Chapter 47

Aurora looked at the white tablecloth with some slight stains and tilted her head to smile at Lu Mian:

"If the object of the ritual magic is yourself, it doesn't matter if the altar is a bit dirty, but if you want to pray to deities and hidden existences, I suggest changing to a cleaner cloth, or just removing this cloth and wiping the tabletop."

"So praying to yourself is just about being casual, right?" Lu Mian couldn't help but tease.

Aurora chuckled:

"'Casual' mainly focuses on the environment, materials, and utensils. The entire ritual process and the corresponding incantations must still strictly follow the regulations of occultism."

After speaking, she took out an orange-yellow candle from a hidden pocket:

"This is a candle mixed with citrus and lavender. The point isn't their domain, but that I like them."

She first placed the candle above the "altar" in front of her:

"Remember, the candles representing the deities are placed in these two spots; for now, they can be left empty."

Then, she placed that candle near herself:

"Remember, this is the position of 'me'."

After placing the candle, Aurora went to the kitchen and brought back a cup of clear water, a dish of coarse salt, and a small bowl made of steel:

"Next is creating a clean, undisturbed ritual environment. Remember, it is spiritual cleanliness, and this must be constructed by us ourselves.

"The specific method is to enter meditation, concentrate your spirit, guide your spiritual power out through auxiliary items, and construct a Wall of Spirituality around the altar.

"For 'Seers' and 'Diviners,' this is very simple, but a 'Hunter' needs the help of other items before Sequence 7, for example, an incense that can make your emotions peaceful and your state ethereal, or a crystal ball that can help your spirituality be more active and concentrated.

"Uh, the meditation I taught you before is incomplete; it only has the first step and can only be used to collect your thoughts and calm your state. I'll tell you the rest later."

The previous meditation method was incomplete? Then why was I able to trigger the special dream and make those two symbols stand out? Lu Mian felt slightly surprised.

Aurora pulled a silver dagger out from a hidden pocket in her clothes:

"Now watch carefully how I construct the Wall of Spirituality."

Lu Mian watched, dumbfounded, and subconsciously said:

"How do you have so many things on you?"

First, there were various spell-casting materials, a collapsible monocular, a miniature ink bottle for storing the Spirit World creature "White Paper," and candles for rituals; now she had pulled out a dagger.

Aurora sighed helplessly:

"Do you think I want to? This is the inconvenient part of being a 'Witch.'

"I have to modify every set of my clothes for a long time. Sometimes, I even suspect I'm Doraemon, able to pull out whatever I need."

"What is a Doraemon?" Lu Mian didn't understand the word his sister used in another language in the last half of the sentence.

Aurora froze for a moment, her expression slightly complex as she replied:

"You don't need to know."

For some reason, Lu Mian suddenly felt that his sister had a hint of faint sadness.

Aurora quickly recovered her mood and reached her right hand over the orange-yellow candle representing herself.

"In ritual magic, candles cannot be lit simply. Of course, sometimes, lighting them with ordinary methods will also have an effect, but this is often not a good thing." Aurora began her explanation, "The correct way is to extend your spirituality and rub it against the wick to light it."

As she spoke, she made that candle burst into an orange-yellow flame.

The dining table acting as the "altar" and the surrounding area were instantly illuminated, taking on a hint of wonderful depth.

Aurora's light blue eyes had deepened at some point, and invisible wind was swirling around her.

She inserted the silver dagger into the coarse salt and chanted mysterious incantations:

"xxx, xxxx!

"..."

Lu Mian listened with a blank face, only able to watch as his sister pulled out the silver dagger after the incantation was finished, inserted it into the cup of clear water, and lifted it up again.

Aurora pointed the tip of the dagger outward and walked around the altar. With every step she took, Lu Mian felt an invisible force gushing out from the silver dagger, agile and lively.

They combined with the air to form an invisible wall that the wind could not blow into.

By the time Aurora finished walking a circle, she seemed to Lu Mian to be in another world.

"Did you see the steps clearly?" Aurora's voice was a bit more "distant" than before.

Lu Mian nodded honestly:

"I saw them clearly, but I don't understand what you are chanting."

Aurora couldn't help but laugh:

"You really are an illiterate in the field of occultism, in the literal sense.

"That is Hermes language. Translated, it roughly means this:

"I sanctify you, blade of pure silver!

"I clean and purify you, let you serve me in the ritual!

"In the name of the Witch Aurora Li,

"You are sanctified!"

Lu Mian scratched his head:

"It sounds very ordinary."

"It's like that when translated. The point is the meaning of the incantation itself and the language used." Aurora's eyes rolled upward, "If you chant it in Intis, it's naturally ordinary, but if you switch to Hermes, Ancient Hermes, Elvish, Draconic, or Giant, which can mobilize supernatural power, it's different."

Lu Mian asked curiously:

"Only these few languages possess the power to communicate with the mysterious?"

"That's not the case. There are quite a few similar languages in the field of occultism, each with its own specialties, for example, those specifically for the undead to see, but the vast majority of Beyonders will never use them in their entire lives unless they want to study a unique and rare field or hold a corresponding ritual." Aurora explained casually.

She further explained the incantation from just now:

"When sanctifying the ritual silver dagger, the second to last sentence should originally be in the name of a certain deity or hidden existence, but we are wild Beyonders, so we should try not to use it if we can, to avoid attracting unnecessary trouble.

"As a Beyonder, sanctifying an ordinary item in your own name is actually enough. Although the effect isn't as good as the original kind, it can still be used."

Lu Mian nodded first, then thought of a question:

"My name was given by you later; can it be used in the ritual?"

"Yes." Aurora was very certain, "A newly taken one won't work, but you've been using this name for several years, so it has an occult connection."

She paused and added:

"When sanctifying items, if you are in the wild and don't have that many materials, you can also complete it by simply using coarse salt or clear water."

After speaking, Aurora took out a silver-black metal bottle less than the height of her index finger from the hidden pocket.

"This is an essential oil I blended myself, called 'Green Field Fairy Trace.' The highlight is that it smells good." She then dripped three drops of pale green liquid onto the candle representing herself.

With a sizzle, the candle's light dimmed, and faint mist permeated, making Aurora and the altar in front of her appear quite mysterious.

"Next is the point." Aurora pulled out a small piece of imitation parchment from the hidden pocket. "If you are holding a ritual magic praying to a deity, you need to draw the symbolic symbol of the matter you are praying for on the paper and burn it during the ritual.

He mocked himself again:

"The second part is 'I pray for the God's favor.' Remember, don't call the name directly. Doing so in a ritual is blasphemy. 'Eternal Blazing Sun' can be referred to as God or Father.

"The third part is the matter you want to pray for. It must be brief, finished in one sentence.

"The fourth part is to give the incantation more power, similar to 'Sunflower, herb belonging to the sun, please pass the power to my incantation.' You pick two to three types to say based on the materials you use.

"After chanting the incantation, drip a drop of essential oil on each candle, burn the paper with the symbolic symbol drawn on it, and wait for the paper to finish burning; the ritual ends. Then thank the deity, extinguish the candles in the order of 'me' first then 'god,' and right first then left, to release the Wall of Spirituality. Hmm, the order of lighting the candles is left first then right, and 'god' first then 'me'."

Lu Mian hummed twice:

"Then what about praying to yourself?"

Aurora smiled:

"The incantation is even simpler. I'll use summoning a Spirit World creature as an example:

Even Raymond Clegg, that guy who was usually silly and had no ulterior motives, he couldn't be one hundred percent sure that the other party had absolutely no problems.

And at the end of the Pentecost, the abnormal performance of most young people might also have been because they were influenced by the parish priest's use of Beyonder abilities on the spot, rather than having problems beforehand.

"The third part is the specific description of the Spirit World creature you want to summon."

"What is a specific description?" Lu Mian asked.

Aurora explained quite seriously:

"A specific description can only have three segments. Its function is to help us lock onto the Spirit World creature we want to summon.

"Let me give you an example. If a stranger came today and said, 'I want to find the prank king of Cordu Village, Aurora Li's stupid brother, a regular at the old tavern,' wouldn't we know very clearly who he is looking for?"

"I understand!" Lu Mian suddenly realized, "In the situation of not knowing the target's name, appearance, and address, use his characteristics to help find him."

Aurora said sternly:

"The principle is like that, but there are many troubles during actual operation.

"Like when we summon Spirit World creatures, the first sentence is often fixed. It's either 'Spirit wandering in the void' or 'Spirit roaming in the Upper Realm.' Its function is to point to the Spirit World and clearly state that what we want to summon is a spirit.

"The second sentence is also very general. Think about it, we don't summon Spirit World creatures to kill ourselves, so we must limit that the one coming is a friendly creature. And sometimes, we have to add the restriction word 'weak,' because some Spirit World creatures might be very friendly, but their existence itself can bring you great danger.

"Considering these situations, the description is set: 'Friendly creature available for driving,' 'Friendly creature available for consultation,' 'Weak creature available for driving,' etc., etc.

"Relying only on these two segments of description, the pointing is still very broad and doesn't reflect our needs. We have no way to specify what kind of Spirit World creature comes, so the third segment of description is very important. You need to use one sentence to clearly state what kind of creature you want to summon."

"That's very difficult." Lu Mian felt a headache just thinking about it.

Aurora nodded:

"Not only difficult, but also dangerous.

"When the pointing is vague, what comes might be a spirit you don't need, or it could be a creature that brings danger. You must remember, in many cases, weak doesn't mean it can't kill you, just like friendly doesn't mean it won't cause you a threat."

(End of chapter)