"What!? Ancient ritual magic!?" Michael exclaimed in shock.
The term was foreign, but he felt an aversion to it, like it was something that went against the natural order. He gulped audibly, finally deciding to ask for more details—perhaps this would explain the entity that he'd come across in Velmara.
Surprisingly, Magnus didn't refuse.
"We don't know all the details, but from what our investigation came back with points to it being a sacrificial ritual. Those within a twenty mile radius of the altar would have their souls extracted—but it needs a lot of mana to operate…"
"The mana springs…" Michael said in a low tone, realizing the implication.
The most likely scenario was that the ritual was siphoning mana from the mana spring for months beforehand, causing it to slowly wither and dry up.
This is probably why I couldn't approach the mana spring back then… the pieces started to fall into place.
