Lumian stared at the spirit world creature he couldn't see at all, thought for a moment, and asked, "How complex can 'not too complex' be, and how powerful can 'not too powerful' be?"
"Heh, I thought you'd ask how to summon it, or how to perform ritual magic, but you jumped straight to how to use it!" Aurore teased. "I suppose that's typical of the Hunter pathway—no need to grasp the underlying principles, just focus on how to put it to work."
Without waiting for Lumian to reply, she considered her words and added, "I've tested it. 'Not too complex' means it can only execute a single action. 'Not too powerful' means it can't exceed the measure of a single spell from a Sequence 7 Mystery Pryer, a Sorcerer."
Talking through these things with Aurore was wonderful; she had a habit of analyzing everything both qualitatively and quantitatively, unlike certain people who preferred vague, half-hidden descriptions… Lumian felt deeply appreciative.
Still thinking, he got up to help his sister bring the food to the dining table. Once seated, he asked between bites,
"Wait, I remember that your spells usually require materials. White Paper shouldn't be able to carry those, right?"
"Exactly, which makes it pretty awkward." Aurore forked a piece of fried trout into her mouth and waited until she had chewed and swallowed before continuing, "Besides, no Sorcerer spell can be completed in just one action. Even the simplest requires three: first, focusing your spirituality; second, outlining the spell's corresponding symbol in your mind, which can also be substituted by chanting an incantation aloud; and third, channeling the spell through materials. Those materials serve either as a medium or as an actual component of the spell."
That did sound rather complicated, not like something a single-celled creature like White Paper could pull off… Lumian suspected he wouldn't be able to manage it anytime soon either; it would take a prolonged period of training to cast spells proficiently.
Aurore glanced up at him.
"Don't even think about it. You can't do what I do. For one, your Sequence limits you, and your spirituality isn't sufficient. For another, using materials to assist with spellcasting is a unique ability of a Sorcerer. Well, maybe some Sequence in another pathway can do it too, but I don't know enough to say for sure.
"However, once a Hunter reaches Sequence 7 and becomes a Pyromaniac, they can cast quite a few fire-related spells. And they don't need materials, nor do they need to outline symbols in their mind or recite incantations. In practical combat, that's faster, more convenient, and potentially even more powerful. Sorcerers mainly win on versatility—the more comprehensive their knowledge, the stronger they are."
Lumian said with genuine anticipation, "I wonder when I'll become a Pyromaniac…"
He intended to explore the dream ruins again tonight. First, hunting would help him digest his potion; second, he wanted to search for clues about the main ingredients for Sequence 8, Provoker.
As for the monsters corresponding to Pyromaniac, he didn't dare contemplate them just yet. Walking up to them now would be like delivering himself as roasted meat; those things could definitely attack from a distance, rendering his "uniqueness" completely useless.
He continued, "A Pyromaniac's spells seem to take only a single action. Could White Paper handle that?"
"In theory, yes, but I'm not sure whether a Pyromaniac's spell exceeds that measure." Aurore's benchmark was a Sorcerer.
Hearing this, Lumian grew excited.
"If it can, wouldn't that allow me to simulate those funnels you talked about?"
"Huh?" Aurore was momentarily at a loss.
Lumian explained in detail, "I could summon a swarm of White Papers, sign contracts with all of them, and have each carry a fireball. When the time comes, they could hover in midair and attack a target together. Doesn't that sound just like how you described funnels?"
"Unfortunately, you can't have a whole swarm of White Papers at once," Aurore chuckled. "Once you sign a contract with a White Paper, the next time you summon using the original description, the very same White Paper will appear."
"Could I summon one, hold off on signing the contract, summon another, keep going until I have as many as I want, and then sign contracts with all of them together?" Lumian hadn't received a conventional education; his schooling had been custom-tailored by Aurore with her own eccentric ideas, and years of "tempering" through practical jokes had given him an extraordinarily open mind.
"..." Aurore had to admit she wasn't quite that shameless. She weighed her words and said, "I haven't tried, so I don't know if it works. You can test it yourself when you reach Sequence 7. Still, I suspect that summoning another White Paper while one is already beside you would cause a conflict, making success unlikely. The only real hope is summoning multiple White Papers directly, but in all likelihood, only Sequences that specialize in summoning can manage that."
Lumian resolved to try it when the time came. After all, he had nothing to lose.
Aurore scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
"Now let's talk about how to summon spirit world creatures, which is an application of ritual magic.
"What is ritual magic? It's magic performed by choosing the proper date and time, preparing the corresponding materials, and strictly adhering to the established format and procedure. It's most commonly used for petitioning and summoning."
Lumian nodded.
"So it's achieving an extraordinary effect through the form of a ritual?"
He thought of the various ceremonies of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the proceedings of the Lent Festival.
"Yes." Aurore was pleased with her brother's quick comprehension. "Put simply, every piece of ritual magic has an entity to petition. That could be one of the seven orthodox deities, another hidden existence, or even an evil god, a demon, or yourself. When praying to an orthodox deity, you need to consult or select the date and time they govern. For instance, Tuesday symbolizes the Eternal Blazing Sun, and every day has corresponding solar hours. Performing ritual magic to petition the Eternal Blazing Sun during those windows significantly increases your chances of success.
"Though in practice, that isn't particularly useful. If you aren't an official Beyonder, the probability of receiving a response from the corresponding orthodox deity is minuscule. And even if you do get an answer, don't celebrate—it likely means you've drawn that deity's direct attention.
"Naturally, there are ways to bypass these limitations, such as obtaining an item closely tied to the target deity.
"Petitioning hidden existences, evil gods, or demons doesn't require much fuss over dates and times, but I hardly need to tell you about the danger, do I? Ninety-nine percent of people who do that meet a terrible end.
"Therefore, for wild Beyonders, the most common form of ritual magic is petitioning oneself—channeling one's own spirituality to accomplish more complex tasks."
"Like crafting charms and supernatural weapons?" Lumian recalled a point the lady had mentioned.
Aurore nodded.
"Yes. Some secret potions also require ritual magic to assist.
"And you missed one thing: summoning spirit world creatures."
She ate a little more before continuing, "The second step of ritual magic is preparing the corresponding materials. Whomever you intend to petition, you prepare herbs, essential oils, powders, or hydrosols belonging to their domain or capable of pleasing them. Take the Eternal Blazing Sun as an example again: petitioning Him might call for 'Sun' essential oil, rosemary powder, bergamot, various sunflowers, and so on. Petitioning yourself, on the other hand, is far less troublesome. While it's best to use materials aligned with your own domain, for a guy like you, setting out a glass of absinthe would do fine, and leaving it out entirely wouldn't be much of an issue either.
"The third step is setting up the altar. This can be adapted to your environment; it doesn't need to be especially sacred or solemn, so long as it's clear of clutter.
"The most essential elements on the altar are the candles…"
As Aurore spoke, she picked up her knife and fork.
She held the two utensils forward. "Pretend these are candles. Whichever deity you petition, you craft them using materials corresponding to their symbolism.
"Using the Eternal Blazing Sun again as an example, His honorific names include the Inextinguishable Light, the Embodiment of Order…"
Erring on the side of caution, Aurore paused for a few seconds before continuing, "God of Contracts, Guardian of Commerce."
"Isn't there also the honorific name 'Father of All Living Things'?" Lumian had heard plenty of sermons, after all.
Aurore shook her head.
"That's just a common title used by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun for propaganda. In mysticism, the Eternal Blazing Sun isn't sufficient to bear it. If He truly could, it would probably mean something monumental had happened."
She didn't specify what that "monumental thing" was, seemingly not entirely clear on it herself.
She steered the topic back on track:
"If you wish to drive away undead, you must petition the symbolism of the 'Inextinguishable Light,' which means making candles from various sunflowers. Correspondingly, if contracts are involved, you would use the honorific title 'God of Contracts' and craft candles from materials like bergamot. For more choices, you can consult my sorcery notes.
"In ritual magic, we place at most two candles to represent a deity. In mysticism, 0 represents the unknown and chaos, symbolizing the dawn of the world—lighting no candles means there will be no effect whatsoever. 1 signifies the beginning, representing the original Creator, as well as an existence that can be precisely pointed to. 2 symbolizes the world and the deities born from within the original Creator. Therefore, ritual magic can only use two candles to represent deities. Exactly which two candles you use depends on the effect you wish to achieve.
"3 represents all things, which is why the third candle is reserved for ourselves.
"In other words, the two upper candles represent the deities, and the candle before you corresponds to yourself—three in total.
"If you possess an item closely tied to a deity or hidden existence, you can remove the two upper candles and substitute that item instead. That is known as the binary ritual method.
"When petitioning yourself, you only keep the single candle that represents you."
Lumian listened with rapt attention.
According to the mysterious lady, as a wild Hunter, before learning that great existence's honorific name, the only ritual magic he could make use of was petitioning himself. After all, where would he find an item closely tied to a deity?
"Next, I'll demonstrate the remaining steps using the summoning of a spirit world creature as an example." Seeing that her brother had finished his dinner as well, Aurore stood up.
The two of them quickly cleared the dining table.
Chapter 46