Nightmare’s Call

After completing the preparation, Lin Sheng pulled out something he had prepared from his bag.

It was a black crow with its leg and beak bounded.

It was a normal crow he had purchased from the pet store for about five hundred bucks.

And the seller said it was a wild one.

Lin Sheng had planned to use this as a test subject to see whether the ritual would work or not.

As a proper ritual, the Beckoning could be done more than once.

As long as the caster’s mind and soul can withstand it, anyone could do it multiple times. So, even when the ritual itself had cost him about a hundred thousand bucks, Lin Sheng was still prepared to try it out.

As for which animal, he had no suitable one in mind.

A crow was inconspicuous, and would be hard to detect in the dark; the key point was they were easy enough to catch.

As a flying beast, he would be able to use the crow to scout his surroundings and warn him in advance of the safety of the area if the ritual works.

And that would better ensure the secrecy of the ritual here.

“But… I really need to find a way to earn money.” Lin Sheng sighed.

One ritual itself had already cost him a hundred thousand, and his total savings were only about three hundred thousand with a third already used up in a blink of an eye.

As he placed the mixture aside, he bent down and started using a piece of chalk to draw the ritual matrix.

The matrix was simpler than the last one, and Lin Sheng simply used a ruler to draw it, and it took about ten minutes to complete it.

He then placed the mixture into the corresponding spaces.

Then it was the Blackbloom.

Lin Sheng took a Blackbloom petal and placed it into the ritual matrix.

He then placed another into a gap in his shirt.

The other eight petals were placed around the matrix in a circle.

As he completed that, Lin Sheng took out the knife and lit up the kerosene lamp as he heated up the knife to sterilize it. After heating the knife up, he let it cool for a little before pressing the blade into his finger.

A spurt of blood appeared from the wound and dropped downwards onto the Blackbloom in the center of the matrix.

At the same time, Lin Sheng started chanting the activation chant that he had memorized.

The chant was like a tongue twister in a foreign tongue as it rumbled and twirled at a certain speed.

And it was different compared to last time. Based on the scroll, the Beckoning was a proper, standard ritual. The difference between one and a non-standard ritual was the amount of chanting needed.

The chant would naturally draw the chanter to focus, and the chant of a standard ritual would need about five chants.

Only non-standard ones would require up to nine or ten chants.

After five chants later, nothing changed with the matrix.

The blood on the Blackbloom too had slowly hardened without any changes.

Lin Sheng stopped and quickly bandaged the wound. He then went over to check on the crow. The bound crow could not move, and only its eyes moved about.

He straight up went to pick the crow up by its wings.

But just as he touched it, he felt a static-like sensation coming from his fingers.

As he shuddered, he felt like he had grown another arm as his consciousness entered the crow’s body. As if he could control the crow’s body at will.

“Did it worked?!” Lin Sheng swiftly undid the binds on the crow.

“Fly and land on my shoulder.” He thought for a bit before transmitting a command.

The crow flapped its wings a little before hopping about and looked up and Lin Sheng. It then took off and landed easily on his shoulder.

“Caw a little.” Lin Sheng was gleeful, and he tried again.

*Caw!*

A piercing caw boomed from his left shoulder and almost stunned him.

“Caw twice!”

*Caw! Caw!*

The dreadful caw rang out twice.

Lin Sheng was sure that he could really control the crow now.

And he looked at the materials on the matrix. They seemed normal at a glance and could be reused.

As he pondered a little, he kept the mixture into the small cabin. After cleaning up, he walked out of the room with the crow.

It was night time now, and the croaking of frogs and the hissing of crickets rang.

Lin Sheng pointed to the night sky in the distance.

“Go, look around, and caw when someone approaches.”

As the crow heard that, it flew away, and disappeared into the dark sky.

This time, Lin Sheng was a hundred percent sure that he had succeeded.

But what disappointed him was that once the crow left him, he could not sense it anymore.

It was not like in the novels where he would share visions with the birds. This ritual only allowed the crow to understand his commands.

“Its usefulness is a little iffy…”

Lin Sheng frowned.

Compared to the Ritual of Sacrifice, the Beckoning Ritual was much less effective, and it cost a lot more too.”

“No wonder people prefer evil rituals, the difference is just too big.”

After training the crow by the field for a little while, Lin Sheng gave it a command to feed near the factory and wait until he returns.

After arranging that, he picked everything up and went over to the main street to hail a cab and headed home.

In the dream last night, he was thrown to an unknown island, and on it was a massive castle.

And that got Lin Sheng intrigued.

It seems like he can no longer go back to Blackfeather City now. And perhaps he could get something out of his unknown castle.

But sadly, due to his death the other day, he could not enter the dream, and simply slept soundly.

And the following days, Lin Sheng continued to train the crow to improve their bond while he practiced his swordplay.

It seemed like his life had returned back to normal.

But yet at that moment, the National Amateur Swordsmanship Tournament was canceled, both the provincial and national levels. And his prize was simply given out.

Lin Sheng found out from Russell that they had only earned two thousand in prize money.

It was a vast difference from the original prize money.

“That’s not right? It had been held for so many times without any issues? Why did something happen now?”

Russell was scratching his head back at the club.

“I had been wondering, why was there no news about the provincial tournament. Well, now we know, it’s outright canceled.”

“Perhaps it has something to do with the current situation,” Shayeen said flatly as she drank her coffee.

“Situation? You mean the explosion at Fort Whitehawk?” Russell said in realization.

Sarroux and Lin Sheng were playing martial chess by the side.

Xilin’s martial chess was a mix of Chinese Chess and Go, and was rather time-consuming.

What Lin Sheng did not expect was the usually impatient, ill-tempered Sarroux was temperate when it comes to chess.

“Don’t you feel it’s a pity?” Russell turned towards Lin Sheng. “It’s fifty thousand!”

“A pity, sure.” Lin Sheng smiled. “But the tournament is hosted by them, so there’s nothing we can do anyway. Oh yeah, did you manage to get the bulletproof vest?”

Russell raised his eyebrow. “I’ve got it already. One each for our core members. Consider me sponsoring that.”

“Don’t, we have yet to make a profit. We need to consider how we can get some cash flow going.” Li Sheng said.

Shayeen pondered for a bit and said, “Our previous co-operation with the port security with the patrols had some rather spectacular results. We caught a few thieves and robbers. So the port police want to sign a long term partnership with us. What do all of you say?”

“Every time someone does it, it’s 500. Three times a week, so that’s 1,500. After tax, you can take home about 6,000 a month, it’s pretty good.” Lin Sheng nodded.

“That much?” Sarroux was astonished.

“Yes, that much. It’s a little dangerous after all, and the remuneration being higher is normal.” Russell explained.

Sarroux pondered.

“I have a junior, and he had been mixing with the wrong sort. He’s ability is no worse than mine, can I drag him over and join the club patrol?”

“A junior?” Lin Sheng squinted. “You can call him over. If he’s as good as you, it won’t be a problem for him to join in.”