Bringing the wooden coffin back at the ceremonial s.p.a.ce, Gray and Rarsu laid the said item outside, near the circ.u.mference of the magic circle in preparation for the ritual to unfold."Alright, time to open her," Rarsu said as he began chanting some incantations that Gray is unfamiliar at.
"Mafas, Kroskas, Jol, Solim." Those are the incoherent words that the Elf heard the Lizardling mutter, resulting in the runes that are engraved at the coffin"s cover to disappear.
"Those words, I wonder what they mean?" Gray could not help but ask himself mentally out of intrigue. "Is it some sort of magic spell perhaps? Aside from the spells from the system, is it possible for me to learn it and also others? I better ask him about that later. And also… her?"
With the runes now gone, Rarsa nods himself in triumphant as he deems it right to open the coffin, revealing the body stored within.
"After all these years." The Lizardling shed a tear in utmost joy, seeing that his hard work might ultimately be paid off on this very day. "It has finally come."
Inside, Gray"s eyes widen in slight shock at witnessing the lifeless body at rest.
It was seemingly a figure of a female human child with long violet hair, evident by its small feminine frame but minus the private parts. Observing the body even closer, Gray could only give credit to the Lizardling for crafting such a realistic representation of a human child made out of fair skin-colored clay.
"A child?" Gray could only wonder in bewilderment at why this type of body is the one to be used in the upcoming ritual.
"A Sentinel may also be created to resemble us physically," Rarsu answers Gray"s confusion regarding the subject. "It"s just a matter of preference, and most Sentmaturgist prefer a simpler humanoid representation to not waste the consumption of the clay."
"And If I may ask, why you prefer a human girl?" Gray looks at him weirdly with utmost suspicion, hoping that the Lizardling is not what he pervertedly seems." I was kind of expecting the body to be big and muscular, similar to the Sentinels that we saw a while ago when I first step foot inside the shop upstairs."
"Don"t look at me like I have offended your great ancestors." Rarsu merely responds, slightly feeling insulted by what Gray is thinking about him. Then his tone suddenly saddens as he tells Gray the real reason behind it. "It"s for… sentimental purposes. In this memorable day of finally achieving a breakthrough in the field of magic, let"s just say that this one is for honoring someone that I… very much hold dear in the past when she was around."
Gray could hear the sorrow evident on the Lizardling"s voice as he realizes the implications and felt sympathy for the Druid. "Oh, I"m sorry to hear that."
Rarsu simply smiles at him. "Nah, no apologies needed. I would appreciate though if we don"t delve too much on that depressing topic for now as I don"t want anything distracting me when I"m performing the ritual."
"Right." Gray nods in response as Rarsu proceeded to carefully lift the body and bring it to the center of the circle.
Rarsu then lays the body on the circle"s crystal insignia as he gestured Gray to enter the circle as well.
After everything seems to be prepared, Rarsu began lecturing Gray on the how process of Sentmaturgy is going to work in this scenario. "As you can see, I"ve already arranged the necessary components for the ritual to commence. As you may probably know, Arcane Energy at its purest form is the element that you Arcanists wield."
Gray only nods as he listens to the Lizardling"s lecture attentively.
Rarsu then continues his discussion. "There are also other types of Arcane Energy, concerning the other elements that the other Mages possess such as Fire, Frost, Lightning, and many others. Normally in Sentmaturgy, we inject the desired type of Arcane Energy in the Sentinel"s core inside its body to produce the kind of Sentinel that its master desires. Then the final activation of the Sentinel is achieved by reciting an ancient invocation inside this particular Magic Circle that we are standing at this very moment. In this case however, the act of activating an Arcane Sentinel, there"s an additional procedure that"s required while reciting the said invocation."
The Elf crosses his arms, antic.i.p.ating what this procedure is going to be.
Rarsu inhales deeply as he tells Gray. "I believe that the soul of an Arcanist, your soul is necessary for this ritual. The procedure that I speak of is known as Soul Transfusion."
"S-soul Transfusion?" Gray stutters, not liking the ominous feeling and sound of the word, not even a single bit. "Wait, so what you"re saying is that you are going to transfer my soul into the Sentinel"s body!? I refuse."
Yep, Gray could only feel alarmed as he grips his Staff from his back and readies himself, in case Rarsu has some funny business planned for him.
"In a manner of speaking." Rarsu chuckles heartily at his reaction as he raised his hand, gesturing no ill-intents. "Calm down young Mage, let me finish first my statement first."
"Fine." Gray relaxes his posture a bit but is still on high alert. "Let"s hear it then."
Rarsu nods as he resumes their topic. "Indeed, what you mentioned is true. During my research, I"ve come across with an idea that may solve the issue of the Arcane Sentinel"s instability and malfunctioning. As what I"ve deduced from my experimentations and complex calculations, merely a quarter of an Arcanist"s soul might be the key in stabilizing the Arcane Sentinel as a whole. So instead, what I"m going to perform unto you is a Partial Soul Transfusion. After all, the soul is what keeps us running and sustained and may have the same effect on Magical Constructs."
"Partial Soul Transfusion?" Gray tilted his head in puzzlement. "How does that exactly work?"
Despite instructing Gray to save the questions for later, Rarsu indulges him with the vital piece of inquiry. "I"m only going to transfer a portion of your soul to the Sentinel"s body. Rest a.s.sured, nothing of significant danger is going to threaten your life since the soul heals itself over time."
Gray ponders this for a moment before making his ultimate decision.
Thinking back then, the Lizardling did go through all the trouble of escorting the Elf back to his shop and even had some teacher-student-like conversation with one another. Rarsu could have instead gone to the easy part and knocked the lights out of the Elf the moment when the latter entered the shop, saving the former the trouble. After all, Rarsu, being significantly having a higher level than Gray, thus being more powerful, has the unquestionable capability of doing so smoothly.
"You seem troubled." Rarsu returns him with a stoic look and rubs his chin in consideration. "Hmm, I did say back outside the Boscage that the experiment is going to hurt, due to the intense pain of your soul getting rip out. I"ll give you the choice of allowing you to be unconscious before the ritual, what do you say?"
"No thanks." Gray shook his head in response. "I prefer being aware of what"s happening to me."
"Very well, your choice then," Rarsu said. "So, does this mean that you finally agree?"
"Yes." Gray eventually nods in agreement in the end for the sake of the Quest"s completion and its rewards, causing a wide grin of approval from the Lizardling. "How shall I do this then?"
"Lay down next to the body and I can begin the ritual immediately," Rarsu instructs the Elf as the latter did so.
As Gray set himself down next to the Sentinel, he gave the lifeless body a meaningful stare with some thoughts. "Heh, so I"ll be providing a portion of my soul to this doll-like figure huh. If this Sentinel will be alive as a result, then it means that it... she"s going to have a portion of my very being. Does this mean that we"re going to be technically the same person? I wonder if she"s… WHAT THE f.u.c.k!!!"
An intense unbearable pain suddenly interrupts him as he turned his head to look at Rarsu standing above him.
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The Lizardling"s hand could be seen clutching on Gray"s chest as a blue-white aura, the soul no doubt, is witnessed being pulled out directly, unmistakably marking the process of Soul Transfusion.
"YOU… COULD… HAVE… f.u.c.kING… WARNED… ME… FIRST!!!" Gray screamed in utter agony; the pain so intolerable that even death itself might be a mercy for him.
Rarsu pays the Elf no mind though, as the ritual requires complete focus and undivided attention. The Lizardling is witnessed to be skillfully directing the soul with his hands into the center of the Sentinel"s chest, where the core is located inside. While performing the Soul Transfusion process, Rarsu is also heard to be chanting the ancient invocation that the Elf doesn"t even bother to listen to due to the agonizing sensation that he is currently enduring.
Gray could not help but scream in absolute suffering, his eyes glowing in a white-blue light. The fiber of his every being felt like it was being burned excruciatingly alive on the inside, like h.e.l.l itself came to greet the Elf in its tormenting d.a.m.nation.
Thankfully, the ritual came to its fateful end after 6 harrowing minutes of anguish, resulting in the Elf to immediately pa.s.sed out as the cold embrace of unconsciousness greets him with open arms.
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