Chapter 121: Soul Mark Ritual
It has been a few days since I entered this realm, and based on the time difference, it would nearly be a month since I was gone for my family.
The air was cool but not cold, only a few degrees cooler than what it was during the day.
While the world was some sort of mix between a forest and a desert, the temperature was just a little warm but the air was definitely dry.
I wasn’t a scientist, so I could only assume the reason for the major temperature difference between this place and an actual desert was because there was no Sun.
“I’ve still found nothing,” I spoke to the empty void that sat in front of me.
To say I found nothing at all would be incorrect, but I hadn’t found any clue to where the entrances to the dungeon core would be.
Currently, I stood next to the border of the world; from a distance, it appeared to be a solid wall that reflected the fake sky, but when I got close and used my Soul Pressure I was able to see through it, and all that was there was nothing.
Space couldn’t even compare to it as space felt full in comparison.
I hadn’t passed through the wall as I couldn’t easily go through it, but more importantly, my Soul Pressure screamed at me that if I was lost in that, I wouldn’t be getting back out without help. Help that could only be provided by Espr, so I stayed put on this side of the world.
My journey around the dungeon was partly known to the Nelatta.
Night was the safest time to move around, so I left just when it fell and returned to the settlement by the morning.
My slight lie came from the fact I hid my max speed from them. It took a whole night for me to reach the border, so I had to return through the day, but with the speed I displayed during my quick spar, the ‘distance’ I reached in prior nights, and the ‘full speed’ I left the meraimaka at–it would’ve taken me four days to reach the border.
The reason for my lie was to determine if the information they gave me on the surroundings was true, and I didn’t want them to know my true strength if that was not needed.
Time to restock before the sun comes up.
I removed a mana crystal from my bag and slowly drained the mana from it. It was a very slow process, but attempting to speed it up risked a massive loss in the mana I gained.
Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]
Mana: 125% Starlight: 95%
I was still a net-negative from when I entered the dungeon to now, but I had made decent progress staying in the safe range.
If I could absorb the atmosphere mana.
Like other dungeons, the world here felt full of mana, everything was practically made of the stuff. Not sure how that worked with monsters that made mana unstable, but somehow it worked. Still, while it was thick in the air, I wasn’t able to absorb it into anything useful.
(“ How many more days do you plan to scour this world? ”)
Don’t worry, I am nearly wrapping this part of my investigation up. What? Bored of the views already. Not sure what you are complaining about; we got sand and trees; what else do you need?
(“ Your humour seems to be lacking. Has the sand grinded away at your brain? ”)
Doubt it, no damage to the helmet yet.
Eww, I would rather not have brain gunk on the floor.
The conversation with Espr was a good way to pass the time while absorbing the mana crystal, but I was on a clock, and before long the annoying buggers would start popping up.
“Ceella!” Lu ran up towards me, “Your back!”
After a very long run, I made it back to the Nelatta City.
Those fuckers really are everywhere.
Every spot more of those MBones would pop out of the ground.
I put my hand forward, stopping her run. "Yes, I am. What’s got you so worked up?”
“It’s nearly night!” She complained, “You were gone all through the day. Do you know how dangerous that is?”
“Yeah? I was in it.” It was the price I paid for wanting to see how far I could go and see how large this world was. My investigation would go nowhere if I only checked the locations that were safe.
My return welcome entourage also included Al-Roo who was standing off in a corner.
“The little one kept pestering me about you.” Al-Roo looked at Lu, tired; he shook his head and asked. “What happened to take you so long?”
I shrugged. “I got lost.”
“Yes, my method of tracking my location is to use the sky, which is very different here and missing the objects I used to navigate.” I gave another slight truth.
“Well, I’m glad you're back!” Lu tugged on my arm, “They are performing the soul mark ritual tonight! Let’s watch!”
Lu was extremely excited, but I, of course, had no bloody idea what she was talking about. I asked, “What’s that?”
Al-Roo’s eyebrow raised. “Do you really not know?”
“It could be another translation issue,” I said.
I am really supposed to know?
I let them take me as we entered the camp where I first met Cole-Ra-Cu.
Lu took me to the side and sat me down in the outer ring. I was getting some stares from the other Nelatta and this might have been the first time they saw me for more than a second. The outer ring filled up with what I assumed was everyone from the village.
Cole-Ra-Cu sat in the centre, but along the ground new markings filled out the area, and these ones felt magical.
After a few minutes had passed, the darkness of night truly fell, and everyone had made it to the circle.
“Welcome everyone; with night’s protection, we sing for the new age and reward our warriors for their growth.”
The Nelatta cheered, and the little lizard children were clapping.
“Ka, come forward.” A Nelatta who was a bit bigger than Lu but whose tail appeared fully grown.
It must be an adolescent ritual or something.
“From night forward, you shall now be known as Ka-La.”
The cheering intensified.
Makes sense culture-wise.
Lu who sat besides me cheered and excitedly clapped.
The soul-mark ritual is a bit intense for an adolescent event.
I was about to eat my words Cole-Ra-Cu stepped up out of the circle, and the Nelatta sang.
The marks on the ground let up and swirled in the sky and spun and flew into Ka-La.
Espr… what the fuck I am seeing?
I could see the mana flow into him, and with my Soul Pressure I felt that his soul was growing stronger, but souls only grew stronger with a Vocation–
(“ Existence doesn’t create many new ideas, it merely repurposes them ”)
Espoiramissa was being upfront and honest about what I was seeing. Likely the first time it had answered my question without a debate since coming here.
Espr knew my feelings and responded.
(“ This was something I was expecting to answer for a long time. If you came across any of the worlds that had this ritual made, then you would make the connection ”)
So… choosing a Vocation is basically Existence automatically running this ritual on the process.
(“ Correct, unless it is one of the other beings who have that capability in your world ”)
Soon after the ritual was completed, the man raised his arms into the air and cheered. There was another round of claps before he stood back, and then Cole-Ra-Cu remarked the ground with different markings.
“Hey Lu, do you get to use what gets marked?” I whispered.
"See, I knew it you knew.” She nodded. “We chose speed, strength, wind.”
(“ They have a ritual for, in your human terminology, an Enhancer and Scout Vocation”)
(“ And [Wind Mage] ”)
So every Vocation existed in one of these worlds?
(“ No, Existence did fill in the gaps ”)
Later, once the remarking was completed after an hour, a second Nelatta came forward. Unlike the first, he was a grown adult with a two-part name, Ko-Ru. I didn’t ask questions and watched what happened.
The markings flew into him as well, but the process took much longer as they swirled around him in a storm.
What is happening now?
(“ They are doing the Adjusted ritual ”)
Wait, so he is getting an Adjusted Vocations? How does that work? Do they have a quote-unquote batch of so-called stronger Vocations.
(“ No, this is simpler; it makes small adjustments to the Vocation to fit with how the user uses its abilities. That is why the process of switching Vocation is called an adjusting a Vocation, and the new Vocation is called an Adjusted Vocation ”)
You say ‘is called’, but only you dungeon planets call it by those names.
Once the process was finished, Ko-Ru definitely felt stronger.
Why can’t humans do this?
(“ It happens sometimes; your friend is an instance of this happening naturally ”)
But why can’t we do this for anyone, or myself?
(“ Tradeoff, you gained the ability to choose nearly any Vociation, if you want to use the function of this ritual you will have to learn it yourself. Not that you would get much out of it ”)
My eyes stared into the markings on the ground.
Well, I have more questions I need to ask then.
I knew this wouldn’t be a solution to my current problems, but it could be a way to gain or recover the power that I had lost due to the damage I had taken.
I patted Lu on the head, “Thanks for bringing me along, Lu.”