When Aiwass made the phantasmagoric card, he could still sit in a wheelchair.
But when performing the advancement ritual, he couldn't do that.
Fortunately, Aiwass had already fed the shadow demon this morning. Even when he stood up and his body was completely connected to his shadow, the awakened shadow demon did not lose control at all.
The shadow beneath Aiwass's feet subtly wriggled, occasionally floating slightly to prove its existence and presence.
The occasionally floating shadow would make one think of the "misty" special effects created with dry ice—except this mist was a pure black with no impurities.
It was enveloped in demonic energy.
In fact, the materials and procedures for the advancement ritual were not entirely consistent.
The universality of rituals themselves was not so rigid; the complexity of many rituals and the inherent difficulty in obtaining materials actually stemmed from artificial encryption. This was essentially similar to the cryptic language in Alchemy texts. The purpose was to prevent people from deciphering the essence of the ritual.
That's why Aiwass could easily make the phantasmagoric card.
As a new ritual that would only emerge three years later, it had not yet undergone the process of repeated encryption, erroneous decryption, and re-encryption; its original ritual meaning had not yet been distorted. Therefore, Aiwass, whose "Basic Ritual" level was only 1, could easily replicate it.
The advancement ritual, however, was the exact opposite.
The advancement rituals of various inherited schools had subtle differences.
The ritual Aiwass adopted was a simplified version he had previously seen in his foster father's collection of books. This was a ritual widely circulated among the knight families of Avalon—
Its advantage was that it wasn't too troublesome, and its disadvantage was that it required consuming a small, thin piece of white crystal... about the size of a thumb nail and the thickness of a coin. But this Water Icosahedron itself wasn't expensive, so it was fine. Aiwass drilled a hole in it and strung it on a rope, making a disposable pendant.
He prepared six silver ornaments: two bracelets, a necklace, two rings, and a forehead band.
Then he smeared them separately with clove essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, cypress essential oil, benzoin essential oil, immortelle essential oil, and chamomile essential oil, placing them at the six vertices of the hexagram Aiwass had drawn—these six plant essential oils and the hexagram array carved with silver sharp tools were the most important core of this ritual, the only irreplaceable part.
Afterward, Aiwass prepared three foods he disliked.
He chose radish, bitter gourd, and green pepper. He symbolically cut only thin slices and placed them in the center of the hexagram.
Thus, the pre-ritual preparations were complete.
Aiwass put on his Seminary uniform. Although it was a school uniform, it was also a formal clerical robe.
It had a Pure White clerical collar with two embossed golden thorn patterns with roses at the neckline—this ornament even contained real gold. Its shoulders and chest had brown sashes, still adorned with golden thorn decorations resembling Deer Horn. This robe hung down past his mid-thigh. Below that were brown trousers and cloth shoes.
Anyone seeing him dressed like this would know he was a priest of the Nine Pillar God Church.
He locked the room door tightly, and once the Full Moon rose above forty degrees, the ritual was to officially begin.
"—All nine are complete."
Aiwass chanted softly.
As he spoke, he lit a herb stick made by bundling dried sage and mugwort.
Like searing a cigar, he repeatedly seared the tip of the herb stick.
And in fact, it could indeed be considered a kind of cigar—just as coffee, in some sense, could be considered soy milk.
Sage is the most commonly used herb for smudging and sacrificial burning; when mixed with different herbs, it has different effects. When mixed with mugwort, its main purpose is to block the influence of other Paths on the advancement ritual.
For Aiwass, it was used to suppress the interference of his own Transcendence Path on the ritual.
"Discarding three of them..."
Aiwass whispered, pressing the continuously emitting green smoke herb stick into the center of the hexagram.
"—Eternal Self, Lord of Scales and Feathers, Amber."
These three names were the names of the pillar god of the Way of Love, the Adaptation Path, and the Twilight Path, respectively.
This was a necessary part of the Full Moon Ritual.
No Transcendent could be all-rounders. Even the Full Moon Ritual did not allow for improvisation.
Before meeting one's teammates and enemies, one must declare the three Paths one dislikes the most. This was to show one's determination.
In this ritual, he could not cooperate with teammates from these three Paths. Even if those three Paths were strong, he could not secretly change his stance.
These three Paths were also carefully selected by Aiwass.
Although the Adaptation Path excelled at survival, they would definitely betray teammates when necessary; self-preservation, retreating, and fleeing were characteristics of the Adaptation Path.
As for the Twilight Path and the Way of Love, there were simply too many strange people in them.
—The so-called Way of Love was just a euphemism.
That was a Path associated with barbarism, bestiality, and impulse, following the animalistic desires of reproduction and eating.
What kind of people were in there?
Lecherous old men, gourmets, OnlyFans girls, big eaters... they didn't seem serious at all. They were quite suitable for the modern internet environment.
And the Twilight Path emphasized that "the sun will eventually set, and all things will eventually perish"; it was a Path that resisted death and disappearance, pursuing eternal life and solidification.
Undertakers, taxidermists, gravekeepers, including painters and sculptors who drew posthumous portraits, might all believe in the Twilight Path. Making mummies and wax figures also belonged to the Twilight Path's techniques, as did summoning the undead and reincarnation.
These three Paths were unlikely to produce excellent teammates.
As Aiwass successively chanted the names of these three pillar gods, a sudden gust of wind swept through the room.
On the three foods Aiwass disliked, flames of three colors suddenly ignited.
They were black, emerald green, and amber.
They quickly burned to ashes in the fire, turning into a wisp of black smoke.
But strangely—even though there was a peculiar whirlwind in the room, constantly swirling around Aiwass, the green smoke emitted from the herb stick igniting the three foods rose straight upwards, forming a smoke column only as thick as a wrist, leading directly to the white crystal pendant hanging beneath the chandelier above.
Subsequently, Aiwass began to circle the ritual array, holding the herb stick outside the array, bending down and smudging the outer ring of the ritual array.
"Six protect me..."
He pointed the herb stick at the six silver ornaments in turn, while chanting the names of the remaining six pillar gods:
"Sandglass. Candle Holder. The Wise. Silver Crown Dragon. twin mirrors. Snake Father."
As he clicked them one by one, the six silver ornaments gradually turned black.
It wasn't that they were blackened by smoke; it was more like they had touched some kind of poison, or perhaps they had extracted something detrimental from the surrounding air.
And the whirlwind in the room suddenly grew larger—all the lit candles in Aiwass's room were blown out by the wind, but nothing was blown away by it, not even a light piece of paper.
"I follow the Path of Candle Holder."
The next moment, the herb stick in Aiwass's hand suddenly exploded.
He let go, dropping it into the center of the hexagram. It continuously made crackling sounds, and a beautiful Pure White smoke rose, once again covering the suspended white crystal pendant, which had already been blackened by the previous smoke.
—The ritual was successful.
Seeing his "Basic Ritual" suddenly gain 20% progress, Aiwass finally breathed a sigh of relief, confirming the ritual's success.
He took down the white crystal pendant hanging from the chandelier and wore it close to his body.
Although he knew this ritual was simple before, Aiwass was, after all, performing an advancement ritual for the first time.
Before, it was all theoretical; only this time was it hands-on operation.
When Aiwass put on the pendant, he felt a faint sense of tranquility and drowsiness.
It wasn't strong; he could resist it with his will.
It was roughly like the drowsiness after a full meal, or the degree of feeling after taking melatonin before bed.
But Aiwass did not resist; instead, he sat in his wheelchair. He closed his eyes to perceive that dragging sensation.
It was like slowly sinking in the dark deep sea; he clearly perceived his consciousness being dragged into a deeper level by some force while still awake.
"Good evening, priest."
Just as Aiwass woke up again, a cold voice with an accent that sounded familiar to Aiwass rang out.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a pitch-black space. Although there was no light source here, he could see everything clearly.
He was sitting in a tall, wide-backed chair. Aiwass was over six feet tall, but even he couldn't fully fill this chair. When he placed one elbow on an armrest, his other arm couldn't reach the other armrest.
And when he looked up, he saw eight more such chairs.
Nine chairs were arranged in a circle, and in the very center was a giant stone sandglass statue. It was about five or six meters tall, like those large decorative pieces in a shopping mall.
Aiwass found he was the fourth to arrive.
Before him, three other people had already arrived.
The four of them sat next to each other. The first was an old man with his head bowed, holding a cane. The second was a young man in a brown double-breasted trench coat and a top hat.
The third was dressed somewhat awkwardly—wearing a full-face knight's helmet, yet clad in a shirt and sweater for ease of movement.
Although Aiwass couldn't see their faces at all, just like not being able to see strangers' faces in a dream, he immediately realized that the second person must be Sherlock!
Because his accent was too distinctive, and his appearance showed no disguise whatsoever.
It was as if he was saying—yes, I am Sherlock Holmes.
Aiwass's clothes are the cover! They were drawn by Guan Guan, the operations officer of this book!