The faint light from the skull candlestick spilled onto the tabletop, and the surface of the white bone box glinted with a thin layer of silver luster.
After Hettie left the room, Daphne began to prepare to examine the items sent by Grover.
She undid the clasp at the closure of the bone box, and the lid slowly popped open on its own, revealing its contents before her eyes - a complete index finger bone, a silvery-white metal candlestick, a small vial of grease, a pair of flints, and a wet rag stained dark green by an unknown liquid.
Apparently, these were all the props needed for a simple ritual, and one could tell the evil nature of the ritual just from the contents.
A fragment of blank parchment was attached to the inside of the lid. Daphne used a small brush to spread the grease on the surface of the parchment, and black words gradually emerged.
However, she didn't really need to read those tiny, scrawled words that would disappear again in less than five seconds because, at the same time, a translucent blue screen was quietly and quickly unfolding in the center of her vision.
[Alsuja, the Great Lord of the Ice Tomb, is the incarnation of night and winter. Wherever the frost-dark blade points, even the blazing corona will set.]
[The Melting Shadow Ritual]
[Ritual - Faith - Beginner]
[Death Lineage - Night Path]
[No prerequisites are required. Completing the ritual will enable you to obtain the faith of the Night Path.]
[The candlelight brings not only light but also endless darkness. Where will the shadow go?]
[Step 1: Crush the night vine branches and mix them with corpse oil from the dead to make paint, then soak the rag in the paint and coat the surface of the flints with it, leaving no corner uncovered.]
[Step 2: Place the index finger bone of a humanoid's right hand on the candlestick and pour grease over it.]
[Step 3: Disperse all other open flames and strike the flints to light the finger bone.]
[Step 4: Embrace the night.]
There were no venue requirements or prerequisites. As long as there was no other open flame in the room before the final step, it was an incredibly simple beginner's ritual for obtaining faith.
This was the main reason why Daphne had come here to deceive Grover, to take advantage of the benefits that could be obtained under the name of Alsuja for free.
Faith was often even harder to acquire than a profession in this world. Even if one joined a certain church or sect, one had to achieve quite high recognition and merits before being officially qualified to embark on the path of faith and become an extraordinary believer.
Normally, a person could only choose one faith and one path in a lifetime. However, the passive effect of the Death Seal gave Daphne a second option for temporary faith.
She decided to make the faith of the Death Lineage her temporary faith, which would be lost when she took off the ring and restored when she put it back on.
To avoid being overpowered by other girls again next time without the ability to resist, Daphne had to obtain enough power to protect herself. All her choices would be made with maximizing benefits and efficiency in mind.
In other words, she would stop at nothing.
Even the Death Lineage faith, which was strictly prohibited in the empire, as long as it could enhance her strength, Daphne would embrace it without hesitation or even actively seek it out.
After all, as a hardcore gamer, she had tried various faiths on different accounts and characters when playing "COG". So the mere Night Path didn't bring her the slightest sense of guilt.
After confirming the ritual steps again, Daphne began to prepare for the ritual.
She first found Hettie and instructed her that no one was allowed to approach her room for the next two hours. Then she closed and locked the door tightly and cleared the table, leaving only the bone box and the skull candlestick that was already there.
The ritual required that all open flames be dispersed before the final ignition. At least until then, Daphne still needed this normal candle for lighting.
The wet rag with strange colors had already been soaked with paint. All she needed to do was to cover the surfaces of the two flints with the paint.
Daphne wiped each flint at least three times and only proceeded to the next step after confirming that there were no gaps left uncovered.
The silver candlestick prepared by Grover had a fixed slot, making it very easy to stand the finger bone upright. Pouring the grease was even quite relaxing.
After wiping away the grease that had spilled onto the table, Daphne was ready for the final step.
She took a deep breath and blew out the only source of light on the table.
Darkness immediately filled the entire room, and a wisp of smoke rose slowly in the shadows.
Her retina hadn't adapted to the darkness yet, and she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Daphne struck the flints in her hand by feel, and a light blue spark burst out between the flints.
She adjusted the position and struck them again. This time, the spark accurately landed on the finger bone that had been smeared with grease, and a幽蓝 flame instantly flared up at the tip of the finger bone.
The flame was eerie and had no heat. It could only illuminate a tiny area around it.
Daphne waited quietly. She sat in front of the table, her eyes never leaving it, until the finger bone gradually melted and shortened like a candle and was completely burned up after an hour.
A milky-white gelatinous substance flowed all over the candlestick and even dripped onto the table. The moment thedark blue flame disappeared, Daphne saw a ball of pitch-black flame in the center of the candlestick.
This was very unusual.
Since it was all dark around, if the flame was black, she shouldn't have been able to see it.
The black flame in her vision grew stronger and expanded continuously,
swallowing everything up. Eventually, it also engulfed Daphne who was sitting in front of the table. She saw a shadow in the boundless darkness, and black light projected from behind her.
Her body gradually tilted and fell towards the ground, while the ground also gradually tilted and rose towards her body. She was merging with her shadow.
She was no longer herself.
Walking on a winter wasteland without any light, she felt a gaze falling from the ice tomb as distant as mountains. The skeletal god was sealed in the throne in the ice tomb.
He glanced over.
She realized that the shadow was her, and she was the shadow. When the endless night came, she would be everywhere.
...
After waking up from the illusion brought by the ritual, Daphne only felt her head swelling and a rhythmic buzzing sound ringing in her ears.
There was no black flame. The flame had gone out after the finger bone was burned. Everything after that was the scene shown to her by the ritual.
Daphne first relit the normal candle in the skull candlestick to restore the lighting in the room and then began to check her current state.
Judging by her feeling, the ritual should have been completed.
She could distinguish the boundary between light and dark more clearly than before, and could even sense where to hide to avoid sight and light. This was obviously one of the changes brought by the Night Path.
With a thought, the screen immediately unfolded in her vision.
[Daphne - Female - Half-Vampire (Succubus Constitution)]
[No Profession for Now]
[Death Lineage - Night Path (Sequence 9) - Shadow Dweller (Additional Faith)]
[Life 100%]
[No Magic Power for Now]
[Skill: Shadow Run lv1 (Shadow Dweller)]
[Spell: Light Fire Spell (Half-Vampire Talent), Blood Disguise (Half-Vampire Talent), Mage's Hand (Half-Vampire Talent), Pain Lash lv1 (Shadow Dweller)]
[Trait: Light and Dark Vision (Shadow Dweller), Night Throttle lv1 (Shadow Dweller)]
A new skill, a new spell, and two new traits. The improvement brought by obtaining the faith was significant. Daphne had made the right decision to come here.