Chapter 322: The Perfect Disguise (1/2)

”[Goblin] Grab the strand of human hair from that vial, and gently place it atop the gemstone in the ring.” With a broad, warm smile, Aiden calmly instructed this fidgeting, shy servant of his.

Still flabbergasted by all that was going on and her mind in a chaotic mess due to the fact that she received a ring, a piece of precious jewelry from her adored Young Master, Galina had to take almost a full minute before her mind could register the words.

Embarrassed by her shameful display, her green skintone turned into a bright shade of pink at her cheeks, her eyes were watery with all the gathered shame-filled tears continued convergence.

Eventually, she gave a weak nod, showing that she understood the commands, and plopped the cork off the crystal vial, throwing it far away to the ground. Overturning the vial, she watched as the thin, fiery red strand of mane slowly flew out of the vial.

Instead of grabbing it, she placed her ring-wielding finger below the hair's descent and watched with an expectant gaze as it made contact with the black, ominous-looking onyx gem.

As soon as it did a faint buzzing sound could be heard as the onyx crystal's surface began to wobble going against all common knowledge. It felt like that its smooth, solid surface wasn't solid at all, but as if it was made out of some liquid substance. Slowly, but surely, the strand of hair was sucked into the bead's core, causing the previously dull, dark surface to emit a faint colorless hue.

Another few moments later, the hue slowly receded, whilst the color changed from black to a darker but still much more vibrant blueish color. At the same time at the ring on both sides the same runic symbol appeared.

Galina looked wondrously at what had gone on in front of her eyes, whilst Aiden looked puzzled. His mind was focused, trying to understand each and every minute detail, but he couldn't. Instead, after a brief moment of daze, he turned to look at his silver-haired friend, Drake, who donned his earlier, victorious, haughty expression over his face.

This time, however, he didn't waste much time on enjoying the moment, he swiftly explained.

”The color and the sign on the ring symbolizes that you now have a charge stored inside it. One charge or an illusion can usually be used at most 5 times before the stored material inside will be completely used up. I… I don't understand it fully but usually, after the 4th or at most the 5th usage, the color will return to the previously seen black and the text on the ring will vanish.” He explained, pointing at the golden ring on Galina's finger.

”Once it is gone, you will need to feed the gem new material for it to function.”

As if just remembered something, Drake's face changed into one of worry as he hurriedly added, with a slightly apologetic tone.

”Oh, I almost forgot! Once you activate the ring, the girl will feel a small prick. The ring will take some of its wielder's blood. I'm not sure about the details but it should be a requirement for its magic to work. It's nothing serious, just make sure to be aware.”

Aiden nodded, turning to look at his servant who was still deep in her own little world, looking at the beautiful gift, not bothered, not caring about anything.

Sighing about the sight, Aiden turned towards her system's guide hoping to get a bit more detail out of her.

Before he even had the chance to formulate a question in his mind, Enya already began her explanation.

'[The reason the magic of the ring fades after 5 usages is due to usage of the mana. The low-tiered, unrefined version of this energy, this mana that these people use is corrosive by nature. Basically, the flowing energy that the user itself injects into the gemstone corrodes the source essence. The more energy the user uses, the faster it is used up.]' She calmly stated, giving only a momentary pause before continuing.

'[If you were to use your own [Soul Power], which is a much higher-quality source of energy, you would be able to use the same illusion hundreds of times more. Unfortunately for you, Galina hasn't been able to unlock her own pool of that energy yet, so she will have to rely on Mana. Luckily even with that, she should be okay for around 20 usages, as her own mana is already slightly refined thanks to your involvement.]'

Changing the subject, she continued before Aiden could interject.

'[As for the other question you wanted to ask, the ring needs life essence from its user to be able to create a perfectly matching new form. It's nothing more, you don't need to think too deeply about it.]'