SoK Chapter 197

It turned out that the new ritual was significantly more time-consuming than TJ had expected. With the limited experience he had with the two rituals that he already had, those being Stormcaller and Ritualistic Transfer, he’d expected the ritual to only take a couple minutes. Instead, half an hour later, TJ was finally mostly finished with the preparations of the first half of the ritual circle on the ground for the participants to then stand in. Unfortunately for said participants, he’d had them stand there the entire time to ensure that they could benefit from the Skill’s use. As he went through the motions necessary to concentrate the ground, TJ realized he’d already learned a little bit more about ritual magic through the use of this Skill, yet another bonus to having selected it.

“Do I need to stand here this whole time every time we decide to do this?” Sarah asked. She’d already stood basically without moving for the past 30 minutes, and she deserved at least this much of a question answered.

“This time, it was probably worth it. After all, it’s better for me to understand a little more about how the Skill works, and if you had to have been there the entire time and then I did all this while you weren’t ready, I’d be pretty pissed when I learned it. Next time, I’ll be able to get this all set up before I need anyone else. And I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to set up a more permanent ritual circle to use this and other rituals from, though their circles vary pretty greatly from one to the other. I wonder how using this one would impact Stormcaller…“ TJ allowed his thoughts to drift off only a little, his mind still focused on general ritualism and how it functions.

“How much longer? And how long is this thing gonna last? If it only lasts for like, five minutes, that’s gonna be a real waste of time.”

“Although the Skill’s description doesn’t say it outright, as I’m doing this, I’ve come to somewhat understand how it works.” TJ explained. “There’s a total of 10 possible hours of use of the ritual, and that time’s split evenly among however many participants in the ritual we have. Since this time it’s going to be you, Seth, and Farid, then it’ll last for 3 hours and 20 minutes. I have to say though, I think it’s kind of stupid that you all’ll basically have higher Attributes than I do while we’re using the ritual.”

“I don’t really think so,“ Seth retorted, “the bonus that you’re going to get from the Storm is way better than what we get.”

TJ didn’t respond, though he did recognize that was true. With Primal Savagery boosting his Attributes combined with his Divine Authority and Storm affinity and the massive boosts given through Divine Transformation, he would be getting a sizable boost to all of his Attributes, ranging from 185% at the lowest, to 310% at the highest, if Monster Slayer’s additional 25% was applied. Without Divine Transformation, TJ knew that there wouldn’t be any one of his followers that would quite be able to compare. Even so, it was lame that he was only able to give the boost from Awakening to other people, not take any of it for himself. His thoughts briefly drifted tot he 

“Well, stand in one of these circles. Make sure there’s at least two empty ones between you and the next person.” TJ explained while he pointed at the 10 one–foot wide circles that sprouted from the various glowing lines that made up the ritual circle’s floor. Then, seeing that everybody was where they were meant to be, TJ began channeling the ritual.

As he intoned the words, he spread his arms out from his sides as he offered the resources to the ritual that the Skill demanded. He had to suppress a groan of agony as blood forced itself out from under his fingernails to drip onto the ground below him. With a force of effort, TJ continued on the mental journey of pushing his mind and will through the ritual, feeling more and more of himself slip out of his body and into the circle that glowed below him. After at least two minutes of uninterrupted chanting, TJ opened his eyes and spun in a slow circle while continuing to drip blood on the glowing lines that coursed and danced underfoot.

Before, the circle had radiated a welcoming bluish white light, something like the hue of lightning as it struck, but now, it burned with a scarlet glow, as if the pure color of before had been stained by his literal blood sacrifice. TJ bowed his head as he continued with the ritual, and his mind was forced to the enumeration of his own Attributes and what they’d be when offered to the other participants in the ritual. The numbers quantifying each Attribute from Strength to Fixation flashed through his mind, and he thought about what the offered boosts would mean to each of the three people who would go hunting with him now. There was no shortage of benefits that could be drawn from even a small increase to someone’s Attributes, and this wasn’t some small number that was being granted to his followers. Instead, this was, at the very least, 86 Attribute points to every single aspect of their ability to fight, run, and express themselves.

Regardless of his musings, the ritual forced his mind’s meanderings to amble onward, and TJ continued chanting and channeling the ritual for another 30 minutes, making for an hour in total to have created the ritual and then bestow it on his three followers. As he finished, TJ looked for the first time at each of the people before him. He’d only been paying attention to the ritual until now, but now, he felt a flash of surprise as he looked at them.

Each person’s face had changed ever so slightly, their noses just a little flatter, their pupils were notably slitted, culminating in a handful of brightly colored feathers sprouting from their hair in various places. With Seth and Farid, both of whom had relatively short hair, the feathers stood out as particularly strange, but when threaded through Sarah‘s long hair, the results of the ritual just looked as if she braided feathers into her loose ponytail.

“You finally done?“ Sarah asked, rolling her shoulders as she obviously looked at her Attributes. “This is pretty amazing what you’ve done here. Also, your numbers are stupid.”

“Well, I’m not done with the rituals. Actually, I might be an idiot, not just the numbers.“ TJ replied with a wry grin. “I should have already summoned the storm before I did this. For now, somebody go and get William to get a roof over this ritual circle. If we preserve it, it’ll be easier for me to do this in the future. I’ll need to,” TJ cut off the question coming from the Valkyrie, “get some other materials to make the circle truly permanent, but having even a little bit of the circle remaining in the future when I do this again will be a great boon. For now, I’ll get this storm started so we’ll finally be ready to get down there.”

TJ didn’t wait for an answer as he sat down and channeled the next Skill. For the first time, he created a storm using the Silver tiered version of Stormcaller. The storm came more easily with less resistance from the warmth and humidity found in the air nearby. Laughing at how he needed to spend so much time preparing instead of actually going and fighting, TJ slowly allowed himself to get taken up in the creation of the storm.

Interestingly, with his change of proficiency from solely Wind to Storm, TJ felt the difference in how the varying Skills affected his perception. Winds were flighty, untethered and free, always looking to go somewhere and do something. Storms were the resolution of imbalance, almost justice. His role as he activated Stormcaller was to introduce chaos that would demand that the atmosphere itself gather together to right the imbalances he created. He ruled over that rectification, and TJ grinned as he prepared to step into the natural rage that he himself created.

The creation of a more intense storm came with less effort than before, requiring less of his own resources to form due to his upgraded Skill and Affinity with the Storm. With a grin, TJ spent over 1,000 of his resources to make the storm last longer, glad to have received the benefits from Storm Soul upgrading to Silver as well. He threw himself into the storm, drawing more and more of that pressure and energy that would demand release into the brewing mass of clouds. At last, he’d spent enough resources and time to ensure that the end result of his Skill would last for nearly a full day. 

His time in Stormcaller finally complete, TJ pulled himself out of the storm and directly into Meditation to further boost his recovery rate. He wouldn’t recover all the way to full, as that was going to be a waste of time right now, but he wanted to give himself maybe 30 minutes of additional recovery before going on the hunt down below. As always, when lost in the meditative state of recovery, time passed quickly.

Finally, TJ was ready, and he stood and smiled at the cold rains that whipped at his face. He met Seth and Farid’s eyes before nodding once. “You finally ready to go?“ He asked them.

Sarah didn’t answer, simply laughing to herself in excitement as she turned to run towards the edge of the overpass. The two Acolytes were significantly less overzealous and instead walked alongside TJ as they made their way to the edge. Peering down, they saw a pair of multicolored wings made up of feathers that were much too similar to the appearance of TJ’s own to be anything other than a testament to how her Class had been changed by swearing herself to him. As soon as her feet were on the ground, Sarah’s armor and battleaxe appeared, and she went from playfully excited to seriously protective.

“Either of you need help to get down, or have you got it?” TJ asked. Seth didn’t say anything, shaking his head as he took a deep breath and jumped over the edge. The only person to actually give TJ a response was Farid, and he chuckled as he looked down at their two companions.

“I have 200 times the Agility now that I did when the Integration took place. I could jump off of a 6–foot wall without any real problem back then, I’ll be fine now.“ Without another word, the man hopped forward and let himself fall to the ground. True to his word, he landed without issue, his supernatural strength and reactions more than capable of keeping him from even twisting an ankle, much less being seriously injured by the fall. For the first time in quite a while, TJ thought about the changes he’d experience in those terms, and though he knew that Attributes didn’t quite scale like that, the reality was that his Toughness, Endurance, and Strength were more than enough to ensure that he wasn’t going to hurt himself by being so “risky” as to jump down a “mere” 100 feet.

With just a hint of assistance from Storm Manipulation, TJ slowed his fall for the last 10 feet to let himself land almost soundlessly on the ground.

“I’m not seeing anything approaching.” Sarah reported.

“Me neither, and I’m a lot better at that than she is.” Seth added with a laugh. To her credit and despite her bluster and overall recklessness, Sarah didn’t comment except to nod in agreement. Farid, when TJ looked to him for agreement, just shrugged.

“I’m not much of a tracker or anything, so don’t look to me for any particular information. I’m going to help, but Seth’s the best tracker you’ve got.”

TJ nodded, turning his attention to the marshes in front of him. As before, there really wasn’t much for him to see. ThAll that was immediately visible was thick brush, swampy ground, and strange, tall trees that filled their view. The only movement to be seen was that of the flora that swayed and danced in the whipping winds from the storm blowing overhead.

“Then our next course of action is to see how far we can go while still getting the benefits from the storm.” TJ spoke to the rest and, to nobody’s surprise, Sarah was the first to step forward. Once she was under the overpass, she looked up to ensure she was fully under the concrete, checked her Status, and called back, “Still applies. I’ll keep an eye on it, but let’s move forward while we still have this ritual going, shall we?”

“Of course.“ TJ agreed as he gestured for his other two allies to step forward. “You two stay between Sarah and myself, I’ll make sure nothing ambushes you from behind. That means you’re taking care of everything in the front, Sarah. Clear?”

Without saying anything, the two men stepped forward, spear and crossbow appearing in their hands. TJ transformed into a coatl and breathed deeply, his tongue flicking in front of him as he tasted the air. Rot, wet, and everything else he had smelled in the marshy expanse before, but no olfactory sign of any enemies. The bonuses from his Prehistoric Huntsman Skill settled over him as TJ went on the hunt. There were monsters to kill, and finally, he was going to pursue levels like he hadn’t ever since the Tutorial. At the first appearance of a monster, Sarah shouted in excitement and rushed forward. The bunyip had evidently thought it could take her by surprise, but her axe flashed twice and the kill notification appeared in TJ‘s mind.

“Are there any challenges down here?” The Valkyrie asked TJ, Seth, and Farid all groaned as she said as much.

“Raising flags.” TJ shook his head, looking at Seth. “Did I say that right?”