Chapter 182 - 173

The temple was beautiful, and it was clear that Elia was already attached to it. Whether this attachment stemmed from her new role as spiritual guide to her people or from the inherited memories, Nick didn't know, but he would find out. She was hesitant to leave it behind, especially now that the protections that had concealed it from view and harm were no longer in place. Nick was still unable to sense the underground tunnels they had traversed, but the temple itself was open. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered it. And when that happens, it won't remain as it is for long. Even if just to help his friend, Nick wouldn't mind aiding her in protecting the building. However, that wasn't the only reason he intended to do so. I would love nothing more than to believe that she's perfectly fine and that her new power didn't come with strings attached, but I'm done trusting gods not to mess with poor mortals. "So, what's the plan?" Elia asked, eagerly looking at him. Sometimes, Nick thought she placed too much trust in him, and one day she would be truly disappointed, but for the moment, that worked in his favor. He could set up a ritual right under her nose, and when the time came for it to activate, he'd have his answer. The Abbey of Thelema still stood by the time Nick died on Earth, despite being regarded as a heretical site and having been targeted by numerous religions. It wasn't constructed from particularly durable materials, nor were there powerful wards surrounding it. No, what Leah Hirsig had done to protect the little rectangular villa was very simple. She had made it so that no one could perceive it. Even burning religious fervor wouldn't be enough to break through. If anything, it was counterproductive. The more someone was beholden to a god, the less they'd be able to interact with the Abbey. It was, in essence, quite similar to the [Cryptid's Fate], as it made the building extremely forgettable. It used the least interesting qualities of something and took them to the nth power. A perfectly innocent spell that will allow me not only to conceal the temple but also to make clear anything that might be possessing those involved. Really, it was quite an elegant solution. Given the existing protections of the tunnel below them, Nick wouldn't even need to create a physical ritual circle, as he could simply piggyback off their concealing magic and focus on the rest. He didn't intend to make it a habit, but he had already revealed his hand a bit too openly for his tastes. "I imagine you've learned a few tricks to make your illusions stronger, right?" he asked Elia while walking around the clearing and stomping on the ground, listening with his senses to try and find the tunnel's exact position. "I have," Elia replied, sounding somewhat uncomfortable. People rarely asked each other for specifics about their skills, and it was considered taboo to directly inquire about levels and attributes. Fortunately, Elia trusted him a lot, so Nick didn't need to push harder than a curious look. "I have just reached level thirty-four," she admitted, drawing a surprised inhale from Rhea. "Congratulations," Nick murmured. "That is a high level for someone our age." Elia snorted, shaking her head. "You are one to talk. I bet you are a lot higher." Nick shrugged, not denying it. "I had more opportunities." Rhea snorted in the background but held up her hands to indicate that she wasn't going to say anything. "So, yeah, level thirty-four. But more importantly, most of my skills and spells have grown a lot as well. Getting that third tail really helped, and the miko trait makes everything with a spiritual aspect stronger. My [Kitsune Illusions] are at Proficient, and all my foxfire spells have grown by at least one tier." She appeared slightly embarrassed by her rapid growth. Nick hadn't even known it was possible for a trait to trigger the development of skills and spells, but he supposed it was a racial characteristic. His status as a vanilla human had never really seemed worth contemplating, and he took the extra points per level with pleasure, but he was beginning to realize that things were not always so neat. I'm willing to bet she doesn't earn points in stats other than CHA, DEX, and WIS. Still, it's not a bad trade-off if it means the racial traits can provide a sudden boost. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Shaking his head, he refocused. "Alright, that should be good enough for what I'm thinking about. There is already a powerful protection below our feet, so if we just tie your illusion to the enchantments protecting the tunnel, we might be able to craft something as powerful as the old wards without using a tenth of the power they'd need." Elia looked at him in awe, and even Rhea appeared impressed. Nick could only thank his lucky stars that neither girl was a mage, as he was truly stretching the capabilities of the class. Or am I? I still don't know much about it. It might just be that everything I'm doing is available to the regular mage too… Or maybe not everything. I doubt the average fireball spammer prepares sacrificial rituals very often. Decision taken, Nick began to give out instructions. "Elia, I need you to stand at the entrance of the temple. Yeah, just outside the door, not inside. And open them fully, since you are already there. Thank you." Even as he spoke, he continued tapping the ground until he finally received an empty response. Normally, that wouldn't mean much, but considering how deep some of the plants' roots went, finding a space with nothing growing was as good as a confirmation, particularly since he already knew there was a tunnel somewhere below. "Rhea, you should step to the edge of the clearing. Yeah, just where the grass starts to grow tall again. We don't want you to accidentally get caught up in the illusion, but the closer you are, the more we have to account for your presence. Yeah, that's fine." He continued, directing Rhea until she stood exactly opposite Elia. Nick wasn't one to waste good sacred geometry, so he ended up standing equidistant from them while remaining atop the tunnel. Together, they formed the points of a triangle, a very stable geometric shape that would help anchor the illusion properly and, more importantly, provided him the connection he needed to check for divine influences. With Elia serving as the beginning and Rhea as the end, he could comfortably handle the rest. "Ready?" He asked, receiving two shouts of confirmation. Elia breathed in, raising her hands as if in prayer. The air shimmered, though not due to heat or wind. In fact, Nick sensed no movement in it, despite his eyes telling him that something was happening. Slowly, the temple began to disappear. It was a powerful illusion, and yet without help, Nick knew it wouldn't last more than an hour or two. That's where I come in. Focusing on the emptiness beneath his feet, Nick began the actual ritual. Much like the Abbey of Thelema, this place was at risk of discovery by religious zealots, so he concentrated on that, using it as an excuse to draw out any hint of divine power. Mana flooded into the ground, seeking the tunnel, while he grasped the slippery illusion in the air and began twisting it. Elia gasped, feeling her control being ripped away, but to her credit, she didn't stop weaving her spell, gradually concealing the temple from just about every sense. Altering another person's spell wasn't an easy task, but fortunately, Nick was intimately familiar with the feeling of Elia's mana and could follow its movements. Adjusting its flow enough to resonate with the tunnel below took just a minute, but eventually, he began to feel the two pieces of magic react to one another. It wasn't easy, especially since he could only indirectly sense the tunnel's protections by knowing where they weren't. In fact, Nick realized midway through the ritual that he wasn't actually managing to anchor the illusion properly. It's a good thing that I don't need to. Here it comes. He was just about to start brute-forcing the issue when he felt another presence slip into the ritual. It was so subtle that he would have missed it any other day, but given how he'd set things up, it couldn't escape his notice. As Nick opened his eyes and prepared to bind Elia, mana began to churn violently within his channels. If the Miko was already acting so openly, the situation was worse than he had imagined. However, what he saw was not his friend being possessed. Indeed, Elia's presence appeared entirely untainted to the ritual's magic. Instead of a possession being revealed, one of the carvings of a fox on the temple's facade detached from the marble and dropped down, barely making a sound. Its presence was so weak that Nick almost dismissed it as a minor spirit, if it weren't for the incredible ease with which its mana infiltrated not only Elia's spell but also his ritual. Before he could react, he was suddenly pushed out and could only helplessly watch as the feeble mana seeped into the earth. Yet, unlike the dispersion his own had experienced, this immediately interacted with the tunnel beneath. It flared with power all of a sudden, and Nick heard twin gasps from the girl as the power of its protections revealed itself. And then, a few seconds later, it disappeared again, as if it had never been there. Nick opened his eyes, not even realizing he had closed them, and when he did, the temple was completely gone, leaving a single stone statue of a fox sitting inert before them. CONGRATULATIONS! You have taken part in a Divine Ritual [Abbey Hidden Among the Trees] + 117.711 Exp Level up! At least I know that Elia is not possessed. It took the three of them a few minutes to recover from the shock of a manifestation of Inari— and all three were fairly certain that was what it was, despite its relative weakness— appearing among them and taking over their effort to hide the temple. Elia was the first to react, bowing to the fox statue until her forehead touched the ground. Thank you for reading. This was brought to you by M|V|L*EMPYR. Rhea snorted, staring into the void. "We should have expected it. Today is one of those days where nothing makes sense, so why not this?" Nick, on the other hand, felt torn between being grateful that his efforts confirmed Elia wasn't possessed and being freaked out that one of his rituals had been usurped again. He wouldn't admit it, but the ease with which even a feeble manifestation of Inari's will took over his ritual scared him. Of course, in this instance, everything seemed to have gone well. The temple now had powerful illusions surrounding it, so strong that he was having trouble finding it despite knowing it was there, and his friend was free of taint, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Nick had been almost helpless to stop the fox. He suspected he could have overpowered it if he had attacked immediately with everything he had at his disposal. The statue barely held a whisper of Inari's power, and given the absence of worship, he doubted the fox goddess would be able to manifest anytime soon. But even so weakened, its control had been perfect. Not good, not great. Perfect. Not a single mote of mana had escaped its grasp, and despite Nick using an otherworldly piece of magic that it shouldn't have known how to handle, it immediately understood what he was trying to do and completed the ritual for him. I'm not confused by the level. I understand that participating in a ritual alongside a god would be considered a worthy experience by the System, but it does raise a few questions for later. No, what worries me is my inability to act. If this is what the smallest possible use of a god's power can achieve, then what does that imply for a goddess with an active following like Sashara? He had personally seen her descend, after all. When it had taken over Alexander, she hadn't seen it fit to do anything but exhort her followers to lay down their weapons and let the beastmen be, but what could she have done? Would she ever return if she thought her hold over Floria was weakening? He was preoccupied with his shattered wand, the lack of experience at that moment, and the political consequences of the situation. However, if a goddess so feeble that she couldn't defend her temples from demons like Inari could accomplish this, what might Sashara be capable of?