After their enlightening day of classes, Kendell, Celia, and Coli made their way to the study hall, intrigued by the secret Celia hinted at. The hall was buzzing with the focused energy of students, but they found a quiet room to discuss.
"Alright, Celia, what's this secret you mentioned earlier?" Kendell asked, his curiosity piqued.
Celia looked around, ensuring no one was eavesdropping, and then turned to them with a confident smile. "I've already mastered the Body Enhancement Rituals, Demon's Form 1 and 2 at the second level of mastery, to be precise. My family specializes in these rituals, and I've been training since I was young."
Coli's jaw dropped in disbelief, while Kendell's eyes widened. "That's incredible, Celia! But why keep it a secret?" Kendell inquired.
Celia's expression turned serious. "In the world of ritual magic, information is power. Revealing my abilities could put me at a strategic disadvantage, especially with the Royal Rally approaching."
Kendell nodded, understanding the tactical move. "So, can you help us master it too?" he asked, eager to learn.
"Yes, I believe I can. The key is in understanding how to channel your energy effectively," Celia explained. "Let's start with Demon's Form 1. Follow my lead."
For the next hour, Celia guided them through the nuances of the ritual. She corrected their postures, advised on energy flow, and shared insights into maximizing the effect of the ritual. Kendell and Coli were quick learners, and with Celia's guidance, they began to grasp the fundamentals of the ritual.
As they practiced, Kendell felt a surge of power coursing through him, a raw energy that enhanced his physical abilities. It was exhilarating and empowering. The tattoo on the base of his neck began to feel warm as it helped pull the energy around him to complete the ritual, but even without its help he was starting to reach a solid understanding. Coli, too, began to show signs of progress, his previous frustration replaced by a look of determination.
"This is amazing," Coli exclaimed, flexing his arms and feeling the newfound strength. "I can actually feel the difference!"
Kendell tried focusing solely on the new tattoo he had acquired during Professor Varex's class. Concentrating on the symbol etched at the base of his neck, he channeled energy into it, feeling an immediate boost in power. The ritual felt more intuitive and fluid with the tattoo, a clear advantage to drawing the ritual out instead. As he began pulling more energy to the tattoo a notification from the system appeared:
[-----------------------------------]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Form Demon I: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Would you like to absorb the surrounding energy to increase mastery? ]
[-----------------------------------]
Kendell was shocked, 'Huh so I guess there are advantages besides recoding the tattoos, but what exactly does mastery mean? And would doing so right now be obvious? I feel like they would sense the energy flow... I will try this later.' Kendell then mentally rejected the offer from the system and continued trying to master the process himself.
As they wrapped up their practice, Kendell and Coli thanked Celia for her invaluable help. "We couldn't have made this progress without you," Kendell said sincerely.
Celia shrugged modestly. "We're a team, and we help each other. That's what makes us strong."
Kendell then remembered what Celia had said at the beginning of their practice, "Hey Celia, you said that you have second level mastery over these right? What exactly does that mean?"
She grinned and said, "Why don't I just show you first, then I'll explain." With that a sudden influx of energy wrapped around her as she drew the ritual circle in the air. Her body had a faint golden sheen around it and an almost unnoticeable two bumps appeared on top of her head.
"This is what second level mastery looks like, you guys are only going to be able to gain some minor physical improvement in comparison. See these bumps?" she pointed to the small bumps on her head, "these will eventually turn into the horns you saw on Professor Varex when he used the ritual. For Form Demon 1, the mastery is shown in how large your horns are and the larger they are, the deeper your connection to the ritual and the more power you gain from it. The same principle applies to all rituals, just the aesthetic that shows mastery changes."
Both boys stood in awe of her performance and looked at each other, mentally thinking both how awesome this was and how much work they clearly had to do to catch up to their partner.
Their study session ended on a high note, each of them feeling a sense of achievement and camaraderie. They left the study hall, discussing their plans for the next day and what they were going to research in the library tomorrow for their ancient rituals assignment.
In his dorm room that night, Kendell lay in bed, his mind racing with the events of the day. 'Ok time to try this while I'm alone' He then began to pull the energy around him into his Form Demon 1 tattoo and yet again the notification appeared:
[-----------------------------------]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Form Demon I: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Would you like to absorb the surrounding energy to increase mastery? ]
[-----------------------------------]
'Yes' he replied mentally, and all the sudden he could feel the energy in the room being sucked towards him like a vacuum. His spine arched as he cried out in pain, the feeling of so much ritual energy entering his body was too much. He had barely used ritual energy so his body was unfamiliar with the sensation and the amount of energy to increase the mastery of the ritual was the equivalent of months of work. He bit his tongue to avoid blacking out from the pain and then as quickly as it started it was over. The pain was completely gone leaving just the lingering feeling of energy around his body and a hum from his tattoo.
[-----------------------------------]
[ Mastery enhancement success! ]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Form Demon I: Current Mastery | 2 ]
[-----------------------------------]
Kendell grinned at the success message, 'Interesting, this feels...' he began to pull some energy towards the Form Demon 1 tattoo, 'much stronger, probably two to three times stronger. Mastery is really important here huh.'
Then Coli came sprinting through the door, "KEN ARE YOU OK WHAT THE SEVEN HELLS IS GOING ON!" He stopped short as he saw Kendell's massive grin and apparent lack of pain. "Uh hey Ken, are you a masochist or something?"
Kendell looked at him in utter confusion, 'what is he talking about OH'
"Haha yes Coli I'm ok sorry, I was uh trying to set up my bed and stubbed my toe but I got it so don't worry." Kendell tried to grin and act normal, 'shit I can't believe I was that loud, I need to find a better place to do this so I won't get caught.'
Coli just looked at Kendell, who was currently under the covers of his bed and no where near the side that would allow him to raise it nor was his foot in anyway going to get stubbed in that process. "Uh huh whatever you say bud, next time don't be so loud ok? And if you could wait till I get in the shower like a normal person," with a shake of his head Coli left the room to finish up his shower.
'Well it's much better to have him think of me as a masochist than having a way to cheat the system, hopefully he just ignores this for the future,' Kendell just smiled and shook his head before laying down to appear like he was sleeping. 'Now all I need is to wait for him to go to sleep and I can sneak out to try and visit those higher floors of the library.'