Blood Magus Chapter 76

Upon returning to his lair, Zeth descended down the staircase and walked through the entryway, thinking over his options.

What Alfon had said set him on-edge. That man had always felt a little mysterious, and when he made a statement like “If a Blood Mage exists, the Inquisitors will find them, and that’s a certainty,” it only made him feel more so. What did he know? What experiences did he have with the Inquisitors to make him so confident?

Regardless, Zeth had built up a pretty consistent response to those uneasy, unsafe feelings he sometimes got in his time as a Blood Magus. Simply get stronger.

So, upon walking into the main room of his base, he knelt right down on the ground and began drawing.

As he did, Zeth heard a stirring from the corner, glancing over to see Astrys sitting up from where she slept.

“Oh, uh, hey,” he said as he traced a wide line to begin the six-and-a-half foot circle for Empowerment Ritual.

She stretched, rolling her shoulders and cracking her neck. “Good morning.”

“Sorry about making you sleep on the floor,” he said, watching her pull her arms across her chest, grimacing in a way that made it clear her sleeping arrangement had been uncomfortable.

“Hm?” She looked at him. “It is okay.”

“No, no, it’s not. I’ll figure out something better for you by tonight.”

Astrys stared at him for a moment. “Something is different about you.”

“What?”

“You are acting strange.” She looked at him cautiously. “Why?”

“Oh, I guess it’s just that Skill I mentioned last night that reduces the amount your fear aura affects me. I didn’t realize it would be so obvious.” He looked down at himself. “Is it something I’m doing that looks weird?”

“Hm,” she said. “It does look as though you do harbor far less animosity toward me. I would say it makes sense that this change is caused by such a Skill, however I see evidence to the contrary. Your heart is still beating quickly, and you continue to show several signs of anxiety. However, much of the negative emotion you feel around me seems to have decreased. It is strange.”

“Huh. I didn’t realize you could tell that much.”

“My Influence is quite high.”

“Well, it’s probably just because the Skill isn’t max Rank yet. It’s not like I can just ignore the fear effect, so maybe it’s just that I’m experiencing some effects but not others.”

She frowned. “We will see.”

Zeth looked at her. “You look uneasy.”

“Change is rarely good.”

“Hm?”

“I am in a situation with you where I am safe. Now you are acting strangely, with reasoning for this change which I do not feel fully explains your actions. The safety of my situation is now subject to change, as well. Of course I would be nervous when I do not understand the actions of the one who holds my life in his hands.”

“Ah. Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t even feel like I’m acting all that different in the first place. But I hope you can end up trusting me in the future.”

She nodded slowly. “We will see.”

For most of the day, Zeth spent his time drawing while Astrys continued renovating the base to lower the floor and ensure her fear aura wouldn’t affect anyone walking around on the surface. He didn’t know when, but Zeth suspected soon enough the forest would have plenty of people poking around it, looking for any evidence of a lair. And he wanted to offer nothing to find for his pursuers.

Speedy Rites Ranked up twice as he worked, bringing his ritual requirements down as it already reached Rank eight, and Friend of the Unhallowed Ranked up as well, moving up to six as it seemed like the Skill counted the time Zeth spent a few rooms away from Astrys as practice for improving it just as it did the time he spent right next to her—if to a lesser degree.

Eventually, Zeth finished his Empowerment Ritual, happy to see the requirement having ended up at only around thirteen and a half hours after his Rank-ups. At this point, the total modifier for the minimum times of his rituals was now reducing them to below half of what they originally were, when combining Speedy Rites with Vile Focus. Of course, spending thirteen hours on a single ritual was still pretty ridiculous, from an objective standpoint—Zeth could have never imagined doing something like that at the beginning of his time as a Blood Magus—but compared to what it could’ve been, he was happy to be spending only one full day working on a ritual circle.

With it finished, he walked over to the storage room, treading over the newly-lowered floor of the hallways, and grabbed one of the barrels of blood the bandits had been used to fill, dragging it back over to the ritual circle and dumping it over to fill up the blood requirement. But, by the time the barrel was emptied, he was left with only a partially-completed ritual, the percentage hanging below fifty percent. Seemed like the bandits hadn’t all been very high in Level.

So he went back and got another barrel, hoping it would be enough. He emptied it out, and…still not quite. The circle’s lines glowed greedily, awaiting more blood to fill its hunger. Zeth was forced to retrieve the last barrel of blood they’d been able to fill up with the bandits’ blood, opening it and pouring out a bit more. Thankfully, he wasn’t forced to empty this one out, leaving it with the majority of its contents remaining, but this single ritual had done quite some damage to his stores. He certainly wouldn’t have enough to complete another Level-up without finding yet another source.

But that was besides the point. For now, Zeth’s focus was set on the new set of notifications running through his mind.

[Otherworldly Excellence’s Rank has increased to 8.

+5 Dexterity. You have 75 Dexterity.

+1 Skill Point. You have 16 Skill Points.]

[Empowerment Ritual’s Rank has increased to 7.

+1 Skill Point. You have 17 Skill Points.]

[Blood Magus’s Level has increased to 14.

+3 Endurance. Your Endurance is 48.

+5 Dexterity. Your Dexterity is 80.

+1 Awareness. Your Awareness is 14.

+2 Poise. Your Poise is 28.

+7 Shaping. Your Shaping is 98.

+3 Skill Points. You have 20 Skill Points.]

[Requirement fulfilled: Blood Magus Level 14.

You have unlocked Blood Magus Skill: Confusion Ritual.]

All the way up to twenty Skill Points, thanks to Rank-ups from both Otherworldly Excellence and Empowerment Ritual on top of the ones he got earlier. And both Shaping and Dexterity were nearing the milestone of one hundred soon enough. Lots to be excited about. But first, Zeth wanted to see his new Skill.

[Confusion Ritual - Cost: 12 Skill Points

Uses a ritual circle to create a confusion trap. Upon completion of the ritual, the trap will become armed, and any being other than you who comes into contact with the circle will trigger it. Upon triggering it, a target will be inflicted with blindness and deafness for up to 60 seconds. 

Intensity of the sight and hearing impairment and length of the effect depends on the target’s Awareness and Poise Stats compared to your Shaping Stat. If the combined total of their Awareness and Poise Stats is greater than your Shaping Stat, the trap will have no effect.

Strength of sacrifice required: Very Low

Required ritual circle diameter: 2.33 inches (originally 3 inches)

Time required to draw: 9.55 minutes (originally 20 minutes)

Upkeep time required each day: 3.88 minutes (originally 5 minutes)]

Another trap, like Hellfire Ritual. This one was a far less lethal option, which made Zeth initially want to dismiss it—why would he use a less effective weapon? But then he looked again at some of the details.

First off, both blindness and deafness would be absolutely crippling on their own, but when combined together, it would effectively leave someone completely helpless for the entire duration of the effect. And sixty seconds was a long, long duration.

Now, there was the obvious downside that a person could resist the effect with high enough Stats. And not only that, but it wasn’t just a straight comparison of one of their Stats to one of his—instead, they got to combine two of their Stats together and compare that total to the singular Shaping Stat from Zeth. If their number was greater, his ritual would have no effect on them. And even if it wasn’t, it looked like even having decent Stats that didn’t fully beat his would still partially reduce the ritual’s effectiveness. All of that took away from the effect’s power.

But then there were the ritual requirements. Those were easy to ignore, but they were what really sold Zeth on this Skill. Sure, it was easier to resist than Hellfire Ritual, and really, in most cases Zeth would probably want to light someone on fire rather than merely temporarily blind them, but the ritual requirements were practically nonexistent. Half of Hellfire Ritual’s minimum diameter? Under ten minutes to draw, compared to Hellfire Ritual’s half-hour? Even if its upkeep time wasn’t so low, he could just let the things erase themselves and re-draw them from scratch every day and that still would take less time than doing the upkeep on a single Hellfire Ritual. It looked fantastic, really.

And the more he thought about it, the more he realized having some sort of a nonlethal option for defense was very useful. He could put one in the entrance to his base, before any of the Hellfire Rituals, so that if any random innocent stumbled upon his lair, they’d at least be able to realize they were in over their head before they died. He could more easily capture people if needed, fight back against people who weren’t evil and didn’t deserve to die, like any misled town guards, and maybe even have something more effective against enemy demons, who would be extremely resistant to his fire-based attack. Though, that last one would probably be less relevant, considering any demons he fought would likely completely outclass him in Stats.

Still, the Skill looked like a powerful option.

But Zeth had his eyes on another one.

With this newest Level-up, he now had enough Skill Points to afford Ephemeral Bloodforge. Confusion Ritual would be good, yes, but in the situation he needed to fight against these Inquisitors, he imagined it wouldn’t do much good against them. They were likely high enough in Level that they wouldn’t be as affected by the Skill, and really, Zeth was just antsy to get some sort of defense that didn’t rely on him drawing up ritual circles beforehand and carrying them around with him. Every time he did that it was a massive risk, and with scrutiny only increasing, it was becoming riskier and riskier to take any sort of ritual with him into town. Ephemeral Bloodforge would give him a way to fight back without needing to take that risk.

The Skill was expensive, but versatile—almost absurdly so. And this one more than any other got Zeth curious about what kind of Evolution options it would end up unlocking once it reached max Rank.

So, after looking over his list of unlocked Skills once more to ensure this was the one he wanted, Zeth bought it.

[You have purchased Blood Magus Skill: Ephemeral Bloodforge.

-16 Skill Points. You have 4 Skill Points.]

“Alright,” he muttered, “time to see how this thing works.”

First, he would need a way to extract blood out of his own body. So he went and retrieved his knife, holding it to his forearm and making a small cut, mentally preventing Sanguine Renewal from instantly healing it as he felt the sting of pain in his skin.

As he watched a drop of blood bead up from the little wound, Zeth focused inward. Ephemeral Bloodforge said it would give him “minor telekinetic control” over his own blood. So, hopefully, that wouldn’t be too difficult to use.

Focusing as hard as he could on the Skill, Zeth found a new capability within his mind. Like a new set of controls had been plopped down in the familiar area. He mentally moved over to them, and started trying things out.

It took some effort, especially since he had to constantly also focus on Sanguine Renewal to ensure it didn’t close his wound, but eventually, Zeth watched as the little bead of blood that’d risen up from the cut began to wobble. He concentrated harder, finding the mental task to be difficult enough that it was genuinely causing strain, but the little droplet of blood began to float. Its surface wobbled, shaking back and forth, but it rose up higher and higher above his arm, completely suspended in the air.

Zeth had seen plenty of magic before, with his Hellfire Rituals and Demonic Covenants, but for whatever reason, this moment made him feel more than ever like he was a true mage. A magus. He was doing the impossible, holding something up in the air without even touching it.

A smile broke out across his face. He chuckled, watching the blood float up in the air. But as he did, his concentration wavered just a bit, and the droplet fell, splattering against the stone.

“Right,” he muttered. “Concentrate. This is harder than I thought it’d be.”

Still, no matter how difficult it was, he didn’t mind. It could’ve cost more or been less powerful in exchange for being easier to use, but he wouldn’t prefer either of those options to this. Difficulty could be overcome with practice. And practice was exactly what Zeth planned on doing.

“Okay. Let’s try to see if we can make a weapon this time.”