When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 784: Chapter 165 Lunar Eclipse Ceremony Chapter 784: Chapter 165 Lunar Eclipse Ceremony February 28, the new moon rose in the sky.

In an Angie of Aiwass’s room, Sherlock immersed himself in reading the Codex Book while Aiwass initiated the unique ritual for advancement.

The reason Sherlock was overseeing Aiwass’s ascension ritual was because Lily’s separation had reached its most critical moment.

The full moon would wither and decay with the changing of the lunar phases, just as a flower turns into fruit, nurturing new life within itself.

That fruit was the new moon…

the Lightless Egg.

It would grow by devouring light, and with the cycles of sunrise and sunset, it would once again become the next full moon.

The Egg Moon Manual described the art of self-splitting and self-nurturing, which follows the changes in lunar phases.

For this reason, the birth of a “new self” had to be completed on the night of the new moon.

At the moment, Lily was alone on the second floor, preparing for her self-splitting.

Hence, the only person who could help Aiwass guard the advancement ritual was Sherlock.

“Is everything all right?”

Sherlock’s eyes remained fixed on the Codex Book as he suddenly asked, “Do you need my help?”

“I’ve just finished it,”

Aiwass sighed, “You should have asked earlier.”@@novelbin@@

“If I had asked earlier, I would really need to help, my friend.”

Sherlock’s lips curled slightly upward as he responded, “Better to conserve my energy and make sure you complete the ritual safely.”

“I knew you wouldn’t help, so I didn’t bother asking you in the first place…”

Aiwass pursed his lips: “Anyway, keep an eye on my body.

Don’t let anyone near it.”

“Don’t worry.”

Sherlock looked down at his book, casually saying, “Unless I die, no one will be able to harm you.”

Although it sounded like a casual brush-off, these words might be dependable coming from Sherlock Hermes.

Aiwass gave a light hum and began the ritual.

—Different from past ascension rituals.

Aiwass hadn’t prepared nine different symbols, but only three.

A white dove.

A deep blue fish.

A green snake.

They respectively symbolized the sky, the ocean, and the earth, their commonality being that they were all creatures of scales and feathers.

He placed these materials into a ring, linking three rings to form an equilateral triangle.

He then prepared a Life Potion, poison, and anesthetic, each in a bottle, placing them into three smaller rings to form a smaller equilateral triangle.

These two triangles overlapped into a somewhat irregular six-pointed star.

This time, Aiwass employed a special ritual offering: fasting.

Ritualists believed that, aside from the torment of illness and pain, the weaker the body, the more resilient the soul.

Thus, around the age of fifty, a person’s soul is at its most resilient, and that is also when ritualists and mages, as spellcasters, are at their strongest.

If it gets too late, the person starts getting sick.

The pain and worry from numerous chronic illnesses gradually wear away at the soul’s luster.

Afterward, a person ages rapidly because the soul weakens and this reflects back on the physical body…

At the same time, severe deterioration of the brain also affects the soul.

Therefore, when conducting serious, dangerous rituals, ritualists typically begin fasting some time in advance to ensure their bodies are sufficiently weakened, allowing the soul to maintain a more stable state during the ritual.

Aiwass had already fasted for five days, forbade sleep for one day, and had not drunk water for a day and a half.

For an ordinary person, this would already be enough to lay in bed due to weakness.

But Aiwass was still able to handle the ritual by himself…

at most, he would feel a bit dizzy when getting up.

At this moment, Aiwass definitely felt his body sink into a state of weakness.

A “cold burning” ignited beneath his skin, as if he had a high fever.

Unlike the torment of a slight fever, a high fever sometimes brings a feeling of serenity, like being in the middle of the ocean.

Yet Aiwass’s mind became colder and more rational, as if he was controlling his body from a higher perspective.

This was also the first time Aiwass had conducted a ritual like a Ritualist, following the taboos and rules, unfolding the ritual step by step.

After completing the first part of the Ritual Array, he began using seawater to paint the second layer.

Then he used snake bile for the third layer, and bird blood for the topmost layer.

Once all was finished, Aiwass stood in the very center of the Ritual Magic Circle.

“I beseech the Lord of Scalefeather, the sanctified deity of the number six.

“The deity clad in scales and feathers, the god of a thousand faces and a myriad forms—”

Aiwass raised his hands and chanted loudly, “I praise the birds and the fish, and the crawling creatures with a hundred paws and a thousand scales upon the earth!

“I praise those that are medicine, poison, and those indiscernible as medicine or poison!

“I praise thrice, worship thrice.

With snake’s bile I bathe my eyes, and with bird’s blood I cover my body.

I bathe with seawater!

“In the forest void of light, I shall grow wings and scales—”

As Aiwass chanted, the gem at his chest suddenly lit up with an emerald glow.

With his chanting, a wind began to blow suddenly in that room with its doors and windows tightly shut, and all the light was blown out.

In the pitch-dark space, only a green star slowly rose, radiating a sharp, cruciform brilliance.

“Absent are the eight—”

Aiwass’s voice grew blurred in the increasingly ferocious storm, “Only I walk alone—”

The oncoming storm forced Sherlock to close his eyes involuntarily, raising his hand to shield them.

Since he was indoors, he hadn’t worn a hat, and now his hair was being tousled into various shapes by the gusting wind.

Breathing becomes challenging against the wind, as it’s hard to draw oxygen.

Sherlock breathed heavily, feeling a growing suffocation.

The room’s clutter trembled, toppled, and became a mess, yet none approached the Ritual Array beneath Aiwass.

When they neared, they were blown away by the storm.

—The next instant, Sherlock suddenly felt a terrifying chill.

It was as if a gaze had swept over him.

He had experienced this feeling before.

Last time was in Eagle Cape Village, when Aiwass performed “Ritual: Odin’s Trial” in front of him.

The moment that thunder struck, Sherlock felt this same fear for an instant.

His body shuddered uncontrollably, limbs trembling weakly.

“Gazes” have power, just as some particularly sensitive people can even distinctly sense a gaze upon their back.

And when a Pillar God casts their gaze, their very act of observation is like a spell affecting the mind.

—When Sherlock gradually came to from the numbing sensation, he saw Aiwass still standing in the middle of the ritual site, frozen in a silent rigidity.

The wheelchair Aiwass had prepared and pushed to the side of the ritual site hadn’t been used at all.

When the storm began, the wheelchair had run off to a distant place on its own.

But he hadn’t fainted on the ground either.

Instead, he was fixed in mid-air by an invisible force.

His head drooping, his feet off the ground.

His knees slightly bent, his hands wrapped around his abdomen.

Apart from not being curled up completely, he was much like an infant.

“…Does Aiwass really need my protection?”

Sherlock murmured.

This was his first time witnessing such a grand ascension ceremony—where even a Pillar God personally made an appearance.

Forget it, time to tidy up.

He shook his head, stood up, closed the Fools’ Chants Manual, and patiently picked up the scattered objects on the ground, which looked as if the place had been burgled.

Elsewhere, Lily looked up at the moon void of light, “The time has come…”

Red glowed in her eyes, and next to her was a glass of red wine—with a drop of Aiwass’s blood.

She tilted her head back and drained the wine in the glass.