Mathew sipped his morning brew of tea as he walked into the new Workshop. Already, people were hard at work creating new things. A smile appeared on his face. “Good. Continue to use my grand rewards. Just remember who enabled this for you all.”

As he climbed to the second floor, Mathew spotted a wink from Ragnork as another set of stairs appeared just for him. Ragnork was currently overseeing a group using a grindstone. Mathew gave a wave back in thanks and climbed up to his personal crafting room.

He sat down the thermos of tea on the table and started to pull out several items. Agnox floated in behind him and let out a whistle. “Damn boss. This place is nice. So, what’s the plan for today?”

“Today my friend. I am going to rank up my [Ritual] skill. By doing so I am going to cast almost every ritual in this book. Then, I will cast a few of the cheaper ones again, experimenting with them. Depending upon how long it takes, I will either pass out from exhaustion, progress to talk to Bob for more lessons, or work more on my Mana Channels.”

“And why am I here?”

“Two reasons.” Mathew said with a grin. “I need your blood for one ritual. Not the Blood Scent one. Secondly, you will be my rubber duck.”

Agnox narrowed his eyes. “Why does the duck part sound worse than the blood part?”

“The Rubber Duck Debugging theory. It’s practiced by engineers or coders primarily. Lawyers use it as well. It’s the practice of talking out everything to someone or thing. By explaining each part of my case, it helps find new things. You can talk back and continue to ask the magical question ‘why’.”

“Why?” Agnox asked, a bit smugly.

“Because my dear familiar, you possess a certain level of intellect I require to talk things out slowly and methodically with.”

“Thanks boss. I knew you cared.”

Mathew pulled out a piece of chalk and walked over to the marble slab. “First order of business is the Ritual of Identification. I want to see what a few items I have pop up as on it. Di already did, but I want to compare his knowledge with the rituals.”

Mathew started to draw a circle, however in four parts the curved line turned to sharp right angles inward, turning it into a weird shaped plus sign.. A few more symbols were drawn near the center leaving an open spot for where an item was to be placed. Each required item, minus a mana core, was placed at specific spots.

All that was required was an initial mana cost to start the process. Mathew took notes on how the ritual appeared, to compare to other rituals as he progressed. He planned on one day maybe modify the rituals if possible. How else would he make them stronger?

Placing his hands on the northern side of the ritual where the mana core normally would be, mana flower out of Mathew’s hands and into the circle. Chalk grew blue and the items took on a hue of blue as well.

Mathew stood back as he saw the four inner circles start to spin. It was an odd sensation to see, but not the first time. Once it was completed, Mathew placed Papriko’s Charm in the very center of the ritual. It floated up and a blue screen appeared in the air.

Paprika’s Charm

Novice Ranked

Once a day, the wearer of this charm can be protected from a single attack upon activation.

“Less informative than what I was hoping for, but better than expected.” Mathew said as he watched the item float to the ground and the blue energy in the chalk fade away to ashes.

“Huh, that light show was cool boss.”

“I suppose.” Mathew reset up the ritual, this time paying close attention to each part of the drawing. He repeated the ritual for every item he had. It took a couple of hours, but at the end of it, Mathew was confident in his ability to replicate the ritual without referencing the book.

Then again, he might do so in the future to be careful. His [Ritual] skill only ranked up once so far. Mathew assumed he would need to do a varying number of rituals to improve it.

He flipped through the pages, thinking of which one to test next. The only other two rituals with no loss of items was a Detect Poison and a Campfire ritual. Everything else either required a single material to be used up, or Di didn’t have everything for it.

There was one ritual Mathew wanted to test later. It was the Perfect Butler ritual. The only problem was the human heart. Then again, he could always ask Bob. Go be his pet necromancer and fulfill his ‘evil’ duties.

Mathew chose to move forward with the Silence ritual. It would create a field of silence roughly three meters in diameter. He began drawing everything out. The most expensive material was surprisingly not the item that would be destroyed. That belonged to a glass jar with a stopper. The most expensive part was a golden thread that was three meters long.

Mathew finished the ritual and started it with a push of mana. There was a significantly less visual component to its activation. Once Mathew realized it was done, he stuck his head near where he assumed the silent bubble started.

Instantly, the air grew quiet. The small noises he took for granted were gone. Agnox’s breathing. The rustle of his clothes. The light echoes of people working down below. All of it was gone. Mathew had a hard time figuring out great uses for such a ritual. There was the hiding factor. Yet, it wasn’t a mobile ritual. Wherever he casted it, it was stuck until the mana used to create it was dried up.

Mathew sat to the side and started at the circle, comparing it to the two others he has used. “Agnox, what happens when you try to cast a spell or activate a skill wrong?”

“Uhh, it doesn’t work?”

Mathew nodded. “But those powers are essentially pre-made. It’s like legal documentation. The entire thing is worthless if the power that makes it legal doesn’t go through. What if you were to change the spell, but then still use it like normal?”

“A different spell?”

“That’s the plan. So, what if I were to modify a ritual?”

“It explodes? I don’t know, I have never seen someone do this stuff before.”

Mathew nodded to himself. “That’s fine. I just noticed something interesting.”

Agnox floated behind Mathew, looking over his shoulder. “What did you find?”

“The Silence ritual has a direct size limitation built into it. So does the Blood Scent ritual. There is a symbol here. It’s shaped like the letter U with five limbs. For the Silence ritual, there is a circle I draw and place the golden thread within it. However on the Blood Scent, there is no circle or any other symbol. I am curious, what if I were to apply the circle on the Blood Scent ritual? Better yet, what if I were to remove the limitation on the Silence ritual?”

“Bad things is my guess. How can you stop the ritual?”

“When the mana runs out of course…” Mathew trailed off. He flipped through the book to look at the Identification ritual, compared that with the Blood Scent and Silence ritual. “A limiter. One of these symbols is a mana limiter or battery or something. I just need to figure out which one.”

Mathew flipped through his book, looking for a ritual with the most missing symbols compared to the first three. He came across a Ritual of Campfire. It did just that, creating a small fire. It never listed a time limit for it. Just that it was easy to put out when needed.

Mathew glanced back at the silence ritual, annoyed it was still active. Yet he didn’t care, words were not needed. He cleared off the marble slab, and got to work. It was by far the simplest circle.

He drew it all, threw down the materials and instantly activated it. Paying attention to how much mana was drawn from his body. He had no clue the exact number or units, but it was almost pitiful.

An orange flame appeared above the center, no larger than if Mathew ignited a log of timber. He then waited. Counting the time as it ticked by. He waited for half an hour before he tried to stomp it out. To his surprise it did. Mathew narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out the best way to figure out his goal.

Either one of the symbols in this ritual was a mana battery, or it used something else to keep the flame lit. “...like ambient mana?”

Mathew licked his lips and went through the last ritual he could use right now. Ritual of Crystal Wash. All it did was clean whatever was within the Ritual when it was completed. Mathew even tested it on himself, surprised to find his body perfectly clean.

He filed that for personal use later on. It used an entire bar of soap that Di sold. It was a novice ranked soap. Mathew wondered if he used a higher quality sop if it would be a higher quality cleansing? Was that even possible?

“Agnox!” Mathew shouted, seeing the Imp was dozing off near the table.

“Huh? What is it?”

“Go find Bob and deliver this note to him.” Mathew used his [Writing] skill to make a quick letter and folded it three times. “Tell him that failure is not acceptable, but being unseen is even more unacceptable.”

“Sure thing!” Agnox snatched the paper and flew off far quicker than Mathew thought was necessary. He glanced at his watch, noting how much time had passed. “I need to talk to Ragnork. I’m two ranks away from the next rank. I could always test [Mana Manipulation] with the rituals. Yet, I feel like that will go poorly.”

Mathew decided to talk to the giant. He went down to the ground floor and found him. “Ragnork, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing fine kid, what can I help you with?” The giant had just finished pointing out a tool somebody needed.

“I require your expertise.” Mathew then pointed up. Ragnork smiled and winked. “Sure, let's go up then.”

Ragnork closed the staircase behind them. He then glanced at the slab. “Kid, at least clean up your rituals. You still have one going!”

“You can see it?” Mathew asks, confused on how he knew the Silence ritual was still going.

“Of course I can. Hold on, I’ll take care of it.” Ragnork waved a hand, and Mathew heard an audible *pop*. “Much better. Now, what can I help you with?”

Mathew opened his notes. “What symbol is related to mana cost? I want to reduce, or increase how much mana a ritual pulls to power itself. For example, the Silence one. I want to shorten it’s time.”

“Woah, slow your roll. Firstly, I can’t tell you directly. I can teach however. May I see the list of rituals you can cast?”

Mathew nodded, and handed the book over. Ragnork flipped through a few pages, nodding or making a myriad of grunts. “Okay, do you have the materials for this one?”

Flipping the book around so Mathew can see it, the Summoner winced. “No. I’m missing the most important ingredient. The Glow Moss.”

Ragnork tsked, and stroked his beard. “Okay, how about this then.” He turned to another section and pointed at it. Mathew raised an eyebrow. “Why would I use that ritual? I can already summon a weapon to my hand. It’s even worse. I don’t even have the main material for it.”

“That is where you are wrong. You forget, when the old building was destroyed, I acquired every part of it in storage. Including some building materials..”

Mathew knew the guardian was trying to make a point, and didn’t further complain. “Okay then, bring the materials up for this ritual please.”

With an almost too gleeful grin, a sword appeared. Mathew glanced at it, noting it was one Zack was working on with the fiendish metal. “I don’t need that, I need an iron sword. It even says so.”

Ragnork shrugged, “My mistake. I don’t have any iron swords in storage though.”

Mathew was about to complain but stopped. He looked between the sword and Ragnork. He tilted his head as a single thought came to his mind. “Ragnork, remind me to give you a raise if this works.”

“Kid, you don’t pay me at all right now.”

Mathew drew the ritual by hand and placed all the objects in their respective spot. The sword went mostly in the southern part of the ritual. He double checked the ritual before he started it.

The Ritual of Summon Iron Sword was…the worst ritual in the book. So bad, he skipped over it every time. It allowed the person who created the ritual to summon an iron sword to their hand. Once.

If there was a rank below Novice, Mathew was assured this ritual would claim it. He was mentally was sick thinking about wasting a Novice Mana Core for it. Hell, the thought that it even required a Mana Core was insulting.

Mathew started the ritual and it ended in just a moment. By far the cheapest in mana, and the shortest in time to complete. He walked a few steps away, and flexed the arcane mark that was on his hand to summon the blade.

In a blink, Mathew was holding the sword. He grinned. “I don’t have to use materials literally. I can change things if needed. So long as they are the same item in idea, the ritual will still function.”

Mathew appreciated the advice, but now wanted more. “How does this answer my original question? Also, let me know how I can pay you. I doubt you need Universal Currency.”

“Go to the other ritual I pointed out. Once you can cast it, let me know. Also if you have booze. I want it.” Ragnork walked back downstairs to leave Mathew to his own thoughts.