Kaz Ehen plopped Tormacc down in a comfy armchair before whirling around his shop, gathering ingredients from every corner. He seemed genuinely excited about performing the ritual, describing in detail all the reagents and processes used in it. Tormacc mostly nodded along, not familiar with either subject, although he did try to memorize the rare materials in case he ran into them later. Slowly but surely the ritual circle started to take form, Kaz piling up reagents into the freshly drawn geometric amalgamation.

Watching him draw out the ritual circle, Tormacc was a little disappointed in the process. He had been expecting him to draw it from memory, quickly sketching out complicated designs. Instead, the process involved a large number of notes which were then precisely copied and drawn onto the floor using tools designed for that exact purpose. The whole thing was much more mundane than mystical, but thinking about it more, he would rather the ritual be boring but function correctly. He wasn’t sure what would happen if anything went wrong, but at the very least he would lose his Blood Gem and a lot of Blood Crystals.

Three hours later and Kaz was done with the setup, but first he insisted they go out for lunch, claiming no one could correctly perform a ritual on an empty stomach. Tormacc wasn’t really opposed to it, as he found himself genuinely enjoying the bear-man’s company. Listening to his stories was fascinating, and while the same information might be available from Stella and Curtain, hearing about The Tower in the form of stories was mesmerizing, the funny and exotic tales much more likely to stick in his memory than dry text if he needed to recall the information later.

Once lunch was finished, they made their way back to Kaz’s shop. Tormacc expected them to start the ritual right away, but Kaz said there was still one more thing to do first.

“Some people,” Kaz said as he brought out a pole with a ball on top, “don’t appreciate a proper ritual. So I made this.”

“What is it?” Tormacc asked.

Just looked at it, it didn’t appear as anything special. The top part was a squishy ball attached to a long pole with a wide metal base similar to a floor lamp. It was only as tall as his chest.

“This here is to test yer strength,” Kaz said, pulling a lever out of the pole. “I channel power into this lever and the ball on top hardens. All ye need to do is try and squeeze it and that screen at the bottom will show a number. I like to do a before and after to show people how much strength they gained. ‘Course, some rituals focus more on things other than improving strength, but it’s better than nothing.”

Stepping up to the contraption, Tormacc gave the ball a squeeze. It was squishy, almost akin what it felt like to hold guts when cleaning out an animal. But as soon as Kaz inserted energy into the lever the ball hardened, and Tormacc felt like he couldn’t squeeze it at all.

“A little more’n twenty-two,” Kaz said. “Not bad for a newbie.”

“What do people normally get?”

“Well, that all depends. Obviously not all races have the same starting point. For someone who’s mostly Humen like yerself, I would say ten to twenty-five is the usual range when leaving the starting zone. There’s always freaks of course, but that’s what the ritual’s for, so don’t worry that yer only average.”

As Kaz double checked the ritual circle, Tormacc pondered his own strength. He still hadn’t spent any of his essence, but even with it he wouldn’t be that much ahead of the curve. Stella had assured him that he was doing fine, but it was hard to avoid hearing condescension in her words, even if she didn’t try to put any there. When he had pushed her for some statistics she told him their best guess had only twenty percent of people surviving their first year in The Tower. He couldn’t afford to only be above average.

“All set! The next time ye leave this room ye’ll be a new man.”

After undressing, Tormacc stepped into the circle and lay down on the floor while Kaz started up the ritual. Kaz had told him to close his eyes and relax, but as he felt the power building around him it was hard to avoid tensing his muscles. As the power continued to grow, he felt himself lifted off the floor, supported by the unseen energy surrounding him. He smelled blood, the sickly scent washing over him as the ritual ramped up, the swells of power overwhelming his senses. Then with a rising crescendo the bloody energy crashed over him, and he only knew ecstasy.

Blinking his eyes, he sat up, staring at the empty ritual circle around him. Weren’t they about to start the ritual? What happened to the reagents?

“It’s done lad,” Kaz said, helping him stand and guiding him to the armchair. “The memories’ll come back to ye. Just give it a minute. I’ve heard the whole experience can be a bit overwhelming.”

Tormacc held onto the cup of tea Kaz put into his hands as he sat in the armchair. Slowly the feeling from the ritual came back to him. He remembered feeling tense going into it, the waves of power grating on his nerves. But after that… It felt like climax, except with his whole body. The blood essence from the gem and crystals had permeated every pore of his body, leaving him awash in pleasure, it’s tingling hands caressing every centimeter of his skin. It was honestly a bit frightening, knowing he could lose himself like that. Pain was something you could fight off, but how do you fight something that stimulating? He would have to keep that in mind for the future if he came across anyone wielding illusion or bewitching abilities.

After handing him his clothes, Kaz let him sit for a bit to digest the experience while he cleaned up the ritual room.

“Ye feeling better now?” Kaz asked after he finished cleaning up.

Tormacc nodded. “Yes, although the experience was… an experience.”

“Bahahaha! That’s one way to describe it. Most people just say it felt like the best fuck of their life times ten. It’s hard to get that kind of high through normal means, only something like this can really get you there. And it must have been even better for ye since you had a Blood Gem to power it.”

Kaz then brought over the strength measurement device.

“Here, take a look at how much ye’ve grown.”

Paying attention to his body for the first time after the ritual, Tormacc flexed his muscles, trying to feel a difference. There did seem to be one, but it didn’t feel that big; certainly smaller than when he activated the ritual back in the starting zone. Stepping up to the measuring device, he gave it a good squeeze after Kaz powered it on.

“Almost fifty-seven. That Blood Gem must’ve made a real difference. Normally I would expect around forty-something at most.”

“Is that really accurate? I don’t feel three times stronger.”

“That’s because strength isn’t yer primary gain,” Kaz said. “The Blood Empowerment Ritual is more focused on vitality. Strength is actually more of a side benefit. Ye should be sturdier now and heal faster than ye did before.”

They both spent a bit longer talking and enjoying the other’s company before Tormacc left to go back to his inn. As he was leaving, Kaz gave him a list of the other rituals he was proficient in, as well as a list of rare materials he was looking for. Tormacc promised he would keep his eye out. It was hard to truly understand what the Blood Empowerment Ritual had done for him without testing if out in battle, but if it truly gave him as much strength as Kaz said it did, he should keep an eye out for some of the key components for the other rituals. One could never have too much strength.

The next day Tormacc made his way back to Curtain to talk to Stella and plan out his next moves. This time he quickly made his way into the building, only have to briefly scan the emblem that Stella had given him. After a quick trek through the building he once more found himself in her office, where he then related to her yesterday’s events.

“I didn’t realize you had a Blood Gem,” Stella said, examining his bank balance. “I was expecting a larger amount of Coin to work with, but investing in the higher tier Blood Empowerment Ritual was the right choice. You can always get new weapons and armor, but you only have one shot at the ritual.”

“Is my amount of Coin a problem?” Tormacc asked. Stella had mentioned she would make a list of things for him to buy, but if he no longer had the Coin she might have to scrap the list and make a completely new one.

“Don’t worry about it,” Stella said. “Before I estimated you could get five or six Blue Crystals, but now you can only get two in addition to some decent equipment and supplies. It’s just a small adjustment. The real question is what portal you want to enter. The weakest right now is a level three, one that we normally suggest you have a tier eight ability unlocked on your Fate Wheel to enter. Tier nine to be safe. You said you only have enough Essence to unlock a tier six, but with the ritual and a few crystals you might have a chance as one of the currently available Shards favors physical fighters.”

“Do I have any other options?” He was far from a tier eight ability and he didn’t like the sound of the Shard based on what Stella had told him before.

“Your only other choice is to roll the dice, so to speak. If you wait another few days the portals will change. While there’s a chance there will be a tier two portal, they’re not super common. Usually only one rotation out of six or seven has a tier one or two, and if you wait, the next rotation could only have tier four and five, or a tier three that is much more unfavorable to you. The reason I suggest entering one of the current portals is while it’s unlikely you can easily kill monsters to farm Essence, most of the common threats are rather slow, so running away should be a viable option. The real threat is the environment, but as long as you are properly prepared you should be able to survive the Shard.”

Tormacc lapsed into silence, mulling over his choices. Based on what Stella told him, most people didn’t have the option of a safe portal to enter their first time. Only once you could guarantee your safety in a tier three portal would you truly be safe. Before that you faced endless dangers, the tier three portals unforgiving against the unprepared. But that didn’t apply to him. Had he spent years in the starting zone he would likely be stronger, but his current strength couldn’t be underestimated; he was no weakling to run away from a challenge.

“I’ve decided to enter the portal.” It was useless to run away. Playing it safe would only get you so far. The more you advanced in the beginning the more you could retreat later without losing ground.

“An excellent choice,” Stella said. “Let’s discuss the final acquisition list and after I procure the necessary items you can enter the portal tomorrow morning.”