Luca ransacked the body carefully. He ignored the smell of charred human flesh and carefully used a torn piece of his coat to prod the body's now-flimsy, crumbly surface.
He couldn't tell who the mage was except that he was a man.
"Hopefully I didn't damage anything he was holding onto," he muttered to himself.
The robes were almost completely damaged by the spell, which meant that they weren't of any magical nature. It unfortunately meant he wouldn't be able to get a defense Artifact anytime soon.
Artifacts were magical equipment imbued with spells and other powers. They were rather useful from what he had gathered. Any artifact was able to lighten the burden on a mage.
Talismans were similar but weren't equipment, rather items that just had magical forces imbued. They could be single-use like his board game tiles or have more lasting effects.
After digging through all the man's pockets, he found nearly nothing. All he could find was the dagger the other mage was using earlier, and a strange pendant inscribed with a glyph.
Both, to his pleasant surprise, were actually Artifacts.
He used some of the last bits of his mana to scan the dagger and pendant. He was truly lucky that the fight had concluded so quickly.
After a full day of experimenting to get the best spell structure and casting combination, he only had enough mana for two personal spells and two talismans, which didn't require as much mana since there was mana infused in the creation process.
If he had dragged the fight out any longer, he would definitely be dead.
Luca put those thoughts aside with a mental note to pay more attention to his energy reserves next time.
As he scanned the dagger, some information popped into his head.
Name: Iron Ritual Dagger
Description: A double-edged iron dagger with a gem-inlaid hilt. Creator unknown.
Abilities:
1. Blood Mark – Can draw a functioning ritual circle on most surfaces when dipped in blood.
2. Focus Channel – Slightly improves control over the summoned entity while the dagger is held.
Then he moved on to the pendant, which was a golden-brown colour in the shape of a small circle.
Name: Brass Ritual Pendant
Description: Circular brass pendant engraved with a simple binding glyph. Worn over the chest during summoning rites to act as a protective focus and authority symbol when dealing with summoned entities. Forged by Count D'Escoli.
Abilities:
1. Binding Presence – Slightly reduces hostility from summoned entities while worn.
2. Spell Infusion – Imbue pendant with one spell for later use. The spell imbued does not have any cost to the user's mana reserves.
They were good items, especially the pendant's second ability, but mostly useless unless Luca was trying to conduct a summoning ritual.
'These will come in handy when I try out the Binding Pact ritual,' he thought to himself as he pocketed the items.
"I still refuse to believe this bastard was this poor," he muttered as he stepped away from the corpse. "Two artifacts and all the resources and knowledge needed to summon that seemingly powerful demon who hadn't yet fully manifested in this world."
It didn't add up.
Luca got out of the circle and looked around the clearing and the trees surrounding it.
Soon enough, he found something that stood out.
A grin appeared on Luca's face.
"Unfortunately for that guy, that wouldn't have fooled anyone."
A few meters away from the clearing, there was an odd patch of soil below a tree that had been recently dug up.
The dead summoner had probably buried a bunch of stuff there before he started the ritual.
Mages lived a difficult life under the rule of the Divine Solaran Empire. Every move could be the last with the Empire's hyper-vigilance.
Knowing he was about to perform such a dangerous mission, the summoner must have gathered all the things he owned, including those he didn't need for the ritual.
The things he needed, he used, while he buried the others so if he died, no one would know about them.
If the ritual failed, the demon would consume him whole, and there would be nothing to identify him with. If it didn't, he'd get his items back.
However, an unexpected element joined the fray: Luca.
"He probably could never imagine how the situation would turn out now."
Luca couldn't care less about all that, though.
He moved over to the spot where the items were buried and dug through the soil quickly. It wasn't buried deep, as no one but another mage would think to check for his other items in the area.
A smile appeared on his face. There weren't any more items, but it was something far more valuable: a journal, or rather, a grimoire.
At the center of the journal's cover were a group of words scribbled out in fancy handwriting.
Spell Ledger and Journal Entries by Count Marvin D'Escoli.
It was almost a little nostalgic, so to speak, but Luca couldn't help but be amused.
Count Marvin D'Escoli wasn't an unknown figure by any means. There were four Counts or Countesses in the Venton Duchy.
Count D'Escoli and his entire noble house held a special reputation for being a declining noble house.
After several years of decline, they were one Imperial Assessment away from becoming commoners. If they didn't meet the standards of the King, the title would be stripped, leaving only a small portion of the land and properties.
It explained why he was willing to go to such lengths as summoning a demon. He didn't want his house to fall.
Luca felt multiple emotions, though none of them sympathy towards Marvin.
On one hand, he had just killed a noble — and a Count, to be precise — but on the other hand, this Count was a secret mage and heretic.
Above all, he found that the Count wasn't as smart as he gave him credit for, seeing as he foolishly labelled the journal with his name even after making so many precautions.
"Oh well. Looks like you don't have anything to worry about in the end."
Luca put the somewhat dirty book into his coat and turned back to the scene of the ritual. It was a little uncomfortable as the book made one side weigh down more than the other, but he ignored the feeling.
"Can't leave this place like this. Who knows what I've left here. I still barely have enough juice for one more talisman."
Without thinking any more, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a tile, then threw it onto the remaining evidence and a deafening explosion rang out.
Explosion.
This time the flames spread out to everything in the area, and with that, he turned to leave.
Unbeknownst to him, the tile that hadn't detonated earlier remained mysteriously unscathed from the flames, protected by some black miasma seeping out through the ground...