"You drove all the spirits away!"

Eri was amazed. Waving a few branches in the air could do this? She looked at Uryu curiously, but he returned with a scowl.

"Hmph, bumpkin."

He huffed and stuffed the branches into his storage bag. After rummaging for a while, he removed a long ceramic tube and shook it with one end facing the ground.

Shaah, shah, shah...

Pink grains of sand spilt onto the ground. He poured a circle of pink grains around Alfie and formed a large spiralling pattern.

"Himalayan salt?"

Eri was surprised.

"Ha? What himalay-humalay, this is peach salt!"

"Peach salt?!"

"...stupid bumpkin, peaches are for driving spirits away. Of course, this is peach salt!"

"Peaches..."

Eri was dumbfounded, but she continued watching silently. She knew that this must be Uryu's method of helping Alfie. He came out with a lot of strange things. Fruit cores, branches, and now pink sand...er peach salt. Are these all taken from a peach tree? Somehow, this seems to remind her of Asian folklore from her previous life.

When Uryu put the container of salt away, Eri spoke up.

"Is there any way I can help?"

Uryu turned to her and raised his brow.

"...I heard you were a compounder? Can you make holy water? If you can make him drink it, we can drive out the filth more easily. This sand array only serves to trap the spirit and to diminish its power."

"Ah? Holy water! This...I've never tried, but we can give it a go. Rei, can you come with me?"

"Of course, my Eri."

Rei smiled and got up from watching Alfie. The two of them left the log house and looked for a place for religious ceremonies in the village. They walked briskly and found identical log houses lining the unpaved streets. There was no sign of people or animals. After circling half of the village, they discovered a small stone altar in the village square. The village must have been poor, but the meticulous carvings of nature and forest creatures were surprisingly skilled. Like every other religious altar, there was no statue or object placed on it. This world believed in a God that cannot be seen by mortal eyes. This was why there was never a depiction of God. Any at all would be blasphemous.

Eri clasped her hands in front of the altar. She did not know much about the God in this world, even the orphanage didn't teach her much about it. But since she had to use this altar she should do so respectfully. Imitating the religious rituals she had seen before, she placed her right hand over her heart after speaking and knelt down.

"Forgive my disrespect, I am no priest nor prophet, but please lend me your altar."

She bent her head to the ground and made three bumps. The first from the flesh, the second from the soul, and the third from the spirit. That was the way those priests had done it.

When Eri got up again, she took out a glass jar of distilled water that she usually used for compounding and poured it out.

[Gather].

Using the method Rei taught her, she controlled the water in the air and levitated it over the stone altar. The sphere of water spun gently under the midday sun.

Er frowned. She's not a light element user, so she can't introduce the light elements into this water. According to what she's heard, living things or objects that were unclean can be sanctified on altars. But how?

She observed the detailed carvings carefully. There were all kinds of animals, rabbits, bears, lions...and they all stood in a line. Each species had a pair, and their eyes were hollowed out. In the middle of the altar was a simple line of words:

"Guide thine eyes to the light to baptise creatures of creation."

Eyes? Eri rubbed her chin. Guiding the eyes to the light? She narrowed her eyes and looked at the blazing sun in the sky.

That's it! The power of the sun! The sun is the symbol of both fire and light elements, perhaps she can borrow light elements from the sun?

She spun the sphere of water in the air and divided it into smaller spheres, but the water started trembling. This was starting to go beyond what she could manipulate.

"Rei! Please help me!"

When she guided the little water spheres into the empty eye sockets of the stone-engraved animals, Rei looked up in surprise and smiled. So this was what Eri figured out. Interesting.

He manoeuvred the water easily to the rest of the animals. There were twelve pairs in total and beads of sweat formed on Eri's forehead by the time she reached the fourth animal pair. She smiled at Rei with appreciation. He finished the rest, now they only have to wait for the sun's light to refract through those small water spheres.

gurgle...gurgle...

Slowly, the water beads in the eyes of the animal carvings reflected the light of the sun. Rei felt a familiar wave of power from the stone altar.

Sheng...

Spirit power? He gathered power in his eyes and saw a different scene than the one a moment ago. The eyes of twelve animal pairs glowed with a bright golden light and the light overflowed from their eyes and formed a circle around the stone altar.

"Eri, put another sphere of water on the altar."

"Ah, yes! Please take over the other water beads."

Eri let go of the control she had over water beads of the four animal pairs and took out another bottle of distilled water.

[Gather]!

When the ball of water formed on the altar, it shone bright yellow like an incandescent bulb.

Ding! Ding!

[Compounding Success!]

Holy Water

A Rank (Compounding level: 0 stars)

Holy water can only be made on a divine altar or by light users. It has many uses from purifying cursed land to the exorcism of evil spirits. Use with caution, as it may be harmful to some creatures of the dark element.

"0 stars, but rank A?!"

Eri stared blankly at the notification screen. Wow? They did it!