"Huu... huff... huu... huff" Sounds of deep breaths could be heard from Sigil's bedroom. The lights of the room were dim as Sigil sat on his bed with a peaceful expression. A light blue bracelet, made of pearls could be seen on his wrist, could be seen giving out a gentle glow. The light from the pearl was bright enough to illuminate the Sigil's surrounding as it gave an elegant contrast to his hair colour.
Sigil was meditating.
Curse, Nurture and Self. These three areas of studies regarding Witchcraft were immensely deep and profound. Not even the Grimoire Masters are confident enough to claim that they have unraveled the true nature of the study. Each study is divided into various situations, elements, familiars, monsters, methods, languages, totems, expressions and much more.
Sigil was an outstanding member of the younger generation and could be considered as gaining the qualifications of entry level of the subject– Curse and Nurture.
Entry Level, Student Level, Master Level, Grandmaster Level, Sage Level and Pinnacle Level.
These were the categories in which the three areas of witchcraft is divided into. Reaching the Entry Level regarding the subject of Curse and Nurture was spectacular enough. One had to understand that these categories represented the foundation of a witch regarding the corresponding subject matter.
Right now, Sigil was meditating with a calm and peaceful mind to enhance his foundation regarding the subject of 'Self'. Unlike Curse and Nurture, Self was related to the enlightenment of the living being. It was a source of gaining inspiration and attuning oneself to connect with Nature. Whereas, Curse and Nurture were related to the knowledge of various subjects. If one had to compare, Self could be represented by the profession of Temple Priest while Curse and Nurture could be represented by the profession of Scholar.
The pearl bracelet on Sigil's hand was an exemplary embodiment of Curse methods of a Witch with Master level foundation. The bracelet was called Deep Moon, a material curse belonging to the category of Self Cultivation Curses.
To prepare this bracelet, one had to raise the core material in a pool of glacial water from the mountains. Placing an ordinary pearl inside the pool with other refinement materials, the pearl will gain a spiritual attribute that is helpful for connecting with the soul. Even though the process and recipe to create this Material Curse were readily available to most of the witch's family, only a few could produce it because of the rarity of the materials.
Right now, Sigil was using Deep Moon to connect with his soul and trying to gain some inspiration from nature. His lips produced some unintelligible whispers as the deep moon shined even brighter.
It was an activation spell. Even though the curse had been placed on the bracelet, it still needed to be activated. Sigil kept on whispering the Spell as he felt his mental energy getting drained away. Because of the consumption of his mental health, Sigil could only meditate for half an hour before he had to stop and take a rest.
He exhaled sharply and opened his eyes. Even though he was severely limited by the drainage of his mental energy, his eyes were shining brightly and a small smile hung on his lips. Gradually, the glow emitting from the bracelet dimmed off and the room was illuminated by the dim lights of the bulbs.
"Hehe.... hahahaha, this ability is amazing!"
Sigil laughed happily as he looked up at the ceiling of his room. His gaze was still as bright as ever. It felt like the mental drain wasn't affecting him at all.
***
The black hole covering the whole city slowly vanished as three figures stood some distance away. They were the three directors of Black Spider, Fiery Lion and Grand Sparrow, that has become a part of the alliance.
The witches guarding the spot had been sent back and also severely punished. They were penalised heavily for the destruction of Grimoire World. Even when the three directors knew that it wasn't the fault of these guard witches, they still had to fulfill the actions created by their authority.
"I propose that we should start sending spies and infiltrate the nearby families to look for the culprit." Old Sparrow spoke with a pained voice.
He watched the destruction of the Grimoire World as the previous Chestcovia City finally emerged back. Even though all of the residents of the city were dead, they could still have some use for this city.
"It's not a huge loss. We did gain a city for our own personal use, isn't that right?" Sabar spoke as he did not reply to Sparrow's statement.
"Aside from the fact of spies, we still need a good place to install the totem. How about cleaning this city and use it as an ancestral pool?" Ruby spoke flatly. Even though she had many gains in the Grimoire World, she was disappointed by the fact that they won't be able to properly exploit that mine.
As she spoke of the upcoming Rite of Witchcraft, Sparrow finally regained his composure. After thinking for a bit, he spoke once again.
Stolen novel; please report.
"I apologise for my outburst. How about selecting new seeds as the spies. Ruby already has that traitor from the RedHawks, we can scout for talents in the Ritual."
His suggestion gained the nods from both of them.
Rumble
The sudden rumbling sound attracted their attention as they felt sour and indignant in their hearts.
The black hole had finally devoured the Grimoire World and with it, took away all the exotic space path resources.
Meanwhile, it looked as if a dark curtain had been uncovered and the whole city was finally visible to everyone.
"I will install the Totem tomorrow. It's your task to clean this city." Ruby regained her composure and left on her scarlet-ruby broomstick.
***
Sigil was once again meditating, but he wasn't in his own room... well, he was in his old room.
The posters of animated girls on his wall were very familiar. The human-sized body pillow with the image of one of his favourite anime girl was placed beside him as he remained seated in a cross-legged position on the bedcover with the image of another anime girl.
His study was filled with various games, these games also had many disturbing titles. Some related to the true culture of the universe– Hentai, while others were RPG and racing games.
Above the study table was a three-storied shelf filled with figurines, nude and clothed. And at the corner of the room, one could see a large bookshelf filled with noble literature– Manga and H-Doujins.
If an ordinary human saw this room, they would think a single word– Untidy. But, if a cultured human entered the room, they would think of only one word– Bliss.
Even with all the heavenly items surrounding him, Sigil still kept his eyes closed and remained still. His expression calm and peaceful.
If one saw carefully, he could see a gentle blue light appearing out of nowhere from the area around his right wrist and coiling around his body. This situation remained for another thirty minutes before Sigil disappeared from this room.
"Huff" Sigil opened his eyes in excitement and exhaled sharply. This was his fifth meditation session in two days and he could be said to be progressing by leaps and bounds.
Originally, he couldn't locate his Soul Space, but with the help of Deep Moon, he was finally able to locate his Soul Space. Surprisingly, it was his old room– The piece of Heaven.
The reason for his excitement wasn't the fact that he could read all the Hentai Doujins once again, it was the fact that he was naturally connected to nature through the Soul Space. This discovery coupled with the Deep Moon Curse allowed him to progress at twice the speed with half the effort.
He could already feel it, he just one step away from reaching the Entry level in the Realm of Self. At this moment, a knock was heard. Before he could answer it, the door was clicked open.
"Master♪! Lunch is ready." Martha smiled and spoke with a little hum. Evidently, she was feeling happy. After all, the Rite of Witchcraft was only two days later and she was confident that she could breakthrough the Chakra Realm. After all, it had been a whole year since she had opened her Eighth Gate and it has also been a while since she had reached the Entry level in the Realm of Self.
All that was left to do was to enter the Ancestral Pool and receive the baptism of the totem. With the help of Ancestral Pool, she would have a high chance to become an Elder Level figure in the Witch's Society.
Seeing Martha's pleasant behaviour, Sigil smiled as he felt optimistic himself. There were two days left and he had a high chance to barge in the Entry level of the realm of Self.
***
"Soon.... I will get you this time...." Ricardo's gaze was as eerie as possible. He was just informed that he could take part in the baptism of Ancestral Pool of the Family. Even though he had no chance to enter the chakra stage, he still felt a little relieved. After all, the baptism could reduce his problems by a lot.
He even felt a sliver of excitement as he thought of one the Familiars in the family.
He smiled slightly as he remained seated on his couch with a slice of pizza in his hand. Even though a show was being displayed on the television, his thoughts remained adrift.
***
Midnight, 8 hours before the Rite of Witchcraft.
The Material Curse, Deep Moon let out an eye piercing light as a wisp of translucent substance entered Sigil's mouth, which kept reciting the Spell to utilise the bracelet.
Shortly, the bracelet dimmed down completely and Sigil opened his eyes with a big smile on his face. His ice-blue eyes shined in darkness.... literally. It felt like Sigil had changed his species into a feline one, making his eyes stand out in darkness.
The strange process took place for a few minutes before it stopped. Sigil's entire demeanor finally spoke of some humanity.
He let out a breath of turbid air and got up from his bed. His legs felt cramped as he had been sitting in the meditative position for a long time. After stretching a bit, he finally laid down.
"Entry Level of the realm of Self– Spiritual Begining, achieved." He spoke to himself lightly.
"It doesn't feel much different, though. I wonder if my ability is affected by my realm of Self." He mused lightly. He looked at the time before setting the alarm and quickly snored away. He had to remain in his best state during the baptism.
***
"Hehe, it's like you are trying to invite me here every time." Martha smiled as she woke Sigil up. The alarm remained ineffective.
Martha was different from other maids of the manor and had an almost exclusive right to enter Sigil's room. Even though Sigil felt a little groggy, he decided to keep up his act. After all, he was in a phase where he was recovering from his life of debauchery.
He smiled at Martha and pulled her in bed, making her yelp in surprise.
"You are really going to do it in front of me?" A cold voice interrupted both of them, causing Sigil to smile secretly. He had finally started to like both of them, but to show his gradual progress, he needed to show a part of his debauched behaviour around someone.
He looked at Alicia as Martha blushed. She was stronger than Sigil, yet, she allowed herself to get pulled by him. She even knew about Alicia, after all, they both had gotten really friendly even when they were romantically involved with the same guy.
What's more, Sigil's morning wood was proudly displayed by the tent of his pyjamas, that poked at the right places, making Martha feel a little tingly.
"Oh, Alicia? Yeah, sorry, I didn't see you there. How 'bout it? Want to join?" He smiled and immediately put some distance between him and Martha and patted the unoccupied region.
This action made Alicia growl a little, making her look extremely dangerous... and cute. Her grey eyes kept gazing at Sigil until he finally got up from the bed.
"Fine, fine, geez, and here, I thought that Martha was into domination." Sigil's light comment immediately cleared the tense air and made both of them blush.
He smiled at his apparent success and immediately changed his clothes after entering the bathroom. He still didn't want to strip in front of others for no logical reasoning.
***
Assembly Ground, The Grey Estate.
John Grey stood in front of every single eligible member of the younger generation. There were a total of 13 people standing in front of him, while the Supreme Elder Garthe stood behind John, his eyes staring at his daughter, filled with emotions.
Since Sigil, Bethany and Alicia weren't participating in the family's baptism, their position wasn't given to someone else as it would be detrimental to the reputation of the achieved position. Alicia and Bethany had also not assigned anyone else to their position, making only Martha, Ricardo and two other members the selected Witches to receive the baptism.
Meanwhile, the other two witches also brought someone else with them.
John looked at the six people taking part in the family's baptism and looked towards seven others, who were going to take part in the Alliance's baptism. He sighed a little as he looked at each other's hand and saw the seal of the alliance.
"I wish you all Good Luck. Supreme Elder Garthe will take you guys to the family's Ancestral Pool. Out of you, only two members are eligible to choose from the elite Familiars raised inside the family. You all know the rules, the unchosen Familiars will be then presented to others. Those who did not take their pick will get a chance to enter the Familiar garden of the Family."
He took a breather and walked towards the seven others. He patted Sigil's shoulder and spoke to them.
"The choosing of Familiars will start only after your return. I hope that you bring a good reputation to our family." John then nodded at Garthe as he took the Six witches away. Sigil smiled towards Martha and nodded at Ricardo before leaving with John towards the site set by Alliance.