Birds of a feather flocked together, and people sought their own kind.
The members of the Secret Histories Research Society had Norman and Moran as their leaders, two people whose minds were filled with the pursuit of knowledge and the truth of history. It went without saying what sort of people the rest of them were.
When they heard they had a chance to witness an Invisible Arts ritual from the distant East and see something utterly unlike anything they had known, they were all delighted.
As though given a powerful buff, they quickly finished setting up the ritual.
Then Moran and Norman patiently went over its precautions again and again.
"The Sunset Ritual is relatively safe among Invisible Arts rituals," Moran said. "The Setting Sun is the Proud Sun's principal heir. It symbolizes a beautiful yet sorrowful ending, a god of Lantern and Winter, silent and bright. Because of its silence, accidents seldom occur during the ritual; because of its brightness, the outcome is seldom bad. As long as we follow the ritual's instructions to the letter... Well, as far as I know, unless we're talking about unhinged cultists, I've never heard of anyone getting hurt during a Sunset Ritual."
Pan Long nodded slightly to show he understood.
In fact, he remembered this ritual quite well. As Norman had just said, its greatest advantage was its low cost. The only material it consumed was an "Influence" that could be obtained by exploring the Mansus.
Influence cards could not be kept for long. If he did not use one, was he supposed to wait for it to turn into something horrible?
That was why, back when he played the game, he had also liked casting spells through the Sunset Ritual.
He knew this ritual inside out!
A chant, an assistant,