[Even if something is good, with hard work it can become better, and with even more hard work it can become the best. ]BENJAMIN ÁLÉ
Mult.i.tasking was hard, well it would have been hard if you had to rely on just yourself to do it. Alex was focused wholly on studying, trying to get his mastery of arrays from beginner to intermediate, and at the same time he had Ébié studying about the Indian Nightshade and other cross discipline herbs, fruits and plants that could be used to raise money. Nezha was smart, really smart...…when it had to deal with martial arts, he sucked when it came to cultivation arts, not really having the finesse or fort.i.tude to meditate and take Qi in, he was just lucky he was born a G.o.d. And since there was no immediate martial art to learn, he was out of a task, same as Xeron who spent most of his time sleeping.
Khan on the other hand had become Louis"s partner, and their jobs was to get information about who"s who, and what"s what in the academy. The others were off doing whatever it is they wanted, though Alex had told them to focus on honing their skills, as they would be going on a few missions soon.
The arrays on the tower served to create formations that improved it"s defense and attracted Qi into it. But there weren"t just arrays, there were also runic wards that catered to Mana, somehow, or in someway the previous people responsible for placing them had made a humble of it.
Normally arrays would be placed on select floors for Qi pract.i.tioners, and Wards would be on other floors for Mana users. But whether they were ambitious and we"re trying to very something revolutionary, they had mixed both wards and arrays together, trying to create some sort of grand formation that would regardless of Qi or Mana. They failed, ma.s.sively and almost brought the tower down, h.e.l.l the backlash had killed one of them, and left the other comatose for three years.
And this all happened twenty years ago, no other Arrays or ward master could fix the damage to the tower that was built with special materials, not to mention parts of the arrays and wards were still etched, and messing with those things could bring the canyon down...…Alex was going to mess with them.
Unlike the previous guys, Alex had successfully combined Mana and Qi before, of course that"s as just materials, but the combination of wind and fire was also something that shouldn"t be easily done, which brings Alex to his theory. Spirit energy is a prime energy that encompa.s.ses, life, death, and all of nature, basically it was the essence of all Creation. Everything in existence, even chaos and order had a spirit, and essence, a fundamental aspect that exposed and showed their truth. And that was spirit! Since every other energy was born from it, it would be safe to say that it could also serve as a bonding agent for not just energies, but elements, materials, life! If Alex could master the technique he could make hybrids of everything! Of energy, of ores, of herbs and plants, of animals, of life....of living sentient beings! The power of G.o.d right at his finger tips.
It wasn"t until he realized this, that he knew how talented he was, and sure it made him a little prideful, but Alex still knew the humility of hard work, it was something his had had made sure to teach him properly. Even if something is good, with hard work it can become better, and with even more hard work it can become the best. So Alex was determined to work hard, however the tower was not something he could fix fully at the moment, in fact he had no intention of touching it at the moment and was just studying arrays to pa.s.s away time while Louis and Khan find information and he gets ready for a mission to raise some money. And that"s because fixing the tower did not just require knowledge on inscriptions and it"s Arrays, it required know knowledge on Runes and it"s Wards. And that meant going down the path of a mage, which would be biting off more than he can chew at the moment.
He was just trying to see if he could come with an array that stimulate growth and draw in energy to nourish the Indians Nightshade. He would combine his studies with Ébié"s and see where they go from there. Of the basic arrays that Alex wanted to use, he wanted to combine (GROW) (SPEED) (DEFEND), he also wanted to combine the elemental Arrays (WATER) (AIR), (LIGHT) And (EARTH).
However once the elemental arrays come into question, something else might be made, so he scratched that off the list. Rather than making a grand formation with the arrays, he could make a simple formation with the basic arrays, and then single arrays with the elemental arrays, depending on when they"re needed. The water arrays would water the plants when it"s need, light would provide the photosynthesis needed since they"ll be planting in the first bas.e.m.e.nt until Alex can make a rooftop garden on top of the tower. Air is also important, the Indians Nightshade likes really chill environment, so perhaps another combining the water and air array to make an intermediate (ICE) array would be best. Alex reckons he should be able to tweak it a bit to just release cold air rather than real frozen ice.
(Alex! Come in here I"ve got something!)
Ébié"s voice rang out in Alex"s head as his hair and eyes turned blood red for a second and scales appeared at the side of his eyes. Alex rolled his eyes as he sat back on his chair and then fell back, only to be standing in the mantle.
"Alright Ébié I"m here, what is it?" Alex asked as he faced the blood dragon arch.
"You don"t have to worry too much about the arrays for now, if your aim is to start growing higher quality Indian Nightshade plants for cultivation and also rapidly, I"ve come up with a blood ritual that can help you achieve all that and more. But to be honest after all of my calculations, it requires a bunch of materials, but I"m sure if you have all of those materials it would work out well."
Alex was quite interested, he has seen the powers of Rituals, even simple ones from when he had to sneak into the mortuary in the Forbidden City. If Nezha could give him a ritual that could keep ghosts at bay and even help him purify a remnant and absorb the memories of someone who had already died, then Alex had faith that whatever ritual Ébié had come up with, it might even be more effective than his arrays.
"Okay so I need to prepare some materials for the ritual, fine, what kind of materials are needed." Alex asked as he took a seat on the Platform beneath him.
"The Indian Nightshade is a plant suitable for cultivators in the mortal gate, and mages from the apprentice stage to the 3rd circle. Basically the first basic gates would all benefit greatly from it, hence to in increase the grade of efficiency of the plant. We need the blood of a magical and demonic beast either in the true element realm, or the third circle, or in the soul refining realm or 4th magic circle. A higher grade would improve the plants.
Next you need the core of creatures with rapid growth, so you"ll probably have to focus on rabbits or pigs, or alternatively find a material or fertilizer if there"s any that improved growth. And finally you need a soul to power the ritual, I"ve found that blood rituals could be considered death rituals, to gain life, you have to give life back."
"Wait-wait! Wait! Are you saying I have to kill someone!" Alex asked completely appalled by the idea she was suggesting.
"I mean if it used a human soul then that patch of land would be fully fertile for 200 or so years, killing a human being is much better, or at least any sentient humanoid race. But that"s not what I"m saying, you could find a wandering soul, aka a ghost or wraith or what not and use that, or kill a pure creature during the ritual. I would suggest a unicorn, but those are quite rare, a dragon would be even better than humans, but you"ll be dead in seconds. So we can start small, get a dove or a any new born creature, demonic or magical, it can serves as the sacrifice for the ritual. That should be all the materials needed, and a ton of spirit energy is also required so on that day no using the masks or Summoning Khan outside of the mantle."
Alex let out a sigh of relief, the idea of using humans or any fully sentient humanoid person for a blood ritual scared the s.h.i.t out of him. But as it stands it seems this was actually the better option available to them, Alex was sure he would be able to find everything that he needs from the Orcon forest, but given how poisonous that place was, it seems he would have to go in alone to prevent any others from being in danger. He should also use that opportunity to compete some missions and raise some money, even with everything he"s achieved, Alex didn"t really have heavy pockets, and he was not one to ask him family for money.
"Alright Ébié I"ll get right on that, I"ll leave in the morning. Please keep researching, in case you can come up with something else." Alex said to her as he prepared to leave.
"Don"t worry Master, this is just the beginning."