Enhancement ritual

Enhancement rituals are complex magical rituals that grant permanent magical enhancements to the target, such as:

• Superhuman strength
• Fast healing
• Flight
• Fire-breathing
• Inherent ability to see mana

There is a price, of course, or else these would be in widespread use.

• First of all, there is no such thing as a safe and easy enhancement ritual - they are all very dangerous and difficult, with the slightest mistake having the potential to kill, cripple or render insane.
• Secondly, enhancement rituals effectively turn the target into a magical creature, and magical creatures need mana to live.

Every magical creature needs a certain amount of ambient mana just to stay alive and fuel their magical abilities. The more powerful they are, the higher the ambient mana levels have to be to support them.

Stepping into an area too thin in ambient mana to support them wouldn't immediately kill them, but they would find themselves quickly weakening and wasting away.

This is the main reason why powerful monsters from the deeper levels of the Dungeon don't overrun everything - they would effectively starve to death outside their home areas. ^[2]

A human, regardless of the manner in which they acquired their magical enhancements, would also have to pay the price to maintain their existence. A portion of their mana reserves are effectively lost, permanently tied down in the maintenance of the magical abilities. Their mana reserves' maximum is permanently lowered.

It is a heavy price to pay, especially for a mage already suffering from below average mana reserves, such as Zorian. Mages interested in magical enhancements have to think very carefully about whether a particular enhancement is worth the price they will pay for it.

That said, while the price has to be paid... the size of the price was not set in stone. Depending on:

• the sophistication of the enhancement ritual,
• the quality of the materials used in the procedure,
• and the skill of the mage conducting it,

the enhancement could cost the mage half of their maximum mana reserves or a mere tenth of it.

Blood magic, by virtue of interacting with a person's very life force, could allow on to integrate a magical ability extremely well into the target. So well, in fact, that the ability could become inheritable - a true bloodline. In fact, quite a few bloodlines began in this very manner.

Employing blood magic in integrate an enhancement ritual made an already dangerous undertaking even more risky... but the price for an enhancement so well integrated into the target was greatly reduced.

There is still a price. Even with blood magic use, one will still have to give up some of their mana reserves to acquire permanent magical enhancements. However, the price is greatly reduced. ^[2]

Blood-magic-free enhancement rituals are ultimately just fancy transformation magic. Using blood magic, it was possible to give the target an instinctive understanding of their new ability.^[3]