Chapter 310: The Ritual

Mm.

So this is her real personality now.

Dimia had no reason to lie about a place like this.

Rod had always worried that Sharon's drastic change in personality was because she had fused with Amel's memories, or because of the 【Wen Yi Ke Yin】.

But looking at it now, it was more like she had returned to her true nature.

They didn't chat for long.

Sharon's loud call came from outside the door.

The ritual had been set up; it was time for the final step.

Rod saw Dimia take a deep breath, forcing herself to relax.

She was probably a little nervous.

The two moved to the spacious hall on the first floor.

The brown wooden floor was now carved all over with intricate, winding magic circles of varying depths.

Some parts were as thin as a hair, gleaming with a faint blue light; others were as wide as a stream, inlaid with blue magic stones representing flowing water at the bends, and various spellcasting materials were placed in the outermost ring of the circle according to their respective attributes.

The witch Dimia stood right in the center.

Her baby-fat face carried both nervousness and resolve.

"Just relax, Dimia. Leave the rest to me."

Sharon soothed softly.

She and Rod stood on the left and right sides of the circle's outer ring respectively.

For some reason, she had specifically put on long sleeves and long pants for staying indoors, covering her undergarments in front of Rod and Dimia.

What's there to hide?

Rod must have seen it before, and Dimia, a best friend who shared a bed with her, went without saying.

"Leave it to me too."

"You? Heh, you don't know squat. You're just here to make up the numbers; whether you're even useful is still up in the air."

"Oh? Who was it last time—"

"Shut it! Don't go spreading rumors, I'm not even close with you!"

Meanwhile.

Sharon sent Rod a spell-message: 'Don't expose our relationship in front of Dimia!'

Furious and flustered.

【Rod: Am I really that much of a sore sight?】

【Sharon: What else? Have you forgotten how many girls are in your forest? I don't want Dimia to know I've been enslaved by you!】

Fair enough.

Rod suddenly found he had no comeback.

Seeing the two of them bicker, Dimia couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.

"Before you know it, you two have gotten so close."

"We haven't! If it weren't for Dimia, I wouldn't want anything to do with him!"

Rod, meanwhile, scanned the room.

The timber-framed structure and the windows that didn't meet laboratory specifications.

"Speaking of which, won't the ritual be dangerous in a residential area? I've heard plenty of news about magic circles exploding."

"Magic circles explode because of the spellcasting materials and spell types. Ours is biology-oriented; at worst it'll leak a bit of plague or something, it won't explode. Rest assured."

Leaking plague is also pretty serious, okay?

Both Rod and Dimia were speechless.

They hurriedly asked Sharon to set up another circle to contain the leakage.

Ten minutes later.

The ritual officially began.

As light flowed through the carved lines, the circle responded to the rhythm of magic power, trembling slightly and emitting a humming resonance of mana.

The light on the ground wove together, forming a flowing, complex, and mysterious pattern.

Sharon took out the scale of the Rot Moon species and the spirit seed Rod had given her.

Under the circle's effect, the two began to interweave and spiral.

Dimia inside the circle immediately reacted, letting out a pained groan and unable to keep from collapsing onto the floor.

Sharon furrowed her brow and sped up the flow of magic power.

This part Rod couldn't follow at all.

After all, he wasn't a magic specialist, and given Lady Kali's presence in the forest, he was somewhat disinclined to study.

So he couldn't help here, and quietly waited for Sharon to need him.

About ten minutes later.

Dimia's body seeped fresh blood, her frame trembling.

Sharon, her forehead beaded with fine sweat, said: "Plague domain, apply decay and regeneration to points E23 and C2 of the circle respectively."

Having coordinated beforehand, Rod immediately channeled the power of 【Decay-Life Unity】 into them with pinpoint accuracy.

This stage of the process took quite a while.

Nearly two full hours passed.

Fortunately, Rod had plenty of spirituality within him, and it wasn't consumed quickly.

Sharon was drenched in sweat, her white loungewear soaked through, revealing skin-toned flesh and hair on her thighs like stockings.

Her legs trembled slightly — clearly the ritual had drained both her magic and stamina.

Dimia was still gritting her teeth and holding on.

This process was especially painful, but it had to be completed with her own willpower.

Rod controlled the slime Xiao Hei and tossed a 【Healing Fluid】 at the dog-girl maiden.

It should ease things a little.

No healing for the witch — casting spells blindly during the ritual only adds variables.

Sharon opened her eyes and nodded at him.

She slowly halted the magic sustaining the formation and, together with Rod, began channeling the regenerative energy of the Plague Domain.

"The E23-point corruption energy can be stopped. That's about right — your Spirit Seed was a huge help; it let me easily adjust the witch's magical constitution."

"All done?"

"The final regeneration phase — Dimia will soon become an unbound witch."

Saying so, she smiled, genuinely happy for her best friend.

"No thank-you for me?"

"Alright, alright, thank you, great Forester Rod, my lord — happy now?"

Rod, however, shook his head:

"Are you staying here tonight? I kind of miss you."

"Keep your voice down! Dimia might hear!"

Sharon gently bit her lip, her fair face flushing red.

After a moment's hesitation, she still whispered, "Tonight I'll come find you in the forest."

"I'll be waiting. I'll open a good bottle of wine — just you wait."

"I won't fool around with you for too long. I'll just come back here in the morning."

So she said.

The dog-girl maiden's heart couldn't help but itch too.

She vaguely wished the sky would darken sooner, so she could lick this fellow a couple of times as early as possible.

Her throat bobbed.

She quietly licked her pink lips, making them look all the more glossy and enticing.

The two of them only had to lock eyes for sparks to fly.

"Mm—"

Dimia at the center suddenly let out a cry of pain.

At the same moment, a corner of the formation flared red, a warning, dangerous feeling slamming into both their gazes.

Sharon's brows knit.

She hurriedly mobilized her magic to check.

After a good while.

"Oh no."

Seeing her face turn Ning Zhong, Rod's heart sank. "What is it?"

"The magical pathways inside her are mostly built, but because Dimia hasn't increased her magic accumulation for a long time, her constitution has undergone certain changes."

"What do you mean?"

"Simply put, turning spirituality into magic requires a certain transformation process — that's what the Ming Xiang Fa does. But witches are naturally suited to magical conversion. Dimia hadn't made progress for a long time before, so that function has atrophied. We have to reduce the spirituality entering her body, otherwise the witch's magical organs will be rejected by the spirituality and necrotize."

Saying so.

Sharon activated another spell within the formation.

Rod recognized it — 【Sleep Sigil】.

Once Dimia had fallen completely asleep, he saw her trotting over toward him, shedding her loungewear long-sleeve as she ran.

A pure-white tank top and shorts were revealed. Wait — why wasn't she wearing anything underneath?

"I get it, but why are you—"

She lunged at him, sealing Rod's words with her lips.

Rod, however, was a little anxious and pushed her away.

"Is this the time for that?"

Sharon's eyes, though, were slightly hazy. "My Domain can corrode spirituality and reduce what's entering Dimia, but the cost is huge. I know you can keep topping someone up with spirituality and magic even in the middle of… that. I need your help."

"…"

(End of chapter)