Max knew that the ritual he was about to perform was not only complex but also extremely dangerous. It was a forbidden soul magic, a power that even the most skilled gods dared not to dabble in.
This type of magic delved into the very essence of a creature's soul, and any mistake could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Although he understood that it was dangerous, he did not understand the exact level of danger associated with this magic.
The longer duration for which one was dead, the easier the ritual became since the spirits connection to the body waned, hence the ritual that Max was about to perform was about as safe as it could get with thousands of years having passed since the death of the Gryphalos.
Had Angakok not given him the memory fragment and maintained the conditions on his planet exactly the same even after thousands of years, not letting the terrain change even the slightest, Max would have never found the location for the Gryphalos's death, having no chance to perform the ritual.
As the days passed, Max tirelessly collected the necessary herbs and rare ingredients required for the ritual as he scoured Angakok's planet looking for them one by one.
He also studied the memory fragments in-depth to ensure that he had a thorough understanding of the process he was about to undertake.
After collecting all the rare herbs, Max carefully began drawing the complex arrays that would serve as the foundation for the ritual with a peculiar blue flower that smelled fruity but left small crystals on the ground when rubbed against it.
On the seventh day, Max finally completed drawing the last array, it took him several re-draws to get the lines perfectly parallel to one another as despite Angakok helping him immensely with his dexterity stat, he was still a bit clumsy when executing on his own.
Once the drawing was complete, Max threw a glance at Angakok, the Shaman God was looking down on him from a nearby tree-branch with his ominous purple eyes with an expressionless face that did not indicate anything.
Max took it as a positive sign, he was inclined to believe that the shaman god would step in and help if his life was ever in danger.
This assumption was not because he believed in Angakok's kindness as a mentor, but because he was sure that whatever plans Angakok had for him involved him being alive to fulfil its purpose.
Max started to power the array, there were two ways to do it. One was to pour in his own mana and the other was to use high grade mana stones.
Max would have undoubtedly went the mana stone way should he have the option, but he did not exactly have a store to purchase them on this planet while his own personal inventory only had 3 of them which were not enough to power the array.
Each section of the array needed about 80 units of mana to power it and in total there were 4000 sections to be powered, bringing the mana total to 320,000 units.
This was about what Max could manage with his mana stat currently sitting at 335,000, but the slightest wastage would lead to a failure.
Calming his breathing and concentrating on pouring the mana, Max began lighting up the arrays one after another which glowed with a dark purple hue, the same as Angakok's eyes.
Max had to focus channelling his mana perfectly in very thin lines as he slowly lit up more and more of the 4000 arrays.
Once more than 3600 arrays had been lit, something stirred at the centre of the ritual circle as the spirit of the dead Gryphalos was being forcefully pulled out of the underworld where it had been living peacefully for thousands of years and was being forced back into the world of the living.
The purple of the array turned into a smoky black, as the temperature around Max dropped to an icy cold.
Goosebumps arose on the primordial Vampire's skin, as he had a foreboding of meeting something ominous.
Not losing focus, Max continued to push through, trying to complete lighting up all the arrays as an elemental spirit was summoned belonging to the Gryphalos as Max saw the outline of the mythical beast which had been extinct for centuries now.
Had the beast died recently and it's connection to its physical body in the world of living be still strong, it would have escaped Max's ritual and became an undead, however, because it's physical body had long decayed to nothing and not even it's bones left, it had no anchor in this world.
Max chanted in ancient Draconic as he commanded the Gryphalos to dissolve into a pool of essence for him to consume, as he controlled the array to create a torrent of wind that would suck the spirit into the bottle of boiling potion he had prepared before the ritual.
The spirit tried to resist Max's arrangement and desperately tried to shrug free from its predicament, but it found itself powerless in the real world as it was slowly dragged into the potion bottle against its will and it's spirit essence dissolved within the boiling liquid.
Max was covered in sweat by this point, the ritual had taken a lot of focus and concentration on his part and had completely drained him of his mana, but despite the exertion he slowly walked into the array and picked up the newly made potion.
Taking a glance at Angakok, who did nothing to stop him, Max drank the potion in one gulp as he felt every centimetre of the boiling liquid's journey inside his internal track, from his neck all the way to his stomach.
The potion was rapidly absorbed by his gut and absorbed into his bloodstream as Max's internal temperature rose rapidly.
Max felt like he had just drunk a vial of concentrated acid that was destroying his body from the inside out, however, with the improved knowledge about the fire element due to his meeting with the phoenix, Max was able to get rid of the excess heat in his body as he redirected it precisely through his arms to the ground below.
The potion began showing its effects as it seeped into Max's muscles, coating them with a layer of protection and lubrication that made them more resilient towards wear and tear and more capable of absorbing shocks.
[ System Notification - Agility+1 ]
[ System Notification - Agility+1 ]
[ System Notification - Agility+1 ]
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[ System Notification - Agility+1 ]
Max's agility stat rose rapidly, as the rock beneath his hands began melting to a pool of liquid, looking like it were lava from the heat generated in the process.
At this point in time Max had no doubt in his mind he would have all the blood in his body evaporated and him dead if he did not learn the nuances of thermo regulation from the phoenix.
The process of absorbing the potion was much more difficult than what Angakok had made it to be from his memory fragment and had Max been a normal shaman he would have died from it a dozen times by now.
Gritting his teeth Max glared at Angakok with anger and had expected the Blood Shaman God to be as expressionless as ever but he was not.
There was a smug smile plastered over his face as he watched Max's misery with pleasure.
' He knew ' , Max thought as he gnashed his teeth even harder and let out a primal grunt, the anger helping him numb the pain he was currently feeling as his body absorbed the potion even more.
Eventually after 20 minutes of intense struggle, Max had fully absorbed the potion and had barely reached stat maximisation.
His body was a sizzling mess as water vapour from the grass underneath and his own sweat sizzled over his hot skin as he laid exhausted on the floor, his eyes dozing in and out of consciousness.
He wished to move, however, none of his muscles were responding to his will at the moment as the slight attempt to get back on his feet sent him down the spiralling darkness of unconsciousness.
He had blacked out from the exertion of the experience.
Angakok clapped his hands in amusement once Max was out cold as he slinged his unconscious body over his shoulder and began exiting the planet that he created inside his space bubble.
His destination - The place where Max would be able to attempt his tier promotion.