"Mom? Can I talk to you about Ralph? " Ellie, Ralph older sister said. 

"What's wrong dear? Is everything alright? " Her mother said upon noticing the worried expression of Ellie. 

"Well... It's just that Ralph has been acting strange lately... " Her mother raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

"He's always like that whenever summer comes around. "

"Really? " Ellie questioned a lot regarding his younger brother agitated state, he seems distracted at every single moment, he often bought some really weird stuff like candles and... Salt bags? She couldn't point to anything except that her brother might get into some cult... And that itself is some serious accusation. 

Her brother is smart enough to avoid that and if he really were trapped, he would immediately asked for help shamelessly. 

So... She got some investigating to do... If she can't even investigate her own brother, then she just might as well drop out of class. 

____

Putting my grocery list down, I swept my room making them as clean as possible. 

Grabbing my journal, I started to set the technique... Err, calling them technique feels a little off because it resembled some kind of... Trait? Instead of the book calling it a technique. 

It literally feels like a trait in a video games, each technique has its ups and downs which literally worked like a trait did so I'm calling it that... Currently... I'm sure the book has its reasons for calling them such. 

Anyway, enough rambling... Let's execute these rituals to get the trait that'll let me get magic! And it's called... The humble immortal body. 

The requirements are split into two categories:

1. Mental

-to be humble, check. (Not really) 

-and a small oath I have to said. 

2. Physical

-salt of the highest quality you could afford. 

-candle and the match. 

-a room with no window. (Basement) 

-a cup which are made with clear glass and filled with what you drunk the most in the past five years. (For me water) 

At first I was a bit sketchy, but soon my curiosity won over and I go to the grocery store. 

Setting things up, I locked the basement door in case of my parents accidentally discovering these stupid ritual. 

I do not want the embarrassment once they found out my edgy phase. 

Yes, I think I am in my edgy phase and no, I can't control it... I just am fully aware of it. 

Grabbing my FIVE DOLLAR SALT, I drew a circle. 

Placing the candle in the middle and lighting it, I grabbed my cup of water as I put it above the small candle. 

Looking at the notes on the ground, I recited the following with one of my hand touching the water. 

"A humble oath I shall take, my mind and body will be reinforced by the potential of mana, but my soul will stay the way it is. I... (Look at notes) my power and status shall be hidden as the cost of my own power. " Looking again at the note, the below line only reads 'speaks truthfully'... That's not my writing. 

Did the specter just wrote in my note or was it the book??? But... It did say to speak truthfully... 

"To be honest? I didn't care all that much about status, like I'm an introvert and it's not like I WANT to be one, it's just... I'm tired of everythings bullshit. " Just as I said those word, something inside of me cracked. 

"Like... One example, school drama! I fricking hate those. One time I was hitting on this hot girl in class and we're HITTING! We're hitting real good, she even send her numbers! To me! That was insane! But this girl had a best friend with this bitch called Casey and she repeatedly shit on her saying that I was poor and I'm a fat ass, it went on for about a month but she cut off all contact with me and dropped out, Casey (the bitch) accused me of some fucked up shit that I almost got in trouble! And what did she get for accusing me of that shit!?? Nothing, just because she was rich. " At this point I'm just lashing out to whoever can hear me. 

"I didn't care for none that shit, like being humble and stuff, I'm more like humbling the shit out of people like Casey, I will GLOAT my money and power in front of her without remorse for pettiness sake. " The more I speak, the more I realized that something has been influencing my word. 

"As for normal people? I'll respect them like I want to be respected and treated like a human being, if they don't do that? I will not give a shit about them. " The salt that has been shaking for a while, suddenly moved to the cup. 

"It's not like anything will change in my life, even if I got magic. " With that, the water, glass, and candle was crushed and mixed as I stare with awe at the ball mix of glass, water, and candlestick. 

Then it was hurled at my face. 

"Fuck! Son of a... Balls! " The texture at my face feels like spit... Ugh... 

Upon opening my eye, I could barely feel a small sensation... Like something barely out of reach. 

Ah fuck... Magic is real... Now what? 

"Ralph? "

You gotta be kidding me. 

____

Ellie felt debating with herself... To gather information as a detective there's two ways... Mostly. 

The first is to fuck around, the second is to find out. 

The first method usually involved less invasive procedure like questioning, gathering evidence, something more akin to a good cop. 

The second is very invasive, placing small cameras, hook a fish bait to their computer¹essentially hacking the computer with phishing email. , launching a private investigation, trespassing their private property all that good stuff. 

Of course as a sibling she wouldn't just... Do that to her own brother. 

The problem is... It's been five days and nothing has shown up, and she was getting impatient.

It probably wasn't very smart for an investigator or detective to have wafer thin patience, but it's at least better than her brother. 

But... It seems that her brother has slipped. Precisely three days after his inquisition of the occult related item he purchased, this evening her brother had gone to the basement and locked the key. 

Her heart pounded, this was the first time her skill training weird skill is going to come handy. 

Going to her room to get a lockpicking device, she found that it was missing! Quickly remembering that she lend her friend the lockpicking device, she slapped her head. 

"Two paperclip will do... " However, she already anticipated this fact by training how to lockpick using the barest minimum possible. 

She goes to the door with bated breath as she tried lockpicked the basement door. 

"Come on! Work! " Turns out lockpicking an actual lock instead of a practice one is harder than she imagined, so she ends up brute forcing the lock instead. 

"Nice! "And by some miracle it worked, she dives deeper to the basement. 

She stopped her hasty step as she realizes she needed a cover to investigate what was really going on with her brother. 

Maybe it was something related to fetching something? Or she was in the midst of searching for... Old photos! That's something. 

"Balls! " Her brother shouted... He really didn't summon a demon right??? Her brother almost never said a curse word in front of her! 

The house basement consisted of two rooms joined together to create a really big room and a stair that was right in the middle of it. 

After she had looked to the left room was she seeing something, her brother face is covered in some sort of a white liquid. 

"Ralph? "