In the study hall, Kendell, Celia, and Coli were absorbed in their work, each engrossed in refining their personal ritual circles. The atmosphere was one of focused concentration, with the occasional murmur of discussion between them.
"I think after seeing Professor Varex's demonstration, I need to rethink the scalability of my circle," Kendell mused, sketching out new lines on his design. "Maybe I can add layers that activate based on the intensity of the ritual energy I use and have the illusions scale with that intensity too. That way the more time and energy I need to execute a ritual the stronger my illusions will be to distract my enemies from what I'm doing."
Celia nodded in agreement, her eyes fixed on her own blueprint. "That's a good idea, if your goal is a strong ritual that takes time then you probably don't need to strengthen it. All you would need to do is make sure you can cast it safely."
"I'm glad you see the vision," Kendell agreed.
"I'm thinking of adding a versatility component to mine, maybe a way to adapt the enhancement effects based on the situation," She said with a grin, "I don't know what I am going to do exactly for that yet though."
Kendell nodded, "Yeah that's a good idea, sometimes just brute strength might not be the strongest part of your enhancement. Do you think you could make a way to divert the ritual energy to specific parts of you and pull the enhancements away from the parts of your body you don't need?"
Celia cocked her head, "What do you mean by that exactly, I mean that's good in theory but why would I want to make a part of myself weaker even if it benefits another part?"
With a gentle nod, Kendell explained, "Well let's say your opponent is much faster than you are even if you use your family circle alongside your Form Demon 1. You would have no way to possibly beat their speed right?"
"I guess so yeah," Celia nodded along.
"Well in that case wouldn't it be better to have more speed but maybe a weaker punch? Or take away from some of the toughness you get and convert that energy towards your legs to enhance them further? You would lose toughness but if your enemy is based on speed they most likely wouldn't hit too hard. You would be sacrificing something to beat your enemy at their own game which renders them useless."
Her eyes lit up, "Kendell that's genius! Don't regret telling me that if I can figure it out by our duel haha," She giggled and got straight to work, her eyes determined with this new idea to enhance her abilities in a way that outsmarts her opponents.
Coli looked up from his intricate design, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I've decided on my improvement already. I'm going to incorporate some of the misdirection elements we saw in other people's presentations! I don't want to use illusions like Kendell, instead, I want to have a circle that randomizes the effect of my curse in some way. If I can make my curse ritual more unpredictable, it could give me an edge in controlling the battlefield since they wouldn't know what I am going to hit them with while I'm casting."
The others agreed that the idea was good, just a very difficult execution.
Their conversation continued, each bouncing ideas off the others, the air filled with the energy of creativity and collaboration, unfortunately, Kendell found no opportunity to see Celia's family ritual circle up close.
'It's fine, I should at least see it in action in a few days for our duel. I will just inscribe it then.' Kendell thought, 'I need to make sure I get it soon though, its power will be crucial before I am able to really learn high-level rituals.'
The next day the group went to classes like normal, with nothing of real note happening in homeroom besides a buzz about all the duels in Body Enhancement Rituals coming up.
In their Sealing Rituals class with Professor Grent, the atmosphere was a mix of accomplishment and anticipation. Half the class, including Kendell, Celia, and Coli, had mastered the basic form of the seal ritual, a significant milestone in their learning journey.
"Now, we move onto the next step," Professor Grent announced, "learning the basic sealing rituals for fey, devils, and unknown entities. These are essential for any ritualist, providing safety and control over forces that might otherwise be beyond your grasp."
The class listened intently as she outlined the intricate details of each seal, emphasizing the importance of precision and understanding in their formation. "Remember, these seals are your defense against the unpredictable nature of the entities you might encounter. Mastery of these seals is crucial."
She then moved on to set their deadline, "You have until the end of next month to learn these three seals correctly. We will have weekly assessments every Friday to track your progress."
The trio exchanged determined glances, understanding the weight of the task ahead, this would most likely fall around midterms so this was probably the sealing ritual midterm exam.
In the following class with Professor Elarion, the energy shifted to one of excitement and wonder. As they entered the room for "How to Create a Ritual Circle," they were greeted by the familiar intricate circles etched onto the floor, the air tinged with the scent of magic and three other older-looking students waited inside the room.
Professor Elarion awaited them, her presence commanding and inspiring. "Today, we will review your personal circle concepts. Remember, these are not just designs; they are expressions of your magical identity."
"With me here are three senior 6th-year students from my Crafting Optimal Ritual Circles class, where they learn how to use the best way to create their ritual circles by using the least materials for the greatest outcomes. To be in that class, however, they need to have passed multiple levels of classes revolving around unique ritual circle creation so you can consider them experts in the field," She gestured to the three figures behind her who waved out at the class.
"They will be helping me certify your unique magical circles and advising on how to make them work! Please appreciate their help as they are taking time out of their day to be here. Now let's begin!"
The three seniors and Professor Elarion began walking around and inspecting their circles. One of the senior walked over to Kendell.
She smiled lightly and looked over his circle, "What exactly are you going for here?"
"Hi senior, my name is Kendell Hecrule, I was trying to create a circle that would have an effect that scaled with the amount of effort put into it. The goal is that this circle will trigger as I try and perform rituals that take time to execute, such as summoning or high-level ritual spells, and create a scaling illusion effect to distract my opponents and let me finish all of my preparations in a fight."
The senior nodded in approval, "Wow, that's a great idea! Good job incorporating it into your fighting style already. Do you have a way to enhance it as you learn more?"
Kendell nodded, "I do yes, my end goal is to merge it with rituals I personally create so as I cast the ritual itself the illusion will take place instantly and I won't have to waste time setting up this ritual first then my real rituals. The goal is to also scale the intensity of the illusions and maybe add other effects to them as I learn and grow- such as small poisonous or harmful effects that will trigger inside the illusions onto my opponents."
She nodded again, "Good good, that is definitely a good and unique idea, the execution might be difficult though as most illusions take time to set up. Do you have a way to do this quickly? I see you have the symbol of a demon here in the circle, but unfortunately I am unsure which that is..."
"Oh yes! That is the symbol for Azmoth, the demon of illusions and manipulation from the sixth circle of hell. I am planning on forming a contract with him to use his power each time I cast a ritual in his name. I am unsure what cost I will need for that though I do know he enjoys chaos."
Her eyes went wide at the mention of Azmoth and she went tense, "He is a high-level demon. Are you sure you can harness his power?"
'I can't tell her I already have a tie to him, maybe devils are known to have ties with families. It seems like this is a normal thing so I will just use it as an excuse,' Kendell raced to try and justify his circle, he completely forgot that using a devil's power is completely out of the ordinary for younger students.
Kendell grinned, "Don't worry, my family has ties with him so I am confident I will be able to get his help on something like this."
The senior eased up almost instantly, "Ok good good, that makes more sense. If that's the case then this is a beautiful ritual circle, and you have a very good plan."
She then pointed to the portion of the circle he wanted to use to help the scaling factor of the illusion power, "Here though you are going to want to change it like so..."
After another couple minutes of finetuning how the ritual could work and some helpful advice from his senior, she smiled and said he would definitely pass if he cleaned up the ritual and ensured his tie to Azmoth works.
Kendell smiled and thanked her for all her help and she moved on to another student.
After hearing about the things he needed to fix, Kendell decided it was time to return to the restricted section of the library after classes. He needed to secure a way to tie Azmoth to his ritual and he wasn't going to learn anything like that in his classes.