Transcendent Dawn

Inside the private room.

Blood spread out on the floor, a woman’s corpse lay in the center, atop a pentagram array, each point filled with a symbol harboring a mysterious aura.

At first glance, it seemed steeped in a malevolent air.

‘If the ritual fails, I will have committed murder and be labeled a cult follower…’

With a wooden expression, Su Lu recited the ancient Hebrew spell heavily:

“May the darkness look favorably upon me…”

“I channel the strength of the moon…”

“Ye spirits who wander in darkness…in my name, Su Lu Pottery, the spellcaster, I summon thee to return! Rise once more!”

The ancient Hebrew language, a common tongue in the supernatural world, sounded peculiar.

The solemn and hoarse chants resonated eerily, creating a frightening atmosphere.

The candle on the table flickered dark; it seemed as if Beryl’s corpse moved from where it lay. Or perhaps, it was just an illusion.

“It’s a failure!”

Su Lu’s head throbbed. His face was stern.

He wasn’t even considered a Transcendent, and the skill level of this ritual was very low, a failure was the norm.

Thud thud!

What’s worse, footsteps sounded along the hallway outside.

‘If I were in the shoes of a mastermind, I’d definitely have someone catch me red-handed… well, although not in that sense, but the logic applies, I don’t have much time left.’

Suppressing his nausea and headache, Su Lu continued to recite the spell.

Once begun, it must be seen through; such is his stubborn mindset.

What’s more, with continuous recitations, his chanting had become much smoother, no longer ceased by stuttering.

Having found a rhythm, these strange notes now seemed like an ethereal hymn of the underworld.

“Sir? Do you need any help?”

The anomaly in the room had finally raised some alarm, prompting a waiter’s voice from the other side of the door.

Su Lu’s head grew heavier as he reached the last line.

‘Doomed… It seems like another failure!’

An ominous feeling had crawled into his heart.

Outside, the clamor steadily grew, escalating to the point where the door was nearly broken down.

“…In my name, Su Lu Pottery, the spellcaster …I command you, rise again!”

Su Lu felt his mind grow hazy as he finished chanting the final line of the spell.

It felt strange. At the end of his mumbling, his voice was low yet seemed to mix with another voice.

As soon as the other voice entered, the pentagram array on the ground began to glow in brilliant red.

“Success!”

Su Lu jumped, suddenly feeling his mind clear. “What just happened? I thought I was about to fail. At the very end, was there another voice…?”

His face changed.

Because at the end of the ritual, he heard what seemed like a whisper from another entity: “In the name of the moon!”

Hum!

But it was too late to stop anything now.

Beryl’s corpse shone in blood-red from the glow of the pentagram’s ever-larger array.

Su Lu grunted, almost collapsing: “Damn!”

At this moment, he realized a truth: he truly wasn’t a Transcendent!

Even though the spell had been cast successfully, he lacked the ‘Mana slot’ needed to wield such powers. And so, the energy needed for this magic was directly extracted from his life force!

In an instant, the ‘Constitution’ from his attribute column, which was ticking at 0.9, plummeted wildly to 0.6!

For Su Lu, it felt like a considerable amount of blood and bone were sucked out of him in an instant, paleness rushed to his face, and he drooped on the couch.

Humming!

He struggled to open his eyes, only to find the pool of blood on the floor seemed to have a life of its own, wriggling back into Beryl’s chest.

Once the blood had recollected, the wounds healed automatically, as if the stabbing never happened.

By the end of the ritual, the pentagram array on Beryl’s body quickly shrank to her forehead, appearing to form a brand.

With a flicker of light, the brand immediately disappeared, merging into her skin.

Su Lu, however, felt a connection between his spirit and another entity, as though there was a leash and he was leading a puppy.

“Success!”

With effort, he issued a command: “Stand up!”

Beryl’s corpse twitched, rising from the ground, expressionless, her eyes moved towards him.

‘This is kind of creepy!’

Su Lu hastily tidied up a bit, opened the pounding door, his face full of irritation: “What is it?”

“Err…”

Outside, the waiter, who initially looked anxious, almost tripped, quickly scanning the room.

Ah, a man and a woman, disheveled, the man pale. How much energy had he expended?

He looked a bit embarrassed but coughed and asked, “Sir, madam, do you need anything?”

“No…need…”

Just as Su Lu was about to speak up, a female voice came from behind. It was Beryl, or rather, the Corpse Maiden!

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to disturb!”

With an embarrassed smile on his face, the waiter hastily closed the door.

Su Lu spun around, shocked: “Shit, you can talk?”

The Corpse Maiden is the lowest level servant, in simple terms, it’s like controlling a corpse, like a puppet in a circus, it’s simply impossible for them to speak.

Maybe those masters of black magic could do it, but Su Lu definitely wasn’t one of them!

‘All types of transcendent rituals are very dangerous, the outcomes are unpredictable… Especially those related to darkness, there’s a high probability they could lead to terrifying results…’contemporary romance

A moment of demon hunting knowledge came to him, sending a chill down Su Lu’s spine.

He looked at Beryl, for some reason, after becoming a Corpse Maiden, her skin looked even paler and translucent, embodying the persona of a cold beauty.

“Stand up, sit down, reach out, lift leg… speak … eh? How come you aren’t speaking now?”

He tried again and found out the Corpse Maiden he had created had definitely undergone some sort of mutation. It wasn’t just a simple marionette. Instead, it could carry out semi-intelligent operations according to his commands.

‘It seems… I’ve created something weird! If a ritual mutates, there’s a 99% chance it will have negative outcomes!’

“Forget it!”

Su Lu checked the private room again, realising that the recollection of the blood earlier was actually a great help. Apart from a bit of mess, no blood remained in the room, even the blood stains on his and Beryl’s clothes had flowed back into the corpse.

He immediately put on his coat, commanded Beryl to follow him, and they left the room together, one in front and one behind.

‘I’ll wander around in the crowd first, then we have to leave this place, the further the better!’

Like a couple parting ways, Su Lu secretly issued instructions to Beryl.

Conversely, the implied meaning of his order was ‘make an alibi for me and then drop dead far away.’

If it were an ordinary Corpse Maiden, it would immediately ‘power off’ and collapse once it was a certain distance from the performer. But this one was different.

Due to the unpredictability of the mutated Corpse Maiden, Su Lu had no intention of researching it. He just wanted to get far away from this problem.

‘I’m sorry, Beryl, may your soul rest in peace!’

Watching her figure receding further and further, Su Lu exhaled, tightened his coat, ready to find a crowded place to stabilize himself, and at the same time create an alibi.

‘This matter… won’t just end like this…’

‘Damn it… how did my date turn out like this? That waiter just now… his smile pissed me off. Even though there was blood in the room, this isn’t what I was expecting, damn it!’

done.co