The group of teenagers reached the edge of the forest where, just a week ago, they had been forced to face a pack of Green-Toothed Hyenas.
Now, the area was completely unrecognizable.
The magical beasts had long since dragged away the carcasses and bloody remains. Here and there, traces of human presence could be seen, left behind by those who had come to investigate what had happened. They had done their job thoroughly and diligently, clearing the entire area around them. Not a single weed had survived, while the ground had been completely dug up and firmly packed down.
The clearing was spacious enough. There was definitely enough room here for their purposes.
Grey looked around and made sure there were no strangers nearby.
Early that morning, Hope had received orders to take the form of a swallow, scout the entire area in advance, and report back. He trusted her competence, but he still felt considerable relief when he saw everything with his own eyes.
«Cheryl, you're in charge of creating the magic circle according to this diagram.» Grey handed her a sheet containing all the drawings and notes he had personally added. «Don't worry, it's very simple. The principle is similar to the one you used when summoning the beast god and absorbing the beast's essence. All the necessary materials are in my bag.»
«Cheryl will do her best,» the rabbit girl obediently replied as she got to work.
She was genuinely happy that she could finally help him.
Grey nodded gratefully and shifted his gaze toward the two barbarians, Garen and Zebra.
«You two, why are you standing there like statues? Do you need a special invitation? Get moving and set up the screen!»
«What?» Garen and Zebra both choked at the same time. They had been wondering why they were being forced to carry those poles and sheets.
«Um... why do we need a screen?» Garen asked awkwardly.
«What kind of stupid question is that? Do you want the girls to undress right in front of you?»
«We have to undress?!» The teenagers jumped in surprise, while the girls instantly blushed in embarrassment.
The boys, on the other hand, first turned pale, then suddenly became suspiciously excited, earning several extremely unfriendly looks.
«For fuck's sake, stop standing around doing nothing! At this rate, we won't be done before winter. GET TO WORK!»
After handing out several smacks to the slowest ones and barking at the rest, Grey felt the tension inside him ease a little.
Just a little.
While his subordinates bustled about, setting up the screen and preparing the place for the ritual, he stepped aside. Then he reached into his bottomless pocket and pulled out a heavy glass vial.
A thick, dark liquid sloshed inside. If one looked closely enough, they could see magical pollen shining deep within it like tiny stars.
Next, he took out a thin brush, a special artifact crafted by Grandpa Clark for drawing runes.
Anyone who possessed mana could "charge" the brush, allowing a cripple like him to draw runes on his own. It had been given to Grey for his tenth birthday, and he had no doubt that this brush was no less valuable than the other artifacts in his collection.
For several seconds, Grey silently stared into the dark liquid.
This very mixture was the foundation of his crazy plan.
A necessary condition for the Magic Core Awakening Ceremony was the presence of an Origin Sphere, which the god Hephaestus had crafted from Orichalcum. This sphere served as a conduit for divine power, which could help ordinary mortals sense something as special and ethereal as the spark of mana that existed within every living creature.
Only one Orichalcum deposit was known to exist, located in the very heart of the Roman Empire, beneath Aventine Hill in the Eternal City. This ore could only be mined by slaves above the level of a Saint Adept (4), yet even they perished in the mines.
One could imagine just how valuable it was.
Even if Grey possessed all the wealth in the world, he would never have been able to find a stone large enough to create an Origin Sphere. There simply were none in Thorn's Cloaca, that shithole on the outskirts of civilization.
So Grey had to make do with Orichalcum dust.
And even obtaining that had turned into a trial of its own.
Bribery, blackmail, shady deals, the risk of attracting unwanted attention, and no certainty about the quality of the goods he received. That was what Grey had to go through to get his hands on even a tiny amount of this precious powder.
And yet, he had succeeded.
Following Senior's suggestion, Grey dissolved the Orichalcum in an infusion of Silverleaf Dew, mixed it with Moon Rabbit blood borrowed from Cheryl, and added pollen from Starbells. This way, Grey managed to find a suitable formula that, if it could not replace the Origin Sphere, could at least serve as one of the ingredients for an alternative awakening ceremony.
According to their idea, everything was supposed to work as follows.
Runes were drawn onto the body along the main meridians through which mana normally circulated. Each line acted as a temporary conduit, converging at the core. The individual elements were connected to one another, forming a primitive network of artificial conductivity.
This network was then connected to the central runic circle.
After an appeal to the deity, the magic circle was supposed to become a kind of conduit for divine power.
With the help of the Orichalcum-containing mixture, Aphrodite's power would enter the teenagers' bodies and awaken the spark of mana within them.
Of course, Grey understood that the response would be considerably weaker than what they could achieve with an Origin Sphere. But it should still be enough for the teenagers to sense the faint traces of their magical cores on their own and awaken them through sheer willpower.
And this was where an idea Grey had borrowed from Dave's rune would come in handy. Naturally, he couldn't reproduce the effect of that rune, but Senior had suggested an excellent alternative.
What if they restricted all the other senses as much as possible, leaving only the sense of touch and thereby enhancing it? A simple solution that would significantly increase their chances of success. After all, the first step toward a successful awakening was learning to listen to one's own body.
The spark of mana and the potential for growth were already present in everyone.
Grey was confident that his subordinates would succeed.
That was exactly how psychology worked. A science from another world that Senior had shared with him.
It was this final piece of the puzzle that had given Grey the confidence to attempt such a daring gamble. So daring that any temple priest in the Roman Empire would have called it outright heresy. So dangerous that most researchers wouldn't even dare to begin such experiments.
And yet, Grey was going to put it to the test. Because he simply had no other choice.
His eyes burned with madness and determination.
"All right. Everyone, line up."
Grey's voice immediately silenced the teenagers.
He swept his gaze over the assembled group, his expression stern and serious.
"From this moment on, no jokes or improvisation. Do exactly as I say. If something is unclear, ask immediately. Once the ceremony begins, it will be too late for regrets."
The teenagers instinctively straightened up, sensing an unusual seriousness in his normally cold, emotionless tone. Even the most unruly among them felt the oppressive atmosphere.
Cheryl was putting the finishing touches on the magic circle.
Garen and Zebra had finally finished setting up the screens, creating two separate areas.
Grey took a deep breath.
"Boys to the right. Girls to the left. Strip down to your underwear."
Absolute silence fell over the clearing for several seconds.
"W-What?!" Catherine was the first to cry out. She still hadn't gotten used to Grey's peculiar ways.
"Didn't you hear me the first time?" he asked coldly. "The runic lines must follow the main meridians. They won't work through clothing, which means awakening will be impossible. None of you, except me, even knows the basics of runic writing. This is just as routine as a medical examination. You wouldn't object to a healer examining you, would you?"
Sunny raised his hand, and Grey had to make a considerable effort to keep himself from rolling his eyes. He could already guess what this overprotective brother was about to ask.
"Do Aileen and Irene have to undress too?"
'Just as I thought. This guy is a typical siscon,' Senior commented.
Junior suppressed a twitch in his facial muscles and simply replied, "Yes."
"But..."
"No buts. Either put your embarrassment aside and get undressed, or get lost and stop holding everyone else up. I'm not going to argue about this."
The teenagers exchanged glances. The girls blushed. The boys looked as if they had just been sentenced to death. Sunny seemed extremely troubled. Aileen and Irene were glaring daggers at him. Kai stared tensely at the screen, wondering if he could see anything through it.
Grey gritted his teeth.
"Stop acting like newlyweds outside the bridal chamber. Follow the order."
No one dared to disobey when Grey was being this serious. His subordinates could already sense that he was nearing his limit, so they quickly shut up.
Before long, two groups of teenagers stood in front of Grey, awkwardly covering their exposed bodies and doing their best to avoid looking at one another.
"Next step," he continued calmly. "Blindfold yourselves."
"Why?" someone asked in a confused voice.
"Because you need to focus on your own sensations, not the outside world."
He took out the strips of cloth he had prepared beforehand.
"Your eyesight is a distraction. So is your hearing, but we'll deal with that after you've listened carefully to all my instructions..."
Grey took out several flasks of boiled water and handed them to the teenagers.
"Rinse your mouths."
This time, they didn't even try to argue.
Only Achilles hesitantly raised his hand.
"What does taste have to do with anything?"
"You'd be surprised how strongly our brains cling to familiar stimuli," Grey replied dryly. "Especially when they're desperately trying to latch onto something familiar. Get rid of everything unnecessary."
Today, he showed an unusual amount of patience with questions, answering each one in great detail.
Grey didn't want to leave anything unclear. Even the slightest misunderstanding or a moment of doubt at such a critical moment could lead to fatal consequences.
Of course, he didn't mention that the idea had come from Senior. A man who had grown up in a world where understanding how the human senses worked had long since gone beyond mere intuitive assumptions.
Once he was sure everyone had followed his instructions, Grey picked up the brush. The charged artifact had grown slightly warm in his hand as he approached the first teenager.
A thin line of dark liquid touched the skin.
"Listen carefully and remember every word," he said as he drew the first rune. "From this point on, everything will depend on you..."
The brush moved steadily.
From the collarbone down. Across the chest. Along the shoulders. Following the main meridians.
"When the ceremony begins and Cheryl starts calling upon the deity, your task is to clear your mind as much as possible. Listen to your own body."
The next rune... Another one... Every curve precisely measured. Dark lines gradually covered the teenagers' bodies, connecting to form a single, closed system.
"Think of nothing but your own body. Sooner or later, you'll feel a slight tickling sensation around your solar plexus. Or rather, something halfway between a tickle and an itch. It's quite a peculiar sensation. You probably won't mistake it for anything else."
He handed the brush to Hope and ordered her to recharge it with mana when he felt its energy had been completely depleted. He had never drawn such an extensive runic formation before, so he was surprised that the mana Aunt Albedo had infused into it back in the Village of the Abandoned had finally run out.
Although the teenagers didn't know it, Hope was a witch, just like Aunt Albedo. That made her mana the most suitable for recharging the artifact.
Today, Grey was truly making full use of this little girl's talents. He would definitely have to reward her later.
But for now, he continued patiently explaining every instruction in as much detail as possible.
"Don't try to grab that sensation by force. Just follow it. Imagine that the tickling sensation is flowing along the drawn lines. Guide it along the meridians."
He finished with the boys and moved on to the girls, but his voice remained just as calm and composed as it had been at the very beginning. He didn't look at them with even the slightest hint of lust, only with the utmost seriousness.
His behavior put them somewhat at ease.
"Once you complete the full cycle and the sensation returns to its starting point..." The brush paused for a fraction of a second. "...your magical core can be considered awakened."
The teenagers nodded silently. Some of them were visibly trembling.
Catherine, Dave's sister, was the last one in line. She stood slightly apart from the others, her fingers clenched into fists.
Grey looked at her with some hesitation.
She had only joined them today and hadn't undergone the same preparations as everyone else. Although he had casually instructed Dave yesterday, he hadn't expected the boy to obey so readily. Now, he wasn't sure whether he should expose her to such danger.
Grey silently studied the girl for a while before asking in the same calm voice, though only Senior could detect the slight tremor in it.
"Are you sure?"
Catherine blinked.
"What?"
"Unlike the others, you haven't prepared for the awakening," he explained gently. "There is a genuine risk involved. If you change your mind now, no one will judge you. You'll have another chance later."
The girl remained silent for several seconds before slowly raising her head.
She wasn't stupid and understood just how special this ceremony was. Who knew when she would get another chance to awaken her magical core? Was the mercy of the gods really so boundless that they would be willing to answer Grey's call whenever he asked?
Even naive Catherine found that hard to believe.
"If my brother is willing to entrust you with his life..." Her voice trembled, but her gaze remained firm. "...then I'm willing to take the risk too."
Grey looked carefully into her eyes. At that moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of trust toward her.
Perhaps it was because of her name.
Catherine.
The same name as his mother.
A foolish reason. Irrational. Completely unlike someone who was accustomed to weighing every risk.
But...
Not every decision had to be born from cold logic.
"All right," he said.
Grey dipped the brush into the dark solution.
"Then don't disappoint me, Catherine."
A thin line touched her skin. The final rune fell into place.
Everything was ready now.
All that remained was to take the final step and find out whether his crazy gamble would end in a triumphant success... or yet another tragedy.
=======
Like this artwork? — Add it to library.
More character images are now available on my Patreon. They are absolutely free!
I recently added images of Lady Veronica, Lily, and Cheryl.
I would be especially grateful for any support: a donation, comment, like, or review. Every bit of support helps me grow and motivates me to create more content.
Thank you, dear readers — I sincerely appreciate your support in any form!