Departure

"We will activate the transformation ritual long prepared in Statue Square. The ritual will commence during this month's Bonfire Festival. With the Lord's radiance, all Tzimali people will be absolved of their sins. We will now assign tasks."

The High Priest raised both hands above his head, his expression eager and impassioned, immensely rousing.

Ace was assigned to the northeast corner of the square. Through devout prayer, they would communicate with the power of faith within the statue, forming the rhythm and structure of the ritual.

Ace blended into their ranks. He could not use prayer to communicate with the power of faith and could only rely on Charm Suggestion to make the priests overlook his abnormality.

He hungrily studied the mysteries of the ritual and discovered that it was still composed of Transformation Runes, but it had gained crucial components. Ace called them the Equivalent Exchange Rune and the ritual rune set.

These were two special kinds of runes. The Equivalent Exchange Rune could not directly form a spell model and could only be driven through a complex ritual.

A ritual rune set was a series of mysterious runes wholly incompatible with ordinary runes, expressing entirely different meanings.

The priests of Pontos used the power of faith within the statue as fuel. Through complex rites such as prayers, movements, and sacrifices, they guided the mysterious laws of Equivalent Exchange to achieve their purpose.

The process of the ritual and its rites were also extremely important. They involved the effects of spirit, emotion, and will. This vast body of ritual knowledge benefited Ace enormously.

"This transformation ritual is very good. It belongs to me now," Ace murmured with a smile.

After conducting private experiments, he had already understood the ritual's composition.

A ritual required four components:

A rune array centered on an Equivalent Exchange Rune and a ritual rune set; a set of rites that the ritual's practitioners believed in and that truly possessed mysterious effects; the item to be exchanged through Equivalent Exchange; and the ritual's purpose.

If some assistance could be provided toward the purpose, the consumption of the exchange item would be greatly reduced.

For example, this transformation ritual provided a mature Transformation Rune structure and enough Merfolk scales, greatly reducing the consumption of faith power.

Teams of Merfolk took advantage of the night, slipping quietly into the temple in cloaks. Under Ace's hidden perception, the strongest among them had a concentration of magic power roughly equal to his own.

He did not choose to stir up trouble. There was no need for him to meddle in a god's plans; one careless move could cost him his life. Quietly mastering the ritual was the greatest gain.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Using illusions, Ace silently left the square, and while he was at it, bought a clay figurine of a Merfolk baby from the street.

He found the goat Moor had become and activated the Permanent Transformation Spell. After several failures—

Moor's skin gradually turned dark blue. Scales grew across it, webbing emerged between his fingers and toes, his eyes swelled, his mouth widened, and his ears sharpened. He completely transformed into a Merfolk.

Since he believed Merfolk were innocent, Ace let Moor transform into one completely, with no possibility of reversal.

Ace felt that he had done a good deed, and his mood was incomparably joyful.

Moor excitedly prostrated himself on the ground, making muffled sounds in Merfolk language.

Ace gave him a suggestion, making him crawl into the depths of the sea and pray devoutly for a month.

Time passed in a flash. Tsimari was ablaze with lights deep into the night as May's Bonfire Festival arrived.

Fire Dragons wound through the entire fishing port city, gathering in the city's central square. The people within the Fire Dragons sang and danced; fiery young women performed distinctive local dances. Yet amid this joyous atmosphere, Ace felt chilled to the bone.

The entire city was like a gigantic Demonic Beast choosing its prey, and the enormous statue at its center terrified him even more. Once the transformation began, who in Tsimari Port could escape?

A demigod's scheme—a colossal conspiracy. Ace had learned of it by chance. For someone as weak as him, knowing such a secret was the greatest danger.

He had no intention of destroying this conspiracy, nor did he have the power to do so.

This gigantic Demonic Beast might perhaps become help in the future. No one could say.

He chose to follow his heart. He decisively packed his things and quietly left Tsimari under cover of night, leaving behind the fishing port city that had once moved him and now filled him with dread.

He traveled north, making brief stops in the towns he passed. As he collected prescriptions and medicinal ingredients and wandered the wilderness, he also kept watch on news coming from Tsimari Port.

Several days later, no news of anything unusual came from Tsimari.

It seemed that Tsimari's Child of the Ocean Priestly Order had no plans to launch a rebellion immediately. Their strength was probably insufficient. He had never heard of the Child of the Ocean having divine descendants; if they wanted to establish a new city-state, heroes or people with equivalent combat power were indispensable.

These priests had likely groped their way toward a vague path. Even for a demigod, life was long enough; it should have the patience to wait for the half-Merfolk priests to explore a unique transcendent path.

They could use the power of faith to pray within the statue's range and produce certain supernatural phenomena.

Unfortunately, he was still too weak. In a world where gods could, to a certain extent, directly enter the fray, he did not dare remain and continue spying. He could only find a way to explore it later.

Ace continued on toward Medimoth City. He had never stopped thinking about his teacher Peter's precious bronze mirror.

Several days later, among a stretch of hills.

A group of rat-like Demonic Beasts, half the height of a man and walking upright, were attacking a merchant caravan. The caravan had arranged its wagons into a circle, with a distress smoke fire burning in the center as they resisted desperately.

The caravan guards struggled to hold on. Every time they swung their swords, the Demonic Beasts blocked them with hard fists. Their shields were smashed apart by a few punches, and the situation was exceedingly dire.

"We're finished! Demon Fist Rats may only be ordinary Low-level Demonic Beasts, but they're born warriors. One is manageable, but a group of them is like a small army made up of nobles. We can't beat them at all!"

A young guard had his shield shattered. He turned and fled in despair, shouting as he ran.

The Demon Fist Rat facing him leaped easily, tracing a perfect arc through the air, and struck the spot over his heart from behind with one punch.

The young guard clutched his heart and fell to the ground, convulsing. He clearly would not survive.

"Focus! Don't even think of running! Gather together and resist! The distress smoke is already burning—someone will definitely come save us!"

The elderly captain of the guards roared firmly, and the panic in the others' hearts eased somewhat.

Though they all felt that the chance of anyone coming to rescue them in such a remote place was nearly zero, they still clung to that sliver of hope. No one wanted to wait for death in despair.

Through Ultrasonic Perception, Ace had already discovered the merchant caravan.

After thinking for several seconds, he took out Glimmer, transformed into Sharp's appearance, changed into a standard demon hunter outfit, and covered half his face with black cloth.

Transformation was so interesting. It would be too much of a waste not to have another identity. It was time to let himself go and sell a persona.

"I am a weathered wanderer, a righteous demon hunter! Was it you who lit the distress smoke and called for my aid?"

Accompanied by a deep, melodramatic voice, the caravan's people all looked toward its source.

A burly middle-aged demon hunter with a weathered face was racing toward them.

"Mister, you alone won't be any help! Hurry to a nearby town and call for help—find an army to save us!" a young woman from the caravan shouted.

"Hahaha! Looks like I've been underestimated. Glimmer, let's go!"

Ace cast Agility Blessing on himself, and his speed exploded in an instant. In the blink of an eye, he reached a Demon Fist Rat. Glimmer's blade burned, instantly bursting into orange-red flames and cleaving the Demon Fist Rat in two with one stroke!

Charging in headfirst really did feel good. Sure enough, every mage had a heart for melee combat! Ace thought.

Seeing Ace's strength, the other Demon Fist Rats abandoned their opponents one after another and surrounded him.

Ace smiled faintly. "I've wanted to try this move for a long time. You came at just the right time."

He planted one leg firmly, held Glimmer level, and began spinning rapidly.