He has to make it first

As I arrived at the shrine, I took a moment to admire the care my spirit's had taken with it. It looked as if a world-renowned groundskeeper had been at work, having a beautifully maintained border between the ritual site and the wilds around.

After a short while of appreciating their work, I decided I should get to my own. I walked until I stood before the great symbol upon the ground. I took in a deep breath as I prepared myself for the trail ahead. To be fully honest, I had no idea what I was doing. However, there was no doubt that it would be helpful.

I dropped polymorph to enter my true form, my final form being activated automatically as well. I felt myself extend and slightly reshape as my body could now more effectively harness the mana that circulated my domain.

Unlike last time, I had an actual goal in mind for this ritual. Also unlike last time, I had no catalyst to begin from. That's when I realized something. 'I have a quest that has a reward of a ritual. Does that mean any ritual I attempt to create without having the reward will fail garneted? If that is true, then how should I go about this plan...'

It was then that I remembered something important. I opened the HUD and went to the menu of my pending messages. It was there that I found what I had been looking for.

Apex Skill Unlock

You have reached level 10 in the class line (Priest) for the first time. You may Construct one of the Apex Skills of this class (Rites). Please choose two traits from the following list:

Reanimation (Necromancy) (****), Projectile (Application) (Combat), Recovery (Support) (life), Beam (Application) (Combat), Empower (Support) (GROWTH), Disorient (Curse) (mental), Weaken (Curse) (DECAY), Contagious (Application) (GROWTH), Festering (Application) (DECAY), Summon (Application) (Support), Dispel (Application) (Curse), Target (Application) (Combat), Aura (Application) (Support), Sense (Application) (Support), Malform (Curse) (GROWTH), Cleanse (Support) (DECAY), Leech (Support) (Curse)...

I smiled to myself as I looked over the options again. There it was, right between festering and dispel: "Summon". I selected that as the first option, seeing it as exactly what I needed in the current moment. If Rites functioned differently than Immaculate Conception, then perhaps these summons would be more useful in different circumstances.

After that, I still had one more trait I had to pick. I considered for a moment choosing a trait with Necromancy or DECAY, as those seemed near the opposite of my church and therefore would not be connected to me. However, the potential of the combination of a summon and "Empower" made me curious to say the least.

The moments I chose my second trait, the window was replaced by yet another one.

Rite of Summon Herald (Lesser)

Summons an entity of your god forth from their realm to assist you. This entity shall be maintained as long as your god wishes, so offer them something good so they will be happy to maintain its cost.

This was... useful? It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. 'Is this just going to teleport one of the abominations or spirits? This feels like a rather useless ability given my others, yet the system hasn't combined it like the other ones that have redundancy. Perhaps there is something to it then?'

Wondering why it was that the HUD had not done its normal thing and fiddled with what seemed to be a repeat skill, I decided I should actually give it a try. As I focused and used the skill, A strange situation happened. Two messages appeared in front of me at once.

Rite of Summon Herald (Lesser)

Do you wish to provide an offering to appease your god?
Current offering: [none]

Rite of Summon Herald (Lesser)

Your follower has used a Rite of Summon Herald, do you wish to grant them a champion?
Current offering: [none]

Having a laugh to myself, I decided to graciously accept my own request for a champion, free of charge. With that out of the way, a new window appeared.

Right of Summon Herald (Lesser)

You lack a champion, a champion shall now be created. Please choose a core for your champion:
Divine Power (1)
Artifact (Uncommon)
Soul (Weak)

It seemed that I did not have an artifact or Soul suitable, as those options were faded. As much as I did not want to spend much Divine Power, I had gained more just last night and had was quite curious as to how this "Champion" would turn out. All this said, I selected Divine Power.

The great shrine flushed with power and light as both began to swirl together into the center of the great eye on the ground. They funneled into the ground, causing it to seemingly bulge and twist. Slowly bust surely, a great form emerged from the ground itself.

As I examined my new champion, I felt a slight draining as the divine power left me, and seemed to bring it to life...