Chapter 58 - Drawing Talismans.

Miketsu's transcription in the archives continued throughout the entire afternoon. During this time, she yearned for the incredibly comfortable gel pen, for the days in school when she was punished by copying texts, and for the times when she could quickly transcribe large sections with a few swift strokes.

For Miketsu, who knew nothing about calligraphy, the brush in her hand severely restricted her transcription speed, so much so that by dusk, she hadn't managed to copy many spells.

Feeling the setting sun streaming in through the window, Miketsu realized it was getting late. She decided to end her transcription for the day and return to properly experiment with the spells she had already copied.

Putting away the transcribed papers, Miketsu left the archives, exited the Onmyoryo, walked straight to Rajomon, and left the city before dark. After reaching a secluded spot, she ascended into the Divine Realm and rode Tsuruha up the mountain back to the shrine.

During this time, she was somewhat worried that someone might follow her to uncover her true identity. However, after some thought, Miketsu believed this possibility was low, because tracking someone who can ascend to the Divine Realm requires Spiritual Vision, and she would sense it if she were illuminated by Spiritual Vision.

As soon as Miketsu returned to the Secret Realm of Inari Mountain, she immediately began researching and experimenting with the stack of spells she had just acquired. These spells all contained elements of summoning deities, and theoretically, she should be able to cast them by summoning herself.

However, theory was abundant... reality was cruel.

"What the heck is going on?"

Miketsu couldn't help but complain as she carefully examined the spells before her. It was true she had copied a large number of deity-summoning spells, but these spells were very different from the one recorded on Yura's scroll. They almost all explicitly named which deity to summon, unlike Yura's spell which didn't specify a deity and could be freely customized.

Miketsu had actually noticed this situation while transcribing, but at the time, she thought that deity-summoning spells only required a format, and she could simply replace the deity's name with her own. The result of her recent experiment, however, was... it didn't work.

The deities to be summoned by these spells were fixed and could not be arbitrarily changed; changing them would invalidate the entire spell. This result instantly dampened Miketsu's previously joyful mood, making her feel utterly depressed.

Her depression wasn't just because the deity-summoning spells couldn't be freely altered; it was also because, despite finding so many of them, not a single one directly pointed to her.

"Summon Takemikazuchi-no-Kami... Summon Takeminakata-no-Kami... Summon Bishamonten... Summon Dutian Leigong... What are all these random deities? Why isn't there one for me?"

Miketsu muttered indignantly as she looked at the deity-summoning spells she had copied. Hearing her grumbling, Tsuruha, who had been silently standing by, was startled.

"L-Lady Uka, please mind your words a little. The ones you just mentioned are all great deities..."

"So what? Why are all these spells for them? Am I that insignificant?" Miketsu continued, looking at Tsuruha, feeling a slight sense of injustice.

"Uh... please don't think that, Lady Uka. You are absolutely a deity of exalted status. The reason these spells summon them is because they are mostly war gods, thunder gods, and guardian deities. Due to their divine roles, they have a natural aversion to and power over evil spirits. Onmyoji would naturally prioritize summoning them when creating deity-summoning spells," Tsuruha patiently explained, seeing Miketsu's expression.

After hearing Tsuruha's explanation, Miketsu mostly understood the reason. The reason they were summoned instead of her was due to their divine roles. She knew what her own divine role was; Tsuruha had told her long ago...

Harvest and the five grains... in short, an agricultural deity...

While certainly exalted and important in this agricultural society, she wasn't specialized in subduing demons and evil spirits.

Thinking from another perspective, if they were to truly compose an anti-demon spell specifically for her, how would the Onmyoji compiling the spells imagine an agricultural deity using her divine power to subdue demons?

Planting rice seedlings on a yokai's skull?

Miketsu shook her head, dispelling the strange thought that had just entered her mind. She let out a long breath, calmed herself, and no longer hoped to rely on just a few spells. She began to carefully re-examine the spells, hoping to find usable parts among them.

After sifting through a large amount of useless paper, Miketsu finally found a deity-summoning spell that didn't specify a deity. No, perhaps it wasn't even a spell, but a method of talisman creation.

Spirit-Gathering Talisman Tracing Art. Miketsu learned from the annotations next to this art that it was a very commonly used talisman creation technique among Onmyoji. It could create a Spirit-Gathering Talisman, which stores spiritual power, by condensing one's own spiritual power.

This was originally a simple technique one could perform oneself, but for some unknown reason, a busybody had a sudden idea to add a deity-summoning component to this ordinary spirit-gathering technique, allowing a deity to inject spiritual power into the talisman on one's behalf to form a Spirit-Gathering Talisman, thus creating the Deity-Summoning Spirit-Gathering Talisman Tracing Art.

Fortunately, it contained a deity-summoning component, which made it convenient for Miketsu to use.

Seeing a technique she might finally be able to use, Miketsu quickly tried it. Since it was a talisman creation technique, she immediately prepared, asking Tsuruha to fetch paper and ink, ready to draw talismans.

According to the ancient texts in the archives, drawing such simple talismans didn't require much; white paper and ink would suffice, without the need for cinnabar or yellow paper. However, if one were to summon a deity, it was best to use more precious materials to show sincerity. Since Miketsu was summoning herself, there was naturally no need for that.

This art had no spell incantation; it only required drawing a small spirit-gathering array beforehand, then placing the talisman within this array to draw it. During the drawing process, one simply prayed internally. After cutting the paper, Miketsu immediately began drawing. She first took a large sheet of paper to draw the spirit-gathering array, then placed the cut paper within the array, and, following the transcribed template, drew the talisman while praying to herself. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Still unaccustomed to the brush, Miketsu drew crooked lines twice during the process. Finally, on the third attempt, she successfully completed a talisman from beginning to end. At the moment she lifted the brush, she could feel her divine power stirring, a trace flowing out through a tiny channel, and the characters on the finished talisman flickered with a faint glow before fading into nothingness.

Miketsu picked up the Spirit-Gathering Talisman she had drawn. She could clearly feel the spiritual power flowing within it, which had been transformed from her own divine power.

What was the use of this Spirit-Gathering Talisman? According to the ancient text, it could provide spiritual power to support magical arrays and barriers, and also charge spiritual artifacts and tools. In essence, it was a battery.

The problem was that Miketsu currently knew neither magical arrays nor barriers, nor did she possess any spiritual artifacts or tools. This Spirit-Gathering Talisman was, for now, something without a purpose.

Just as Miketsu was frowning in distress, she suddenly had an idea. She recalled several mobile phone explosion incidents she had seen in the news, the main cause of which was the battery.

Since this thing was also a battery, could it explode?