God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

Maria put the wooden ball into the cup with holes and tossed the matchstick in, instantly igniting the ball which emitted an orange flame. This light alone was enough for Keith to take a good look at his surroundings.

With his one eye, he took in the surroundings.

It was a large circular room and in the middle, there were grooves etched into the ground, making a particular pattern which looked like labyrinth walls, but dug out instead.

In the center, there was a small circle painted with something white. The circle was enough for just one person to sit but there was enough space around this circle. Keith saw Maria grab a large barrel before she turned to look at him, "You two, come here and grab those wooden balls. Take them and put them onto those fire torch stands before you light them up."

Then, in a quick motion, she brought the barrel onto her shoulder before she put her hand in her pocket and took out a matchbox. She dropped it on the floor with a strained expression before looking at Keith, "Here's the matchbox."

After giving them instructions, she began to walk towards the grooves that were on the floor and while Keith watched, she placed the barrel on the ground right in front of the groove and uncorked it.

Then she grabbed the top and leaned it towards the groove, pouring out oil that had a light greenish tint. Keith picked up the matchbox and joined Clara, grabbing a two wooden balls before following her to the fire torch stands.

As he did his job with lighting up the space, his thoughts wandered to the oil.

'Greenish oil huh.... looks like she's using the camphor oil.' he thought and recalled how the thing worked.

It was named camphor, but it was different from the way camphor trees and camphor worked in his previous life.

The camphor tree in this world grew large fruits similar to papayas and every single one of them had a lot of oil content in them. These fruits were usually just crushed and filtered before using the juices as oil, but only for lighting and other non consumable purposes.

Unfortunately, the oil was poisonous to humans and could easily cause rashes if ingested. Long term use could make them smell like camphor oil and would give them strong stomach cramps.

It didn't kill, but it made people's lives hell.

The fruits were one thing, but the tree itself along with the leaves were another matter altogether. Once cut up and boiled, they released a greenish oil which was highly flammable, similar to gasoline.

In fact, this oil caught fire even faster than gasoline, so it had to be stored in cold places. Though it was highly flammable, the oil was extremely thick, similar to the consistency of honey.

Thanks to this, it also burned for a lot longer.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The three of them silently did their jobs and once Keith and Clara were done lighting up all the fire torches, they joined Maria and helped her move the barrels. It was hard labour and it took almost two hours to get everything ready.

"Oh god my back hurts..." Keith groaned as he stretched backwards, making Clara chuckle.

Maria on the other hand, went straight to business, "Anyways, which one of you wants to go first? I don't want to stay here even one second longer that I need to, so let's hurry up please."

Keith let out another groan as he straightened his back, "Clara goes first."

"Okay, Clara, follow me." she said as she looked at Clara and then walked through the gaps that were in between the pits. Clara glanced at Keith before she followed behind Maria, feeling nervous.

As the two of them walked, Maria opened her mouth and began to give out instructions.

"The first and most important thing we'll need is your blood and we'll need a lot of it. So by the time we're done, you'll feel dizzy or you might even faint. Apart from that.... I heard that you're a summoner type."

Clara nodded, "Yes, I summon gloves like these. When I have them on and touch others, I will be able to provide them with an intangible shield that can protect them up to a certain extent."

"Hmm..." Maria said as she glanced back at the gloves, "Can you take them out?"

"Yes, miss Archbishop. I can give them to others but they won't be able to use it's powers. Unless I'm the one wearing them, the divine blessing won't be given out."

Maria nodded and took a step to finally reach the center of the labyrinth like formation.

"That's enough for us. All we need is those gloves and it doesn't matter if the powers won't activate. That's how we do things with summoners and well, just consider yourself as a lucky person since this step alone can improve the chances of getting something really amazing." she said as she pointed at the small circle in front of her.

"You see this? This is where you'll be sitting but before that..." she said and took out a knife from the folds of her robes before giving it to Clara.

She then pointed at her palm, "Make a deep cut and let the blood drip into those gaps. Let it mix in with the green oil."

As she said that, she took out another knife and walked toward the edge of the center. Just as she was about to cut open the flesh in her palm, she stopped and closed her eyes.

A few seconds passed silently and when she opened her eyes, she turned to look at Keith, "Keith, come here and do this step instead of me. Cut your palm open and let your blood mix in with the oil."

"Can I know the reason why I was chosen for this? You seemed to be ready to do it yourself." Keith said as he carried a large barrel and placed it on the floor.

Maria sighed, "Yeah, but mother told me that your blood is the second best thing after gods' blood when it comes to this ritual."