Caleric was sitting in an empty corner he found in the Feren Central Library. He picked out a lot of books related to various topics, such as history, manalogy, literature, and most importantly a book related to psychology.
While going through the different books at the library, Caleric had stumbled upon one that talked about human behaviour. Caleric, who was a psychology freak, had no second thoughts before picking it up.
While psychology was his major topic of interest, he did not read the book right away. Instead, he planned on coming back to the library for the next few days. He would then read the book.
At the moment, Caleric was focused on a different book. It was titled: Account of Rituals. As the name suggested, the book was a long compilation of various different types of rituals that humans or other races had developed over the years.
"Spells are the most basic form of manipulating manacules to achieve an already known result. However, spells come with their own limitations, and to counter these limitations our ancestors developed rituals. Rituals are ceremonial actions carried out based on set principles in order to achieve desired outcomes.
"Rituals function through three primary factors. The first factor is borrowing power. Just as in spells, where we borrow the power of manacules, in rituals one directly borrows the power of one of the seven goddesses. This divine power becomes the driving force that sustains the entire ritual procedure.
"The second factor is sacrifice. Since the power of the goddesses is borrowed, one must offer a sacrifice that is deemed valuable enough to present before the goddess. It is important not to confuse this with the Law of Reciprocity, for this is not an exchange made for mutual benefit. What true benefit could a goddess gain from the sacrifice of mere mortals? Yet sacrifice must still be made, for it satisfies the divine Law of Reciprocity, established by the King of all gods. The nature of the sacrifice required varies depending on the corresponding goddess and the ultimate purpose of the ritual.
"The third factor lies in meeting the appropriate conditions. These conditions may include the correct time and place, specific items that must be prepared, or particular tasks that need to be completed before the ritual can be performed.
"These three factors were first discovered and shaped into the foundation of rituals by someone. The identity of this person remains lost to history, though records suggest their activity took place nearly five thousand years ago, at the dawn of the Second Epoch.
"It must be remembered that not all rituals are safe, and many have led to bizarre and tragic accidents. Among the most dangerous are those known as dark rituals, which invariably result in the death of the one who performs them. Dark rituals are strictly taboo. Likewise, any act of sacrilege or human sacrifice within a ritual is also considered forbidden. Such practices must never be attempted."
The reason Caleric was reading about rituals was that during the previous night's encounter with Silas, he had been told about psyche displacement and taboo rituals. This, combined with his already existing doubts, led him to the idea that if transmigration were possible, it would likely be achieved through a ritual.
He was not very interested in the different types of rituals mentioned in the book, as transmigration was likely a forbidden ritual. He only read through them to gain a basic understanding of how rituals function.
...
The Rite of Anchoring: Used to stabilize unstable manacules within the caster's body before major spellwork. One must pray to the goddess Aethera and borrow her power. The practitioner can either sacrifice an item with which they share a bond or the brain of a duskhorn elk.
The Rite of Purification: Used to cleanse a body from mana corruption caused by abnormally high levels. One must pray to the goddess Solvyra and borrow her power for the ritual. The required sacrifice is sun-dried leaves of the Wollemi pine. This ritual can only be performed at dawn, and one must bathe in water infused with Solvion before attempting it.
The Ascendant's Oath: This ritual was traditionally carried out in a small village on the Yamaru continent and remains an old tradition observed to this day. The village chief performs the ritual as a coming-of-age ceremony for children turning eighteen. The ritual involves praying to their revered deity, the goddess Ignisara.
...
Caleric spent the entire time reading as much as he could before the library closed. The book had more than two hundred pages, and excluding the ten pages of introduction, there were still a substantial one hundred and ninety pages describing all the different rituals that had been carried out. The book truly was an account of rituals.
Caleric was only able to read a fourth of the book. He didn't bother reading the rest anyway, as the rituals mentioned were mostly historical records. With the changing times, most of the old rituals would not work as they had in the past.
Another thing about rituals was that they were not always successful. Rituals involved praying to a deity, one of the seven goddesses, which also meant that the deity had to be willing to lend their power. Most of the time, rituals did not work. Caleric had learned this from seeing that many ritual descriptions included an approximate success rate alongside them.
Rituals were the most confusing form of manalogy. They were neither definite like spells nor like manalogy tech, which was a more scientific and calculative.
After completing his reading session and deciding what he would read tomorrow if he didn't hear from Aron about their departure, Caleric concluded his findings and made his way outside the library.
As he was about to leave the large library hall, a voice called out to him from the side. It was a female voice, sounding excited and almost surprised. Caleric could tell without even glancing her way, simply from the tone.
He looked to his left, where the female librarian sat. Her table was covered in piles of books, which had somehow grown since the last time he had entered the library a few hours ago.
"You are Caleric Gnalet, right? The manalogy prodigy?" The woman could not contain her excitement as she spoke.
Is this how it feels to be famous? Caleric didn't hate the attention. The only problem was that he wasn't technically the manalogy prodigy the woman believed him to be.
Caleric walked over to her table, a calm smile on his face—a smile that could instantly put others at ease. He had been practicing his expressions whenever he found the time.
He had to do this because a different face would show different expressions, even if he relied on muscle memory to produce them. He had realized that the calm smile, which looked genuinely calm on his original face, appeared far less so, and more like a fake smile on his new face.
"Yes, you got that right. I wasn't expecting to be recognized today. Maybe it's all about your sharp eyes." Caleric had instinctively used a flirty tone. It was only later that he realized the original Caleric would not have spoken like that.
Well, whatever. She wouldn't know how the original Caleric used to talk.
The woman was so excited that she jumped up from her seat and introduced herself in a single breath.
"M-My name is Juliet, I work as a librarian here. My shift starts from 3 p.m."
Woah, woman, you are way too nervous. Is this the charm of this beautifully handsome face, or perhaps the charm of the reputation my name carries? Caleric sure can be a casanova, he joked inwardly.
"Juliet, like Romeo and Juliet?" Caleric had mistakenly spoken the thought out loud.
The woman looked at him for a moment and then laughed.
"That's right. I didn't know you had such good literary humor. Everyone always talks about how serious and nonchalant you appear. I guess reality is always different."
Wait, what? Romeo and Juliet exists in this world? Could it be a different story with the same name? Wait… now that I think about it, someone named Newton gave the concept of gravity in this world too. What is this? Certain things seem strangely similar to my world.
Caleric was lost in thought for a moment. His calm smile faded slightly, but he quickly regained the act.
"I was surprised that you have read Romeo and Juliet. It is such a beautiful work, but not very popular."
"Right, I read it once a while ago." Caleric was growing more and more confused. Some things were similar, while others were drastically different from his own world.
After finishing his small talk with the librarian, Caleric left the Feren Central Library. On his way back, he was thinking about various things—about how this world seemed to mirror his own yet remain unique in itself. The more he learned, the more confused he became.
Then he had a different thought, a completely different thought.
Two years ago… Mom told me that I had a fear of people. When I stopped going to school, that was her diagnosis. I can't possibly think she was wrong—she is far better than me at assessing people.
Then why is it that I am able to talk to people without much problem? At the banquet, I was a little nervous, but that was probably because I was the center of attention and surrounded by multiple important people.
But I seem to have no problems talking to strangers either. I don't have a problem speaking with family members, and I don't have a problem speaking with the opposite sex. Could it be that I interpreted Mom's words wrong? What did she mean when she said I had a fear of people?