Chapter 680: A Ritual

Several more days passed, and then, Seff finally made meaningful progress.

Clyde was training alone in the plain dimension, practicing his control over nature energy, when her voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.

"Clyde, I think I can remember something."

He immediately stopped moving. The vines coiling around his arm loosened and fell to the grass, while the green light surrounding his hand gradually faded.

"You remember something?" he asked.

"Yes. I can finally grasp a part of my lost memories. More importantly, I think I remember how to reach that hidden world I told you about."

Clyde’s expression sharpened. After spending so much time waiting for Seff to recover her memories, he hadn’t expected her next breakthrough to come so soon.

He walked toward a nearby tree and sat with his back against its trunk. Then he closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the presence within his soul.

"Tell me everything you remember. Start from the beginning."

Seff took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking. "The first thing you need to know is that reaching that world isn’t as simple as opening a portal or breaking through a dimensional barrier. There is a ritual involved. Without it, finding the entrance would be nearly impossible."

"A ritual?" Clyde frowned. "What kind of ritual?"

"An ancient one. It existed long before the current order of the Higher Beings was established. The knowledge has been lost over time, and even among the beings of my generation, not everyone knew it existed."

Clyde rubbed his chin as he considered her words.

An ancient ritual that even the Higher Beings had forgotten. That alone made the whole thing suspicious.

If the ritual could lead to a hidden dimension filled with unknown magical energy, there was a good chance the Higher Beings had once known about it and deliberately erased the knowledge.

Or perhaps the ritual had existed long before they rose to power.

Either possibility raised more questions than answers.

"How do I perform it?" he asked.

"I can guide you through it," Seff replied. "You need to draw several specific symbols in the correct arrangement. Then you must channel your magic energy into them while concentrating your mind on the destination. Your blood is also required. Once all the conditions are fulfilled, the ritual should respond."

Clyde stared at the empty space before him. "That sounds dangerously vague."

"I am telling you what I remember. My memories are still fragmented, so I cannot explain every detail with complete certainty."

"Wonderful." Clyde let out a quiet breath. "An ancient ritual that nobody remembers, requiring my magic energy and blood, with no guarantee that I will survive whatever happens next."

"You make it sound worse than it is."

Clyde wasn’t particularly interested in whether the ritual sounded dangerous. He had taken far greater risks before, and the possibility of discovering something connected to the Ancient One was too important to ignore.

However, walking blindly into an unknown ritual without clear result could easily become his undoing. He had no intention of letting his desperation cloud his judgment.

"Seff," he said, his voice growing colder, "I want you to understand something before we go any further. If this ritual is a trap, or if you intend to use it to take control of my body, I will destroy you without hesitation."

There was no anger in his voice. He spoke as if he were discussing an ordinary precaution, which made the threat all the more serious.

Seff didn’t respond immediately. When she finally spoke, her voice carried no trace of offense. "I understand. But I have no intention of betraying you, Clyde. You are my only hope of surviving and recovering what I lost. If you die, I may disappear with you. Why would I throw away the only chance I have left?"

"Because I don’t know what you truly want, and I don’t know what you might do when your memories return."

Clyde opened his eyes and looked up at the branches above him. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting shifting patterns across his face.

Seff had a point. Their interests were aligned for now. She needed him to survive, while he needed her knowledge and whatever power she could eventually recover. As long as that remained true, they had a reason to cooperate.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to mistake mutual interest for complete trust.

He spent several minutes weighing the risks. The ritual might lead him to the hidden dimension and bring him closer to the truth about the Ancient One. It might also expose him to an unknown threat, or draw the attention of beings he wasn’t ready to confront.

Still, opportunities like this rarely appeared twice.

"Fine," he finally said. "I’ll do it."

Clyde rose from the ground and brushed the dust from his clothes. Before he could proceed, however, another concern came to mind.

"There’s one thing we need to settle first. I won’t perform this ritual inside Sivagadh Fortress because I don’t know what will happen when it begins. If it releases a burst of energy or opens some kind of dimensional passage, the entire fortress might notice. The Council would certainly investigate."

He had already spent enough time concealing his unusual abilities from the people around him. Revealing another mystery tied to his soul would only make things more complicated.

Worse, the ritual could attract the attention of the Higher Beings.

Clyde glanced toward the distant horizon of the plain dimension. "I’ll find a Ruin outside the fortress where nobody can disturb me. Once I’ve prepared everything, you can guide me through the ritual."

"As you wish," Seff replied. "I’ll do my best to remember every detail before we begin."

"Make sure you do. I’m not interested in discovering that you’ve forgotten an important step halfway through."

With that, Clyde returned his attention to training. He had a possible path closer toward the Ancient One. Whether it led to the Ancient One or something even more dangerous remained uncertain.

But he intended to find out and he would make sure he was ready before taking the first step.

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