like an excited puppy for a few moments.
“Oh, pity. Then… if you are done, can you rest and do what we spoke about?” She sounded almost bashful. Alan looked at her in confusion, then a lightbulb went on in his head.
“You want me to curse you?”
She nodded shyly.