World Occult Usage Guide

Even today, the "prophet" remains a medium through which Lin An is unwilling to become an enemy.

Fortunately, before arriving in Ivory Coast, he had already deduced from his battles with Kevin and the Countess that Jacob, the president of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild, was a prophet, and even the code name Alfonso III gave Lin An some clues about the mysterious prototype.

After confirming that the opponent was a high-rated "prophet," he remembered that the prophet's influence had been ever-present since he arrived in Abishang City, and he made the system repeatedly remind him, with a pop-up message saying "My thinking has begun to distort" every time he checked the data.

Heeding this warning, as long as the general direction of the plan remained unchanged, he didn't need to worry about certain issues.

For example, Lin An was eager to know the effects of the vaccine, but he quickly stopped thinking about it, cleared his mind, and observed Jacob's next move in order to catch him.

Aside from misleading thinking, Lin An understood that the "prophet" who wasn't very aggressive would try something else, either by joining forces with other mysterious individuals or by creating highly lethal mysterious items.

So he took precautions and, before reporting to Mrs. Adamek, used the "Auspicious Day" spell from the "Encyclopedia of Magic V" on himself as a form of self-defense.

As expected, when he saw the lady walking out with her skirt lifted, Lin An had a strange premonition and threw out the Devil's Dice he always carried with him without hesitation.

"Will the individuals in front of me have a serious, even life-threatening, negative impact on me in the future?"

The die spun and eventually landed on "Yes".

Lin An immediately understood. Without delving into how the prophet could turn a living, ordinary person into a deadly weapon against the source level, he used the [Imprint of Thoughts on the Primordial Path] without hesitation.

No matter what changes occur to Mrs. Adamek in the future, Lin An can rewind time to restore her state.

This is also what he and Edward referred to as "recording the present moment".

The prophet's deadly trap had already been laid. Lin pretended not to notice anything amiss, coldly watching Jacob lay down his inescapable net. Just when he thought his prey had no way to escape, he tightened the trap and launched a fatal blow.

The moment he made his move, Lin An also saw Jacob's face hidden behind the screen through the gaps in the mesh.

The president of the Red Poppy Merchants Association was in the central building where the press conference was being held, because Lin An vaguely glanced over a special light spot among the countless light spots displaying "little souls," a light spot that did not display any data.

The aura of the nebula surged.

Right now, all we need to do is deal with this voodoo priest...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Realizing his inevitable death, the voodoo priest slammed his hand drum at his waist a few times. The dull drumbeats echoed, accompanied by a strange "hee hee hee" laugh, and his hands swung like snakes.

He wore a mask made of a sheep's skull, so Lin An couldn't see the voodoo priest's expression. But facing an attack from a source-level being, he wasn't afraid or trying to escape. Instead, he faced the attack head-on, looking like he was ready to die.

Somewhat strange.

are you crazy?
"Aida Vedo, my mistress! Unleash the wrathful snakes to tear my enemies apart! Oh, my mistress, I will grant your wish after the ceremony! Aida, Aida, kiss my whole body!"

The voodoo priest screamed hoarsely, his voice sharp as a knife slicing through glass.

This seemingly romantic statement is actually a Voodoo prayer, and the most devout incantation.

Since its spread, Voodoo has produced more than a thousand named Loa deities, who have been divided into 17 nanchons by the Caribbean Association. Each nanchon is responsible for different duties, such as love, death, and healing.

The same Loa can establish different intimate relationships with believers, and these priests will also use the prefixes Papa (father), Manman (mother), or Metrès (mistress) when referring to them.

To outsiders, this is blasphemy against the gods, but within Voodoo, it is a form of familial respect.

The more relationships a priest establishes, the more power he wields, although he must be careful that these relationships do not overlap, otherwise he will suffer the deadly retribution of the evil Loa.

As the voodoo priest finished speaking, countless snakes crawled out from his armpits and genitals. They snaked up his rustling, colorful straw clothes, coiled around his tall hat, and wriggled in dense circles.

His dance steps quickened, and he performed incredible backbends, as weak and boneless as a woman.

The temperature rose rapidly, distorting the scene and making it even hotter than the cold-toned fireballs that had just dripped from the ceiling. The venomous snakes stood tall and proud, their blood seeping from their skin and becoming as viscous as lava, slowly merging all the snakes together.

The voodoo priest now has empty eyes and is in a daze.

Loa manifested in him through resurrection.

The voodoo priestess, as if wearing a tall hat made of flames, uttered terrifying and vicious curses in a strange female voice, her lips buzzing.

"Hellfire... will consume your body... a thousand degrees of flame... I curse you... you will die soon..."

"One thousand degrees?" Lin An raised an eyebrow. "That's exactly the melting point of gold."

"Ok?"

Lin An snapped his fingers, the Philosopher's Stone in his hand spinning, and mimicked the other person's tone as he spoke.

"Child of the Soul... pour it upon..."

The next moment, the snake's blood turned into molten gold and flowed down.

Loa, now in the body of a voodoo priest, could tolerate the temperature of his own energy, but he was powerless against the Philosopher's Stone's ability to turn things into gold. He let out a shrill scream, first a female voice, then a familiar male voice.

"Ahhhh——!"

The sizzling sound of flesh melting into charcoal, accompanied by the aroma of burnt food, filled the air.

The voodoo priest fell to his knees with a thud. The molten, scalding gold burned through his sheep bone mask and the colorful straw clothes on his upper body, cooling on his rotting flesh, which had not a single patch of good skin, and solidified him into a golden statue.

"Dang Cang."

The remains of the tall hat fell to the ground, and charred insect corpses were scattered all over the ground.

Lin An silently counted to three. The system notification sounded, indicating that the voodoo priest had been scalded to death by the gold. "Entry 'The Day of Resurrection of All Souls III: Gerd Nibo' has been added. You have obtained the media 'Mother of Desire' x4, 'Chief Judge' x2, 'Lord of the Earth' x2, 'God of Agriculture' x2, and 'Prophet' x2."

Gerd Nibo?

Isn't the mysterious prototype of the voodoo priest the [Garde Medium]?

Lin An remembered that the Gede people consisted of five figures: the mind reader Gede Papa, the graveyard keeper Gede Bluff, the mind manipulator Gede Babako, the corpse finder Gede Nibo, and the child spirit summoner Gede Timalis.

Although he didn't recall the names and nicknames of every Gede person in detail, based on past experience, he only needed to obtain the [Gede Medium's] knowledge, and the system would automatically provide the corresponding panel.

"Brother Tongzi, do you really not need an 'update'?"

"The sector is operating normally."

"Even if you take the servers down for maintenance for a week, I don't think it will be a big problem."

Please do not question my data.

Lin An frowned. The Duke had explained that the Mysterious Encyclopedia was a blank slate after reincarnation, and he always felt that the function translated as "reincarnation" had more than just that.

"Your attitude is getting worse and worse."

"Sorry, Lin An, I'll activate 'VIP mode' for you now." The system suddenly changed its tune. "I need to process nearly ten thousand things every minute and every second. To save resources, I've automatically assigned 'P mode'."

"..."

Lin An's lips twitched. Did he mean that ever since he got more and more people to join the World Tree, his mysterious prototype had been "exhausted" and was sometimes impatient?

Seriously, do systems really have no emotions?

He could detect a hint of sarcasm in her words.

However, as the orbit of "Comerth" approached, the upper limit of radiation levels increased, and Lin An also saw some rather distinctive mysterious prototypes, such as the Countess's red dragon and the Loa spirit of the voodoo priest.

They are clearly the embodiment of extraterrestrial energy, yet they exhibit a vibrant "personality," perhaps representing the hidden rules within "Commerx."

The same applies to the approximate system.

The more users use the World Tree, the less functional it becomes in combat.

It seems we can't accept everyone unconditionally anymore...

The degree of fusion with "Lady with the Lantern" is certainly important, but if the system malfunctions and I die in battle, that would be utterly disastrous.

As he pondered, Lin An had a sudden inspiration.

"If your radiation level increases, will your computing power also increase?"

"Yes."

Well, we've come full circle back to radiation levels.

"Let's put that aside for now. Brother Tong, bring up the entry for [Gold Nibo]."

Lin An wanted to see what was so special about that voodoo priest that made it impossible for him to identify the other party's true form.

The green code appears, as always.

[Name]: Gede Nibo, Gede Man, Gede Medium

[Rating]: Legendary D-Tier

Radiation level: 41.2%
[Pollution Level]: 48.2%
[Medium]: The Mother of Desire
[Mysterious Origin]: Like other Gede members, Guede Nibo is a mediator between the living and the dead, but unlike other Gede mediums, he is the guardian deity of those who died from unnatural causes (disasters, accidents).

He would help believers inquire about their relatives who died prematurely, or find bodies whose resting places were unknown. Heidi's detectives and police would even seek his help to solve cases.

Gerd Nibo has a horse that, like him, can be summoned by believers. When the horse bends down to the summoner, it leads people to listen to the voices of the dead and find bodies that have been sunk to the bottom of the water and whose whereabouts are unknown.

Consume two "Mother of Desire" and one "Prophet" to use Gerd Nibo's ability [Mediator of Life and Death].

[Individual Introduction]: 鍜屽叾浠栨牸寰锋垚鍛樹竴鏍凤紝鏍灏煎……

I go!

Another piece of gibberish?
Lin An's eyes widened. These data were much worse than the last time when the text was garbled; it was completely impossible to make out what it originally was.

"Brother Tongzi, why don't you just shut down and restart your computer?"

"My sector is operating—"

Before the system notification had even finished, Lin An suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.

"Warning! Warning! The energy of the 'Lady with the Lamp' medium within you is undergoing a huge change! Warning! Your 'Lady with the Lamp' value is about to go out of control!"

The system automatically popped up the 2.0 version panel, with numbers jumping wildly. Apart from the stable letter names, even the positional display was blurry and flickering.

President of the Red Poppy Merchants Association!

I knew Alfonso III wouldn't leave only the legendary Voodoo Priest as a weapon!
Lin An gritted his teeth, remained calm, and left a message on the "Communicate with Developers" page.

“Ranger-7, reporter! It’s time…” (End of Chapter)