With that, Servose began to take things out of his old, battered-looking bag. Dried smoke leaf, a branch of willow and a small opal. Smoke leaf is usually smoken like tobacco, but if you burn it as part of a ritual, it becomes the modifier, meaning to obscure.
A branch of willow represents nature, and in terms of this ritual, it signified the desire to blend in. And the small opal is a magic catalysed, primarily used for illusion charms. However, it should be said that these ingredients are the cheapest forms. But would be effective for the low-level creatures that roam these parts. Any other ingredients would be a waste of money.
"We place the smoke leaf here and make sure that the glyphs flow in this direction, or they will conflict with each other," Servose explained, as he began to draw a big circle in the middle of the camp. About five feet in diameter.
"Since the range of the ritual is limited, we must make sure that the entire camp is inside of the range, as we need a little leeway. We don't want someone's arm to appear to be floating in the middle of nowhere." He continued with a slight chuckle. I was listening as I neatly drew the glyphs in the skeletal magic circle that Servose drew for me.
Once the ingredients were placed and the circle was complete. Next came the mana infusion. Sometimes this can be in the form of an incantation, which can sound like the most common adaptions of magic from modern media. But thankfully, with Servose's help I didn't need to use an incantation to focus the flow of my mana through the circle, I just followed Servose's mana flow. If this wasn't a ritual, then our mana would fight against each other and cause a backlash. But ritual casting was made with multiple casters in mind, so there was no risk of a backlash happening.
It wasn't my first-time infusing mana, thanks for my time practising alchemy. But it was my first time doing anything at this scale. If wasn't for Servose, I would have failed several times already. It took several minutes for the circle to be filled completely. As it did, it started to glow a slight blue colour.
I wiped my brow of sweat, released a sigh of relief and felt a little drained as my mana pool had all but emptied.
Servose looked at me expectantly. It seemed that he was giving me the honours of activating the ritual. I wondered if it was his way of corrupting me further onto the occultist path. But, for whatever reason, I decided to take up the opportunity and sent one final pulse of mana through the circle.
With a flash, the glow faded, and the smoke leaf and willow branch were burnt away, leaving only the opal behind.
Suddenly, a thin veil of mist billowed from the circle and created a dome, twenty feet in diameter. Then, it vanished. At first, I wondered if the ritual failed, but as I looked intently, I could see a faint shimmer. And maybe because of my [Mana sense] or because of my hypersensitivity, I could see the trail of mana swirling from the bottom of the dome and raising to the top of the dome, just above the ritual circle. There was a tunnel in the mana flow that seemed to connect to the circle and the dome. So, it was a completed circuit of mana.
*Ping*
[Ritual casting: level 1]
An alternative type of spell casting. By using this method, the caster can prolong the effects of the chosen spell. The strength of the spell is decided by the potency of the ingredients and the intent of the glyphs.
As I read through the notification window, I was glad to read that the skill description gave a more detailed description than normal. But more so, I was a little confused that I didn't acquire a skill for the kind of ritual I performed. However, I quickly concluded that rituals work similarly to alchemy recipes. If I were to be able to cast the spell by itself, I suppose that would be a different story.
"Well done, my boy. How do you feel after completing your first ritual?" Asked Servose, as he stood with his hands on his hips, with a wide grin on his face. His hood had fallen back enough for me to see his silver eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Satisfying. The swirl of mana is rewarding enough." I answered as I continued to marvel at the feint silvery wisps that encircled us.
"W-What? You can see the mana?" Servose asked. His voice shook as he asked his question.
I then realised my mistake. Not everyone can see mana and those who do are rare and are usually either powerful casters or the seed of destruction.
"I can, yes. It's the reason why my master took me in. Apparently, it's a gift." I lied. I couldn't exactly tell him it was a bonus given to me because of the game setting. Plus, I did promise not to tell anyone about arcanists. It has remained a secret to outsiders for centuries and I wasn't going to be the reason that the secret gets out.
"…I see. It is certainly a gift but can also be a curse." He replied after a long pause.
"That is what my master said also." I smiled in response.
After this brief back and forth, the rest of the day and most of the evening passed without anything eventful happening. Because of the illusion ritual, no one needed to keep watch.
I stayed up a little while after everyone else went to sleep as I wanted to read through the notebook, I was given. Plus, I wasn't one to readily trust others, even if they hadn't shown any hostility towards me throughout the day. I wasn't going to take any chances.
Soon, my eyes grew heavy, and I had to turn in for the night. So, I pulled out my blanket found a place to lay and used my backpack as a pillow. Though, I still hid a dagger under my makeshift pillow, ready for anything.