“Right. So, I need you two’s help.” Mathew said as he sat down in a chair. He crossed a leg and spun so he could face both his summons.

“With what?” Agnox asked.

“Do you remember that night when you saved me from Doozkora Agnox? And when I…” Mathew glanced at Cherry, “Had a horrible and genuine nightmare.”

They both nodded. “Doozkora did something to me, and it was real. She branded me with a ritual or some sort of magical mark. I intend to figure out precisely what it is.

Mathew pulled off his shirt showing his body with scars, but no brandings of any kind. Mathew pointed to his right side. “It’s right here. I know it.”

“I don’t see anything Mathew,” Cherry said looking at his bare skin.

“It’s there, we just need to look harder. It’s invisible or disguised with a spell.” Mathew said, a little agitated.

“We believe you, Boss. I saw her do it to you.” Agnox floated over and stared at Mathew’s body. “But…it’s not there now.”

“Well, it’s there. I just need to devise some sort of ritual to find it. Some sort of magic.”

“You could ask someone for help,” Cherry suggested.

“No! Nobody can know of this. I want as few people to know as possible. Doozkora is after me. All it will take is some lunatic to hear I have an enemy stronger than me and go to them to help her get to me and kill me, absorb me, or whatever she plans to do with me.”

Cherry looked over at Agnox, who was standing with his arms crossed. They both looked concerned for their summoner.

“I’m not being insane. I don’t think anyone even has the means to contact Doozkora with the System’s restrictions on our planet right now. But I need to start thinking further out. If I want to be the one who rules the actual world, then I need to take steps now to prepare. That starts with me figuring out what Doozkora marked me with.”

Cherry sighs, “Where would we even start?”

Mathew points to the marble slab where he performs his rituals. “I’m going to make a ritual. I have an Identification ritual that works on items. I need to change it to work on other things. You two are here to help me figure out how to do that.”

“Neither of us knows how rituals work Boss,” Agnox says.

“That is fixed today. I’m going to teach Cherry how to use rituals. Agnox, you are here in case anything extra happens once we start to experiment. No clue what sort of magic or traps or magical traps Doozkora put on me.”

Cherry looked over at the slab for a moment, “Why teach me how to use rituals?”

“Two reasons.” Mathew held up two fingers. “The first is because I could use an extra hand in the future. Rituals will only increase in complexity. Arrays require more than one person to activate due to their complexity, so once I start to experiment with them I will need someone to help me. Someone I trust. Secondly, I need someone to help me create new rituals and to utilize the ones I make with stronger efficiency.”

“It’s a sound reason, but there is nobody else you trust?”

“Nobody that I can summon and unsummon at will nor is bound to my cause. We help each other create a cycle of productive work. Helping me is helping you, and vice versa.” Mathew said, with a pointed gesture. “It’s time to get you on par with Agnox and me.”

A few hours later Mathew looked over Cherry’s shoulder. “Your markings here need to be straighter. Other than that, it looks good.”

Cherry nodded, “Not bad for my first ritual, right?”

Mathew shrugged, “Better than mine. Go ahead and activate it, and let’s see if you get the associated skill.”

Cherry placed both her hands on the edge of the ritual. It was the ritual that summoned a campfire. A relatively cheap and easy ritual to practice with. The irony of a wooden creature summoning a fire wasn’t lost to Mathew.

A minute later, a small fire appeared in the center of the ritual. Cherry smiled as she looked at the blue box that popped up. “Rituals Novice 1. Now to practice new ones.”

Mathew nodded. “Feel free to continue practicing, while I devise a few rituals to identify the marking Doozkora left on me. We need to be wary to not drain too much mana. I feel we will need every bit of it for what I plan on making.”

Mathew was in the middle of making yet another ritual. This time, he introduced the method he learned in the crafting challenge. Rituals to him were a way to write out what would happen. Binding the mana to a set path that will result in the same result every time.

Laws worked the same way. They represented exactly what they were supposed to do. If one were to find a way around the wording, that meant it was a weak law. Mathew knew this adamantly. He wanted to create a ritual that did exactly what he wanted. To identify whatever marking Doozkora left on him.

As he worked these few days on Rituals, he slowly started to see the markings as words or phrases. It helped him identify what each part does versus looking at them as symbols or random markings. Actually understanding them helped him achieve a new sense of understanding.

Cherry already had her [Ritual] skill up to Novice 6 in just three days. Both of them spent the majority of the time practicing the rituals. When Mathew was taking a break, he spent time directing workflow for Blue Oaks.

Nobody still had yet to find the safe zone that tried to steal the Dungeon from them. Mathew was starting to think they were further away than he originally thought. Perhaps too far for a simple takeover.

He was thankful for the prior military members of Blue Oaks. They helped him understand proper ways to move troops for when they march to the zone to either talk or fight. There was no reason to not expect a fight. People with hot heads have power. People will use those powers if they felt what belonged to them was in danger.

The search for the opposing safe zone luckily landed a new Dungeon. It was Novice ranked, but it held an actual mine. Inside were small blue-skinned humans. They had hunchbacks and fought with long claws or random tools. The mine had plenty of stone but also held some iron ore that could be repeatedly gathered whenever the dungeon reset.

Dozens of crafters rejoiced to have raw iron to work with versus the recycling of old car parts. The influx of crafting let Mathew gauge when he was going to purchase the trade center. The open trade with Black Snow will be what Blue Oaks needed. People were in a crafting and gathering frenzy in preparation for the possible goods that will be up for trade.

This would also complete his side of the contract, and secure him his final Hearth Crystal for the quest given to him by The System.

Timed Quest: Path to Sovereignty, Part I

Reach the upper reaches of nobility in the universe and claim the titles for yourself. Leaders are not born but are created. As an owner of a Hearth Crystal, you too have a chance to become one of the greats.

Acquire 5 Hearth Crystals 4/5

Acquire 7 Dungeon Cores 7/7

Reach Level 25

Rewards:

Title Choice: Baron, Chief, Magister, or Manager

Upgrade to Safe Zone

Time Left: 287 Days

He found the time limit laughable now. He could have completed this forever ago if he could just get the final Hearth Crystal. But, there was no reason to fret over it now. In two days he would get the new title.

The time leading up was filled with more rituals and learning about his least used Axiom of Patterns. All he knew was anytime he used it on a ritual, the output was more. The campfire’s flames gave off more heat and produced a larger flame. The cleaning ritual had a larger area of effect with less mana needed. The Wall ritual was denser and harder to damage.

Mathew was just wondering why it did that. For any other Axiom and how he applied it, it made sense as to why. For his Axiom of Piercing when he used it on his eyes, his vision sharpened. It was like increasing the resolution on a computer. The quality of what he could see was better.

For the Axiom of Bolster, it was a straight increase in strength and power. It worked just like the Axiom of Patters did but for his body. His Axiom of Enforce did a mix of the two. It improved the natural way something worked. Metal that could fly through the air better, like the material his spear was made of, would do it better.

This process of thinking caused something to tick in his mind. The combination of his various thoughts of how everything worked moved his hands automatically. Mana flowed differently as he used his [Mana Text] skill to draw out another ritual.

Typically, he layered the mana evenly. Repeating the process over and over until he could replicate it perfectly. As with most hobbies, creative ingenuity found new ways to do things better.

The newly created Ritual of Identification couldn’t be called such anymore. The symbols used were different. Their purpose was for detecting anomalies within a body. Mathew continued to make small changes to the ritual, the sudden inspiration pulling him forward to keep going. A few more markings, a different layering of mana, just one more final version.

Eventually, a new ritual appeared in front of Mathew. The lines were not all connecting like his typical rituals. The lines weaved through each other creating a web of purpose. A ritual that would only work for one purpose and on one person.

Mathew stepped back from the ritual and rubbed at his eyes. “Mathew! Can you not hear me?” Cherry’s voice caused him to look over his shoulder and see the dryad standing at the top of the stairs.

“You’ve been stuck in trance for nearly two whole days, are you okay?” Cherry placed a hand on him, her pink healing magic surged through him.

“I’m fine. I did it, Cherry. I made a new ritual.” Mathew started to laugh a bit. In disbelief that he was working on the ritual for two whole days. “Has it been that long?”

“Yes. You need to eat something or you are going to starve. I brought food, but you seem to always have ignored it.” Cherry pointed to a table that had a few plates of various foods.

Mathew walked over and picked up one of the sandwiches and bit into it. The bread was soggy since it absorbed all of the mayo, but it was food and he was hungry. His eyes moved back to the ritual he made, “Take a look.”

As Cherry looked it over, Mathew checked his menu. To his surprise, he found more than just one new thing.

Name: Mathew McGonald

Race: Human [Apprentice]

Class: Summoner

Profession: Leader

Level: 52

Universal Currency: 678,456

Titles: Big 100, Child of Axiom, Classy, Dungeoneer VII, False Life, Forerunner, Hearth Crystal Owner, Lawyer, Pack Leader, Solo Delver III, Soloist, Survivor II, Warlock, Willful Power, World Quest Solo - 3rd Place

Axioms:

Glint of Bolster [Beginner], Glint of Cold [Beginner], Glint of Enforce [Beginner], Glint of Pattern [Beginner], Glint of Piercing [Apprentice], Glint of Resistance [Apprentice]

Strength:

424

Vitality:

396

Dexterity:

443

Endurance:

471

Intelligence:

690

Wisdom:

801

Unallotted Stat Points: 0

Channel Mana Apprentice 0 -> Apprentice 3

Mana Text Beginner 9 -> Apprentice 0

Rituals Apprentice 4 -> Apprentice 5

New Spell: Ritual of Divination: Know Thy Self

Ritual of Divination: Know Thy Self | Novice 0

This is a passive and ongoing spell. So long as you supply a small amount of mana to the spell, you will know everything and anything abnormal within your body.

Skill Rank Up: Mana Text

Instant Ritual: You can have one ritual ready to cast as if it were a spell, instantly creating the ritual with your mana and using your own mana to cast the Ritual instead of a Mana Core. The ritual can only be exchanged once a week.

Copy Text: You can instantly create a copy of any written document, book, stone slab, or anything else with writing on it. The larger the source, the larger amount of mana required.

Spell Glyphs: You can store a spell into a written Glyph. Once written down, you can not cast the spell until the Glyph is used up.

Axiom of Pattern [Beginner]

+20 Intelligence, +10 Strength, +20 Wisdom