Mixed Blessing System

Two weeks later...

After Lothur's party had left the meeting place with the 5th-stage spectre, they had left for the future the hunt of groups of demons across the continent and traveled to Utrary.

Since they were more concerned about the spectral threat in Utrary and Thasan, the group traveled as fast as they could to that area in the southern part of the continent, of course, without using their Sage abilities so as not to attract unnecessary attention.

But even though they were traveling in a hurry, the group had encountered two groups of 4th stage demons on their journey, and Lothur had naturally eliminated them since they didn't take up much of his time.

They weren't interested in hunting demons now, but those who got in their way would naturally meet their end.

In addition to these two encounters with demons, the group had passed through three groups of 3rd and 4th-stage spectres, all of which had been exterminated by Blood and Smoke.

And so the party had reached Utrary this morning, but they continued their journey westward to the border between Thasan and Utrary, where Lothur planned to stop.

These two states shared a long border. Not only that, but they weren't enormous, and the two capitals were less than 500 kilometers apart.

With this in mind, Lothur intended to perform the ritual suggested by the 5th-stage spectre between the two states, where he would have a chance to attract spectral creatures in both territories!

If this worked, he could eliminate his most worrisome targets of the moment in one fell swoop!

...

As dusk fell on the borderlands between Thasan and Utrary, Lothur's party finally reached where he planned to perform the macabre ritual to attract the spectres.

Arriving at the border of these two states, the party stopped in a hilly area where there weren't many trees but rather lawns that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Arriving at the top of a hill, Lothur looked at the darkened surroundings, where an ordinary person would be frightened by the intense darkness. He felt that this was the best place for him to do what he intended.

"I will perform the ritual here." He said to his group while Cykad swallowed his saliva, feeling unsure about the whole thing.

He had nothing in mind to stop the threat to the monarchical families of these two states, so he wouldn't suggest that Lothur not do the one thing they knew could help them. But still, he didn't feel comfortable with all of this and couldn't help but keep his distance from the young Ritter at this point.

"Do you need help?" Viktoria asked him while the other three women looked at Lothur as if to say the same thing.

"No. Just hide your auras and positions on the outskirts of this area. Stay at least 300 meters from where I am." He said, knowing that only he could perform this ritual. "The same goes for you two, Blood and Smoke. If you stay by my side or don't hide your auras, the spectres we are trying to attract will be scared away from coming here."

"Okay, creator!" The two replied simultaneously, moving along with Lothur's women, making their auras disappear as they positioned themselves at different points around the area.

Noticing that he couldn't see his people's positions or feel their auras, Lothur felt ready to begin his work there.

Even though he had never performed such a ritual before, being a Sage capable of creating life and seeing the rules behind techniques and things in the cultivation world, Lothur had a good idea of what he had to do.

After reaching the 5th stage, he spied on many people's techniques. With so many methods of using the laws of this world to transform spiritual energy into special things, he had already created a dozen techniques of his own.

He quickly created one in this situation while thinking about what he needed to summon the fallen souls who had failed to reincarnate but had not yet begun their spectral formation.

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them as black flames covered them and his hands.

Suddenly, five fires of black flames erupted at different points around him while a pattern began to form on the grass of the hill where he stood.

Lothur brought his hands together and made a finger seal, causing the energy in his surroundings to expel all the positive elements from around him while concentrating on the negative elements in his surroundings.

Suddenly, the flames around him increased in intensity without any more of his powers being poured into them, while the shape of a demonic pentagram appeared on the grass there.

Impure Reincarnation! 

Lothur bent down and struck the ground, immediately causing dark clouds to cover the sky, while strong winds formed in the area, causing Cykad and the women in the group to shiver.

Then, terrible sounds that seemed to come from the depths of the underworld rang out in the area, seemingly coming from every possible direction, while spiritual pulses emanated from the area where Lothur stood.

As he controlled the ritual, he could feel different points of darkness forming in different parts of the area as the ritual began to produce results.

The summoning of the spectres had begun!

Lothur focused on one of these points of darkness and understood a little more about the spectral problem in this world.

Currently, there are two types of spectres in this world. Those who were formed from souls that failed to reincarnate when the wheel of reincarnation was still working, and those who died after this essence of the world stopped working.

Before the wheel of reincarnation stopped working, some beings failed to reincarnate. However, failure in this process did not mean immediate spectral transformation.

It was a process that could be influenced by factors individual to the dead being and external factors related to the place where they died.

Given the number of requirements for a spectre to form, a soul could transform into a spectre hours after their death or millennia later.

Therefore, even in the current situation of this world, not every dying being would immediately form a spectre.

Thus, even though there was a problem with a large number of spectres appearing in Concordia at present, there were many more souls waiting to form spectres than there were spectres already formed.

If one were to perform the ritual that Lothur had just begun, that being would be able to begin summoning many spectres with relative ease, as many souls were waiting for such a moment.

As he began his ritual, he sensed more than 100 essences in the area, which had surely witnessed the death of countless lives over the years.

Lothur could sense that some of these essences were from weak beings. Still, more than half of them were from Saints, which was impressive, considering he had only used 2% of his power. Yet, so many powerful essences answered his call.

Then, while he was bringing these essences into the space under the flames of darkness, Lothur suddenly felt someone approaching the area.

'So quickly?' He opened his eyes in surprise.

...