"So this is the spot?" Lily asked, looking around curiously.

  It had been a week since Rose originally discovered the hidden glade, and now they were heading out to make the initial preparations. Rose had made almost daily trips to the location to ensure that no monsters overtook it and that Lily would be safe enough to be escorted.

  Not that Lily was entirely helpless. She still held the attack spell inscription that Arakil had given her, and she had three shield glyphs that she had made herself. She was quite proud of herself in that regard and almost secretly hoped that she would get a chance to try it out.

  Rose had cautiously led the way and carved a safe path for Lily to follow. Lily had held onto the end of Rose's tail as if it were a hand while being escorted.

  "Yeah, this is the spot. Killed a group of dire wolves right here!" Rose said proudly, pointing out patches of scorched ground.

  "This is amazing…" Lily said, now getting a much clearer view of the area. "And probably perfect! We need to measure it and find the best center position."

  "Great! Just let me double-check that nothing's moved in," Rose said and briskly jogged around the glade, looking for any potential hidden foes.

  Lily began rummaging in her pouch for a piece of measuring string. She had cut it to Arakil's specifications for the radius of the circle they would require.

  Once Rose returned, she handed her one end of the string. Working together, they found the best-unobstructed location, with Lily acting as the center point and Rose giving a full revolution to ensure they had the required space.

  Once they had located the area, Lily pulled out the first inscription that Arakil had told them to use.

  "Okay, so this will transmute the ground into a circle of stone," Lily explained.

  "Sounds pretty cool. Not that the stuff hasn't been impressive, but I'm interested to actually see what magic this book of yours can do. Since I missed his spell killing that dire hawk the first time."

  "And you missed his magical star spell… I wish I could show you that one! Hopefully, I can, when we have Mana to spare…"

  "It's a promise then!" Rose said with a wink.

  Lily placed the page in their designated spot and then put a drop of ink from a pipette to activate it before briskly walking away to a safe distance. Arakil had included a countdown sigil that would only trigger the spell after 5 minutes, giving her plenty of time to retreat.

  "This is so exciting!" Lily squealed with joy.

  "I wish I started counting down when you activated it… The suspense is killing me," Rose admitted.

  Lily nodded in agreement. They didn't have to wait too long before the page began to glow suddenly. Even though Lily had received an explanation from Arakil, she still didn't know what to expect. She hadn't worked with an earth crest before, so most of the glyphs looked entirely foreign to her.

  The first thing that happened was a glowing outer ring appeared at the maximum perimeter. Lily and Rose both gasped as they watched what unfolded.

  A flash of light washed over the entire perimeter, instantly vaporizing any remaining grass or small plants on the surface. Then, the soil directly beneath the glowing ring began turning into a pale stone right before their eyes!

  Once there was a solid perimeter of stone, the glowing ring began to seep inwards towards the center, the pale-colored stone following after it.

  Both Lily and Rose were stunned, as while they knew there was likely more complex magic than this, neither of them had witnessed something on this scale. Even Rose, who had personally thrown about vast quantities of fire, had found such a display enthralling.

  When the ring ended up in the center, it waited for the growing stone to reach it. Once it did, the page dissolved, and the glowing ring burst out, giving a final glaze of light over the designated area. The final result left a perfect disc of stone.

  "That was so cool!" Rose shouted first.

  "I told you Arakil can do some crazy magic!" Lily said happily.

  Rose approached the stone and gingerly tapped it. "No kidding. I wonder how deep this is? It looks rock solid!"

  Lily groaned at the pun before giggling. "No idea. But let's trigger the next inscription!"

  "What's this one for?" Rose asked curiously.

  "It's going to create a Mana gathering array, according to Arakil. It will saturate the rock with some Mana, keeping it intact until the ritual and hopefully giving it a boost."

  Rose whistled. "Sounds cool. Any idea when the big day is?"

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  "Big night, actually," Lily responded while ensuring she was selecting the right page Arakil had supplied.

  "Night?" Rose asked, tilting her head.

  "Arakil said that we should do it on the night of a full moon," Lily explained. "He said that outside factors can boost the performance of rituals. Full moons, eclipses, something called the equinox and solstice."

  "Oh… That's pretty cool, sounds very magical!" Rose said, feeling the excitement. "Although… How will we get out at night? We have a curfew."

  Lily smiled mischievously. "Well… It's good that the new crest I finally learned is perfectly suited to help us!"

  "Oh?" Rose asked, her curiosity peaked.

  "I'll show you when we get home. You'll be in for a big surprise!" Lily teased.

  "Agh! Spoilsport," Rose whined. "So, let's see this next spell?"

  Lily giggled again and pulled out the magical page. She stepped onto the slightly raised rocky dais and walked to the center. She couldn't help but glance around at the magical transmuted stone surface with awe.

  She placed it in the center, applied another ink drop, and retreated hastily back to Rose. Rose tapped her finger against her arm, counting the time until activation.

  "Showtime!" Rose said excitedly right before the page burst into light.

  Like the previous spell, it first created a perimeter ring before it got to work. While the result of the last spell was magnificent, the presentation for this one was far more exhilarating.

  Within the ring, lines began to get drawn in the air, as if Arakil was somehow drawing an inscription right before their eyes. Rose was stunned into silence while Lily's eyes sparkled with awe.

  Once the full inscription was drawn, the entire floating magical construct began to sink. Once it touched the stone, it immediately became iridescent gold. There was a sizzling noise, and then the golden light dimmed to silver before vanishing entirely. Like a magical branding iron, a full-length inscription was immediately left behind in the stone in a sparkling golden coating.

  "That was beautiful…" Rose finally murmured.

  Lily had never seen an inscription like this. It was entirely contained within two giant rings on the absolute edge of the rock, and then within the width of those two rings were countless tiny individual glyphs. The center of the stone was still completely blank to facilitate future engravings that would be filled out with rituals and sub-rituals.

  She tried her best to decipher some of it, but this was some advanced stuff that she couldn't make heads or tails of no matter how much she stared at it. She noted that the multitude of tiny glyphs within the ring width was a repeating pattern of two different types. Her best guess was that one glyph was related to gathering Mana while the other was either for storing Mana or using it.

  "Is it safe to touch?" Rose asked, breaking Lily out of her observation.

  "Oh... Yes, it should be. I think it's more like a stamp than an engraving," Lily responded. "Just don't scratch it off with a claw or something."

  Rose nodded and gently ran her fingers across the smooth gold marking until she reached the stone, wanting to feel the difference in texture.

  "Woah!" Rose exclaimed excitedly. "I thought the smoothness was from the marking, but the stone itself is amazing! I think Lady Desthu would kill someone to have this for her flooring."

  "Maybe we could sell it when we are done?" Lily joked.

  Rose chuckled. "I'm strong, but I don't think I could lug around a giant stone like this… However, I wonder if we will need to break it or something afterward. Like… Will leaving it here cause any trouble once the ritual is complete?"

  "Good question…" Lily murmured, tapping her finger against her lower lip. "I'll have to ask Arakil about it. At the very least, we might need to break the engravings or something so nobody sees them. I don't know if anyone knows how to read his inscriptions, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

  Rose nodded. "So, is that it? Anything else we need to do?"

  "No, I think we are done for now," Lily replied with an affirming nod. "I will ask that you maybe check on it from time to time?"

  "Yeah, no problem," Rose shrugged. "I've almost made coming to this place like my daily jog, although I'm upset that I haven't found any more monsters lately… I think I might have scared them all off."

  "Well, you did kill a pack of dire wolves! I think you're the alpha of the forest now," Lily teased.

  Rose burst out laughing, and Lily joined in with her giggles.

  ***

  When they returned to the orphanage, they had a great meal together and a lovely soothing bath. Then Rose demanded to see the new crest and glyph that Lily had teased her with earlier.

  "Okay… I'll be drawing it with some blood ink because I can't afford to waste any of our glyph ink. We need to save every last drop…" Lily explained.

  "Oh, so I get to use it? Awesome!" Rose said, grinning.

  Lily drew the glyph, keeping its purpose a secret from Rose, who was staring at it curiously. This was technically her first time drawing it for real, but it was simple, and she felt confident in it. Arakil had certainly never found any fault with her test drawings, and even if she somehow made a mistake, this one couldn't produce a harmful effect.

  She finished it quickly and then handed the finished product to Rose. "Okay, so what you'll need to do is put in some Mana-"

  "Yeah, yeah, I know…" Rose muttered, taking the page and noting that the piece of paper was much smaller than normal.

  "-And then press the page against me," Lily finished.

  "Oh? That's new?" Rose was surprised and stared defiantly at the page as if trying to decipher its secrets.

  "Yup! Arakil says they are nicknamed talismans. You place them on the thing you want to affect," Lily explained proudly.

  "Neat!" Rose said with a nod and gave up on trying to understand the glyph. "Okay, get ready!"

  "Just slap it on my shoulder or back while you channel Mana into it," Lily explained.

  Rose nodded and trickled her Mana into the small piece of paper. It started glowing faintly but remained untriggered, and then she slapped it lightly on Lily's left shoulder.

  The page flashed with a purplish-black glow, and then Lily's entire body disappeared into a shadowy blur.

  "What!?" Rose exclaimed and nearly jumped backward in surprise.

  Lily started making exaggerated ghost noises before giggling.

  Rose was looking particularly flabbergasted.

  "Spooky, right?" Lily asked, tilting her shadowy head.

  "What… Is it? You've become like a shadow?" Rose asked.

  "Yup!" Lily said, her shadowy form bouncing slightly enthusiastically. "The new crest I got is Shadow! This one blankets your body in darkness to keep you hidden anywhere there isn't bright light."

  Lily began sneaking around her room to demonstrate its effect. If she stuck to the dark corners, it was almost impossible to see her unless she was moving fast. When she turned off her lamp, Rose couldn't see her at all.

  "That is so cool!" Rose couldn't hold back her excitement. "Let me guess, we use this to sneak out on the night of the full moon?"

  "That's the plan! I'm glad you like the idea."

  "Like it? I love it! It sounds so exciting! I wish we were doing it sooner! "

  Lily giggled before ripping the applied talisman off and returning to normal. Now fully visible again, she beamed a happy smile. "Same! I'll be on my way to joining you in Regarth in no time!"