World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 14 Canaan Magic
Alarm bells rang in Lin An's heart.

He did not overlook the possibility that Carmen was an enemy.

Through deduction and observation, Lin An guessed that Carmen's mystery stemmed from a monster from the Lower East called "Pishtaco," which, according to legend, stole human fat.

Based on Pishtako's story, Lin An deduced Carmen's abilities.

— Melting fat, separating flesh and blood, losing the ability to move.

Not to be underestimated.

But Ruan Ruyun said that the "newsstand woman" used her hands to touch the customer's body in order to exert her powers.

This makes perfect sense. If the ability to melt fat had no distance limitations, Carmen could definitely become the next witch and wouldn't need to obey her family at all.

The Magic Shooter requires the target to be within sight, while the Pistar's activation condition may be "physical contact".

Therefore, Lin An deliberately kept a few meters' distance from her.

As everyone knows, a gun is fast from seven paces away; within seven paces, it is both accurate and fast.

However, he did not expect that Carmen did not intend to use her abilities.

Taking advantage of a lull in their conversation, she used some kind of ritual to activate another mystery.

Is it something left behind by a noble family?

Damn!

The pale blue pentagram appeared and disappeared, as if countless hairpins were scraping Lin An's skull. He knelt down in pain, and the scene before his eyes gradually blurred.

A beam of light pierced through the darkness.

It unleashed a myriad of vibrant colors, as if instantly revealing the secrets deep within his soul, leaving Lin An breathless with shock. At the same time, this beam of light brought endless heat, scorching his body like flames.

At the end of the brightest point, a solemn and dignified judgment faintly echoed, deafeningly loud.

You are evil.
You have broken the taboo, you have offended the gods.

You are cursed and will die; I will not come near you.

Lin An couldn't understand this unfamiliar prophecy. He felt as if he were in a giant furnace, where the unbearable heat, accompanied by intense, nauseating light, made him dizzy and confused.

He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stay awake, and called out with his mind.

"System! Detect a way to 'escape the predicament'!"

The light illuminated every corner, and the heat that followed was like liquefied metal, dripping onto his skin and forming patches of golden dappled light.

Amidst the unbearable pain, the system's mechanical voice remained clear.

"Based on the entry 'Encyclopedia of Magic I: Necromancy, Fertility, and the Dark Earth - Hittite Worship Ritual,' a suitable solution has been found: [Underworld God Sacrifice]."

"Do you wish to use this by consuming 'God of Truth' x1, 'Seeker of Knowledge' x2, 'Prophet' x3, and 'Lord of Dreams' x1?"

"Based on the entry 'King Solomon's 72 Demons V: Demon Shooter,' a solution that meets the criteria was found: 'The Stars Are With Me.'"

"Consume 1 'Dream Master' medium for use?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin An shouted, "Use [Netherworld Divine Sacrifice]!"

The Magic Bullet Shooter is ultimately a "mystery-level" character. He can handle ordinary people and free-spirited mystics, but when facing a true aristocratic family—a group of mystics with ancient traditions—Lin An only believes in his great-grandfather's "Complete Book of Magic."

Besides, I don't even know what effect [Stars to Me] has, or why it was retrieved.

The next moment, the heat, dizziness, and anxiety left him, replaced by an empty yet calm peace. Lin An seemed to enter a void, where time ceased to exist, and his consciousness became the only concept.

A certain sound came from his mouth, not intentionally.

No, that's not the exact sound.

More like a tremor of the soul, through the medium of the body, the deity descends invisibly.

Believers, praise the Sun Goddess!
Save your life from the abyss.

May you receive wonderful things while you are in your prime.
Let your youth be renewed like an eagle.

As the words fell, the flickering cold light and the blazing furnace collided, converging into one like a yin-yang symbol, drawing back the curtain between spirit and flesh.

Lin An was stunned to see Carmen's soul.

A gray, desolate mass, barren, and lonely.

The destructive flames that had once attempted to burn Lin An, combined with the chilling mist, became something he could control.

An invisible energy overflowed from Lin An's fingertips, its countless strands caressing Carmen's delicate and ethereal soul, while ancient whispers echoed in his ears.

"Who initiated the ritual of atonement?"

Following the instructions in the "Complete Book of Magic," Lin An loudly proclaimed, "Sun Goddess of the Earth, accept this ritual with your right hand. If it is a serpent that foretells evil, then transform it into a benevolent eagle."

The fog then swarmed towards Carmen.

"Ahhhh!"

As they bound her soul, the woman let out a sharp, distorted scream.

The strange phenomenon was fleeting.

Lin An blinked, and his five senses returned to normal. The fine snow falling from the sky, the cool night breeze, and the flickering light of the incandescent bulb brought him back to reality.

He found himself standing on the empty street without anyone noticing.

Inside the newsstand, only Carmen remained, her body contorted in agony as she desperately pounded on the glass door, making loud banging noises.

"Help me! Help me!" The handprint disappeared and reappeared, her soul was being burned, and her life was fading away. She pounded on the door again and again.

"Ping! Ping...! Ping..."

The sound grew weaker and weaker, softer and softer.

Lin An pulled on the glass door and found it was locked; even the "Little Helper" couldn't open it.

At this moment, the newsstand has become an alternate dimension existing outside the real world, and nothing can interfere with it except for mysteries of the same level.

“I don’t want to die… I came to the Eagle Country… not to… die alone…”

The faint, almost imperceptible voice vanished completely.

Without Lin An exerting any effort, the glass door of the newsstand suddenly swung open.

"Dangdang!"

The woman's unseeing corpse lunged out and crashed heavily to the ground.

There were no external injuries, no bloodstains, her limbs were stiff, her hair was disheveled, her pupils were extremely small, and her cheeks were soaked with tears, showing that she had experienced severe torture before her death.

Lin An subconsciously took two steps back and muttered to himself.

"A soul... a power that originates from the same source as me—Canaan magic? The family she allied herself with—is a descendant of the Canaanites?"

Lin An originally intended to protect himself using the [Ritual to Protect the Soul], but perhaps because he lacked the medium of the "Lord of the Earth," the first item matched by the system became [Underworld God's Sacrifice].

In desperation, Lin An had no other choice but to use it.

The moment the mystical spell took effect, the destructive furnace that burned everything seemed to have found a relative, obediently approaching the energy released by Lin An with childlike joy.

Because the Hittite and Canaanite gods were originally one.

Due to the discord between the two tribes, the deity was split in two.

The Hittites built new temples and made statues of goddesses out of gold, inlaid with silver, gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, alabaster, and “Babylonian stone,” that is, cast glass; while the Canaanites kept the old temples and continued to worship the old gods.

Historians generally believe that the difference between the sun goddess and the celestial god lies in gender.

The Hittites took away the feminine aspect of the original god, so the sun goddess controlled death, childbirth, and the soul, while the sky god retained the power of light, land, and the body.

According to the Encyclopedia of Magic, this is quite different from the truth.

Hittite is one of the few asexual languages, and "she" and "he" are written the same way. However, the goddess statues that have survived from the Hittite civilization wear kurears, a typical Hittite female attire, so she is recognized as a goddess.

In reality, the statue of the sun goddess has both a male and a female costume, depending on whether people are praying to her at dawn or dusk.

Therefore, it can be inferred that the two tribes neatly divided the power of the god in two, each taking half.

Only when the Hittites and Canaanites are united can the original god unleash his full power.

On the title page of the ancient book, Lin An saw a line of annotation.

The original god possessed the attribute of judgment. If a person is unaware of their sins before the "judgment," then their soul will be eternally punished.

To avoid atonement and to reclaim their divine body, the Canaanites created a puppet and had the Hittites bear the brunt of their destruction.

However, the Canaanites ultimately failed to reclaim the other half of divine authority.

The sun goddess has vanished forever into the annals of history.

To this day, the Canaanite descendants are still searching for traces of the Hittites, seeking a way to restore the "Supreme God" to his original state...

Lin An had been skeptical until his mystical magic collided with the flames of the furnace, the cold light and the blazing light merging into one, striking the new "sacrifice" with lightning.

He was convinced.

The record is authentic!

At this point, the situation had spiraled out of Lin An's control.

The mystical spell will either burn him or Carmen.

The woman, who had died a gruesome death, stared wide-eyed as if making a silent accusation. Lin An looked away, breathed on his hands to warm them, and white mist rose and dissipated into the cold night of Dietrich.

The system's emotionless, mechanical voice sounded.

"The entry 'Curse from the Lower East V: Pistako' has been added. You have obtained the mediums 'Mother of Desire' x3 and 'Dreamer' x2."

"By using mystical arts, the radiation value of the [Mystic Encyclopedia] has increased by 0.4%."

[Name]: Pishtako, Throat-Slitting Monster
[Rating]: Disaster Level D

Radiation level: 8.2%
[Pollution Level]: 37.5%
[Medium]: The Mother of Desire
[Mysterious Origin]: Pishtako would target every conqueror, launching attacks when they were off guard, torturing them in various ways, and was deeply hated by the people.

The locals regarded fat as a gift from the legendary creator god Viracocha, a symbol of life, health, and beauty. However, the conquerors often used the fat extracted from the corpses of the locals to lubricate their rifles and cannons to prevent them from rusting, and they were called "fat thieves."

Both sides have their own version of events, each claiming that the other is the prototype of "Pishtako".

Consumes "Mother of Desire" x1 and "Emperor of War" x1 to use Pishtako's ability [Fat Stealing].

[Individual Introduction]: People cannot understand them—the men who came with them, although they have spent several years with them here, they still have families and jobs, and they will return to normal life—the young girls born here feel alienated to them and push them aside.

They continue to grow; some adapt, some integrate, and the rest are left feeling lost.

Their youth will vanish, and they will all die eventually.

Consume 1 "Dreamer" medium to use Pishtako's ability [Song of the Other Side of the Mountain].

(End of this chapter)