World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 121 Starlight Fills the Sky
Before Barry could finish speaking, Lin An picked up his wand, and a deep, fiery red gem, resembling worm powder, shone brightly and embedded itself in the ends of two snakes.

"Boom."

He tapped Barry's shoulder lightly with his wand.

"What does this mean? What do you want to do?" Barry asked, puzzled.

“I’ve done what I wanted to do.” Lin An shook his head. “I’m too tired tonight. I’ll take a nap. If the Dawn Association or the Foundation calls, wake me up.”

"Okay, good night."

Lin An rolled into the covers of the large bed; he had just used the [Worm Curtain] to bang on Barry.

This gem can only be activated by a "heavy blow." Once it touches the target's body, a tangled, thin red line flows out from inside the gem and into Barry's body. Dark particles spread outward from his chest cavity.

Its divergence is very slow and its frequency is very low, and Barry himself is completely unaware of it.

Let's wait and see how it goes.

Lin An observed the other person's appearance from a distance.

See when Barry will feel truly "uncomfortable", calculate the time, and then switch gems to eliminate the effects.

[Name]: Fragment of the Philosopher's Stone
[Rating]: Mythical C-level

Radiation level: 33.1%
[Pollution Level]: 0%
[Medium]: The seeker of knowledge

The senior student made a significant contribution; aside from the inevitable energy waste, she also increased the radiation level by almost 10%.

Lin An glanced at the wand's data panel, placed it on the bedside table, lay back, and had the system open the long-lost mysterious encyclopedia panel to read his own situation.

[Name]: The Encyclopedia of Mystery
[Rating]: Source Grade B

Radiation level: 5.4%
[Pollution Level]: 19.5%
[Medium]: The seeker of knowledge

[Inventory]: Seeker of Knowledge x2, God of Truth x2, God of Agriculture x2, Dreamer x5, Prophet x9, Chief Judge x8, Nature Priest x4, Mother of Desire x6, Emperor of War x2
After the garbled text disappeared, the reading experience improved significantly.

This is what makes Lin An most gratified.

However, after carefully reading the data, his brows furrowed slightly, and his thoughts wandered.

Before the system was "maintained," the pollution level was only 17%, but after the maintenance, it increased by 2.5%, while the radiation level remained unchanged at 5.4%.

However, no matter how much the pollution increases, it seems to have little to do with Lin An.

He neither grew horns nor turned into pages; his skin and flesh were no different from those of an ordinary person.

If the system hadn't informed Lin An of the data changes, he would have thought he was still at a zero-pollution level.

In contrast, the system's performance is always affected by changes in the level of pollution.

When it first awakened, the system was truly an ordinary "system," without any personality whatsoever, speaking in a mechanical voice that sounded just like Siri.

It hardly utters a word unless called upon by Lin An.

After that, the level of pollution gradually increased, and the system began to display garbled data, typos, and missing information. The cold and ruthless mechanical sound gradually went out of tune, like a piano that was neglected to adjust its tone, creaking and groaning. But overall, it was still a tool that leaned towards being "mechanical".

When the level of pollution exceeds a certain threshold, the mechanical sound of the system suddenly disappears completely.

It transformed into a voice whose gender was not quite clear, but whose tone was almost indistinguishable from a human's. At the same time, it gradually began to exhibit a thought process that was somewhat different from Lin An's.

Moreover, it started to initiate conversations with Lin An.

At this point, the data is completely garbled, and no decent text can be read.

Eventually, it fell into hibernation. When it woke up again, it seemed to have returned to its initial state of awakening. The data was clear and intuitive. It remained silent most of the time and no longer spoke to Lin An.

However, its changes are obvious.

First of all, the system did not revert to its emotionless mechanical voice; instead, it became increasingly "human," and Lin An even felt that its voice had obvious gender characteristics—the system seemed to be a male.

Secondly, it directly called Lin An by his full name.

Before this, the system had always referred to Lin An in the second person and rarely used the first person to refer to itself, which did give the feeling of a dialogue between the subconscious and the conscious mind.

But now its name has been adopted in the third person.

This can no longer be simply explained or excused by the subconscious; Lin An always felt it was either a split personality or a system issue—

It's not mysterious at all!

Lin An was startled by this terrifying thought. After a moment, the system in his mind remained silent, no longer jumping out to offer its usual crazy explanations or saying things like "the two of us are too strong."

"System, you caught what I was thinking just now, didn't you? Do you have anything to defend yourself?" Lin An called out to it.

Unable to continue feigning ignorance, the system replied: "I am your mystery, Lin An, just like everyone else, except that my situation is a little more special."

"How special?"

“I’m not entirely sure either, but I’ll tell you honestly, Lin An, since my birth, I’ve had only one purpose—to protect your safety, forever.”

"You wouldn't happen to be some Nascent Soul Grandmaster who disguised himself as a system to possess my body and trick me into returning to life, would you?" Lin An asked aggressively.

"Nascent Soul? Possession? Resurrection?"

"Sigh, never mind, you wouldn't understand these technical terms anyway."

The system's CPU spun wildly. After a while, it suddenly displayed all the maps Lin An had obtained so far, filling the entire hotel room like something out of The Matrix. Spots of green light floated in the real world, like looking down on an entire galaxy from the universe. "Looking at this data, this is the path we've walked side by side, a symbol of our brotherhood. Even the gods couldn't find a single trace of falsehood. Because I love you so much, Lin An. How can I regain your trust?"

Since the system had already written a short essay about loving each other, Lin An couldn't continue to make things difficult for it.

Moreover, if the system really had any ill intentions towards him, Lin An would have been bitten to death by the dwarf demon in that alley long ago, had he not awakened in the first place.

The system can only remain a mystery to me.

Otherwise, wouldn't I be in a state of unconsciousness right now?
Where did the medium I was supposed to attract and the mystery that I generated go?

Having been in contact with "Comers" for so long, even an ordinary person without talent would have awakened by now, let alone Lin An, who has always longed for the mystical.

Even April and Barry, who had almost no background in mysticism, awakened their mystical abilities within a few days after being exposed to the close stimulation of "Commerx" radiation; Lin An has faced all sorts of mystics countless times, so it's impossible that he's still an ordinary person.

Therefore, the system is indeed my genuine, mysterious prototype.

Even if it's a bit strange or different from others.

Lin An pondered to himself that he relied more on the system's power than on being wary of its intentions.

"No, don't think like that. It wasn't the Holy Sword Durandal that brought Roland glory. It was only the sword wielded by that holy knight that was worthy of being remembered in history." The system said according to his thoughts, "If you were Roland, I would be your Durandal."

"Stop talking like a Western Continent nobleman. It's disgusting." Lin An had it remove the star-like data. "Just follow me and do your job well from now on."

"clear."

"Besides the data showing that it has returned to normal, you were down for maintenance for seven and a half days. Did you develop any new features?"

"This hibernation period is mainly for numerical correction and adapting to the level of pollution." Sensing Lin An's mood index dropping, the system quickly added, "The new function is being tested and will be available once your radiation level exceeds a certain threshold."

"What features does it have? Let me take a look."

"Please close your eyes, Lin An, and clear your mind."

Lin An was quite interested. He closed his eyes as instructed, and the next moment, his vision suddenly rose, entering another mysterious and strange place.

The interweaving of countless data points forms an electronically constructed curtain.

What is this? Where am I?

He clearly felt that his body was still inside Creek Castle, but he couldn't see the surrounding decorations clearly, as if he were in a thick fog, or a gray "emptiness" that was hard to describe in words.

The chaotic data slowly dissipated, like stars covering the earth, and various points of light appeared in Lin An's vision.

The first thing in front of you is a relatively bright spot of light. It is shaped like the constellation Ursa Major, with square shoulders and feet, and animal-like ears and claws.

Imagination fills the gaps in vision, piecing together what is seen to make it complete.

The light spot is... Barry?
Could these points of light be a manifestation of "divine medium"?
They formed radiation sources, continuously attracting radiation from another planet...

Lin An felt as if he had entered a transparent world. He looked to his left and saw that the walls were still there and the entire corridor was still heavily guarded, but the dreamlike green light penetrated everything.

It was as if everything was made of glass, or something clearer and more ethereal.

Humans cannot understand them, hence they are called "mysterious".

"when--!"

The ethereal chimes of the Eiffel Tower heralded the arrival of dawn.

Lin An entered a completely new mode of perception. He saw the corridor crowded with rows of light orbs, neither too close nor too far apart. They were very dim and light in color, representing the mysterious men in black who had not yet awakened.

The whole world is like a universe scattered with thin snowflakes, and each star represents a human being.

Looking ahead, the moon leaps into view, its dazzling spots of light spreading their wings and coating the surroundings with a mist, like a giant pearl set in shimmering ebony.

Another, not-too-bright spot of light was placed next to it, gleaming like a cat's eye.

"Those must be Simon and Missy," Lin An thought.

These rays of light, in an abstract way, revealed the subtlety and magnificence, complexity and harmony of a living being, reminding him of the words of his astronomy professor:

In the boundless expanse we call the universe, the end of light is not infinity, but the source of light.

Human vision relies on light in the physical sense, not imagined light. The light shining from "around" the universe does not show the present, but events that ended before the formation of Titan, or even before the formation of the sun.

Surrounded by this hazy vision, Lin An felt an unprecedented sense of wonder and amusement.

Those things, whether dim or bright, shimmered like breaths as vibrant living beings, and he could see them clearly.

As his thoughts shifted, Lin An noticed several different words faintly appearing next to the light spot, the only one that was clearly discernible was—【New】.

Unfortunately, he couldn't influence the word.

After several attempts, Lin An had to give up regretfully and continue to admire the Milky Way that had descended upon Rasmedos.

Suddenly, a large amount of light surged in, as conspicuous as the headlights of a car in the distance. The light spread along the eastern edge of the corridor, turning the surroundings orange-red.

Lin An recognized them as members of the Dawn Association.

Thanks to Fifty-Stroke Lifting Engine and Book Friend 20220531150155011 for the monthly tickets, and thanks to everyone for the recommendation tickets and subscriptions.



(End of this chapter)