The book, or rather the ritual, was very specific about what we needed and how we should ready ourselves. The first part of the preparation was painting a golden circle around the base of the Mana Tree.

This proved to be much harder than I’d originally thought since the Mana Tree’s circumference was colossal. Walking around the periphery of the Tree to check if this was even possible took us some forty minutes.

The surroundings of the Tree were mostly smaller trees or bushes, but forming a circle around it was definitely possible, even if it wouldn’t be a perfect one. Adel and I got a pouch of golden sand each and began spreading it around the Tree.

The bags we used were some of the first magic items I’d created when I started dabbling with the craft.

Item : Bag of Never-ending Sand

Type : Magic Item

Durability : 550/550

Grade : E Grade

Weight : 28st.

Description : A bad that is able to produce an infinite amount of sand.

Nobody bought them of course, since nobody ordinarily had any use for it, but I was happy I’d kept them as they turned out to be very useful now, many months after I had crafted them.

Regular sand would not do though, since the circle we had to draw around the Tree needed to be golden. For this reason, I cast a minor spell on the opening of each of the bags, so that the sand would become golden as it was poured out.

I would normally be worried about winds swiping the sand away and breaking the circle, but we had not experienced any winds since we entered the forest days ago, so I was sure it would not be a problem. Regardless, I did plan on casting a binding spell on the sand once the circle was completed, just to be on the safe side.

Creating the circle took us a little more than an hour, as I drew clockwise and Adel counter-clockwise. We met each other somewhere in the middle and then continued to check each other’s path for consistency until we met back in the clearing where Kai was waiting for us.

Once the circle was secured, I cast the binding spell on the sand and was now ready to move to the second step of the ritual. The material components needed for the spell would near completely deplete our stash of gems and precious stones. The total tally needed was one hundred twenty-six gems, divided into six different groups.

The division was apparently not based on the type or worth of the stones but rather their size. A series of illustrations provided enough information for us to understand exactly how big each group needed to be.

I took Kai with me and headed down our chest to bring exactly what we needed—two giant emeralds, four slightly smaller but still huge sapphires, eight fist-sized rubies, sixteen smaller diamonds, thirty-two opals which could fit in my hand, and sixty-four zircons sized perfectly for adorning rings.

Our storage was now almost empty, but I cared little for it. Once the ritual was cast, we would have no need for them anymore.

I laid out the gems on the exact spots inside the circle surrounding the Tree as indicated by the instructions. Calculating their position without proper measuring devices proved to be much more challenging than I would have liked, not to mention boring for Kai and Adel, but in the end, I felt very confident of their placement.

The final part of the preparation was carving a long list of runes in repetition, around the Tree. This was going to be the most time-consuming part of the readying, especially because it had to be performed by the caster, utilizing the dagger that would be used in the ceremony itself.

And so I picked up a dagger and started carving the smooth trunk of the Tree. The weapon we chose had only minor enchantments on it so it would not rust or bend easily, but more importantly, would always be extra sharp.

For this reason, carving was not too hard on my hand, though I had no doubt carving the whole circumference of the Tree would give me awful cramps.

Sure enough, after thirty minutes of carving the same sixty-four runes over and over again, my arm was hurting tremendously. I decided to have a small break and walked back to where Kai and Adel were waiting for me, laying on the ground.

“Are you done already?” Adel asked as he stood up.

“Not by a long shot,” I replied, “but my hands are getting tired.”

“Are you sure I can’t help you?” he asked.

“The book states it clearly. The person who will chant the incantation needs to be the one who carves the runes,” Kai explained.

“Then have a break,” Adel continued, “and we’ll at least join you while you carve.”

I let my hand rest for five minutes and soon we were all back at the place where I had paused my work. Working with company made me forget about the pain and I managed to carve faster and longer between breaks.

However slow, progress was being made toward completing the final step of the ritual’s preparation.