Truly "illiterate"

Aurora glanced at the slightly stained white tablecloth, turned to Lumian, and smiled. "If you're directing ritual magic at yourself, it doesn't matter if the altar is a little dirty. But if you want to petition a deity or a hidden being, I suggest changing to a cleaner cloth, or simply taking this one off and wiping down the table."

"So petitioning yourself is all about being casual?" Lumian couldn't help teasing.

Aurora chuckled.

"'Casual' mainly applies to the surroundings, materials, and implements. The procedure of the ritual and its corresponding incantations still have to follow the rules of mysticism strictly."

With that, she took an orange-yellow candle from a concealed pocket.

"This candle contains citrus and lavender. The important thing isn't their domains, but that I like them."

First, she moved the candle over the far side of the "altar" before her.

"Remember, the candles representing the deity go in these two places. We can leave them empty for now."

Then she placed the candle on the side nearest herself.

"Remember, this is the position of 'me.'"

After setting down the candle, Aurora went to the kitchen and brought back a glass of water, a dish of coarse salt, and a small steel bowl.

"Next, we create a clean ritual environment where we won't be disturbed. Remember, I mean clean in a spiritual sense. We have to construct this ourselves.

"The specific method is to enter meditation, concentrate, and channel your spirituality through an auxiliary item to build a wall of spirituality around the altar.

"This is very simple for Mystery Pryers and Seers, while Hunters need help from other items before Sequence 7. For example, incense that calms your emotions and clears your mind, or a crystal ball that helps make your spirituality more active and focused.

"Uh, the meditation I taught you before was incomplete. It only covered the first step, which can only gather your thoughts and settle your state of mind. I'll explain the rest later."

The meditation method from before was incomplete? Then why could I trigger the dream's special properties and make those two symbols stand out? Lumian was a little surprised.

Aurora drew a silver dagger from another concealed pocket in her clothing.

"Now watch carefully as I construct the wall of spirituality."

Lumian stared, dumbfounded, and blurted out instinctively, "How do you have so many things on you?"

First there had been all sorts of spellcasting materials, a collapsible monocular, a miniature ink bottle holding the Spirit World creature "White Paper," and a candle for rituals. Now she had pulled out a dagger.

Aurora sighed helplessly.

"Do you think I want to? This is what makes being a Warlock inconvenient.

"I have to spend ages altering every outfit myself. Sometimes I wonder if I'm Doraemon, able to pull out whatever I need."

"What's Dalaemon?" Lumian hadn't understood the word his sister had spoken in another language at the end.

Aurora froze briefly, then answered with a somewhat complicated expression, "You don't need to know."

For some reason, Lumian suddenly felt a faint sadness in his sister.

Aurora quickly recovered and extended her right hand over the orange-yellow candle representing herself.

"In ritual magic, you can't simply light the candles. Of course, sometimes lighting them by ordinary means will work, but that's often not a good thing," Aurora explained. "The correct method is to extend your spirituality and rub it against the wick to ignite it."

As she spoke, an orange-yellow flame sprang up from the candle.

The dining table serving as the "altar" and the surrounding area were instantly illuminated, taking on a strange, mysterious depth.

At some point, Aurora's light blue eyes had darkened, and an invisible wind swirled around her.

She plunged the silver dagger into the coarse salt and recited a mysterious incantation.

"XXX, XXXX!

"..."

Lumian listened in utter bewilderment. All he could do was watch his sister draw out the silver dagger after finishing the incantation, dip it into the glass of water, and lift it out again.

Aurora pointed the dagger's tip outward and walked around the altar. With every step she took, Lumian felt an invisible force surge from the silver dagger, lively and vibrant.

It mingled with the air, forming an invisible wall that even wind couldn't penetrate.

By the time Aurora completed the circuit, she seemed to Lumian to be standing in another world.

"Did you see the steps clearly?" Aurora's voice sounded more "distant" than before.

Lumian nodded honestly.

"I saw them clearly, but I couldn't understand what you were reciting."

Aurora couldn't help laughing.

"You really are illiterate in the field of mysticism, in the literal sense.

"That was Hermetic. Translated, it means roughly this:

"I sanctify you, Pure Silver Blade!

"I cleanse and purify you, that you may serve me in the ritual!

"In the name of the Warlock Aurora Lee,

"You are sanctified!"

Lumian scratched his head.

"That sounds pretty ordinary."

"It does when translated. What matters is the meaning of the incantation itself and the language used." Aurora glanced upward. "Naturally, it's ordinary if you recite it in Intisian. But switch to Hermetic, Ancient Hermetic, Elvish, Draconic, or Giantish, which can mobilize supernatural power, and it's a different story."

Lumian asked curiously, "Are those the only languages with the power to communicate with the mystical?"

"Not at all. There are quite a few similar languages in mysticism, each with its own special properties. Some, for example, are specifically for the undead to read. But most Beyonders will never need them in their entire lives, unless they want to study some unique, rare field or perform the corresponding rituals," Aurora explained casually.

She went on to explain the incantation from earlier.

"When sanctifying a ritual silver dagger, the second-to-last line should originally invoke the name of a deity or hidden being. But we're unaffiliated Beyonders, so we should avoid that whenever possible, lest we invite unnecessary trouble.

"As a Beyonder, sanctifying an ordinary item in your own name is actually enough. The effect isn't as good as the original version, but it's still usable."

Lumian nodded at first, then thought of a question.

"You gave me my name later on. Can I use it in a ritual?"

"Yes." Aurora was quite certain. "A newly adopted name won't work, but you've been using yours for several years now. It has a mystical connection to you."

She paused, then added, "When sanctifying an item, if you're out in the wilderness and don't have many materials, coarse salt or water alone will also work."

With that, Aurora took a tiny silver-black metal bottle, shorter than her index finger, from a concealed pocket.

"This is an essential oil I blended myself. It's called 'The Wizard of Oz.' Its main feature is that it smells good." She then dripped three drops of pale green liquid onto the candle representing herself.

With a sizzle, the candlelight dimmed, and a faint mist spread out, lending Aurora and the altar before her a distinctly mysterious air.

"Next comes the important part." Aurora pulled a small sheet of imitation parchment from a concealed pocket. "If you're performing ritual magic to petition a deity, you need to draw a symbol representing your request on the paper and burn it during the ritual.

"The incantation is divided into several parts. The first is 'I pray for the power of so-and-so.' 'So-and-so' should be filled in with one of the deity's symbols, an honorific name, or a domain they govern. For example, 'I pray for the power of the Sun,' or 'I pray for the power of order.' Remember, there are two lines in total, corresponding to the two candles representing the deity.

"The second part is 'I pray for God's favor.' Remember, don't address the deity directly by name. Doing so in a ritual is blasphemy. For the Eternal Blazing Sun, you can use 'God' or 'Father' instead.

"The third part is what you want to pray for. It must be brief, expressed in a single sentence.

"The fourth part gives the incantation more power. Something like, 'Sunflower, herb belonging to the Sun, please convey your power to my incantation.' Choose two or three yourself based on the materials you're using.

"After reciting the incantation, add another drop of essential oil to each candle and burn the paper on which you drew the symbol. Once the paper has finished burning, the ritual is over. Then thank the deity, extinguish the candles in the order of 'me' before 'deity,' right before left, and dispel the wall of spirituality. Oh, the order for lighting the candles is left before right, 'deity' before 'me.'"

Lumian murmured his acknowledgment twice.

"Then what about petitioning yourself?"

Aurora smiled. "The incantation is even simpler. I'll use summoning a Spirit World creature as an example:

"The first part is just one word, 'me,' which needs to be called out in a low voice. Remember, you can't use Hermetic here. It must be Ancient Hermetic, Elvish, Draconic, or Giantish.

"The second part is 'I summon in my name.' From this point onward, you can use Hermetic.

"The third part is a specific description of the Spirit World creature you want to summon."

"What's a specific description?" Lumian pressed.

Aurora explained quite seriously.

"The specific description can only have three parts. Its purpose is to help us pinpoint the Spirit World creature we want to summon.

"Let me give you an example. Say an outsider comes today and says, 'I'm looking for the king of pranks in Cordou Village, Aurora Lee's idiot younger brother, a regular at the old tavern.' Wouldn't we know very clearly who he wanted to find?"

"I get it!" Lumian suddenly understood. "When you don't know the target's name, appearance, or address, you use his traits to help find him."

Aurora said solemnly, "That's the principle, but there are plenty of problems in practice.

"When we summon Spirit World creatures, the first line is usually fixed. It's either 'the spirit wandering amid the illusory' or 'the spirit roaming the upper realm.' Its purpose is to point toward the Spirit World and make it clear that what we want to summon is a spirit.

"The second line is also quite general. Think about it. We aren't summoning Spirit World creatures to kill ourselves, so we obviously have to restrict what comes to friendly creatures. Sometimes we also have to add the restriction 'weak,' because certain Spirit World creatures may genuinely be friendly, but their very existence can pose a great danger to you.

"Taking these circumstances into account, we arrive at descriptions such as 'a friendly creature that can be commanded,' 'a friendly creature that can be consulted,' 'a weak creature that can be commanded,' and so on and so forth.

"With only these two parts, the scope is still very broad and doesn't reflect our needs. We have absolutely no way to specify what kind of Spirit World creature will come. That's why the third part is so important. You need to explain in a single sentence what creature you want to summon."

"That's hard." Just thinking about it gave Lumian a headache.

Aurora nodded.

"Not only hard, but dangerous.

"When the description is vague, what comes might be a spirit you don't need, or it might be a creature that brings danger. Remember, in many cases, being weak doesn't mean it can't kill you, just as being friendly doesn't mean it won't pose a threat to you."