World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 222 Arrival
"system?"

Lin An stared at the green data that was flying everywhere without him needing to control it, and let out a cold snort as expected.

"As expected, you're not just mysterious!"

"No, I am your power," the system explained calmly. "Unlike others, Lin An, you can consider yourself to have two mysterious archetypes; one is me, and the other..."

“You are the first ‘male peasant’ who followed the ‘aliens’, the successor of the ‘Seekers of Knowledge’—Hughes, right?” Lin An’s voice was cold. “You are also Duke Vasilyka Hughes, my so-called great-grandfather.”

The system, or rather, Duke Vasilyka Hughes, paused for a moment before replying, "Don't be misled by her words, Lin An. You are you, not a vessel for aliens."

“But I think that’s where I came from.” Lin An took a step toward Adria. “Mother, no, Adria, you’re right. I’m just a ghost, and I can only appear when ‘Comers’ overlaps.”

"Hahahaha!"

Adria wiped the few drops of blood from the corner of her mouth and made a strange gesture, as if she were inviting something.

"Then let's begin. The New Tower of Babel in Dietrich, the city of the Eagle Kingdom, is where you first performed the ritual to open your chakras. As time has passed and the population has increased, the mysticism that served as a crossroads of two civilizations has flourished, and the conditions you had not yet fulfilled have long been met."

“No wonder I kept having that dream from the past when I was in this city,” Lin An said calmly. “April 1st… could it be the day I held my ceremony five thousand years ago?”

"This is one of the golden periods when the coordinates of the two planets overlap. Although it can't compare to the day three years from now, I can't wait to send you on your way."

Adria's voice flowed like an organ, alternating between hatred and relief.

"This ritual will broaden the chakras so that the moment of awakening for all will arrive soon. The mass of Titan will draw 'Comers' closer, and you, the awakened one, will return to your home planet through the opened channel."

"Back to my original planet..."

Lin An felt an extreme sense of ease spread through his body, all his worries vanished with the wind, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

That's right, he never belonged here.

Returning to their home planet is the destiny of "aliens".

"Thank you so much, Aldelia."

“No need.” Adria looked at the man who was her son, her father, and her lover with eyes filled with twisted emotions. “Farewell, Anne.”

The candles held by the golem burned with flames of different colors, and the vibrating energy blasted throughout the New Tower of Babylon. The entire basement instantly became ethereal and shimmering, outlining bright lines containing a matrix, and an energy that did not belong to this planet permeated the air.

Lin An felt a headache coming on, and his soul gradually resonated with the so-called "candle," which was the satellite debris orbiting Comors.

"She's lying to you!" Upon seeing this, the Duke's almost inflected voice became somewhat urgent.

“You are the same,” Lin An commented.

“My dear great-grandson, she is not Aldelya, but a daughter I gave birth to, Adria Hughes, just as you are not Anhues.”

Despite the pressure, the Duke patiently and earnestly spoke his mind.

"It all started with my incompetence. I didn't expect Adria to discover Adria's secret, and the successor of the 'Lady with the Lamp' took the opportunity to implant her memories into my daughter's body, using her to secretly escape the seal..."

Even though they were about to return to their home planet, Lin An still wanted to say a few words to him, since there were still some questions that hadn't been answered.

"Is this the truth behind your gradual inability to use mystical arts to continue passing on memories before the 'Comers' overlap, ultimately leading to your 'death from old age'?"

"It was Adria, the successors who craved the power of 'Commes,' who killed me. But before I died, I copied my remaining consciousness into the library's collection. They weren't sure if I was gone, so they burned most of the ancient books and sent you the half-torn 'Complete Book of Magic.'"

"What use is it to me?"

“Lin An, I cannot include entries with a higher rating than myself. In other words, when ‘Comers’ overlaps, once I regain consciousness with the help of your spirit, I will become a part of you forever.”

Why is the service being shut down for maintenance?

"At that time, I was integrating my past memories. As the level of pollution increased, my memory fragments slowly recovered. After all, when I first awakened, I was just an empty shell, and the only thing I remembered was helping you explore 'Commerx' from a human perspective."

The Duke, whose thoughts were connected with Lin An's, clearly sensed the former's uncontrollable emotions after learning the truth, as well as a sense of self-abandonment and weariness of giving up on upholding his principles.

Not only did his biological mother hate him, but even he, who was with him day and night, deceived him in various ways.

"Forget it, it's not important. Anyway, I'm leaving." Lin An said expressionlessly.

"My dear grandson..."

"This is the moment I've been waiting for."

Hearing the Duke's patient yet anxious words, Adria's face was filled with the joy of revenge.

"I didn't hesitate to play along with that girl named Doris Wood, firstly to torment Anne's human emotions and avenge my child; secondly, to improve your rating, help you regain your memories, and restore your complete personality! I want to tell you, this is my victory!"

"Silence! My blood, stained with sin!" the Duke cursed with disgust. "I will not let Lin An die here."

"Are you trying to defy Ansius's will?"

"That's always been the case."

As they spoke, Lin An focused his attention on the path of the fire, and his breathing became heavy.

A bizarre vortex appeared beneath my feet, the hazy mass shrinking and gradually thickening, forming a scene resembling a solar eclipse.

He grew increasingly excited, his mind racing. The dazzling starlight thrilled Lin An.

"Don't respond to it, or get caught up in it." The Duke stopped arguing with the mad Adria and instead enveloped Lin An in green data, isolating him from the anomaly. "You can't reach 'Comers' because you are not Anhus."

"..."

“Lin An, you’re not ready yet—you need to understand ‘Commerx’ more from a human perspective.”

"The final question." Lin An didn't respond. His dark pupils reflected the data flying around. Unlike his previous mind-numbing thoughts, his eyes were calm and still. "Brother Tongzi, oh no, 'great-grandfather'."

“If you’re happy, I can be your brother forever,” the Duke said in a melancholy tone. “What exactly is the ‘Lady with the Lamp’?”

"It has three sources: the spirit of Ansius, the silver moon of El, and the bloodline of Eldria, which refers to the radiation source of another planet, representing eternal and the purest alien matter. Ordinary humans would go mad just by witnessing it, and must integrate and learn it through special means."

The Duke took a deep breath.

"As for manipulating memories, it's a special ability that Anhus taught me and Eldria. It belongs exclusively to the two of us and has nothing to do with the 'Lady with the Lamp' medium. According to the rating, she is a Rank A Lady with the Lamp, while I am a Rank A Seeker of Knowledge."

"what about me?"

"You..." The Duke's data trembled slightly, "If I had to give a rating, you would be an S-rank statue of the Goddess of the Lamp, the only existing S-rank in the world, an existence that cannot be displayed on a panel."

"The statue is S-rank; no wonder it can't awaken its mystical power no matter how many times it's witnessed!"

Lin An laughed forcefully, causing the data around him to tremble violently. Through the gaps, the surrounding scene was revealed: twelve-colored candles were burning brightly, an ethereal and dreamlike atmosphere permeated the air, and a thick chaos engulfed everything.

The gray, desolate, barren, lonely, and eerily quiet time merged with the scenes of a dream.

"So I needed such a grand awakening ceremony!"

"Lin An!"

The ever-increasing energy surge overwhelmed the Duke, who had not yet fully recovered, and the data protecting Lin An trembled and dissipated.

The pressure eased, as if a curtain that had been blocking my view had suddenly been drawn back.

Seeing the traces of prehistoric humans' lives, Lin An remembered that he had traveled on this planet five thousand years ago.

A vague shadow, identical to him, travels the world. There are countless versions of him, situated in the endless, ever-flowing, and formless river of time. Darkness, woven from countless strange things, surges towards him, a memory that surpasses all knowledge.

That was the lingering dream of "Comers".

Lin An glimpsed the shadows of that world for the first time, and strangely, he was not unfamiliar with them.

The seeds of immortality drift from one civilization to another, creating a sense of unpredictable déjà vu. Some fleeting glimpses remain in memory like dreams—vague yet vivid; a few scenes linger, captivating and unforgettable.

Faced with the overwhelming reality, Lin An was stunned and plunged into extreme fear.

No death, no destruction, no mental or physical suffering is sufficient to evoke this profound despair arising from the loss of self.

He was in this strange state of convergence, aimlessly wandering in the sea of ​​memories.

The golem's light grew increasingly intense, both before him and surrounding him, permeating his vicinity, seemingly a part of Lin An, connected to Titan and another unknown planet.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Suddenly, the Duke made a sound like an alarm clock, just like the ringtone of a cell phone that had woken Lin An countless times, intruding into his last remaining consciousness.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth. I don't want you to give up your humanity and turn to Ansius. You are not him at all; he is just a part of you that has been brought into being."

“The spirit you receive from him is not soul, but anima. Imagine it as a neutral place between body and spirit. It does not represent your personality, your consciousness, or your vibrant life.”

"You interact with so many people, you see, hear and touch the things around you. When 'Comers' overlaps, you experience one wonderful adventure after another in the mystical world fostered by diverse civilizations. You are already an independent person."

"Look back on the times you know... but don't turn to those ghostly memories..."

A glint of light appeared in Lin An's usually calm eyes as his experiences since the arrival of "Comers" played out like a slideshow. As a participant, he had personally experienced each event and enjoyed it immensely.

Dwarf Demon, Magic Shotgun, Pistalco, Treasure Guardian Fairy, Earthenware Book, Zomo Rabbit, Casbell, Catsis, Rereader, Ancestor Demon, Jinx, Lusca, Zhenni, Adam Cadmon, Yemaia, Black Dog and Asherah's Verses...

Those interesting insights, those vivid encounters, and those breathtaking landscapes are not merely the work of Ansius's ghost.

"Remember everything you've been through and keep going."

He seemed to hear the thunderous voice of a thunderbird in his ears, and the Kiss of the Sky between his brows burned. Just before being swallowed by his thoughts, Lin An took out two things from his chest: a photo of the Foundation's team and an antique, cool pipe as a gift.

I am—my life, and everything I have experienced.

perhaps……

As his consciousness faded into a hazy state, Lin An heard the Duke's words echoing in his mind.

"Wait for me! Lin An, do not become addicted! You are humanity's last hope in the millennia-long struggle against 'Commerx'!"

"Wow!"

The new Tower of Babylon collapsed with a deafening roar, and a vast, surging vortex appeared in the sky, booming and burning—it was a concentrated energy, accompanied by a rhythm that transcended the mundane world.

An imperceptible spectrum flickers endlessly as it flows, as if it were a strange celestial body from another dimension, its indescribable magnificence and splendor inspiring only pure awe in those who behold it.

Within minutes, the vortex of intertwined energy gradually transformed into a vast void, and an inconceivably enormous shadow enveloped the entire Eagle Kingdom, completely surpassing any concept of size and boundaries that humanity had ever known. What followed was madness and erosion.

Adria gazed at the scene in the sky with satisfaction, but in the next instant, the light of one of the candles suddenly dimmed, causing a crack to appear in her smile.

"The Brahmanical 'God of Agriculture' and the 'Prophet' of Takamagahara! This candle—damn it, I always thought there was something strange about the moon fragment that ended up in the St. Anilov Foundation!"

"This is by no means the end of the world."

The sounds of men, women, leopards, snakes, and hummingbirds rang out, and a pair of eyes suddenly opened on Lin An's wrist, revealing colorful totem patterns inside. The miniature carvings of corn, rivers, leaves, humans, and pythons were full of rainforest charm.

"Heh, the 'Nature Sacrifice' of the Thirteenth Heaven, having lost the pitiful sunlight of the twin moons, are you still stubbornly resisting?"

Adria licked her lips, and a chaotic, ecstatic sound of playing music emanated from her fingertips.

"Disappear along with your brothers from the Eastern Continent, you outcast of the times!"

“On the contrary, you are destined to fail, the uncrowned queen of the Black Capital.” Totem blinked, meeting Adria’s attack head-on. “Because, having come this far, I believe he is alive.”

(End of this chapter)