SoK Chapter 206

Spending time with the excitable toddler was a welcome reminder of the fact that kids were forgiving to a fault, something that made the repentant man smile. TJ didn’t need to explain that he’d been focusing on other, probably genuinely more pressing things, and instead, he said, “I’m sorry, Luz. I should’ve been with you some more. Can I play too?”

The little girl, who had begun speaking in several word clusters, nodded and said, “You horsey.“

TJ had some ideas about how to play horsey as a giant snake, but instead of possibly accidentally making the child fall from his back, he was willing to engage in a more traditional game of horsey than he could potentially have done. Maybe an older child who’d gained a few levels could go on the flying snake for a horsey ride, but for the young Luz, just a guy on his hands and knees was enough.

After the playing, TJ bid goodbye to the little girl and went to help with the establishment of the pyramid temple thing. William had made quite good progress, and the second level of the pyramid was slowly rising, currently about two feet taller than the five foot tall first level. As TJ approached, William stopped using his Skill with a slight smile.

“Could you get me some more MP please?”

Expecting the question, TJ had already begun to prepare the Ritualistic Transfer ritual circle, taking the short moment to pull a couple of the people who were standing nearby into the circle. Of course, there wasn’t a single soul unwilling to sacrifice their own resources to assist TJ, especially not when he was working to construct what would become one of the key parts of their defenses. As the guide and creator of the Ritual, TJ anointed each willing participant with his blood, and he felt their resources there, willingly offered up to him as the Shaman, and as their leader. Before moving anybody’s resources anywhere, he finished the ritual and transformed into a coatl. With tens of thousands of his own resources to offer, as well as those of every one of his Bronze–tier followers, TJ pushed then felt as William’s own reserves swelled to their highest capacity. With so much supporting him, the man’s face twisted up in effort before his MP dropped precipitously, and TJ saw as the very slowly climbing tier of the temple swelled up to five feet over the course of just a couple minutes.

Just as soon as the floor was finished, William staggered back with an exhausted look on his face and nodded. “That’s all I can do for you. The rest of this? Do what you will. Unless you need something?”

“Nothing for now, no. Thank you, William. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, I’d be happy to. Otherwise, take a break. I’ll finish the inscriptions of the circles once I finish this.” As TJ said as much, he held up the Ritualist’s Knife Blade, certain that completing the knife would allow him to better carve the circles into the stone. He could imagine that if he’d killed the thunderbird patriarch, as a Boss, something about its materials would have worked well with the ritual knife that he was about to make, but there was no reason to think about “what–if’s”. Instead of worrying about that, he resolved himself to simply finish the equipment to be able to continue reinforcing his home. And for that, he needed more materials.

There was another creature, an Elite, no less, that worked in rituals, and he had its corpse nearby. With how humanish her body was, though, TJ hesitated to use the Yaga’s remains to construct the handle of his ritual knife. That said, he wasn’t about to miss out on these materials simply because the monster it came from was more human-like than some. After all, the wendigos were pretty human-like, and their mythos went something along the line of them just being cannibal humans. The blade he was talking about using was crafted from a wendigo’s horn, so TJ forced himself to go to look at the Yaga corpse.

The snout and wasn’t going to be used to create the handle or guard of this knife. To say nothing else about it, it was weird to be holding the literal skull of a creature for his handle. He couldn’t say why a horn was different in his mind from a skull, but it was. Now, days after it had been killed, the remains weren't incessantly dripping like right after she was made a corpse, and TJ was reminded that her hands were what she would be doing rituals with. There was an ideological tie between what something was used for, and how well it could be incorporated into equipment, especially with regards to being a material. TJ examined the long, knobby fingers, and decided that, grotesque as it was, they would serve as a good guard at the top of the handle. For the handle itself, he realized that the creature's upper arm was much thicker than he thought. Rather, the bone was.

Everything about the Yaga was thin and off-putting, but instead of being held together by muscle, the vast majority of her upper arm was actually just bone with thin skin stretched over it. That same bone was nearly as thick around as he was pretty sure his femur would be. Though he wanted to hesitate, TJ didn’t as he took the Ritual Knife Blade and cut one finger and one upper arm from the Yaga free. As with the Wendigo Blade he’d made for himself in the Tutorial, TJ knew that using the incomplete ritual knife to cut the material materials free would make for a more valuable end result. The finger came off easily, but sawing through the bone was an onerous task that grated on him more by the minute. Flecks of bone fell to the ground as he continued his work, and eventually, a handle that didn’t quite comfortably fit in his right hand was created.

At last, three materials waited in front of him, each one made of bone belonging to a ritualist of some sort. Now, TJ just needed to assemble the knife. Instead of jumping straight into that, he spent the time to channel Stormcaller and create a light rain, and then recovered every one of his resources back up to full. Once he was back to perfect condition, he called a half dozen willing participants to his side, each effectively at full resources before he set about putting the entirety of his own Willpower and others’ into forming this new knife. He transformed into a coatl and pushed his will against the three separate parts of what would become his knife.

He’d known the resistance was coming, and the knife, finger, and handle all refused to give in easily to his will. His own blood flowed over the bone, staining it pink, then red, then a deep crimson as he pushed thousands of his own resources and then his followers’ into the formation of this knife. TJ understood that he could’ve ceased pushing his will into shaping and strengthening and subduing the knife long before he did, but pushing further with these additional resources into its construction would make for a superior final product. When finally he’d nearly exhausted himself and everybody who followed him, TJ stopped pushing, and looked at the end result, ignoring the level gain notification for Shaman.

Item: Weapon, Offhand; Shaman Ritualist’s Knife (Silver (II)); This blade was fashioned from the horn of a Wendigo Ritualist Copper-tiered Boss, and the handle from the humerus of a Copper Elite-tiered Yaga. Every aspect of this item has been carefully and deliberately changed to be a perfect medium for ritual magic. The Shama Ritualist’s Knife is an item that can be used to increase the potency of a ritual by 40%, if the Knife can be realistically used to treat, prepare, or handle the materials of the ritual. As a consequence of the Knife’s construction and its creator’s intention, it can be used to prepare permanent sites for ritual casting, and the sites created with the assistance of the Shaman Ritualist's Knife will be able to be prepared and cast at 15% of the usual time and cost. This equipment grants additional attribute points to its wearer. Points granted: +10 to Strength, Agility, Endurance, Vitality, Toughness, and Perception, +25 to Wisdom, Intelligence, Willpower, and Fixation.

TJ allowed himself a broad smile as he read the knife’s description. Using the materials from the Yaga, macabre though it was, obviously elevated the end result. The bonuses to rituals performed while using this knife would continue to push TJ‘s newest focus further and further, to say nothing of the juicy Attributes granted. That it was an offhand weapon meant that he could benefit from using the Bloodied Spear and it at the same time, though the spear was almost never used and significantly inferior to this newest product.. TJ’s grin of gratitude shone bright as he was reminded of having been pushed away from taking any Skills that would focus on his ability to physically fight with things. 

He could still fight like that if necessary, and was no slouch either, but every day, he became more of a magical, divine being. And that didn’t need his Strength or Agility in order to continue to grow more capable of protecting his people was another turn of events that caused him to grin widely. Without further thought, TJ dismissed his assistants and began carving the circles into the pyramid. The knife cut through stone without issue or resistance. Thin strips of dark rock fell away as TJ‘s efforts continued to bear fruit. He was amazed to see that, with his Strength and Agility giving him greater power and bodily control, he carved perfect circles into the ground without issue.

Once he finished with the smaller, minor circles, four to each side of the pyramid, stretching from one corner to the next, the overlap making twelve smaller circles total, TJ hopped onto the top of the pyramid. With it being about seven feet across, he had plenty of space to carve out the circle where he would inlay the prepared ritual circle. The red metal made for a perfect template to carve, and before long, TJ was cutting the last edges to allow the circle to settle perfectly flat against the stone. Once finished, in a moment of impatience and foolishness, TJ was about to count the job as complete, but he remembered what he’d done when creating the Raven Mocker’s Remnant. The moment he considered the pyramid complete, it was over, according to the System, but this was not finished. He got the distinct impression that while this temple wouldn’t be considered an item, it would be able to carry effects just like an item, and he refused to cheapen and weaken this his first temple because of impatience. Instead, he sat atop it and meditated, restoring his resources to full.

Interestingly, the act of meditating on the temple seemed to establish a better connection between himself and the stone, and he grinned, grateful for his own, if last minute, insight. Then, back at top condition, TJ refocused on the pyramid. So the monolith could help him to meditate, then why couldn’t he teach it, before its identity could be solidified, the other things he would have the edifice serve as a medium too? As such, TJ kept his eyes closed, going from meditating to channeling Stormcaller, pulling on the energy from the temple itself to send into the skies. With his own resources facilitating, the Nascent Storm Serpent proceeded to strengthen the storm that continued to fall on him in the form of a light misting of rain. Despite not needing to, TJ spent extra time continuing to channel the Skill as he almost “explained” the form and function of Stormcaller to the temple. Regardless, it seemed to understand, and TJ expressed his gratitude to the seemingly possibly sentient edifice.

Minutes later, TJ pulled his mind from the skies to once again be grounded with himself on top of the temple. He opened his eyes and gestured for people to come forward. To his surprise, in the time that he’d been channeling Stormcaller, what seemed to be the entirety of his body of followers had assembled, watching as he continued building this pyramid up in his own image. Farid was the first to jump forward, though Sarah was a fraction of a second behind him. Molly, Tessie, Seth, Sam, Mimi, Gertrude, William, Laura, Brad, and Stella all quickly stepped up to fill the dozen circles that existed. A part of TJ wondered if he’d be able to create a Storm Serpent’s Awakening that affected every one of the twelve followers who’d stepped onto the lower tier of the temple, if he were to channel the ritual through the temple, but the rest of him didn’t care about if it was possible. Instead, he created and formed Ritualistic Transfer, binding himself and every one of the twelve who willingly and quickly threw themselves onto the pyramid to follow him.

As their resources melded together, TJ shifted from connecting their resources to instead commanding his Skill, limited, though it was, to allow for more people to be blessed by Storm Serpent’s Awakening. Excited and eager to please, the pyramid seemed to strain itself to push the blood that flowed freely from his hands into all of the people who stood on the pyramid with him. With a rictus of a grin, TJ used a combination of both Ritualistic Transfer and Storm Serpent’s Awakening to bolster the Attributes of his followers, as well as to take their resources to suffuse the pyramid with his power. Drawing from the storm overhead, his own Attributes soared, and he, no longer standing in the middle of his people, unwittingly transformed into a coatl. His coils spread down around the pyramid, going between the legs of all of the participants in his ritual.

TJ felt as his own blood, and the blood of his followers as requisitioned through Ritualistic Transfer, suffused the pyramid. For the first time, TJ somewhat understood the rationale behind human and blood sacrifice in eras long past. Blood was life, blood was connection, and it connected the mother to the child, the brother–in–arms to his commander, and people to their god. TJ allowed the enlightenment to wash over him as he continued to push his divine presence into each of the people who followed him. Flashes of understanding as to the purpose of a pantheon, as well as the benefits of following a god suffused him, and TJ grinned widely as he finished the channeling of Storm Serpent’s Awakening.

“Here, I establish my city, my people, and my pantheon! Follow me, and find victory and safety! The Divine Throne shall be mine!“

TJ made the declaration, and he mentally marked the pyramid as finished and hallowed, before he threw his head back in a draconic roar of glory as the System's description of what he’d just done flashed unacknowledged in his eyes. Instead, he gloried in the worship of his people, and TJ looked down, seeing the feathers and the scales decorating every one of the 12 who stood on the step of his pyramid.

“Welcome, my children, to our new home.”