581 Divination Ritual
Saratoga Castle.
Inside his dormitory that had been assigned to him when he got admitted to this prestigious arcane institution, Adam sat on a rocking chair, facing the fireplace.
The weather outside was transitioning from fall to winter, making it chilly. Despite having elevated his life essence by advancing to a Mana Liquefaction Magus, the youth still enjoyed the warmth of the fire in cold weather.
He gazed at the light flickering inside the fireplace and heard wood crackling as it turned to embers. The fire reflected in his black, abyss-like eyes as he pondered what had transpired in the Flynn Manor earlier today.
Who would have thought that Brigham would have such a backstory? Not to mention, the person who he betrayed was one of the three leaders of the Umbra Thieves...
He sighed repeatedly as he began massaging his temples, thinking to himself, I have a feeling that this Kissinger person is very likely to be a Rank 3 - Mana Vortex Magus.
Before committing suicide Alvertos claimed that there were three such people including his father. That means three Rank 3 Magi are at the helm of this criminal enterprise...
Damn it! This increases their danger levels significantly. I didn't think they'd have more than one Mana Vortex Magus leading them.
He leaned back in his chair and glanced at the ceiling that was made up of ancient black stones.
"Our combat power is far weaker than the Umbra Thieves," he softly muttered. "And this is taking into account what Alvertos said was true..."
For now, I must boldly assume that this organization has at least three Mana Vortex Magi leading them, he thought with a grave expression on his face. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
After thinking deeply for dozens of seconds, he finally got to his feet and walked to the section of the room that he had transformed into a lab to carry out his herbalism-related experiments.
Now, for what he was about to attempt, he could have gone to his manor in Uptown Quarter where he had an entire underground basement that served as his laboratory.
However, the security around his manor could never compare to the one at Saratoga Castle.
For the ritual he was about to carry out, he didn't wish to be disturbed. He needed a safe and peaceful environment.
Of course, the neighborhood in Uptown Quarter where his manor was could be considered to be the safest place in the entirety of Ravenfell, but Adam felt a little skeptical about it.
Deep in his heart, the raven-haired youth felt that Brigham, the patriarch of the Flynn Family, might do something undesirable after he became privy to a secret that involved the existence of a Rank 4 Magus's inheritance.
Even though he knew that it was very unlikely that Brigham would do such a thing, considering that he had cured the man and that the old man knew that he was backed by a powerful mysterious organization, Adam was still as cautious as ever.
Regardless, after the meeting that was to take place the following day, he believed that Brigham would not have any ill intentions—no matter how unlikely they may be—towards him.
Phew! Adam exhaled a deep breath, clearing his mind. He stood before the wooden table and cleared all the books, alchemical apparatuses, and other miscellaneous items.
Then, he conjured a large slab of black adamantine marble from his earring and gently placed it on the table. This would serve as the altar for the ritual.
Adam patted the marble twice, praising, "Riskan ore found deep within dwarven mountains - perfect for inscribing runes!"
The following moment, with a solemn expression on his face, he conjured a crystal jar that contained the red worm from before. By now, the worm had already died but that didn't matter. What really mattered was that the corpse was fresh.
Adam took out the eerie-looking worm from the jar and placed it at the center of the runic formation.
With the way the runes had been inscribed, he would be able to divine the location where this worm had originated from, which he believed was very likely to be the headquarters of the Umbra Thieves.
When he opened them again, they were no longer the same.
21:21
His black pupils now shone with the brilliant and mysterious light of the white lotus!
After all, it required a lot of care, time, and resources to even create such worms. Even if the worm wasn't created in the headquarters, Adam was sure that it had to be somewhere close.
Either way, he hoped to get answers from this divination ritual.
However, there was one thing that bothered him. His eyebrows creased a little and he muttered, "I hope not..."
The next moment, his expression turned solemn and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He weaved a complex series of hand gestures, following which the runes on the slab began to light up one after another.
A visible swirl of wind materialized around the circle that Adam had earlier created. Then, all the lights, including the one from the fireplace, inside the room dimmed significantly. The temperature dropped and everything turned ethereal.
The runic formation had been activated and the divination had begun!
Based on the complexity of the runes he had inscribed and the ritual that he had created, the result of the divination would manifest in his mind's eye.
Adam would see flashes of the divination results directly inside his mind!
However, even after having expended a considerable amount of his mana into the runic formation and activating the ritual for close to ten minutes, he still hadn't received any revelations.
His fears had come true, yet he continued to keep the formation activated for another ten minutes, hoping to see a positive result.
Alas, the ritual ended in failure.
The youth's eyes dimmed slightly and he muttered in defeat, "As I thought... how could an organization as big as the Umbra Thieves not have set up methods to interfere with the enemy's divination magic?"
A few moments later, however, his eyes suddenly sparkled with inspiration and his lips slowly curled up into a smirk.
"But what if I remove the interference?"
He added an additional layer of runes to the ritual formation and altered it slightly. Then, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
When he opened them again, they were no longer the same.
His black pupils now shone with the brilliant and mysterious light of the white lotus!