Ch. 351 - Conducting the Ritual

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After listening to Tricia's explanation, Yang Yi finally understood the process of the Pioneer Ritual.

But he still had a question.

“What exactly is the thing summoned by this ritual?” he asked.

“It isn’t fixed. They’re basically unknown entities that are attracted by the ritual. Some of them may come simply to cause trouble, so you have to ask several times. If the answers consistently point in the same direction, then that means the direction is relatively reliable,” Tricia explained.

“Also, at the same location, the ritual can be performed at most three times a week. Starting from the fourth time... there’s a high chance that you’ll summon the same unknown entity. If you repeatedly summon the same entity within a short period of time, it can easily become enraged, leading to a series of uncontrollable consequences.” Tricia further explained.

“I see!”

Yang Yi indicated that he understood and simultaneously shared this information with Suna.

“By the way, how far away do we have to go for it to count as changing locations?” Yang Yi suddenly asked.

“The book doesn’t say. It would be best to wait a week before performing the ritual again.”

“I see.”

Yang Yi nodded and prepared to try the Pioneer Ritual.

He brought the ship to a complete stop, which would make it easier to determine their heading.

Immediately afterward, he went to the central courtyard of the ship, opened the Pioneer’s Guide, and spread it out on the deck. He then arranged a huge ritual formation covering an area of more than six square meters.

“Suna, I’m about to perform the Pioneer Ritual. Do you want to come up and watch?”

“Coming right away!”

Suna replied, indicating that she would be there immediately.

She had actually read this ritual book before and had even taken photographs of it, but she couldn’t reproduce a second copy because her level of understanding was still insufficient.

Simply copying the formation would not produce any effect.

Suna had already figured this out.

Whether a magic formation would function when drawn was actually related to numerous factors.

These included the ink used, the location where it was drawn, whether the temperature and humidity of the environment were suitable, whether the timing of its creation was correct, and even factors such as the age of the person drawing it.

Trying to obtain a formation with the same effect through copying was practically impossible.

But conversely, magic formations with obvious differences could still produce the same effect. That was precisely the wonder of magic!

To draw a magic formation, one had to understand its underlying principles.

Suna arrived on the deck, accompanied by Xiao Ji, and indicated that Yang Yi could begin the ritual.

Tricia, meanwhile, hid inside Yang Yi’s pocket like a mouse that had spotted a cat, leaving only her head sticking out.

It seemed that a witch’s intimidation was greater than that of a fire worshipper. She would rather face a fire-worshipper than fall into the hands of a witch.

“Uh... then I’ll get started!”

Yang Yi recited an opening statement, directing all the crew members to focus their attention on the ritual magic formation.

The magic formation consisted of three concentric-circle patterns connected in a straight line. They were the most important components of the formation.

The concentric circles at the bottom were used to present offerings and attract unknown entities to be summoned.

The offering could be anything, but poor-quality offerings might cause the summoning to fail.

The concentric circles at the top were used to place the object being sought. The unknown entity would then guide you toward the direction where that particular object was especially abundant. For example, placing fragments of a Light Fairy would give you a high chance of learning the direction of the Sea of Miracles, while placing something delicious would give you a high chance of learning the direction of the Sea of Abundance.

The vast majority of ships relied on this method to find their direction.

Based on this principle, the ritual had also developed other uses: whatever you lacked, you could place it in the formation.

For example, if you were short of food or fresh water, you could place food or fresh water in the formation, using it to seek a way to survive in the Sea of Eternal Night.

Yang Yi thought for a while before placing one unit of Crystal Diamond at the top. At the offering position, he placed a leg of a Vitality Sardine and prepared to activate the ritual formation.

The method of use was similar to a scroll. He only needed to provide magical essence. The cost was 3, after which the magic known as the Pioneer Ritual would be activated.

【Pioneer Ritual: Requires a ritual formation. Place an offering and the object being sought to activate it (either position may be left empty). Inject 3 units of magical essence to summon an unknown entity, which will tell you the direction where the object being sought is abundant and take away the offering.】

After the formation was activated, it emitted a dim, dark light, as though black matter were seeping in from beneath the formation.

“Is this normal?”

After injecting the magical essence, Yang Yi asked Tricia.

“Uh... I suppose it counts as normal?”

“Suppose...?”

“The effect of the Pioneer Ritual is random and is related to the sea area you’re in, the offering, and the summoner,” Tricia hurriedly explained. “So any kind of phenomenon could occur. There’s no definitive pattern.”

“I see.”

Yang Yi nodded, his eyes fixed on the formation.

Beside him, Suna was taking notes with a notebook and pen. From time to time, she bit the end of her pen, trying to deduce the principles behind the formation based on the phenomena occurring before her...

Eight minutes later.

After a long period of almost deathly silence, the formation finally showed a reaction.

If Tricia hadn’t explained that each ritual’s summoning time could range from five to thirty minutes, Yang Yi would have thought that he had failed.

The center of the magic formation began to react. Ripples appeared across it like the surface of water, as though something were rising from beneath.

But the formation was merely a sheet of paper, and beneath it was the deck, so there should have been no physical space for anything to emerge from.

That meant the formation had connected to another space.

Smack!

Water splashed everywhere.

A sound like something breaking through the water came from the center of the formation. A gigantic eyeball broke through the formation and rose from beneath it.

It was as if some unknown creature had discovered a hole, pressed its eye against it, and was secretly peering through.

The pupil of the eyeball darted wildly. It moved at a speed that no normal living creature could possibly achieve, as though it were observing and gathering information about its surroundings.

Yang Yi pulled out his flintlock and switched to Three Eyes, preparing himself for any unexpected situation.

However, this magic was still fairly reliable. After all, its inheritance had been passed down and used for a very long time.

The eyeball stopped moving when it saw the Vitality Sardine leg. Then it suddenly turned and shifted toward the other side. After briefly lingering on Yang Yi, it turned its gaze toward the Crystal Diamond.

Under the eyeball's gaze, the Crystal Diamond began to move, sliding several centimeters diagonally upward toward the bow of the ship.

The meaning was roughly that they should proceed in that direction.

After indicating the direction, the eyeball sank back down, taking the Vitality Sardine leg with it. Some kind of force dragged the fish leg into the formation.

With that, the ritual ended successfully. The formation returned to the way it had looked at the beginning, except that the Crystal Diamond had been moved to a different position.

Yang Yi recorded the indicated direction based on the new position of the Crystal Diamond, then prepared to perform the ritual for a second time.

A single ritual was not reliable. These unknown entities might not necessarily tell you the correct direction.

They might not even know the direction themselves and could simply have come to trick you out of your offering.

Or perhaps... that direction was a trap.

Therefore, he needed to perform the ritual a second time, or even a third time. If the results were consistent, then the direction would be relatively reliable and most likely the correct one.

Yang Yi thought for a while, then changed the offering. This time, he replaced it with a bag containing ten thousand Seashell Coins and activated the formation once again.