Sacrificial Fire Ritual

When Li Wen opened her eyes, she had returned to the game.

Sacrificial Fire Ritual

Knowledge—Ritual—Advancement (Stage One)

Required: None

Moths were obsessed with fire, and those who had lost their way were likewise obsessed with Radiance. In times of confusion, the black sheep often offered insight—offering one's body to the fire was the only outcome.

This ritual had to be performed under Radiance's witness. One only needed to pray sincerely before the fire to receive a blessing.

Step 1: Prepare an empty church. It must belong to a sect that served Radiance; otherwise, remove all tokens and symbols of the Outer Gods. Then set up a Cruciform Pyre at the center of the church and place an unspecified number of candles upon it, until the entire church remained brightly lit.

Step 2: Clear everyone from the [6x6] area at the center of the church. During the ritual, ensure that only the ritual performer remained within the area.

Step 3: Refine Saint's Fat from Antimony Glow Ore, lime, sunflower pollen, and Animal Fat in a ratio of 1:2:1:6. Then use the Saint's Fat to draw the Ritual Array [Abra's Blessing] embedded with [Brilliant Gold Star].

Step 4: Light seven candles along the outer circle of the Ritual Array, symbolizing The Seven Gifts of Radiance. Set up a fire at the center of the Ritual Array, and offer a Living Sacrifice within the flames. Mistletoe grown on an Oak Branch could be used as a substitute.

Step 5: Pray and chant "Radiance's Grace—Chapter Seven: The Sacred Path of Grace Reversed" three times. The ritual would then be complete.

The Sacrificial Fire Ritual was the advancement ritual required by Supplicants on the Path of Light Chasing.

From Li Wen's perspective, it truly was an extremely simple, basic ritual. There were practically no points where anything could go wrong. She could complete it directly by following the steps.

After all, this was merely a Stage One advancement ritual. Naturally, it would not be too difficult.

"Step 1 can be ignored entirely. There's plenty of Saint's Fat in the church, so there's no need to refine more. As for the sacrifice, I have the Necessary Sacrifice trait, so I can use blood as a substitute without preparing anything. The blueprint for the Ritual Array can be viewed directly on the Game Panel..."

"Radiance's Grace" was one of the scriptures of the Radiance Cult. It was extremely common in the Kingdom of Arthur, and Li Wen had a copy in her room.

"In other words, as long as I find some excuse to send everyone out of the church, I can perform the ritual right away."

Before Mog returned, Li Wen immediately got to work.

She pushed open the door and walked out, only to run into a young nun in a Nun's Habit who was preparing to leave. The Candle Sun Church's Priest's Robes were black with red trim, symbolizing candlelight that sacrificed itself amid darkness to illuminate the world. The nuns' habits, meanwhile, were uniformly white with gold trim, symbolizing the purity and sanctity of these girls who served Radiance.

"Wait!"

Li Wen hurriedly called out to her.

The other girl stopped and turned around. Seeing Li Wen's unfamiliar face, she immediately looked nervous. Only after sizing up Li Wen's height and confirming that she was slightly shorter than herself did she relax.

"Little sister, this is where the nun sisters live. You can't just wander in. Or are you a new nun recruited by Pastor Mog?"

Little sister?

Li Wen's expression stiffened as she replied flatly.

"That's none of your concern. Tell me, do you have anything important to do next?"

"Huh?" The nun froze for a moment. Under Li Wen's forceful tone, she instinctively answered, "N-No!"

"Good. Go clear all outsiders from the cathedral and send them away. Then prepare some Saint's Fat and candles and bring them there."

Saint's Fat and candles were necessities for church services and other rituals. Although the nun found it strange that today was not a day for worship, she still nodded and agreed under Li Wen's stern gaze, then immediately set to work.

Meanwhile, Li Wen used the time to memorize the entirety of Chapter Seven of "Radiance's Grace." The scriptures of all religions were always obscure and difficult to understand. Fortunately, Li Wen's memory was fairly reliable, and after reading it several times, she barely managed to memorize it.

After confirming that she could recite it fluently, Li Wen tossed aside the book and headed toward the church.

When she entered the church, there was indeed no one else inside. The reliable young nun had somehow persuaded all the worshippers to leave and was now waiting eagerly in front of the altar, holding a pile of candles and an oil bottle filled with Saint's Fat.

"Put those down. You can go take care of your own business now," Li Wen said.

The confused young nun obediently did as she was told, then looked around for a while.

"Um... where's Pastor Mog?"

"Why are you worrying about that? Hurry up and leave." Li Wen sounded somewhat impatient. If she delayed any longer, she was afraid she would forget the words. "Also, after you leave, don't let anyone approach the main hall of the church. Understand?"

"Understood." The clueless young nun nodded. "Um, I still don't know your name!"

Li Wen fell silent for a moment, her temper flaring.

"Mephisto."

"Okay!"

This time, the young nun finally left in satisfaction.

Li Wen did not dare waste any time. She summoned her Spellbook and opened it to the page containing the array, letting it float beside her. Then she opened the oil bottle containing Saint's Fat and began preparing to draw.

Drawing a Ritual Array was an extremely difficult task. After all, reality was not drawing software where one could create perfect geometric shapes with a few movements of a mouse. Moreover, Li Wen was blind in one eye, which caused slight visual errors that might affect her work.

Fortunately, [Abra's Blessing] and [Brilliant Gold Star] were both small and simple arrays with a relatively high margin for error, so they were not difficult to draw.

Li Wen had experience from her previous life, so she would not make a mistake while drawing this kind of array. Before long, an almost perfect array of [Abra's Blessing] embedded with [Brilliant Gold Star] appeared in the very center of the church's main hall.

Li Wen then lit candles around the outer edge of the array, keeping the distance between each candle as even as possible. She used the remaining candles as the firewood, piling them together and lighting them all at once.

The only thing left was the sacrifice.

The Sacrificial Fire Ritual was a basic ritual originating from a sect that served Radiance, so the highest-quality sacrifice was naturally a lamb. Li Wen's blood could substitute for flesh-and-blood offerings, and a living being was one form of Blood Sacrifice.

Li Wen picked up the Ritual Dagger offered before the altar, walked to the fire, and sliced open her palm with it.

Amid the stabbing pain, blood dripped down and landed directly on the fire. The blood was like grease, making the flames more lively and clamorous than ever before.

Li Wen held the dagger as though in prayer and recited Chapter Seven of "Radiance's Grace." After repeating it three times, everything fell silent.

The candle flames stopped flickering, and the light vanished.

Li Wen stopped praying and opened her eyes, but she saw nothing. All around her was profound, empty darkness.

Then, within that absolute darkness, a ray of light tore through everything.

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It seemed more people read the morning updates, so updates would be in the morning from now on.