Setting down the candles, Colin Iliad found a piece of pure silver, picked up the carving knife beside him, and swiftly whittled down a charm carrier the size of a palm.
Then, according to Derrick Berg's description, he carved the secret symbol representing "The Fool" on both sides of the silver piece.
Throughout the process, his speed was astonishing. If there had been an observer, they surely wouldn't have been able to see his movements clearly. Yet, the final product was flawless, like a work of art slowly crafted over several days.
Next, Colin Iliad found a bottle of mercury and, using his powerful spirituality, guided the liquid out of the bottle, thread by thread, into the charm, filling all the grooves, and even ensuring the mercury on the underside did not drip down due to gravity.
Repeating the process, he made a second charm. Then Colin Iliad placed them before the candles and put a small worm with transparent segments on each.
Compared to when he first rose from his silence, Colin now appeared composed, calm, and resolute in every move he made, without a trace of hesitation, just like when he faced those powerful monsters in the darkness.
Having prepared the ritual, he stepped back two paces, took down the two straight swords hung crosswise on the wall, and thrust them into the gaps between the floor tiles at the entrance.
As Colin closed his eyes and whispered, points of pure, thick light emerged from the surrounding void, carrying a sense of holiness and glory, covering the two straight swords.
The light gathered more and more, slowly transforming into flowing water that followed the gaps in the room's floor tiles and walls, forming a "cage" that separated the inside from the outside.
As a veteran "Demon Hunter", Colin Iliad actually didn't want to take such precautionary measures during the ritual, as it could easily anger the object of his prayer and bring about even more dangerous changes. However, he had to do it. He had to ensure that even if the ritual failed, even if "The Fool" was a malevolent existence, even if he himself died before the altar, the entire City of Silver would not suffer too great a harm.
Colin, the Chief of the City of Silver, was quite confident in the defensive capabilities of this "cage", as it derived directly from a god-level sealed artefact: the crown once worn by the Giant King Ormir.
"Proof of Glory!"
This was one of the main factors that allowed the City of Silver to withstand wave after wave of monster invasions in the darkness during the Deep Dark Era!
Seeing that all preparations were complete, Colin Iliad used the desk as an altar. Relying solely on his spirituality, he created a pure, clean, undisturbed environment, and lit the three candles.
The dim yellow light swayed gently, reflecting in his eyes. He lowered his head and sprinkled the plant powder and monster fur mentioned by Derrick Berg into the candle flames, or lit them and tossed them into the cauldron, to please the hidden existence he was about to pray to.
Such activities were not uncommon in the City of Silver. On the surface, there were sacrifices dedicated to the Creator, but in secret, residents would occasionally be seduced by unknown existences during patrols or explorations, conducting all kinds of rituals.
Most of the latter were passive, but some were active attempts. On one hand, the despair accumulated over thousands of years of serving the Creator without any response had broken the spirits of some, who desperately sought other anchors. On the other hand, the "Council of Six" of the City of Silver, many generations ago, had already reached a consensus: it was highly likely that the Creator, who had abandoned this land, was never coming back. Finding other paths had to be put on the agenda. Unfortunately, such attempts had never had a third outcome besides failure and death.
It was precisely because of this that, regardless of the difficulties encountered, no matter how many city-states destroyed by "evil gods" were discovered, the City of Silver persevered in its exploration of the surrounding areas and more distant places.
As for Colin Iliad himself, the discovery of the outsider Jack had brought him indescribable surprise and hope. The encounters during the exploration of the Afternoon Town, the conspiracies of the Kings, and the prophecies of the clergy, had given him a stronger sense of urgency, leaving him with no more expectations for the Creator's possible return.
The combination of these two factors, coupled with the anomaly of Lovia and Derrick, and the prophecy of the apocalyptic disaster, forced Colin Iliad, the Chief of the "Council of Six", a veteran demigod, a powerful "Demon Hunter", to try dancing on the blade's edge, to consider making a deal with a hidden existence.
Silently exhaling, Colin stepped back and recited in a voice tinged with a sense of vicissitude:
"The Fool who does not belong to this era;
"The Mystical Ruler above the Gray Fog;
"The King of Yellow and Black who wields good fortune;
"I pray to you, pray for the power of the mystic, pray for the boon of good fortune, pray that you will form the objects on the altar into charms..."
The moment Colin's voice, full of rhythm and mystery, fell silent, the altar before his eyes immediately became deep and obscure, as if an indescribable, unspeakable divinity was emanating from the candle flame in the center.
The candle flame suddenly leaped up and swelled, but it did not illuminate the surroundings. Instead, it made everything more illusory, revealing countless transparent shadows of various shapes that seemed not to exist, filling every place, sparse or dense.
High up in this illusory world and above the countless figures, seven pure lights of different colors coiled, seemingly containing boundless knowledge.
And above these seven pure lights was an endless expanse of grayish-white mist, an ancient palace looking down upon all things.
"Demon Hunter" Colin, for a moment, forgot everything else, watching the scene on the altar so intently, as if something that had only existed in books and ancient texts had crossed the barrier between illusion and reality and truly appeared before him.
If he remembered correctly, this should be the projection of the Spirit World.
The Spirit World that was easy to observe and even enter before that catastrophe, before the Creator abandoned this land!
The Spirit World that now only exists in the textbooks and various records of the City of Silver, the Spirit World no one can touch anymore!
Just then, a creaky, illusory sound suddenly rang out. Within that ancient palace looking down upon the Gray Fog and the Spirit World, it seemed a great door had opened.
Immediately after, Colin saw the unformed charms in front of the candle flame glow with a hazy gray light. Their patterns were "lit up" one after another, interweaving together, and suddenly burst into a dazzling, dense radiance that enveloped the pure silver sheets and the small ringed worms.