The rest of the week was unusually quiet, as those who had been with me were now busy teaching dance and dueling arts. The children were not used to the workload, and the leisure time was somewhat reduced, so the public was still getting used to it. This freed up some time for me, and I worked hard on making the panels, the artifact system elements for the first room with a complex microclimate. At the same time, I fasted and performed purification rituals every night on the shore of the Black Lake, away from prying eyes.
One of the rituals, the most powerful one required at this level, I performed on Thursday, on the same shore. For this, I used magic and stone to create a special platform. Stone steps to the shore, along which is a stone path to the water, raised twenty centimeters above the water level, and going into the water for another fifteen meters. Sturdy stone blocks go into the ground for a few meters, so this place will probably be used by someone else after I leave the school. Fifteen meters from shore is a perfectly round stone platform with a large stone bowl in the center and two dozen torch/flashlight holders around the perimeter.
On one side of the platform are steps that go all the way to the bottom — more than three meters deep. I spent three whole nights on this site, not sleeping at all, meditating and taking potions. I had to work seriously, not only with the stone, but also by casting spells to prevent the growth of algae and barnacles on the stone, to prevent icing, and to protect the stone from natural destruction.
So on Thursday evening I performed a cleansing ritual, and quite a few water dwellers gathered to watch, and at the end of it I saw a crowd of professors with a bunch of deans from all the faculties on the shore. You can't stop at such things, so I finished in front of the crowd, diving headfirst into the dark water several times.
From the very beginning I was watched by several mermaids — their heads were sticking out of the water, but they did not bother me, not even a little, because the creatures were not evil by nature, living in the "purifying" water, so I did not chase them away. Barefoot, with a thin white robe on my naked body, I walked leisurely along the cold stone. The prepared torches blazed with blue fire, but the central bowl smoked only with blue smoke — dried herbs.
I walked slowly in a circle, bowing to the guardians of the Gates of the Sides of the World, noticing at the edge of my consciousness a significant increase in the number of waterfowl. And then came long hours of ritual chanting and strenuous dancing with a heavy fan decorated with gold and silver. With each tap or swing of the left hand, which wore a wide bracelet with bells, the torches flickered and waves of blue, green, red or yellow light spread from the platform over the water, causing no discomfort to the waterfowl.
About two hours later, when the magic itself seemed to sing in time with my movements, and the grasses on the shore bloomed, and a warm spring wind blew, the golden flame in the central bowl flared. By this time, the professors and the headman were already here. I continued rubbing my feet on the stone and chanting. After a few more minutes, when I felt the movement of spirits of a much higher order around me than before, the golden flame rose a full meter, and the water birds began to sing, supporting the general rhythm. I circled around the bowl for a few minutes, wringing out the last of my stamina, and fell into a trance that allowed me to see the local elder spirits.
Although, to be honest, I didn't really understand why they appeared, since this is a purification ritual, an appeal to the magician's world with a request to testify to belonging to that world, as well as the absence of indelible sins, small sins being washed away in the course of the ritual. But why the ghosts appeared, I never understood. It was a little strange to see wizards with a giant black wolf with silver fire eyes and a giant bird with blue fire above them, and people did not even feel it. A huge green snake with golden eyes and a bone crown on its head froze above the black water.
I changed the dance slightly, adding three graceful bows to the spirits, and the wolf, bird, and snake responded with a bow of their own. The people looked at each other in surprise, not understanding the meaning of the bows. I smiled broadly, waved my fan one last time, and bowed low to the golden fire. The next moment, the flames rose another meter and then spread out in a ring around me.