The Moon Thief

Rendes closed his eyes and held the globe glowing blue with his left hand and Leina's buckle with his right. After a few seconds, energy fluctuations started to spread around. The glow of the sphere in Rendes's right hand gradually faded and then faded completely. However, energy fluctuations continued to increase.

* Dzzzt! *

Circles glowing red began to appear around Rendes.

"The group of runes inside the circle is called the Seal, and the circle itself is the Magic Pentagram." Leina pointed to the circles around her father.

The Magic Pentegrams around Rendes suddenly turned into a beam of light and moved towards the buckle.

"Its ready!" Rendes opened his eyes.

"What ready?" Heinald asked excitedly.

"Do you know what will happen if someone other than me touches this buckle?" Rendes smiled slyly.

Heinald shook his head.

"The buckle will start to burn!" Rendes made a sign to Leina.Leina quickly put on a thick glove and touched the buckle.

* Trsss *

The buckle instantly caught fire and began to burn.

"Casting stages of spells and Formations are quite similar, but there is an important difference between them. Do you know what that is? " Rendes looked at the lighted buckle and smiled.

"I don't know..." Heinald stroked his chin.

"Spells are cast, used and thats it!On the other hand, formations continue to be active until their energy runs out. Formations are not made in one go, they are continuous. Several formations may even need to be combined to make a formation that have various effects." Rendes scratched his chin.

"What is the similarity in the casting stages?" Heinald asked.

"When we cast a Spell, we construct its pattern in our minds. Similarly, when making a Magic Pentagram, we construct the Seals in our minds and integrate them with a source of energy." Rendes explained.

"Seals are formed by Runes. Then do we have to visualize the Runes as well? " Heinald's brows frowned slightly.

"Yes." Rendes nodded.

"To create a Seal, you need to fully remember all the Runes that forms it. Otherwise, the Seal will not be created." Leina frowned.

That's why Leina had failed all the time.

"If this buckle is not deflated by any other factor, it could possibly burn for a hundred years non-stop. Manipulating the energy. That's the whole thing!" Rendes pointed to the buckle.

"You haven't used your Magic Energy as your energy source, have you?" Heinald asked."

"Yes, Fluctuations in Magic Energy are not suitable for most of formations. So external energy sources are preferred. For example, I just used the Compressed Energy Stone." Rendes pointed to the sphere in his hand.

Heinald learned a lot about Formations that day. Leina and her father sincerely assisted him and answered his various questions. Of course, even though they only provided very superficial information and examples, even that was a big plus for him. Before he left, he did not neglect to thank both of them sincerely.

When he returned to the Rinemoth Mansion, he began to carefully plan his future actions. His top priority would be to make potions. Soon he had to start delivering 2 Medium Level Strength Potions for the Rinemoth Family each month. His second top priority would be to gather as much information about Spirit Cultivation as he could. He was much more advantageous than other people in gathering information and would use that advantage. The third was gathering information about Formations and conduct studies about them.

*****

Two years passed.

"Its done!" Heinald was staring at the potion in his hand with a smile. It was the last Medium Level Strength Potion he prepared for the Rinemoth Family. The terms of the Blood Agreement were done.

"I'd better go talk to Marcus Rinemoth." Heinald muttered.Heinald cleared the tools he used to make the potions and collected them all. If Marcus didn't offer a very good agreement,he would probably have made the potion for the last time in this room.

Heinald left his room and went to Marcus Rinemoth's room. The guards on the front of the door,as usual,first asked Marcus' permission.

"Come!"

"Sir!" Heinald bowed his head slightly and greeted Marcus.

"According to the Blood Agreement we made, I brought the lastMedium Level Strength Potion I had to hand over, sir."

"Oh? Is our agreement over already? Time is passing really fast..." Marcus Rinemoth slowly put the glass in his hand on his desk.

"Yes sir." Heinald nodded.

"So do you have any plans?" Marcus asked.

"I've been busy improving my foundation to become a Level 1 Ainsar for a long time. I want to make a breakthrough to become a Level 1 Ainsar." Heinald scratched his chin.

"Do you know the requirements to become a Level 1 Ainsar?" Marcus asked.

"Yes sir. The last step I have to complete according to my calculations is to cultivate my spirit."

As far as he knew, the most important factor in an Ainsar's cultivation was to increase Spirit Energy; thats called Spirit Cultivation. However, the body was the shell of the spirit, and if it wasn't strong, it would collapse under the Spirit Energy. Therefore, it also needed to be strengthened in order to level up.

Another essential requirement was to be knowledgeable about Magic. If an Ainsar wanted to make a breakthrough to the next level, had to be sufficiently knowledgeable about Magic. The Magic Knowledge included everything that was magical, including Spells, Cultivation Techniques, Formations, Inscriptions, Alchemy and Curses.

"I have an offer for you. But this time I won't ask you to make the potion. I want to give you a mission." Marcus had a serious expression on his face.

"Mission? What kind of mission?" Heinald's brows frowned slightly.

"I ask you to go to the Risingmoon Kingdom and observe an organization called Bloody Teeth." Marcus' expression darkened.

"An organization? Why me?" Heinald asked.

"The main reason is that I want to continue cooperating with you. I don't want to show myself as an egoist, but I have a pretty good awareness. It's not hard to predict that you will achieve great things in the future. If I help you improve... I guess you will give me an extra face in the future.

Heinald slightly nodded and asked, "Am I going to another kingdom just to observe?"

"Yes, but you will not fight them. You will gather information only by observation. Their leader is at least a Level 2 Ainsar." Marcus handed the notebook to Heinald.

"Level 2 Ainsar?" Heinald frowned. A Level 2 Ainsar didn't even need to use a spell to kill him.

"In return, I'll give you Sevenstar Flower Seed." Marcus sat back at his desk.

"Sevenstar Flower Seed !?" Heinald's eyes widened. Ainsars preferred source for cultivating their spirits was Spirit Potions, but that didn't mean thats the only source. Some natural stones and herbs also contained Absolute Spiritual Energy. The Sevenstar Flower Seed was one of them.

Absolute Spiritual Energy is a type of energy that directly affects the soul. From what Heinald learned from his grandfather, various materials containing Spirit Energy Particles were harmonized to craft a Spirit Potion. Thus, their reaction resulted in a potion containing Absolute Spiritual Energy.

"Yes. My guess is that you looked for a Spirit Potion but couldn't find it, right?" Marcus smiled softly.

"Yes..." Heinald's expression darkened. For two years he had searched for a Spirit Potion but had not find. On the Sky City Black Market, prices reached incredibly high numbers.

"This is because powerful families and clans hold Spirit Potions and Spirit Potion Formulas." Marcus exhaled loudy.

"Why is that?" Heinald asked.

"Because so they can gather many Ainsars under their patronage. They give the Spirit Potions not with Arkana Stones but through various agreements of interest." Marcus shook his head.

"Sir, sort of, aren't you doing that right now?" Heinald asked.

"Welcome to the game!" Marcus let out a short laugh.

**** **** ****

Heinald came out of Marcus Rinemoth's room with a box in hand. A few minutes ago he had made a new Blood Agreement. He would go to the Risingmoon Kingdom and carefully observe the actions of Bloody Teeth. However, the main purpose behind all this was to reach Ainsar named Hamra Rumhet.Heinald had to observe and investigation Bloody Teeth with all his zeal for a year. If, in less than a year, he obtained very important information about Hamra and ensured his capture, the deal still would be considered complete.

Hamra Rumheth was the leader of Bloody Teeth. This organization was stealing valuable resources by attacking Ainsars and various institutions. It was not known where Hamra was hiding or living, but the city where his organization was most active was known as the Risingmoon Kingdom. A few years ago they had stolen some of Marcus Rinemoth's resources. So, Marcus wanted to get him with a good operation and finish him but he could not get enough information and intelligence. However, Marcus was a smart and cunning man. He had noticed Heinald's abilities very early on and commissioned him to take care of this.

"Marcus Rinemoth ...He's a really good manipulator, once I get this done I won't cooperate with him anymore." Heinald muttered.

Heinald was desperately forced to accept the mission because he had not found any Spirit Potion or any other source to cultivate the spirit in the market. Since the mission was not an overly dangerous mission, he accepted the mission but did not like the way he accepted it.

Heinald left the Rinemoth Mansion and went to the small cave he had recently discovered. This cave was located outside of the city and in a very isolated place, where he was sure he would not be disturbed by anyone, but as a precaution he still established a poor Defense Formation that he learned.

This Formation would protect the entrance with a transparent shield, but this formation could only stop the Apprentice Ainsars. Heinald had worked on high level Formations several times but had always failed.

He had achieved his goals in the meantime. He earned a total of 10,000 Arkana Stones from the Medium Level Strength Potions he sold, which would have been much more if he hadn't had to give the Rinemoth Family the potion. He had learned a lot about the formations and was successful in establishing them. He could easily establish a few simple formations. Leina and Rendes were quite surprised by this speed. Moreover, he managed to obtain many different information about Ainsar World.