World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 13 The Mystic Faction

"'The Free Mystic'?"

Lin An seized upon the key phrase and feigned confusion, asking, "Are there also 'Restricted-Level Mysterious Individuals'?"

“Clear the crap out of your head.” Carmen glared at him fiercely. “Otherwise, even if you’re a mystery person, you can get out of here.”

Lin An raised his hands in surrender.

His interruption lightened the atmosphere a bit. Carmen walked to the newsstand table, opened the storage box, and rummaged through it.

The box was piled high with the woman's belongings: a sleek, spherical perfume bottle, a small pair of scissors, mascara and powder, lipstick and metallic paint, eyeshadow, a hot curling iron, and blush.

Sensing Lin An's prying gaze, Carmen chuckled, scooped up a spoonful of bright red rouge powder with her little finger, took out a makeup mirror, and applied it evenly to her lips.

"This is a dye made from the corpses of insects. In my hometown, women believe that writing with it can communicate with the Grim Reaper and obtain the magic of a curse."

Lin An frowned. Although China also had the technology to make lipstick using cochineal, seeing Carmen apply makeup with worm powder was still quite shocking.

The rouge still had the outlines of insect legs that hadn't quite dried out.

"Do you feel a little nauseous?" Carmen asked.

"No offense."

“That’s interesting. When I was little, my mother often said that men occupy the land because they are as firm as stone; women, on the other hand, are like flowing water, able to penetrate the membrane between the world of the living and the world of the dead.”

"For women, bodily fluids are a unit of measurement: monthly cycles, egg white discharge, childbirth, tears, virgin blood, etc., all prove that women possess the characteristics of fluids."

She turned around in front of the mirror, her rosy lips curving into a seductive smile, and snapped the mirror shut.

"Sorry, I've gone off on a tangent. You must not be interested in the culture of the Lower East. Getting back to the question, as far as I know, there are two antonyms for 'free mystic'."

Carmen put the box into the locker, and Lin An noticed a bird skeleton specimen behind her desk, with some cheap jewelry, some colorful glass bottles, and a dark stone slab scattered underneath.

“The St. Anilof Foundation was founded around 1800 as a community organization due to a family’s interest in the paranormal. In order to maintain itself, it later developed into a non-profit charitable organization.”

“In the past, Titan did not have any mysterious powers, but now it’s different. The Foundation has been designated by the Eagle Nation’s ‘Superpower Committee’ to become a special task force dedicated to managing mysterious individuals.”

"Their ideology is 'human supremacy,' and mystics who are 'controlled' have three fates: either they are strictly imprisoned by the Foundation; or they undergo 'treatment' and swear not to use mysticism; or they simply join the Foundation and become a member of the control team."

Lin An interjected, "They just want to maintain the old peace—to keep the city in its original order."

“A bunch of pathetic wretches who can’t see reality.” Carmen snapped her fingers mockingly. “They haven’t realized that with humanity’s meager power, they simply cannot stop the awakening. Sooner or later, Titan will enter a new era—the era of the mystic’s supremacy.”

Although the overlap between "Commerx" and "Commerx" is only about ten years, Lin An thought.

"They arrogantly controlled every mysterious person. You should be glad you weren't caught by them, otherwise..."

Lin Anshen shared the same sentiment.

St. Anilov's intelligence network is powerful; wherever mysterious phenomena occur, they can always arrive at the scene immediately to investigate, arrest people, and handle the aftermath in one go.

“The second one is called ‘Ancient Dynasty,’ I call them ‘Clans.’” Carmen continued to fiddle with the items on the table, making a clattering sound. “Like St. Anilov, they have accumulated centuries—no, more than a dozen centuries—of heritage, older than the Foundation.”

"A prominent family?"

“There is a group of people who are deeply fascinated by myths—I suspect some of them may be the authors of ancient myths—and firmly believe that they are true, as if they knew long ago that mysterious forces would be revived.”

Carmen stirred a bottle of cloudy liquid with a small spoon; it had a faint medicinal smell.

"Tell me, what kind of unwavering belief could have kept them going for a thousand years?"

After a moment's thought, Lin An came up with a more detailed conjecture.

According to the system's description, a period of turmoil occurred in the world after 'Comers' disappeared.

The dynasty established using the power of "Comers" lost its core leadership and collapsed. The long-resentful people burned away the traces of the mystic and built a new civilization on the ruins of the former king.

However, Lin An did not believe that every dynasty had disappeared.

There were signs before "Comers" disappeared, and the mystery enthusiasts couldn't have been completely oblivious.

Given this, it's certain that some people considered that the "mystery" was just a fleeting phenomenon, so they took all their wealth and retired before their power completely disappeared.

Centuries later, these families reappeared, and the past grudges vanished. No one knew that they were descendants of those dynasties.

If they survive to the modern era and have preserved the records of the last "Comers," once the star orbits overlap again, this family will be able to use their mysterious knowledge, which far surpasses that of anyone else, to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and establish a new dynasty once more.

A family with a thousand-year history sounds impressive, but Lin An wasn't intimidated by the name.

Whether these families can "survive" remains to be seen. Even if they do survive, how much information can they preserve after being ravaged by war, migration, and natural and man-made disasters?

Each new legend's emergence may mean the loss of a family's collection. Records of "Commes" are scattered around the world, and with the migration of believers, countless occult speculations have arisen.

From the modern Cthulhu mythos and medieval human body secrets to the more distant Nile gods, Tantric Buddhism, and the Gnostic consciousness...

The person who found the manuscript used the ancient dynasty as a foundation, incorporated their understanding of civilization, created a new mythological system, which flowed into the blood of the nation and has endured for generations.

We can't rule out that possibility, right?

Lin An once suspected that his great-grandfather had some connection with the "family".

Because he possessed such comprehensive knowledge of "Commerx" that he seemed unlike an ordinary person who knew nothing, perhaps his great-grandfather had obtained some manuscripts that had been lost from a prominent family.

Lin An assumed that these aristocratic families were concentrated in places with a long history, such as the Western Continent and the Central Continent. He never expected to hear their names in Dietrich, the city of Eagle Country.

Carmen's words confirmed his idea.

"The family records detailed, exquisite, and comprehensive methods for controlling mystical powers, ensuring that even when using these powers, misunderstandings won't lead to disastrous consequences..."

She touched her thin shoulders with a bitter expression.

"Unlike me in the beginning, I made a fool of myself on stage and almost lost my job."

It turns out that Carmen didn't do it intentionally during that performance. It was just that after she awakened, she didn't understand the situation and used her mysterious power recklessly, which led to an increase in the level of pollution and her body becoming deformed.

Despite the newsstand being heated, the woman was still wearing a thick coat, and a thin white seam was faintly visible from her bare wrist.

There used to be a rotten crack here, until the "family" healed it.

The four mentioned that while the foundation was still researching ways to reduce pollution, the established families had already mastered the secret and successfully implemented it in practice.

The difference in their knowledge of mystery is evident.

"So you belong to a powerful family?" Lin An asked casually. "What kind of organization is that?"

“If I had ever left this damned lower street, I would really be happy to tell you about it.” Carmen’s expression was inscrutable. “Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that the powerful families possess unimaginable strength, far beyond the level of our petty squabbles.”

Okay, I understand.

In short, the foundation is a "peace-loving" official organization; the aristocratic family possesses unique skills from a thousand years ago, is ambitious, uses unpredictable methods, and their identities remain a mystery.

Lin An realized that Carmen had overlooked one person—the Witch of Bavomet, whom he longed for.

Does she not know about witches, or does she simply not want to tell me?

Lin An tentatively began to speak.

"By the way, besides the Foundation and the aristocratic families, have any of the 'Free Mystics' spontaneously established their own separate organizations?"

With a languid gentleness, Carmen used a hairpin to hold back her long, slipping hair. Her bones cracked, and her back view looked like a skeleton without any lines.

"Weird idea."

"It's just what I felt," Lin An explained. "Although I've awakened to the mystical, I don't want to become a master. At the same time, I want to find some like-minded people to communicate with, rather than bear it all alone; otherwise, I'd go crazy."

“I see.” Carmen fiddled with the jewelry beneath the bird skeleton, saying casually, “I think there is. You have so much time, why not keep an eye out and ask around?”

Do I look like I have a lot of free time?

"hehe."

Carmen opened one of the bottles, scooped up a spoonful of powder, and poured it into the medicinal liquid.

Lin An wanted to say something, so she sprayed powder on his face, which made him cough. The air was filled with the sweet smell of fennel seeds.

“You are a lucky man, Mr. Tulford.”

Amidst the swirling powder, Lin An noticed that Carmen had removed her contact lenses. Her eyes were as black as ink, staring intently at him as if she wanted to bite him.

The six-pointed star glowed faintly.

An ominous premonition crept up Lin An's spine. He turned his head sharply and saw the inconspicuous black stone slab shimmering as if breathing, the six-pointed star pattern bursting with a light that could engulf everything.

Carmen maintained her posture with her back to the stone slab.

She had just finished all the rituals during the conversation, and now she was gazing at Lin An with a dreamy look in her eyes, which were as moist as rose petals.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Tulf,” she said. “I will pray for your soul. Farewell.”

(End of this chapter)