World Occult Usage Guide

When Lin An arrived at the press conference, there was a large hole in the floor of the podium where Edward was standing. Looking down, the damage extended all the way to the third floor of the building.

Edward plummeted more than ten stories, landing squarely on a wall that had been constructed with substandard materials.

As he struggled, he heard footsteps, his eyes lit up, and he quickly looked up. When he saw Lin Anshi with a half-smile, his gaze instantly darkened, as if something inside him had died.

Lin An used the Philosopher's Stone to move the bricks and planks, while Edward remained silent throughout.

After a long pause, he held his head and stammered an explanation.

"Uh, ranger, it's like this, my foot somehow got stuck in the floor. I took a step forward, and the floor started to loosen. After struggling a few times, there was a loud crash..."

“That’s because you need to be placed on a high platform.” Lin An paused, then changed to a more profound and enigmatic way of putting it, “The altar beneath your feet is a ‘divine altar’ forged by philosophical poets.”

"An altar?" Edward curled his lip. Although he had been freed from the crack in the wall, his feet were still firmly fixed to a piece of concrete the size of a footstool, and he could hardly move from the knees down. "Does this mean I'll never be able to walk again?"

“‘Commes’ is not such an inconvenient thing. The reason for your mutation is that the level of pollution is too high.” Lin An pointed his finger. “Why don’t you take a look at the World Tree’s personal homepage?”

Edward was taken aback. He opened the panel and found that his business card had been updated.

Name: Edward David Roberts
[Mysterious Prototype]: The Book of Life

[Department]: Research
[ID]: Ranger_7
[Access Level]: Emerald

【Number of ash leaves】: 255
[Code Name]: Reporter

“Urizen…” Edward paused, “You mean William Blake’s *The Book of Urizen*? And what I’m standing on… is Urizen’s stone platform?”

“That’s right, although I think your work is more like his print ‘New World Supported Europe’,” Lin An said. “As a fellow Singaporean, I believe you are familiar with his work.”

William Blake was a poet, sculptor, artist, Neoplatonist, Paracelsian, and astrologer.

He studied hypnosis, exorcism, and electromagnetic forces, and even suggested that electrotherapy could cure rheumatism.

Despite being born in the Enlightenment era, Blake relied heavily on mysticism, believing its importance to surpass reason and Newtonian certainty. His works reflected his understanding of alchemy, magic, and mysticism.

His creative process usually begins with writing a poem, followed by creating print illustrations for the poem, using painting to depict his fantasy world.

Edward's mysterious prototype comes from a prophetic book by Blake, The Book of Reason.

In terms of content and form, this is an imitation of Genesis; from the perspective of "Commerx," it is humanity's reinterpretation of the laws of that distant planet through its own imagination and reason.

In the Book of Reason, Eurythm, as the "Primitive Priest," is the embodiment of reason and law, the first entity in the universe. He believes himself to be divine and establishes various laws in a brass book, forcing humanity to unite.

After these theories were instilled in people, they diverged due to differences in personality, ideology, and background. Some agreed, while others disagreed, which angered Euryssen and made him increasingly authoritarian, extreme, and exclusionary.

Los was thus conceived; he is the divine face of imagination, the guide to empathy, freedom, and revolution.

After the creator Euryssen fell from grace, Los strapped him to his back and wrestled him in a balanced, evenly matched contest, with the two constantly vying for control of the world.

The two figures represent binary opposites: Euryssen represents the destructive and ancient essence, while Los represents the youthful and creative essence.

Their struggle was endless, but fortunately, the laws of the world gradually returned to balance.

However, this balance is very fragile. If Los fails to grasp the boundary between "good" and "idealism," Eurison will gain the upper hand; if Eurison removes the shackles of reason, Los will lead humanity into chaos without restraint and reason.

Edward embodies both the traits of Ross and Eurison.

Half of his body was as hard as stone, and it was covered with solid, snow-white feathers that looked like steel. Occasionally, there would be a terrifying phantom image of a little angel, like the one in "The Scream".

The other half of the body is very lifelike, also with wings, the feathers dancing like flames, orange-yellow at the tips and fiery red at the ends, the colors flowing and very gorgeous.

All these strange phenomena, coupled with the fact that his feet were fixed to the stone platform, indicate that Edward's level of corruption reached a rather frightening level within the short few tens of minutes of awakening to the mystery.

Lin An separated his hands, and the panel of the [Book of Reason] appeared.

Before entering Ivory Coast, he added a compatibility entry for "Misina" to Edward's edit list, and he also received a system notification when the latter awakened.

"With your witness, the illustration of the Book of Life has been unlocked."

"The entry 'Human Being Itself II: The Book of Reason' has been included. You have obtained the media 'Chief Judge' x4, 'God of Agriculture' x2, 'Prophet' x1, and 'Mother of Desire' x1."

"By sharing knowledge about 'Commerx' with others, the level of pollution in the [Mystery Encyclopedia] has been reduced by 1%."

[Title]: The Book of Life

[Rating]: Mythical Grade E

Radiation level: 0.3%
[Pollution Level]: 45.2%
[Media]: Presiding Judge

Great, mythical level can reduce pollution by 1%.

At the same time, the Book of Life provides two entries.

[Gold, Silver, Iron, and Brass] Choose one of four aspects: science, love, war, or sociology. Issue a rule within a circle with a radius of 20 kilometers. The rule must be agreed upon by more than half of the people in the circle to take effect.

Unlike the source-level entry "The Kingdom of Gods and Men," it cannot change an individual's thoughts. Those who disagree with the rules will be given five minutes to consider after the entry takes effect.

If they still disagree, the "judge's" power will transform into threads and slit their throats.

What a brutal entry. Lin An glanced at the seemingly harmless Edward, finding it hard to believe that this guy harbored such dark and extreme thoughts.

The second is the [Daytime Chariot], which has a similar scope to the former. It summons a chariot to break people's rational chain, shattering their superstition, awe, and fear of it, allowing them to see problems from a new perspective.

That's like a journalist's style: presenting the facts and then letting people discuss them.

In Lin An's view, these two entries were icing on the cake; but for Edward, they were forbidden spells that could not be used easily.

"Mythical Rank E - Rank E!!!"

Edward smiled wryly. He had studied the "Commerx" basics for nearly half a year and knew the significance of these data.

"It only took me ten minutes to reduce the pollution level to 40%..."

"On the bright side, you're actually at the mythical level, far exceeding my expectations," Lin An comforted him. "To be honest, you talk about 'Harry Potter' all the time, and I was already prepared for you to become one of the characters in the book."

"Children's books can also serve as archetypes for mystery?" Edward asked in surprise.

"Of course, they attract children or teenagers, and many magical fairy tale prototypes such as Dorothy, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio have been sighted."

This intelligence comes from the World Tree Forum; by 2039, child mystics will no longer be rare.

"As long as it conforms to the twelve moons... and some of the imagery from the myths of four thousand years ago, mystery can be materialized through the medium. As the orbits of two stars get closer and closer, due to radiation, even newborns may not be able to avoid becoming mystics."

Lin An's description sparked a childlike imagination, and Edward wanted to make a few jokes, but his enthusiasm waned after hearing the second half of the sentence.

The power of "Comers" is evident to all. Even a mentally mature adult like him experienced a level of contamination exceeding half a percent within half an hour of awakening due to emotional fluctuations.

How can a fragile infant, driven only by instinct, control its thoughts?
“Extraterrestrial energy from advanced civilizations is ultimately unsuitable for Titan’s development trajectory.” Lin An patted Edward on the shoulder. “Let’s not talk about the future; let’s deal with the immediate problem first. Edward, I have a favor to ask you.”

"Please feel free to give your instructions," the reporter said, regaining his composure.

After hearing the brief explanation, he keenly sensed the problem.

"You mean, the Red Poppy Merchant Guild Master isn't dead? Uh, once he returns to the Kingdom of Flanders, he'll probably seek revenge... His arrogance won't allow him to swallow this defeat."

"Then let him come over," Lin An said nonchalantly. "After this battle, the Red Poppy Merchant Guild is no longer a match for the World Tree."

Although Lin An originally intended to erase Jacob's memory by killing him to prevent him from reporting his information to [Black City], especially to Adria Hughes.

Strangely, the system did not give any notification after killing Jacob. Either it was up to something again, or Lin An did not kill the Chamber of Commerce President's true form.

Crafty guy.

Despite the unexpected turn of events, Lin An was not worried that Jacob would go into too much detail.

During the battle, he did indeed tear up the Latin version of the Piccardiix, which contained the oldest and most detailed records of the original Arabic astrological text.

Jacob was undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow by losing it.

In a fragment of time, Lin An accidentally stumbles upon the "video conference" of the new Seven Deadly Sins Demon Lords. These seven people do not seem to be working together, and there are undercurrents between them.

Perhaps the reason Tsekedi was expelled was not only because he failed to protect the Red Poppy Merchants' office in Kinsasha, but also because he lost the opportunity to collect all four fingers of the Creator God.

In other words, his mystery will always be incomplete.

The Seven Deadly Sins Lord does not accept the disabled.

Therefore, Jacob could not tell others the full story of the Battle of Ivory Coast. He did not want to reveal the fact that the Latin Picardiix had been lost, and he estimated that he could only slowly guide others to turn their attention to the World Tree.

At least in the short term, Lin An doesn't need to worry about being targeted by [Black City].

However, given time, whatever choice Jacob makes, the two organizations will eventually clash.

Lin An clicked his tongue and continued.

“The primary enemy has been dealt with, but we still need manpower in Ivory Coast. You have to help, Edward.”

After hearing about the mess left after the war, the reporter felt a chill run down his spine.

"I'm not good at this either! Sir, how did you do it before?"

"Someone will clean up my mess."

Lin An recalled the professionalism of the St. Anilov Foundation and felt a deep sense of nostalgia.

Looking at the bewildered Edward, he deliberately said...

"What, Edward Roberts, who claims to be willing to burn everything to serve me, can't quell public opinion, contain the enemy, resettle the people, organize intelligence, and recover the spoils of war all by himself?"

"Hallelujah, you couldn't keep up even if you broke me into pieces!" Edward was sweating profusely.

"Don't be nervous, just kidding." Lin An smiled. "You're in charge of writing the press release, I've booked a new helper."

Edward breathed a sigh of relief, nodded repeatedly, and couldn't help but ask again, "Ranger, is this your helper?"

“First, there’s the beautiful lady who hired us, the Dorgon Gilgud family of Boiska,” Lin An said. “Second, how could Lacono, with its long history, numerous chieftain clans, and thriving population, not have a family of mystics?” (End of Chapter)