The night descended, with the sky gradually adorned by countless stars.
Horn stood on the marble floor of the third level of the spire, watching Hilov, who was sitting in a wheelchair, with anticipation and curiosity.
The ten-day period had come, beckoning the return of the ether.
Horn had been waiting for this day for a long time; the astral realm and ether were indeed too advanced in this low-magic world.
How could a civilization still in a feudal era already have spells that cross dimensions?
Regarding ether, Horn later went to ask Patrick about it, and he told Horn this.
Since the birth of the mana school, they have been troubled by one question: what carries mana?
A wizard from the Scales Hermitage proposed the hypothesis of ether. They believed that the Elementalist Witch had stronger spell power because she utilized ether to guide the elements during her spellcasting.
However, as ether had never been discovered, and the Divination Witch couldn't find any trace of ether through divination either, it remained a hypothesis.
But now, the true ether, and even its application, had truly appeared before Horn's eyes.
On the ground was an octagram pattern with circles within circles, and a crescent moon shaped like an embrace cradled five interconnected stars.
Not far from the base of the Obsidian Pyramid, Hilov commanded Ah Fu, arranging various alchemical instruments and setting them one by one in the proper positions using mechanisms.
For some reason, Horn felt the spire tremble.
Looking up at the spiral-distributed fluorescent stones on the high wall of the towering spire, they emitted a gentle gleaming white light.
The starlight pouring through the top of the tower and high windows illuminated Hilov's focused face, her furry ears slightly perked up, rotating like radar antennas.
"Horn, bring me that star map," Hilov's voice pierced the silence, and Horn handed her a star map.
After carefully comparing the star map and the celestial phenomena, confirming the stars had aligned, she whispered, "It's time to begin."
Hearing Hilov's voice suddenly become hoarse and deep, Horn swallowed and shielded Jeanne, Patrick, Boned, and others in front of him.
"Your Eminence, come stand behind me," Victor raised a small shield, standing in front of Horn.
Directing Ah Fu to adjust the telescope to the correct position, the brass frame of the telescope shone a faint golden color under the fluorescent light.
As Ah Fu continuously turned the winch, with the clattering of gears, the telescope suspended above the crowd began to move along the brass track, while Hilov used a crank to control the direction of the telescope.
"Ding—" Horn heard a crisp sound, but as he looked around, again he found it seemed no one had moved.
Could he really be nervous? Horn blinked a little guiltily.
At that moment, Hilov suddenly shouted, "Stop."
The telescope lens aimed at a specific star in the sky, and in the next second, Horn found it difficult to describe the scene before him.
Starlight, boundless starlight, sped from the distant astral realm, converging above the spire.
The high windows of the spire acted like a funnel, countless streams of starlight converging through the telescope, finally flowing onto the base of the pyramid.
"Wan wan re ei ruo re ei ruo..."
Murmuring an undecipherable Elvish incantation, Hilov maneuvered her wheelchair, stopping at the center of the octagram.
As she exerted her mana, a circular ring lit up in Hilov's pupils, while the fluorescent lamps on the wall spiraled upward, lighting up with a purple glow.
As Hilov chanted faster and faster, her voice grew ethereal, as if speaking in an enormous theater, echoing countless times.
"Wan wan re ei ruo re ei ruo..."
Holding his breath, Horn watched the cascading starlight, and within the starlight, the base of the pyramid trembled slightly, the fluorescent lamps flickering continuously.
As time passed, the starlight grew stronger, almost turning into blinding white beams; he could even hear a "whoosh" sound, like a lightsaber swinging.
"Thud thud..." Everyone present seemed to have their throats grabbed by a giant hand, their breath caught.
Within the white beam of light gradually appeared a focus, a purplish-black dot, which in the blink of an eye devoured the starlight, expanding until it was the size of a fist.
This focus tore open space, a completely two-dimensional plane, without thickness.
"A rift in the star realm!"
For the first time, Horn heard Patrick let out a scream like a little girl, but he couldn't care to mock Patrick; he just stared intently at that purplish-black dot.
His pupils contracted, a strong sense of foreboding surged in his heart.
Why do I feel a pull? It's as if something in the rift is attracting him.
In a subconscious move, Horn took a step forward, craning his neck, continuing to look into the rift.
Starlight pierced through this purple rift, turning into indigo light, which shot through the small holes on the base into the first layer of the moon pool.
In the first layer of the moon pool, unseen by others, the water rippled slightly, surging with indigo light, and the large and small star-cast gears absorbed the blue light like sponges.
Hilov stopped chanting, her face turning very pale, she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief, and shouted loudly towards Horn: "The ether is entering the moon pool, wait a moment, the ritual will stop naturally."
Seeing Hilov succeed, Jeanne immediately turned her head to look at Horn: "Brother, look... Brother, what's wrong with you?"
Unbeknownst to anyone, Horn had taken several steps forward, his face even paler than Hilov's.
He stared fixedly at the purple-black rift, his lips moving constantly, but no sound came out.
"Brother, brother, say something."
"Your Grace, Your Grace? Quickly help Your Grace outside."
"Wait, why is Your Grace's neck bleeding?"
In the clearly visible starlight, everything was covered with a faint fluorescence, so everyone could see that the Holy Mark on Horn's neck was slowly seeping blood.
"Don't move him." Patrick kicked Victor, who was about to carry Horn out, "The further he is from the astral rift, the more his neck bleeds."
"Hilov, quickly stop the ritual."
Hilov spun her wheelchair over, helplessly said, "I, I don't know how to end it, I only know how to start it."
Seeing the fresh blood flowing from Horn's neck hovering in mid-air and flying towards the astral rift, Jeanne grabbed Hilov's shoulder and ordered.
"I don't know how to end it..." Hilov said, while wheeling herself to the telescope control, struggling to turn it.
But the ritual had proceeded to the point where no matter how Hilov adjusted the telescope, the starlight continued to pour into the tearing astral rift.
"This, this, silly ritual, stop, stop." Seeing Horn's anomaly, Hilov knew the ritual had gone awry, but no matter how she tinkered, adjusting the telescope, or even extinguishing the fluorescent stone lamp, nothing worked.
"Ah-hah—" Horn's throat made a noise as if something was stuck.
Jeanne, in horror, then noticed the Holy Mark on his neck seemed to show signs of tearing.
A drop of blood seeped from Horn's neck, trickling down Jeanne's chin, and rushed into the purple-black rift.
Grinding her teeth, a hint of madness flashed in her eyes, she released her grip on Horn, and quickly, a bright gold spread over her hair.
"Wait." Patrick tried to stop her, but it was too late.
In her urgent rage, Jeanne unleashed a massive blast, a lightning bolt as thick as a barrel shot out, striking the astral rift hard.
"Buzz—" Everyone, even those in the small town, heard something vibrating.
"Get down!" Patrick shouted.
In an instant, an intense white light engulfed everyone's vision, countless large and small purple electric serpents danced wildly on the walls and base, many chains were directly electrified and melted.
Several massive mechanical structures and brass components fell from the sky, crashing to the ground, rolling over an area, a series of electric sparks coursed over the metal until the white light gradually faded.
After what might have been three minutes or five minutes, the crowd, gradually awakening from the tremors and dizziness, climbed from the ground.
Night wind blew through the shattered stained glass window, swirling a cloud of charred dust.
The astral rift at the base of the pyramid had disappeared, as if it had never appeared, Hilov lay embarrassedly on the ground, having also been knocked off her chair by the shockwave.
Fortunately, Ah Fu lay on her back, shielding her from part of the impact.
"How is Your Grace?" Shakily getting to his feet, Victor discovered Horn pinned down by Patrick.
Jeanne, with bruises from the fall at the corner of her mouth, staggered over, turned Horn over, and upon seeing the crusted blood on his neck, she finally sighed in relief.
"Take Your Grace to the chamber." Once again Jeanne picked up Horn in a bridal-style carry, "Call Sessi, and the town's doctors, all of them."
"No." Horn forced his eyes open, "Just call Sessi, if all the doctors come, it'll cause panic."