This branch of magic had almost completely been forgotten after being banned for a couple of centuries. There had been a scant few recordings, guarded jealously by practitioners of the art, but almost all of those were lost after the ban on rituals. What little was left of the practices went underground. Thankfully, in his long life, he had studied the topic out of interest, so he was not unfamiliar with it, as he had performed a few minor and harmless rituals. A ritual was essentially a trade; one had to present an offering and request a type of boon. If the request is greater than the boon, the difference would be taken from the one undergoing the ritual and could easily damage the body irreparably. A large difference would directly kill you. As long as the request was less than the trade, there would be no negative or positive consequences.