Caleb once more appeared in the square next to the chaos crystal, and once more reached out to the crystal yet this time he held a stone medallion in his hand. The medallion was the Medallion of Favor he had gotten before so when he went and clicked the Profession tab he went somewhere different from the norm. Caleb stood up inside a yellow stone room seeing a smal gnome in front of him.

"Good day sir. My name is Mandy Augustus, I will be you liaison. As you had a stone Medallion of Favor you have the right to test for one of the crafting Professions of our Blood Formation Hall. Is there any criteria you are hoping to have?" Mandy asked politely.

"Uh. Yes I would like it to have alchemy and hopefully rituals involved in the Profession. I realize I could perform either so thought but I would like the added skills spells and bonuses from a Profession if possible." Caleb answered. He really hoped that it would be possible.

"Hmmm...well there are a few Professions that could work depending on how you spent your Profession Points. They are Runic Scribe, Ritualist of Blood, Occult Librarian, Apostle of Blood, Artificer of the Occult, and Sanguine Scholar. In fact all of basic versions of these Professions fit the loos criteria you asked for. I will inform you that the versions offered by our Hall while far more powerful also carry far more danger for the weilder. So which profession would you like to be tested in?" Mandy asked.

"Could you give me more information on the Professions? So far you've only given me the name." Caleb asked with a little worry feeling like he had been put on the spot.

"No I may not. You should have studied up on the basic versions before coming here and if you didn't I am sorry for your loss but the stone level medallion only allows me to share so much. Though this would explain why your criteria was so vague. " Mandy said with a grimace. He obviously wanted to help but his hands were tied.

Caleb felt like kicking himself for not taking his time and figuring things out beforehand. He had just assumed that he would receive a better picture after using the medallion. After going over the Professions again in his mind he decided on Ritualist of Blood as it was the only one that guaranteed a strong connection to Rituals and he only wanted alchemy to help with health mana and stamina, being a vampire already lowered his need for them as he could regain lost resources through drinking his enemies blood. Well unless they were undead or living dead as their bloods were poisonous to vampire. After organizing his thoughts he shared his choice with th gnome.

"Okay. Now let me inform you that your chance has begun. You may quit and leave currently without issue. Yet if you stay you will either pass or perish. So the choice is; go or stay?" Mandy informed Caleb.

At least this par he had expected as the magistrate had informed him of the cost of this test and that he should probably just sell the medallion if he was unsure. "I will stay and take the test."

"Good. The test is simple you will perform a ritual to summon a familiar. You will perform the ritual until you succeed or die. With your HP and level you should be able to try 12 times before you die. Ergo you must succeed on your 12th try or you will be dead." Mandy said.

Caleb was about to agree when he remembered something. Quickly he pulled a tome from his spatial necklace. "Can I use this?"

The gnome looked closely at the tome, shocked to see it in the possession of such a weak being with zero background. Well he was a Champion yet Tyr was known for only giving training to his Champions never resources. Surprisingly all 8 of his past Champions besides one had managed to become gods and most were powerful gods for their rank at that. "Yes you may use that time but doing so will use up infinitely more of your lifeforce and once you attempt it one way you cannot go to the other. With the tome you will only have 2 possibly 3 if you are lucky but you will most likely be trained of health before tje ritual finishes so unless your soul familiar can heal through the veil you will still die on the third try. Also know that once you bond with a soul familiar should either of you die re other will follow within a day no matter what even stopping time will not work to prolong you life. There will also be no more chance of revival. The benefit for that danger is gaining far more power and possibly Abilities. "Mandy said, luckily these were things he was permitted share as they related to the stone level rights.

"I would still like to use it. " Caleb said after only a short consideration. He had no plans to put his familiar in danger while he wasn't right beside so if one of them died they both probably would have anyway. Plus the offer of more power seemed like a great boon even with the added risk. Besides hos bloodline was supposed to make rituals easier right?

My bloodline did help, I had felt it the last 2 times yet it wasn't enough to overcome my own incompetence in the field of ritualism. But the last ritual had nearly succeeded, I could feel that as well. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would succeed this time. Unfortunately I didn't have the health to survive the ritual. Unfortunately my HP wouldn't regen until I passed the test and would only continue to drain at 1 point every 15 minutes till I passed or died.

So instead of wasting more time I didn't have, I got back up and started again. First drawing an om in the center of the room feeling the lines with a mixture of asdia powder and my blood, go figure bring a Ritualist of Blood meant I used my blood to form a far more powerful connection to any ritual I performed giving me more control over it and the ritual itself more power. The next step was using my mana to permeate a gudan fruit and extracting its essence mix with my blood painting runes for bond soul portal plane transformation and translocation. All in all I painted 1,000 runes with numerous meanings. Each rune had a certain place it needed to be and a certain unique size. I also had to remember what order to place it in . Finally I etched a perfect 1 inch deep circle around the whole set of runes, I placed an essence pyramid in three corners outside the circle the pyramids forming a perfect equilateral triangle.

Going to the center I kneeled on both knees taking out my athame I began to cut the finale rune onto my chest. This rune stood for welcome in the context of this ritual though it had over 27 possible meanings and concepts. Finally I began to chant fingers crossed(metaphorically speaking) that he would receive aid in time. "Aktur Opda Zhita Ghurndae Pctuorn Oshknure......" On and on the chant went with over 600 words some of which were nearly impossible to pronounce with a human(or vampire) tongue requiring me to use mana to help. The entire time I focused my Will on the ritual calling upon the very fabric of reality and chaos the birth of creation to heed my call and bow to my command.

I was facing fast, but the bridge opened and I felt her, she wanted to join me, but a more powerful presence held her back. I would have fought the other presence but at that point my last HP dried up causing my vision to go dark. My last thought was "Fuck I'm screwed. Why would a saint stop my familiar from coming? Now I have no one to heal and save me before I die. And I never even got to see her!"

A small black cat with purple stripes and wings frollicked next to her mother. She swore to herself that she would take down her mortal enemy, her mother tail. She was sneaking up on it while it may on the ground, using her lightning mana to float a few inches off the ground so she wouldn't make a sound. But just as she was ready to pounce she felt something a pull of some kind.

It was gone in an instant but the distraction had made her forget to keep channeling the lightning so she crashed to the ground and roll forward. She was very upset about the distraction making her land like that and even more that it got her dirty. Yet even still she felt a part of her yearn for that calling, that pull.

After waiting for about an hour or so to see if it would happen again the little cub curled up next to her mother, planning to go to sleep. But then she felt it again far stronger and she knew she could follow the pull yet when she tried her mother stopped her and began to growl threateningly up into the void, to where the call was coming from. Then the cub felt the one who called to her start to die and she became desperate, she had to save him. He needed her. She screamed to her mother to let her go before it was to late.

Her mother turned to her seeing her desperation the tiger grabbed her and disappeared into the void using her own saint level power to strengthen the connection so she could go through.

Mandy frowned seeing the boy had failed. The last time wasn't even his fault as a powerful being had blocked the ritual, which was something no-one not even a god could help. But he still wished the boy could survive but the rules must be obeyed.

He was turning to leave when he felt it. Turning back he saw a winged thunder tiger walk through the bridge the young boy had made. The soul familiar was obviously the cub in the adult tigers mouth. The adult set the cub down before shifting into a caramel skinned beauty who had pitch black hair with streaks of purple. The tiger turned human or at least humanoid bathed the young test taker in the lightning spell Healing Lightning Shower, in a near instant fully restoring his HP and thereby saving his life.

At this point the woman turned to Mandy and addressed him. "I am sorry for intruding into a testing room for the Blood Formation Hall but this child had tried to summon my baby from me. I request an explanation as he should not have been allowed to perform a familiar ritual for a saint level beings offspring without their consent."

It was obvious that the lady was pissed though she tried to stay calm. It was perfectly understandable as well, since she was a saint the materials that were needed to summon her or her child would be off-limits without her permission. But that only applied to the normal familiar ritual that would have a set target. A Soul familiar ritual on the other hand required less specific materials but also had a far more random group to find. A Soul familiar ritual just searched for the being with the greatest soul resonance and at the same lifespan %. As Caleb was 21 years old in a race that lived for 10 million years he was considered a baby for his race causing him to search for a baby with great soul resonance.

After Mandy explained the circumstances that lead to this the woman talked to the cub before clawing a mark into the side of Caleb's neck that resembled cats eye. Doing so she kissed her child's head before turning and leaving through the bridge leaving the cub during beside Caleb.

"Ha, I guess you passed after all. I wish you luck. With your blood I am sure Groknar will want to help you even more so since you are the Oath Slayer's Champion. " Mandy said before waving his hand, causing both Caleb and the tiger cub to disappear. Another wave and the room was once more pristine and he headed back to his chair to wait for the next test taker.