[NR] Some Is More Than None - Chapter 642

Before the ley line could fully sink beneath the ground, the walls catch it. Their physical reinforcement ritual directly pulls on the Energy. It isn’t enough to keep the ley line in the state of erupting, but Jason hadn’t wanted it to, anyway.

The three Energy gathering rituals in harmony had simply been the only method Jason possessed to draw up this small thread of the world’s life force. However, once surfaced it was much easier to manipulate. In this case, the draw of the reinforcement ritual anchored it, allowing him to hook up other rituals for power.

Courtney had even doubted him when he mentioned his goal. Jason had known it was significantly tougher to do in NeoRealm proper, but not how much. Seemed it required someone level capped to even draw up the smallest of ley lines. Yet here he was, using three sub par rituals.

Of course, the reason for this was obvious to Jason. Not only was the System vehemently against Energy use, but it was woven into NeoRealm at a fundamental level. There was nothing short of that which would cause the equivalent of a creator deity to be stuck in a single planet.

So, the only way to grab some of that sweet sweet Energy was for there to either already be a ley line on the surface or to use someone at the step of breaking free from the System. One at the level cap and likely not just anyone at 499, but someone who has been there long enough to have broken free at least a little bit.

Or, you could go to an area not fully absorbed into NeoRealm yet. Then a minor ley line like this is simple enough to drag to the surface. Sure, Jason couldn’t power too many rituals with it. But some is more than none.

Besides, in theory, the ley line should improve with time. That is how the Deep Wilds seems to work. You build something and if you can defend it, something will grow. Jason is building a secure clearing with a focus on using Energy and rituals, so that should improve.

Now, he hadn’t seen the clearing actually grow, at least not empirically. If he squinted, maybe that tree over there might be a smidge further away? Jason shakes his head, he really needed to measure everything.

For now, though, more rituals needed to be set up. The walls would be safe enough. Now it was time to set up the most important rituals, the two building scale rituals, the preservation ritual, the humidity ritual, and reinforcement like on the walls. All on the building that is now free of the Energy gathering rituals.

In his last life, it was always the libraries that had some of the best formations. Knowledge is power and books are a much easier way to steal that power compared to trying to force it out of someone. You grab and go. Even if there are defenses on a book, it just means you picked the right book.

So he wasn’t going to skimp here either. Well, he wasn’t going to skimp on how many rituals he was putting up. Some would consider it skimping that he was still using ritual plates for this. Jason considered it an admittance of his lacking skill.

A good ritualist could adjust the ritual to the building and then carve it directly into the walls, floor, and ceiling as needed. Not on moveable plates, as those are a lot easier to mess with. Jason can only shrug and get to work.

Though thankfully, even if many of the runes were new, Jason had a decent handle on the drawing part. That meant it only took him two weeks to finish up all the rune plates. Which was helped along by the fact that for the building scale rituals, the plates were like formation flags.

As in, you need a few of them, but they are all the same. So he only had to learn a plate for the shield and the alarm. Reinforcement wasn’t quite like that? Well, you did need a bunch of the same plate. It was just that they didn’t resonate with each other.

Each plate for the reinforcement ritual worked as an individual ritual. It was simply that to cover a building or other extensive structure; you need more than one. On top of that, the effect didn’t stack with each other so that a structure wouldn’t be left unevenly reinforced.

The only convenient part of the reinforcement ritual was that they also didn’t fight for resources. If two rituals cover the same area, they share the Energy burden equally. That way, you don’t have to be too crazy about placement as long as everything is covered.

Though Jason may have gone a little further than necessary. Plate after plate goes into the walls of the building and the inner room. In the end, though, Jason is happy with his work.

Sure, he still hasn’t done anything about the shield spell needing to be activated manually, but things are progressing. At least the alarm will alert everyone in the party. With some distance restrictions.

Jason sighs and then does it all over again for two more buildings. Well, not all of that. The ley line wouldn’t be able to handle it. But he does throw up the preservation ritual on a specific room in his and the girl’s house along with an alarm on both as well. Later, once he has some Energy-based materials, he can reduce the power cost and put up more stuff.

This was especially needed on the wall. That probably took up 80 to 90 percent of the ley lines capacity. After all, they’re what is keeping the ley line up in the first place.

There was just one final ritual he needed to carve before he could settle down and finish his lines. There was already the Energy gathering array in his hidden basement, but it was time to change it out. That one barely worked and he wanted a proper stone floor for the room.