Faust thought, "I will not let your sacrifice be in vain. Thank you," while he looked at the beggars' bodies.
He wasn't happy with killing them, but to him, there had been no better option. They weren't fully innocent either; they would have robbed him, maybe even killed. If it was not them, it would have been him.
This ritual was an important step according to Red. It could help him increase his mana pool and physique. Faust was trying to have enough mana to use the healing rune at least two or three times in a row, and also more obedience runes.
Red also told him that this ritual could increase his mental strength. It wouldn't be a huge improvement, but enough for him to take a weak animal as a slave.
While he stood at the center, he closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he started sensing the mana in the environment.
"Focus."
Faust heard Red and stayed still. He made a ball of mana in both his hands and started to increase the amount.
10%
30%
50%
71%
Faust was sweating, his eyes tightly shut, veins popping from his arms, forehead, and neck. That was the maximum amount of mana he could conjure and maintain outside his body in one go at the moment. He wasn't very skilled yet; he hadn't trained it much. It was much harder to maintain mana outside the body than to pass it to a rune.
"That is enough. Now."
Red guided him.
Faust instantly used that mana to touch the ground below his feet. From the center to the outer area of the ritual rune, it started lighting up in a chain reaction. A few seconds later, the whole ritual rune was illuminated.
"Now, concentrate."
Faust closed his eyes once again. Concentrating as much as he could, he sensed the ritual area. He could sense everything inside it—his body, the beggars' bodies, the snow, the rocks, even the air.
He targeted the bodies. The runes beneath them started to glow stronger while the others grew weaker. Then, their bodies began to mummify. Their blood was being sucked out, traveling through the runic formation and reaching Faust's feet. The hole he was standing in was now half-filled with blood. As more blood began to fill the hole, he arrived at the complicated part.
"Absorb, maintain focus."
They had gone through the basic steps before. If Faust failed, his heart would burst. He knew the risks, but he didn't care. In this step, he had to absorb the blood into his body using the pores of his feet and calves while maintaining focus on the bodies. Technically speaking, he could bathe in it, but at the moment, if he tried, he wouldn't be able to endure it. If the input of blood was too strong, he would lose control. So he decided to let the entrance be small. If the blood was a strong river, Faust had made a dam to limit the passage and make it easier to control.
He started to absorb the blood. It entered through his nails, feet, calves—every pore in his legs touched by blood instantly absorbed it. The veins in his body started to inflate, looking like dark worms under his skin. He was sweating intensely, his body trembling. It was painful for him to absorb it, but that was not the real problem—the problem was maintaining focus on the runes. His mental strength was quickly being undermined.
His mind was starting to blacken out, his body almost falling, when a voice reached his mind.
"Wake up."
Faust quickly straightened his posture and concentrated again. The blood from the bodies was flowing faster now, and the absorption too. A few minutes later, the blood had been absorbed, and the bodies were completely mummified.
"Not yet," Red said.
Faust nodded and concentrated even more. He had a few seconds to rest before the next step. This time, the skin, muscles, organs, and flesh of the bodies started melting and turning into liquid. He went through the same absorption process, gritting his teeth. This time, the pain was even worse. But he resisted.
Then it was the bones—they began liquefying into a thick, grayish liquid, which also entered Faust's body slowly.
"Almost… Almost… Almost…" he repeated continuously in his mind. The pain was absurd— not as bad as the headache from the dream before, but it was like being constantly stabbed by a sword. He knew that pain well; he had already experienced it.
Finally, the bodies had completely disappeared. He had fully absorbed them. No traces were left.
"Still hold," Red said.
Faust didn't react, simply maintained the runes in the area where the bodies had been.
As he opened his eyes, he suddenly vomited—thick, black substance spilling out. His whole stomach had been cleansed. It started growling from hunger.
He finished opening his eyes and looked at the ritual spot. Where the bodies had been, faint blue irregular circles fluttered like fireflies. They were weak and small.
"That is it… the last step," Faust thought to himself. He started moving the blue circles inside the ritual area toward his chest. Unlike the bodies, which had become liquid and entered from below, the spheres floated above the ground, directly to him.
The circles touched his chest and entered his body. This process wasn't painful—he just felt a little tingle in his heart, like it was being caressed. The circles fluttered around his heart before merging into his mana circle. These circles were the mana that had been in the beggars' bodies; every living creature has mana, even if they cannot use it.
Faust felt his body lighter. His muscles were still slim but slightly stronger. He felt a burden in his mind lift; he could think faster now.
The ritual was finished.
"Is that it? I completed it?" he mumbled.
"Yes."
"Impressive! I'm feeling so light, my body feels so rested. It's a little weird, but good, too good! Besides the pain, this 'Consume' ritual is amazing. Unfortunately, it only works with human bodies..."
This ritual was called 'Consume'. As the name implies, it consumes something — in this case, it consumed a body and partially transferred some of its strengths to the one participating in it.
Human bodies, although externally different, were internally almost the same. The mana was compatible. Animals' mana was much rougher and polluted; it wasn't compatible with Faust's body. Of course, he knew this thanks to Red's teachings.
Faust left the hole and sat under a tree not far from there, then started to wait, resting to recover his mana. After sixteen hours, his mana was full. That was almost like a third of the usual time removed.
He pointed his finger at another tree and shot a mana bullet. Instead of the usual ten percent, it only took seven percent. He could now shoot around four more mana bullets, meaning he would spend less on the other runes too. Obedience could still only be used roughly once per day, but healing could now be used twice a day—not one after another, but if he waited a few hours, he could use it again on the same day. It was a great improvement. He felt his mana more concentrated; it had increased quite a bit. It was much faster and more efficient than simply accumulating it normally.
"This ritual is actually really efficient… I think I could do it a few more times. Maybe I could even try different ones if Red agrees to teach me more… They are quite interesting, to say the least."
Faust was already interested in basic runes, but his interest in ritualistic runes had spiked. If they were all like this, their efficiency was unmatched by normal basic runes.
He lay down on top of his bear's back and prepared to sleep.
***
On a plain desert at night, a middle-aged man was running, illuminated only by the moonlight. Sand danced with the air and brushed against his body.
He had long dark green hair that almost touched the ground, and his irises weren't circular—they had a horizontal line shape and were dark green. His facial features were sharp, and his body was tall and slim.
This man carried a dark-chained whip on his waist, alongside a wooden frog talisman. As he moved, his dark clothing fluttered with the shifting sands.
"Those guys… they really pushed the worst mission on me once again. Shit, they are such unbelievable jerks. Fuck that. I can't have a single day of rest in my life, that's actually impressive. Am I hated by the gods? Or maybe the earth itself hates me.
"No way, that's simply bullshit. Why the hell are they sending me to another country just to investigate that damn coffin… 'It's important, please go after it,' they say. Then why didn't they come with me? Or even better, why not just let me rest and go themselves?
"That damned butterfly witch and that twat snake... why couldn't they do it instead of me? Not to mention that bastard boar and the blind owl. The old man must think of me as a slave. At this point, I can't think of any other reason he would keep pushing these trash jobs onto me.
"I hate them so much. They are unforgiving... UNFORGIVING! Gods, please punish them with all thy might… No, actually, let me punish them. I don't understand why those weaklings are allowed to push me around. And what about the others? Snail and Fish haven't joined the meetings in so long, but they're allowed to rest. This is so damned unfair.
"Not even normal unfair—it's the next level of unfairness… damn it. Why is this desert so big? I'm still, at the very least, one month away from Alveria. If I stop to eat and rest, it'll be almost two damn months. Sigh, when I finish this, I will take my time returning—oh, I will! They won't be able to bother me for at least three months."
The man was whining non-stop as he crossed the desert. His destination was Alveria, the mainland continent's biggest and most important country, which held the capital of mana, Alverith.
Coincidentally, it was also the country Faust was in—although quite far from the capital.