World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 3 The Shadow of "Comers"
The system asked, "Would you like to watch a short tutorial before answering the question?"

Beginner's Guide?

A sense of absurd unreality ignited in Lin An's heart. With a system and guidance at the same time, it was as if his life had suddenly turned into an adventure game, replacing real reality.

"Watch."

“Psychological inquiry is mainly dominated by pathologists, but outside these fields, there exists another fantastical world.”

Could you switch to Chinese?

The system speaks in English, and it's in a way that sounds like machine translation, almost like AI writing—it's a complete mess.

"Okay, language has been switched."

"Besides Titan, where humanity resides, there is another world in the universe, commonly known as 'Kosmos', or Kosmos in Greek."

"No one knows where 'Commerx' is. When it was in the same orbit as Titan, some kind of radiation emanated from 'Commerx' to Titan, until the two planets continued to move forward and gradually moved away from each other."

“4000 years ago, 'Comers' and Titan first overlapped.”

That was the era of ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia.

Could it be that at some point in the past, due to the influence of "Commerx," myths actually existed, and the ancients simply recorded what they saw with their own eyes?

The system quickly answered Lin An's question.

"After 'Commerx' disappeared, the mysterious radiation ceased to exist, and the world was thrown into turmoil. One by one, the dynasties built by the power of 'Commerx' perished, and the related cultures were almost entirely destroyed. However, some records were preserved and scattered around the world."

Lin An's eyes widened.

No wonder mythology and folklore have similarities.

They all originate from the same source!

"The Titans could not comprehend the complete 'Commerx,' and due to differences in their ways of thinking, each civilization deconstructed it from its own perspective. As the orbit of 'Commerx' approached that of Titan, the radiation spread again."

"Based on the calculations, the two planets will completely overlap in five years and completely separate in ten years."

After hearing the introduction, Lin An was deeply moved and remained unsettled for a long time.

It turns out that the myths and folklore that the mother studied had appeared and disappeared on Titan.

Due to the movement of star orbits, they are about to make a comeback.

The explanation has come to an end, and several lines of comments have appeared on the system panel.

【Name】: The code name for the mysterious individual; the same mysterious person may have different names.

[Rating]: There are six levels. The categories of ghost stories, disasters, legends, myths, origins, and statues determine how close the mystery is to the origin of "Comers," and thus determine the difficulty of increasing radiation levels, the upper limit of pollution levels, and the priority of its effect.

[Rating 2]: There are five levels. A, B, C, D, and E determine the duration of the mystery's circulation on Titan, the upper limit of radiation levels, the difficulty of increasing pollution levels, the ability to manipulate other media, and the manifestation of the mystery.

[Radiation Value]: The average amount of "Comer's" radiation an individual is currently exposed to. The higher this value, the more powerful the energy that can be exerted.

[Pollution Level]: The distorted energy resulting from an individual's misinterpretation of "Comer's" manifests as disease, madness, distortion, and loss of control; when the pollution level reaches 100%, the individual will die.

[Medium]: The divine power of "Comer's" attraction to individuals.

wrong.

Let's take a break.

Lin An's eyelids twitched as he stared intently at the panel of the "Mysterious Encyclopedia" in front of him.

"You...you are not the system, but—"

"When the star orbits overlap, the 'Comer' radiation source is attracted by the Titans in the form of divine mediums, and based on individual experiences and personalities, it is transformed into a tangible mystery."

"Your thirst for mystical knowledge attracted the medium 'Seeker of Knowledge,' which, based on the 'Complete Book of Magic,' materialized and generated the 'Encyclopedia of Mysticism.' In other words, I was born after you were exposed to 'Commons' radiation."

What the hell!

The system is actually myself!
........................

At midnight, Lin An left the abandoned warehouse and boarded the last bus back to the university campus.

A green, glowing font floated in front of me.

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

Radiation level: 0.2%
[Pollution Level]: 0%
[Medium]: The seeker of knowledge

"So, my 'personality' is a machine-translated, glowing green encyclopedia?"

"I think this is how you exist."

What kind of extreme idealism is this?

Having temporarily accepted the fact that the system was mysterious, Lin An turned to the [Name].

"I'm not bragging, but as the son of a folklore professor, I know a lot about world mythology, and I've never heard of a book like this before. If you said it was the Book of the Dead, the Scroll of Ripia, or the Manuscript of Voynich, it would be more believable than this name that sounds like a game fan page."

"Since you do not know the real name of the encyclopedia, it will not be displayed."

Harmony?
The system can only display information that I can recognize? Lin An's brows furrowed even more deeply.

"I still don't quite understand the meaning of those numbers. Why don't you tell me what your functions are?"

"The encyclopedia is based on the 'Complete Book of Magic' and includes its mysteries. When you witness, deconstruct, and defeat other mysteries, as long as the mystery's rating is lower than yours, you can control the mysteries' existing abilities."

Lin An carefully read through the machine translation, his eyes slowly widening.

"Since I am a Source B-level mystery... besides statues, Sources, and A-level mystics, can I use other 'lower-level' mystics?"

"Yes."

Lin An's eyebrows relaxed.

This is the only good news since the attack by the dwarf demons.

Having figured out the names and ratings, the next step is to understand the radiation levels and pollution levels.

"System, what do those two percentages represent?"

"Radiation levels determine the strength of energy. For example, if your radiation level is '0.2%', it means you can only harness 0.2% of the power of this encyclopedia."

"The degree of contamination is a consequence of misinterpreting 'Commerx'. Whenever the degree of contamination reaches a certain threshold, it will have negative effects. For example, the dwarf demon, whose degree of contamination reached 63.2%, underwent physical mutations, mental decline, and lost his human form and humanity."

Is the dwarf demon a person?
The thought of that wrinkled face, rotten teeth, and blood-red skin sent shivers down Lin An's spine.

Indeed, there is no such thing as a gift without a price.

The Titans do not belong to Comos. They attempt to decipher the laws of another world by observing the shadows, but a single misstep could lead to utter destruction.

Lin An gathered his scattered thoughts, and the system continued speaking.

“Using mysticism consumes the corresponding medium. Currently, you have 7 ‘Seekers of Knowledge’, 2 ‘Gods of Truth’, 3 ‘Dreamers’, 4 ‘Prophets’, 1 ‘Lord of the Earth’, 1 ‘Emperor of War’, and 1 ‘God of Agriculture’.”

What do these gods represent?

"This encyclopedia does not yet include entries related to the 'Twelve Comos'."

Is there no record of it?
According to the system, there are twelve deities in the "Comer's" realm, each with a different medium that can be used to perform mystical arts by consuming a certain proportion of the medium.

As Lin An scanned the ritual documenting "The Complete Book of Magic I," he realized something.

Since the system is based on "The Complete Book of Magic", wouldn't it be possible to include other series besides the first one?
Upon opening his phone, Lin An almost forgot about his senior and quickly sent her a voice message to report that he had returned to his apartment safely.

Since it was late and he hadn't received a reply, he clicked on an avatar that showed "67 new messages".

Haruto: I've found the source of those books.

Haruto: The Encyclopedia of Magic, by Vasilica Cesar Tsepesh Hughes, a noble Romanian nobleman of high birth who lived a secluded life, possibly related to the famous Vlad III the Impaler.

Haruto: [Image] An oil painting I found online. Is this the kind of handsomeness that even 240p can't hide?
Haruto: Lin-san, is this really your mother's family?
Haruto: You're not replying to me (ω`)
Haruto: Hey~ Lin-san~ You don't want people to know that your mother is related to the piercing man, do you?
Haruto: April just borrowed one of your books. And Mike's here too, so I didn't dare speak loudly. Please don't be mad at me, waaaaaah (╥﹏╥)
Upon seeing the last message, Lin An was terrified and quickly typed something.

AnL: What book did she take?

Haruto replied immediately: Is "Tales of the Lower East Asia - Aztec Mythology" a very important book for Lin Sang?
This person was Lin An's roommate during his freshman and sophomore years. Before being attacked by the dwarf demon, he accidentally saw an ancient book and volunteered to help find the author.

Fortunately, this was just one of the books Lin An had borrowed from the library for leisure. If the ancient book had been taken away, he would have been devastated.

After all, those weren't ancient books, but rather his "mystery"!

AnL: It's alright. You don't need to check anymore. Just find some time to send those ancient books to my apartment.

Haruto: I'm too scared to go out, sob QAQ
AnL: ...Courier service is fine too.

Haruto: I can't make eye contact with the delivery guy QAQ
Dude, you're way too socially anxious.

Lin An smirked and clicked "video call".

The other person disconnected instantly; they probably threw their phone away.

"Sigh, I'll have to go back to the dorm sometime."

Chatting and joking with his former roommate, Lin An gradually shook off the day's mental fatigue. Leaning against the car window, he watched the city's bustling night view recede into the distance.

However, he wasn't afraid much.

Lin An has a special personality trait: when faced with supernatural phenomena, his intense curiosity overwhelmingly overcomes all other emotions.

Upon seeing the true form of the dwarf demon, he was not afraid at all; instead, he developed an endless interest.

It was as if life had suddenly gained meaning.

Because "Commerx" sounds like a more interesting world.

Lin An's lips curled into a smile as he clicked on a hyperlink website saved to the cloud.

The black background, the skull with a rose in its eye, the six-pointed star, and the purple tree pattern all indicate that this is not a normal social forum.

Lin An logged into his account skillfully and posted a new thread.

Ranger_12: Just got off work and witnessed a true urban legend [image].

(End of this chapter)