Autophagy

"But the guide I used clearly explained that I had to use soul energy to proceed the ritual," Song Lei explained. "Is there a certain type of ritualistic magic type that combines soul usage with the traditional ways?"

"Not that I'm aware of..." Aston muttered as he turned off the rotary tool.

"That's awkward. I'm pretty well-informed about hidden organizations and such. But I've never heard one that combined soul usage and ritualistic magic," he said.

"I think its origins go back to East Siberia..." Song Lei muttered. "At least that's what was written in the book I found in Xiang Yimu's room. It might be different for this specific type of shamanism."

"Hmm... I can guess the reason if that's the case," Aston said at the mention of East Siberia. "The Russian supernatural families came together and formed a super-faction towards the end of the first world war. After that, they generalized the means of the supernatural in their territories. I've heard that they've erased any kind of unorthodox supernatural methods from existence. That might've been the case for such type of shamanism."

After listening to Aston's explanation, Song Lei stepped back to the bed again and laid down. Thoughts churned inside his head as he revised Aston's words mentally. Before long, he found himself sleeping, tucked under the blanket. As his head was facing up, he could see a slight bulge on the upper bunk.

The room was silent, much more compared to before. Neither the noise of the constantly spinning rotary tool nor the scratching of two metals was resounding throughout. This gave Song Lei a strange sense of peacefulness.

Pushing away a huge gust of breath from his lungs, he ejected all of the turbid air that had accumulated throughout his sleep and jolted himself up.

As he pushed the blanket off of himself, he rubbed his eyes. He didn't expect to suddenly fall asleep out of nowhere.

'I must've been really tired,' he guessed. Not being able to notice that he was tired was troublesome but it gave him a strange sense of accomplishment.

Pushing these thoughts away and taking his phone out, he realized that he had only slept for two hours.

'That's fine I guess...' He muttered internally. Twisting his body and landing his feet on the ground, he pushed himself off the bed. As expected, Aston was calmly lying down on the upper bunk. Already having noticed that Song Lei had woken up by listening to his breathing pattern, Aston didn't react.

Without disturbing Aston's peaceful rest, Song Lei turned around and looked at the dagger lying on top of the table. After picking it up by its handle, he supported it by the tip of its blade to inspect it carefully.

For some reason, the iron dagger seemed much more glossy compared to before. The adequately carved runes on its two sides made it look significantly more adequate than how it really was.

Especially, the words "Sky God" seemed to be accentuated by Aston. This probably had a meaning that would benefit the ritual's effectiveness.

Shifting his gaze slightly to the right, towards the table, Song Lei realized that there was also a leather dagger sheath. Song Lei chuckled inwardly at Aston's thoughtfulness and put the dagger into the perfectly sized sheath.

After thanking Aston silently, Song Lei left the room. It was about the time that he went back to achieve his initial goal. After walking past the empty rooms and descending the floors until he reached the 14th, Song Lei decided that it might be good to check up on the newbies first.

Descending a bit further, he felt that there was no problem with floor 12.

'I would've liked to put a claim flag on floor 12 but it would expose the existence of The Limbo,' he thought with a frown on his face. 'I have to find out a way to be sure that they are safe all the time.'

After making sure that everything was okay without disturbing the newbies, he ascended the stairs to reach floor 14.

Entering room 1401 and picking up the paper, Song Lei read to remember.

"...You should take the dagger into your hands and encase it with your Luminescent Soul's energy. Once you do that, you should then feel a faint connection to the aether. Tug on it, as it will follow and connect to your dagger."

As per the instructions on the guide, Song Lei held the dagger tightly in his right hand and raised it onto the air. He then pushed out a glob of soul energy from his soul and guided it towards the dagger. Heeding his orders, his soul energy traversed throughout his body and reached his right hand before leaving from his fingertips to cover the dagger.

In no time, the dagger looked like it was on fire, albeit a gray one.

When he did so, he felt as if there was an invisible rope inside the dagger's spirituality. Pulling on it with his own soul energy, the runes on the dagger started getting filled by a blue glow. In no time, all the characters were illuminated in light blue, making the previously ordinary iron dagger look magical.

When he finally couldn't pull the rope any longer, Song Lei felt that there was something else in the room. Other than himself, he could feel a type of being that he had never felt before. It was divine if he had to describe. It gave the feeling of warm sunlight on a breezy afternoon.

Then, a split second later, that feeling disappeared. Leaving Song Lei with a dreadful sense of loneliness.

"That was... Something," he muttered to himself.

Finally remembering the fact that he was holding a dagger in his hands, he shifted his gaze and focused.

The runes on the blade were lit up in light blue, the same as before.

"Well. With this done, I can start the actual ritual," Song Lei reminded himself. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the guide once again to continue reading....