Chapter 77: Chapter 77: The Ceremony Begins

Although it didn’t reach the expected goal temporarily.

But picking through Tru’s mysterious knowledge, Aiven still discovered an interesting witchcraft – “Extraordinary Sense of Direction.”

This is a solidified passive witchcraft that, through a specific ritual, embeds the ability called “Extraordinary Sense of Direction” into the subject, which can be a person or an animal.

Although it possesses no offensive power, this witchcraft is very compatible with Aiven’s planned “Base Station,” a match made in heaven.

Effect: After acquiring this solidified ability, without any expenditure and not being affected by absolute strength of Extraordinary Power, one can achieve the miraculous effect of never getting lost.

By studying its principles, Aiven discovered that after the witchcraft ceremony is completed, an invisible “thread” connects the subject to the Earth’s magnetic field or other specific direction, creating a rather subtle extraordinary resonance.

ps: Quantum state?

As for whether this “thread” is essentially a magnetic field? Magic Power? Mysterious Factor? Ether? Destiny?… Aiven couldn’t figure it out, and there was no explanation in Tru’s knowledge.

Aiven’s understanding of this witchcraft is still at a stage of knowing the effect but not the principle, yet it doesn’t hinder him from applying it to practice. After all… the subject isn’t himself.

If this ability is transplanted onto sea birds, with subtle transformation, it can allow them to maintain ultra-long-range real-time connection with the “Base Station.” This solves the flaw of having to approach Aiven to transmit messages, greatly improving efficiency while also avoiding the possibility of exposing anomalies.

The difference between pre and post-transformation is like the difference between Bluetooth transmission and a 4G network, a qualitative leap.

With infinite expectations for the Sea Bird Reconnaissance Network, the transformation ceremony took Aiven a whole week of deep contemplation to design.

But how to realize it is the real key!

Aiven spent another three days, carrying his savings, making several round trips to Gabred’s Crow Market to make a grand purchase. Without alarming anyone, he came alone with a huge package once more to the saltwater swamp where he had once encountered the Crow Witch.

“Ugh, this place is really as uncomfortable as ever.”

Many days have passed, and the forest’s strong self-repairing ability has completely erased the traces of the battle that day. But here, there are no more Crow Witches, nor are there the sky-covering flocks of crows.

Returning to its original state, it’s primitive, secretive, and dangerous!

But that is only for ordinary people. For Aiven, who has completely undergone an Extraordinary Transformation, this is the ideal secret base and test ground.

Whoosh–

Like an agile monkey swiftly using the treetops for leverage, the native creatures like venomous snakes and birds in the forest just saw a black shadow flash by and completely lost trace of him in the next moment.

Now Aiven’s speed is much faster than when he first came here to hunt saltwater crocodiles, having completed the Extraordinary Transformation, he is fully qualified to dominate this forest, becoming its undisputed king.

Quickly, using the microscopic identification of “Data Visualization,” he returned to the battlefield of that day.

Using this as a starting point, Aiven deployed his bird flock for a reverse search, and half an hour later, successfully found his anticipated target.

“Great, there really are still some left!”

Flutter, flutter–

Whoosh–

Following several sea birds running through the forest, no complex terrain hindered his steps at all, and he quickly entered the depths of this swamp forest.

Then, by the stream, he found an area distinct from the surrounding environment.

Black vines full of thorns seemed to be wriggling slightly at all times, trees hunched and twisted as if afflicted by some disease, and even the undergrowth and grass had a dark, gloomy color.

An oppressive and unsettling atmosphere enveloped this place, not a single insect sound could be heard, only a dead silence.

Aiven, however, didn’t hesitate at all and stepped into this eerie area.

Rustle, rustle…

Tru’s mystical knowledge has made him no longer a novice who knows nothing. He knows that this is because numerous Crow Witches once resided here, and the demonized energy emanating from them eroded the original plants, causing strange and distorted mutations.

In fact, these mutations aren’t very dangerous.

Moreover, since they had just moved here and settled not for long, the degree of tree alienation wasn’t too deep. Having lost several sources of “pollution,” over time, Nature’s reparative abilities will eventually restore them.

This was why the Crowmen did not bother with this place after disposing of the three Crow Witches’ bodies.

Whether it’s strange phenomena, witchcraft, demonized creatures, or even humans, in face of Nature’s great might, they are no different from ephemeral ants.

But now, this special demonized environment happens to meet all the requirements for Aiven’s planned witchcraft ceremony.

Passing through the twisted woodland that seems like ghosts might rush out at any moment, Aiven saw three tree houses hanging from the trees that looked more like bird nests than houses.

Having dispatched sea birds to scout beforehand, Aiven knew there was nothing of value inside, so he had no interest in exploring them further.

Rustle, rustle…

Stepping over fallen leaves and branches, he continued forward, and after passing the tree houses, he finally found what he was looking for.

It was a vast expanse of smoothly polished green stone ground.

This “Feng Shui treasure land,” obviously artificially developed by the Crow Witches, was precisely Aiven’s target for sneaking into the forest.

Having acquired the “Tesske Crow Transformation Technique,” he knew there was a high probability that the Crow Witches would develop a new ritual site upon arriving at a new habitat for continued research.

Sure enough, he had inherited their legacy.

“Not bad, even better than I imagined!”

This ready-made green stone ground and the surrounding demonized vegetation precisely met all the essential elements for Aiven’s ceremony, and it was interference-free, a hundred times better than the cramped environment in the rented attic.

Without rushing to start immediately, Aiven first cleared a clean vacant area outside the green stone ground and set up a tent. Fully prepared to fight a long battle, Aiven’s preparations were ample, with a tent, sleeping bag, and other living supplies all available, sparing him the discomfort of sleeping in the smelly old bird nests of the Crow Witches.

After all preparations were done, Aiven quietly waited.

For this kind of biological transformation witchcraft, strictly speaking, it’s neither like White Witchcraft, positively inclined, nor like Black Witchcraft, negatively inclined; it’s quite a neutral type of witchcraft, and whether conducted during the day or night doesn’t hugely impact its effect.

But the overly intense sunlight of this season could potentially disrupt the Spiritual stability in the ceremony, so to be cautious, Aiven decided to conduct the ceremony at night.

Another reason is that the Moon is regarded by Wizards as a source of mysticism, and at night, it aligns with the sun of the Spirit Realm. At that time, the Moon can provide extra assistance for Aiven’s first practice.

After actively hunting for a meal and feasting, under the protection of the bird flock, he had a good night’s sleep to replenish his energy.

When the Moon was at its zenith, the ceremony officially began!