World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 164 Conditions for Unleashing the Mystery
Lin An retrieved the Philosopher's Stone.

The candlelight prayers continued to flicker. Deval remained kneeling, his menacing blue eyes glaring hatefully at Lin An as he spat a mouthful of phlegm mixed with blood onto the ground.

“It was the early morning of January 9th. I accompanied Sancher to the university museum to do my homework. I hadn’t noticed it before, but recently I joined the church and suddenly found a statue in the corner that looked a lot like the statue of the Holy Way.”

"When the security guards weren't looking, I thought I'd touch the statue to get some good luck, but who knew the staff had placed it so sloppily! I just touched it casually, and the statue fell over and shattered! Damn it, what bad luck!"

“The university wants me to pay, but where am I supposed to get the money? A bunch of crazy idiots! Luckily, Sancher was willing to chip in with me and work to pay off the debt.” Deval clenched his fist. “But that very day, he got into a car accident on his way to and from work!”

"The statues in the museum..." Lin An hesitated for a moment, "Do you remember who donated them?"

"How the hell should I know! Don't you know how to use the internet?"

"Brush it!"

The Philosopher's Stone activated again, and Deval's unruly behavior turned back into pleading and crying.

"It was donated by an Israeli nobleman! It seems to be some rare medieval item..."

"Did the statue develop some kind of bond with you back then?" Lin An then asked.

“I can’t remember.” Deval scratched his sparse hair. “Anyway, I had an urge to touch it, so I did.”

"Did this awaken your sense of mystery?"

"After smashing the idol, I went all in and took a piece of the head. Anyway, I'd be the one paying for it! That day I saw Sancher in the hospital bed..."

Deval bit his tongue and swallowed his words.

"Anyway, I just wanted him to open his eyes and not die. I prayed to that fragment of the idol all night and fell asleep without realizing it. In my dream, I felt some kind of energy flowing into me... and the next day I was suddenly able to use mystical arts."

"Energy..." Lin An said casually, "You're quite skilled at controlling mysticism. Didn't you receive any guidance from anyone?"

“I am a follower of the Holy Way! How could I not know the beliefs of my own religion!” Deval argued vehemently.

Your acting is terrible; it's a good thing you're an art student.

Too lazy to press Deval any further, Lin An knew in his heart that the person who was teaching him was almost certainly Doris Wood.

Excluding the Foundation, which belongs to the other two major mystical factions in Dietrich, if Deval had sided with the witch on the other side, the witch, who would never abandon her companions, would have already used the "Dreamer's" spatial teleportation to come to his rescue when he was in mortal danger.

Regardless of Doris's plans, Lin An was caught in a mental storm.

Deval's statement is the final piece of the puzzle, finally explaining the conditions for the awakening of the mystic.

First, the most basic kind of ghost story.

This only requires a bloodline that corresponds to the folk legend—mixed blood is also acceptable—and a personality that roughly matches the corresponding medium of each deity, so that the corresponding prototype can be generated when "Comerth" arrives.

The prototype meets two conditions: first, the person has previously been aware of this mystery; second, the prototype medium corresponds to the person's personality.

After satisfying these conditions, only three special cases need to be satisfied.

First, the individual feels empty and dissatisfied with the status quo; second, the individual has been exposed to energy radiation from other mystical beings to varying degrees; and third, the individual is experiencing intense emotional fluctuations.

The next level is the catastrophic level mystery.

In addition to the above conditions, they have a deeper understanding of the field of occultism, a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of a certain archetype, and the mystery they learn about must be compatible with their own medium.

For example, Carmen, Catsis, Senior Evancia...

A typical counterexample is Lady Ava. Although she had been fascinated by the occult for many years and had come into contact with other occult archetypes, they did not match her personality. She learned that the highest-level "prophet" was the Demon of the Entire Path.

The fact that even higher-level legendary abilities cannot be naturally awakened is a key point that Lin An has come to understand this time.

Deval's words basically confirmed his guess: the legendary activation requires the use of some "basic radiation value".

Joshua mentioned in the data that "Comers" has overlapped with Titan's orbit four times to date, including the "global radiation" four thousand years ago and in the last decade, as well as two less obvious small-scale projections.

During this period, the mystics created many mysterious items, such as Lin An's wand, Doris's Canaan Magic Tablet, or Lu Zige's pipe offering.

When "Comers" departs, these items will lose their energy along with their owners, becoming mere antiques with only legend and no practical use.

They may be collected by noble families, wealthy individuals, and professional institutions such as museums; they may be damaged due to the changing times; or they may be scattered in remote mountains and fields, waiting for their destined owners to come to them.

Mystics of legendary or higher level must use the basic radiation of these items to glimpse a corner of the true laws of "Comerth," thereby triggering their mysticism.

Legendary items also require meeting prerequisites regarding lineage and cognition; otherwise, the item will awaken a "second-class" derivative prototype, causing its time rating to drop.

The basis for this inference is right before our eyes.

The second machine is the "Yemaia," which was created in the 19th century. Considering the average time of the four star orbit overlaps, Lin An suspected that the statue he saw in the museum should be related to either the "saints" of the Bishop of Salvation or the "gods" of the Yoruba.

However, his understanding was insufficient, and he stopped there.

According to what Lin An saw and heard in the inspection team, in order to reach the mythical level, not only must all the above conditions be met, but they must also go through a special "ritual".

Unfortunately, the process of the ceremony was basically monopolized by aristocratic families, and ordinary people had no access to this knowledge.

Above that are the Origin Level and the Image Level, which represent the pinnacle of Titan's mystics and are shrouded in mystery. Lin An's initial speculation is that the Origin Level is closely related to the degree of contamination of a person's "ancestor."

Pollution will completely transform the human body and may even seep into genes. Even after "Comers" leaves, Lin An believes that this influence will likely remain.

Sister Mouse said that many local gods have disappeared forever, probably because all the individuals with the genes died in the colonial wars and all the related artifacts were destroyed.

This is just Lin An's temporary idea; more practice and exploration are needed for a concrete implementation.

As for statue-level...

The closest person he has come to creating a statue is Adam Cadmon. According to Jericho's Tree of Life project, creating a statue requires the "blood sacrifice" of a large number of mystics and the fusion of an artifact containing the medium of the "Lady with the Lamp".

As for the details of the ritual, whether the blood sacrifice was necessary, and what the "Lady with the Lamp" represented, Lin An had no idea.

He exhaled, feeling a sense of relief as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining through. But as clues emerged, Lin An encountered new problems.

How exactly did Simon become the mythical "Lord of Dreams"?

Who performed the ceremony for him?
Why did Mishi, who came from an ordinary background, become a legendary "god of agriculture"?
Before becoming a true mystic, Mishi mentioned that she met a strange young man with beeswax-colored skin and a full head of white hair in the exchange warehouse. He said "Dharma" to Mishi.

Dharma, in Hindi, means "the Dharma".

This term is all-encompassing and permeates all aspects of Brahmanical beliefs, such as the worship rituals of the Vedas.

What is the background of that boy?
With just one sentence from him, Mishi became the Fairy Queen?

What is he up to in the foundation's warehouse?

"Knock knock, knock knock!"

The drumbeats interrupted his thoughts. Lin An looked up and saw that the entire sky had darkened without him noticing.

A group of twisted, bird-like creatures roamed about, their bodies short and thick, their eyes filled with nothing but bloodlust and slaughter. They wriggled about incessantly, like caterpillars gnawing at the blue sky, casting abnormal, illusory shadows.

Are these the remaining spiritual portraits of Unit 2?
A total of seven, exactly the number of minors who died at his hands according to the foundation's records.

The aura of a saint can be emanated through songs, dances, and drumming, so special music spreads as the spiritual figures move about to perform magic.

"Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!"

The drumbeats gradually quickened, and the dance of countless spiritual portraits swept across the sky like waves of a hurricane. The aura of Yemaia permeated the air, and Deval, trapped in the center of the pentagram, laughed wildly, looking up at the sky.

"Hahaha, you think you can sever the connection between me and the spiritual portraits? Hmph, that was just to make you believe it was all an act! Release me now, or these portraits will go on a killing spree! They'll make the entire academy pay for my death!"

It turns out that he had just pretended to back down while secretly mobilizing portraits from various parts of Dietrich.

They were originally positioned to ensure the execution of the sorcery near his target, but were now recalled by Deval, intending to threaten Lin An with the lives of everyone in the art academy.

Deval stared at Lin An in front of him with a sinister look, and licked his lips with his tongue.

The spiritual portrait will continue to carry out instructions after his death, and Lin An, who is completely unaware of the barrier to the soul, can only watch helplessly as this place turns into a sea of ​​blood!
The foundation can only launch rescue operations, but it cannot stop the killing of the mental portraits!
Until they exhaust their energy and dissipate on their own!
"Why harbor such malice towards your classmates?" Lin An said expressionlessly.

Hearing this, Deval was furious.

"Those people claim to be equal on the surface, but behind my back they call me a 'freak,' and they're always subtly excluding me from fitting in! I can't be a part of any group! Except for Sang Sang... Damn it, even the guitarists and drummers from both sides are laughing at me!"

"The self-pity of the rainbow flag became your oxygen. Is it possible that no matter what gender you change, it won't change the fact that people simply don't like hippies?"

"Shut up!"

Deval was hit where it hurt and roared angrily.

"My life is none of your business! Before long, you will become the culprit who caused the fall of Dietrich! Fool!"

"Actually, I've been waiting for you to bring up your own portrait."

Deval, whose face was covered in blood, was stunned.

Regardless of what he meant, Lin An's calm reaction upon learning that the academy was about to become a living hell was truly remarkable.

It was as if the situation was entirely under his control.

Could it be that he has a way to break my witchcraft?
A terrible thought popped into his head, but Deval quickly banished it from his mind.

Impossible! Mystical arts related to the soul cannot be easily deciphered by ordinary people!
That's why that person values ​​him so much!
Moreover, he had seen the list of employees in the Direct Contact Department of the St. Anilov Foundation, and none of them had any occult skills related to the soul!
They were helpless when it came to Deval's spiritual portrait!
But logically speaking, no one could spot him in a sea of ​​people, even though he only has the aura of an ordinary person...

Am I just prejudiced?
Does that mean he doesn't belong to the foundation at all?
The ominous premonition grew clearer and clearer, and Deval's Adam's apple trembled uncontrollably as he couldn't help but scream.

"So what? Do you fucking know anything about mystical arts related to the soul?"

"Of course."

The young man leaned down, his smiling face magnified in Deval's pupils, and spoke in a ghostly voice that only the two of them could hear.

"—Because I am the [ghost]."

(End of this chapter)