"I recognize this ritual!"
Salvatore was sprinting down the street, shouting, "This is ’Untouched Heart Sings’!"
"It belongs to the domain of blood, dominated by the Blood and Desire Deity, the ’Goddess of the Cup’—"
The Goddess of the Cup—
Annan rarely heard this name in the Kingdom of Noah.
Although She is one of the True Gods, She is more commonly called "The Bringer of Desire". Philosophers usually believe that those who go mad without cause, or those who are overwhelmed by desire and commit foolish acts, have heard the whispers of the Goddess of the Cup.
And those more cultured individuals who have committed impulsive crimes tend to euphemistically explain their past misdeeds as "having once listened to the prayer of the Goddess of the Cup".
In the Kingdom of Noah, almost only those operators of the unconventional entertainment industries who are "not dressed modestly" would worship the Goddess of the Cup. It is hard to imagine Her as a True God.
Salvatore stopped near 44 Clearwater Street after a considerable run, gasping for breath before continuing, "This is a high-level ritual...
"...The ritual has not yet been completed!"
"Give me an overview of its contents."
Annan casually followed behind Salvatore and promptly inquired.
The attire he was wearing might seem a bit strange.
His hands were sheathed in pale and slender elf-skin gloves, one wooden bucket for glove storage hung on his left side and a bag for a blood-dripping kitchen knife on his right, and he was carrying two flat brass flasks on his back.
These flasks contained the liquid Philosopher’s Stone.
Apart from brass, the Philosopher’s Stone could only remain stable in containers made of pure crystal or gold.
Otherwise, it would continuously consume itself, turning gemstones into pure crystal or transmuting metals other than copper into pure gold. However, a copper container in sunlight could greatly suppress this process and extend the transformation time as much as possible.
Clearly, even as a transformation wizard, Saul couldn’t easily whip up three gold flasks...
In his right hand, Annan carried the barrier-breaking warhammer "Right Arm of Obstruction" (minus the head), and in his left, he held a kitchen knife that dripped with blood continually.
The presence he exuded was formidable.
To ensure quick spread of his Curse Binding onto the knife, Annan had deliberately transferred the object carrying his curse—a bronze bracelet set with a sapphire—to his left wrist.
If Annan were to put on a mask, and ignoring his height and figure, he would almost pass for a monster straight out of a horror movie.
On the other hand, Salvatore’s attire was relatively more normal.
He wore a thick white robe resembling that of a researcher or doctor, with a cotton armor underneath, partly for warmth. Visually, it gave the normally slender Salvatore the appearance of being broad and tall.
He also carried a copper flask on his back to expose it to light.
Aside from that, he placed the already loaded "Bone Trigger of the Skeleton Marquis" inside his cross-body bag.
In his left hand, he held a heavy carry case. One side of the case allowed a hand to reach in, and various types of potions had been tied to the side according to his prior arrangements, marked with different metal pieces to ensure Salvatore could retrieve the potions he wanted even with his eyes closed.
On his left arm, he wore a black armband similar to those used for measuring blood pressure, with vials of pre-transformative substance resembling tiny perfume samples attached on the outside. His right hand was left completely free, ready to grab the pre-transformative substance or other mixtures from the left side at any moment.
Salvatore quickly grabbed a vial of blue potion from the carry case, skillfully popped the cork with his thumb, tipped his head back, and downed it in one gulp.
Afterward, his mental state noticeably improved.
He then retrieved two tubes of thick, dark brown ointment, passing one to Annan.
"Eat some of this first, the ’Emergency Nutritional Supplement’. It’s for people just rescued from the wilderness, forcibly halting hunger while replenishing essential nutrients. Prolonged use can cause habitual indigestion, but it’s good for emergencies. Be careful; the taste might be a bit strange..."
Salvatore said this, tilting his head back and shoving the tube all the way down. He squeezed the thick ointment directly into the depths of his throat, his expression bitter and somewhat twisted.
Annan imitated his movement, pushing out the medicine and swallowing it in one gulp.
Then he felt slightly disappointed...
...It didn’t taste as bad as he had expected.
The flavor was somewhat like a very strong jujube and ginseng drink, mixed with unblended sesame paste and a bit of sour lemon juice.
It was certainly strange...
But the effects were quite good.
After Annan swallowed it, in a short while, he felt the body he hadn’t fed since waking gradually regain its vitality.
Afterward, Salvatore took out a red potion, a purple potion, and a bottle containing an odd gaseous cloud that flowed like smoke, and handed them to Annan, "Blood Push Potion, Acuity Elixir, Extreme Cold Breath. Have them all before the fight starts... Save some of the Extreme Cold Breath, I’ve only made one bottle."
As he spoke, he took a long dropper with a silver-grey cap out of his suitcase.
He handed the dropper to Annan and instructed, "I can’t move well carrying the case. You need to go around the house and drip a circle with it, and remember, don’t break the line... If any spiritual bodies try to enter, it will light up as a warning."
Annan looked at Salvatore with some surprise.
His previous encounter with Gerald had conditioned him to see Salvatore as a cumbersome artillery piece.
Now he suddenly realized...
This Salvatore, could he be some kind of potion warrior?
While Annan was setting up the warning line, Salvatore explained, "The ’Untouched Heart Sings’ ritual itself doesn’t bring any effects or summon anything. It’s usually used to forcibly conduct the ritual when ’ritual conditions are not satisfied,’ and it’s also used to clear the field."
"It collects the ’heartbeat’ from within the ritual site. Every nine seconds, the hearts of all people in the ritual site will hum, simultaneously making the awakened more vigorous, and keeping the asleep in deep sleep.
"Those ordinary people who fell asleep during the ritual, will not possibly wake up before the ritual ends. Even if you stab them full of holes with a knife, they won’t wake up... Meanwhile, those who are awake will not fall asleep and therefore will never be trapped in nightmares."
Salvatore muttered, "Many powerful curse materials are ’keys’ to high-level nightmares. Touching them might draw one into nightmares... To use the power of these keys, one either purifies a nightmare once and places it within a ritual during its ’Three-day Seal’ or uses another ritual to seal the power of the key, or bestows some kind of power on the ritual executor that prevents them from falling into nightmares—like we’re doing now."
"Since we broke free from this ritual, it means that the ’Untouched Heart Sings’ ritual executor has a lower soul rank than us. And we are all the lowest rank Transcendents, so..."
"...So the ritual is being performed by an ordinary person?"
Annan asked incredulously.
The entire city asleep, the sun exchanged.
Can this really be done by an ordinary person?
"That’s how rituals are..."
Salvatore didn’t seem surprised: "Knowledge is power. This ritual isn’t easy to conduct... You can’t just muddle through it.
"It requires nine people, nine hours to complete. One person offers an incomplete eye, another an incomplete ear, another half a tongue, another a piece of skin, another half a cup of blood, another half a bone, another a half foot, another a half hand, and another half a heart—in this way forming an analogy, summoning the ’Mouth of the Cup’ of the Goddess of Cup.
"Because this counts as an illegal summoning, they must bypass the Goddess of Cup, hence the sacrifices must be incomplete, to call upon the incomplete ’Blood Cup’ power. But the Goddess of Cup is a True God... Even summoning just a fragment of her power is enough to cause extraordinary phenomena."
As he spoke, Salvatore pointed at the "dark red sun" in the sky.
"—That’s not the sun. That’s the shadow of the ’Mouth of the Cup’."