World Occult Usage Guide

Lin An gave Zai a look signaling to stay put, then sat down next to Stingle Nach.

"Alright, 'comrade,' what did you bring me?"

"First is a set of old books that Mr. Lin repeatedly emphasized. There are 12 books in total, thick and heavy." The black-haired youth pointed to a large suitcase at the entrance of the restaurant. "I put it in there."

Lin An's eyes sharpened.

The complete twelve-volume "Complete Book of Magic"!
He hadn't seen the books in the series for a long time since Adria's ceremony was held in Dietrich.

The so-called "great-grandfather's" legacy, the necessities for activating the "system," and the main way he once obtained high-rated entries...

The last entry he included was for "Prophets," titled "The Complete Book of Magic V: Halfway to Divinity - Wanderers Ask Heaven and Earth."

If I remember correctly, the sixth volume of the Encyclopedia of Magic is related to King Solomon's seventy-two demons, the Hell Summoning Guide, and dark magic.

Suppressing the urge to open his suitcase, Lin An nodded slightly.

“Stinle Nach – that’s too hard to pronounce, can I call you Comrade Little Le?”

“No problem, Mr. Lin.” Stingle Nach readily agreed. “Come, try my cooking: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised pork liver, and cold seaweed salad. Mr. Lin told me that in China, countless friendships are deepened over meals.”

"So, you're not from China?" Lin An broke open a pair of disposable bamboo chopsticks. Since his senior's help, he hadn't eaten his hometown food in a long time.

I picked up a slice of pork liver and put it in my mouth. The familiar salty and savory flavor, along with the slightly bitter and burnt taste, filled my mouth.

Lin An was taken aback.

This dish was by no means delicious, but it tasted just like the cuisine he had eaten since childhood. Whether it was his father or his aunt, they always cooked as if they were rushing to the battlefield, and the final product was either undercooked or covered with a layer of burnt black charcoal.

I never expected that Stingle could recreate the Lin family's ancestral flavor.

“I’m an orphan. A missionary abandoned me in a church, and a kind couple adopted me; one of them was from China.” Stingle Nach noticed Lin An’s slightly changed expression. “Mr. Lin, is the food not to your liking?”

"No, please continue."

“I was raised by this kind couple, and they taught me a lot… Anyway, later I joined the organization that Mr. Lin was in.” Stingle smiled. “Stingle Nach is my real Chinese name, just encrypted with a certain language.”

Lin An couldn't think of any language that could translate this strange name into Chinese, so he simply stopped worrying about it and continued to ask.

"Aside from that embarrassing message, Lin Hainan left no useful instructions. The orbits of 'Commerx' and Titan will completely overlap in a year and a half, and once Adria Hughes successfully holds the ceremony, the planetary chakra will be eternal."

“I understand your concerns, Mr. Kobayashi,” Stingler said, spreading his hands. “Just like Ms. Adria Hughes’s ceremony, we must act at the precise moment. Until then, please be patient.”

"At least tell me your plans."

“I will slowly guide you toward the truth of everything.” Stingle used chopsticks to peel the skin off the stir-fried tomatoes, then carefully set them aside. “That time is very near.”

What month and what day?

Do you know the date Messiah was born?

“Good question. To this day, theologians, historians and humanists are still debating this issue—the only thing they agree on is that it is ‘definitely not on Christmas’.”

“Although the public can’t find exact information, the Duke of Hughes knows exactly when he created the Messiah.” Stingle pointed to himself, then to the west. “We and the Uncrowned Queen of the Black City both know this exact date.”

"There is September, calculated according to Gabriel's announcement of conception in the New Testament, and June, roughly calculated according to historical events."

"Mr. Kobayashi, you know how unreliable social sciences are."

"As a mystery enthusiast and an archaeology student, this is a difficult question for me to answer, Comrade Xiao Le."

“Ahem, no offense intended, I’m a staunch materialist.” Sting cleared his throat. “The exact date of Messiah’s birth is related to astronomical phenomena recorded by the ancients at that time.”

"'Star of Bethlehem'? The star seen by the three wise men in the Gospel of Matthew. It guided the wise men to the Messiah and misled Herod to search for him in Bethlehem, thus saving the Son of God from death."

Lin An added with great relish.

"It is said that the shape of this star as it streaks across the sky resembles a white flower from the Mediterranean, so it was named the 'Star of Bethlehem'. This flower later became a representative decoration for Christmas and is also the flower that represents St. Joseph."

“Its scientific name is *Aglaonema 'Umbrella Flower',” Sting glanced at Lin An’s expression and reluctantly changed his words, “Let’s call it *Bethlehem Star*.”

“Indeed, some people believe that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ was an unusual astronomical phenomenon recorded by people in ancient times,” Lin An said.

Stingler nodded: "First of all, the Star of Bethlehem is not a shooting star—a bright, burning space rock in a planet's atmosphere only flashes for a moment and then disappears. It's impossible for those three Eastern doctors to spend weeks tracking a 'shooting star'."

"Previous theories suggested that the Star of Bethlehem was the result of a supernova explosion. Arthur C. Clarke even wrote a science fiction short story about how future humans, while wandering in space, came across the star system containing the Star of Bethlehem, only to find it had already been destroyed."

Lin An recalled that romantic period of cosmic literature, which was full of human fantasies about gods and the unknown.

“‘God! There are billions of stars in the universe, why did you choose this one? You destroyed the entire world with fire, just to light up the morning in Bethlehem?’”

"Unfortunately, a supernova—the explosion of a star where we witness it—can increase in brightness dramatically over weeks or months. Therefore, if the Star of Bethlehem was a supernova explosion, it's impossible that only the Gospel of Matthew records this phenomenon."

Stinle Nach held up one finger. "Speaking of which, the first documented record of a supernova comes from the Chinese historical records. In the second year of the Zhongping era of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a star shone brightly in the sky for nearly eight months without stopping."

"185 AD," Lin An said definitively.

"By eliminating multiple hypotheses, the public is close to the truth." Stingler nodded. "That is, the Star of Bethlehem is a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. These two planets came very close together in 2 BC, looking like a bright lighthouse."

"So, June 17th?" Lin An raised an eyebrow.

“It will be about three more days later.” Sting grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. “June 20th is the day of our operation.”

After going through all that trouble to find out the date, Lin An frowned and asked, "What does this have to do with 'Comers'?"

"On June 20th of this year, the Star of Bethlehem will reappear. Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction, appearing together in the sky, shimmering with a bluish-white light in the low sky. This is also the time when the legacy left by the ancient civilization 'Mu' is 'charged' by distant celestial bodies."

Lin An's pupils suddenly contracted. He had been thinking about how to "recharge" the things he had discovered in the 12000-year-old ruins.

It turned out to be a celestial conjunction...

No wonder the Duke always chose certain times to split Anhus's spirit; it turns out that these days were when the "Bethlehem Star" phenomenon appeared in the universe and when the products of Agnia technology were most efficient!
But what is the underlying principle?

Suddenly, Lin An remembered the nursery rhyme that Mei Zuo had described.

A spaceship arrived from Andromeda. Nuwa and Pangu helped modern humans, and eventually they reached a deal with the aliens, abandoning the spaceship on the edge of a planet's orbit, where it became the moon...

Could it be that the conjunction of celestial bodies opened up some kind of cosmic travel chakra, causing Titan to resonate with the distant Andromeda constellation—said to be the star system inhabited by the Mu people?

Could radiation similar to Comer's radiation also cause changes in Titan's energy matrix?
The more Lin An knew, the more he felt that the world was hiding too many secrets.

Faced with the truth of the planet, personal grudges seem insignificant.

“Before that…” Stingler spoke slowly, interrupting Lin An’s thoughts, “I can’t reveal more for now. It’s not that I want to be a riddle-maker, and I don’t know their plans either.”

“Mr. Stingler Nach, what do you suggest I do now?” Lin An’s tone softened.

No matter how upset you were about this person lying about their name, as Stingle said, they are comrades on the same side.

"Mr. Lin told me to adapt to the situation based on the size of the tribe you established in the rainforest, and now..."

Sting looked around. Kinsasha's streets and alleys were still dilapidated and dirty, but thanks to the World Tree's reconstruction, they had already shown some signs of prosperity, with scaffolding, cement buckets, and large trucks scattered everywhere.

"You have already captured the capital of the Bantu people."

"Sigh, I'm just so bored," Lin An said nonchalantly. "I like quick and easy solutions."

“Then I have nothing to do. Mr. Lin originally asked me to assist you in conquering the Bantu Kingdom.” Stingle shrugged. “I will stay by your side until I receive new orders. If there is anything I can do, please feel free to ask.”

Lin An rolled his eyes: "Actually, there might actually be something I need your help with..."

Sting was taken aback, not expecting that the polite phrases he had learned from China would be useless in front of real Chinese people.

“But before that, let’s get to know each other better,” Lin An stood up. “Unless you’re willing to tell me about your mysterious prototype.”

Although the two are considered allies, most of the top-level mystics are unwilling to reveal too much about themselves to the other.

"I can give you a hint; this matter is somewhat related to me."

Sting took out a plastic mask and put it on his face.

The mask has pale, bluish-white skin, like cold metal, a single horn on its head, and two bright yellow eyes without pupils that faintly glow.

Countless prototypes of masked gods flashed through his mind, but the system still hadn't displayed any data. Lin An hesitated and said, "Are you wearing the mask of Kahn, the creator god of the Bushmen—the mantis god?"

"No, it's Ultraman Ace."

Stingle removed his mask, his expression a half-smile.

“I just grabbed it from the corner store to strengthen our relationship. Mr. Lin told me that you liked watching Ultraman and Digimon when you were little.”

Lin An's forehead veins bulged.

Damn it, this guy deliberately misled me with a poorly made, counterfeit plastic shell!
What Comrade Xiao Le!
He's clearly Brother Lezi!

Wait, this is misleading...

Stingler Nach is not a "prophet"—more frighteningly, he may be a "dream master" who wields the power of prophecy, like the bratty Rocky.

In any case, it's best to find some fun for Brother Lezi as soon as possible, and not let him wander around aimlessly.

“It’s time to leave,” Lin An said expressionlessly. “I still have a lot of things to do. You should register with [Leo] first. She will explain the usage process of the World Tree system to you.”

Sting put down his chopsticks and smiled, "I'll listen to you, Mr. Kobayashi." (End of Chapter)