World Occult Usage Guide

Mel Ashley stared in astonishment at the virtual avatar speaking on the screen, his mind blank.

This is a very basic, unpersonalized bald half-body portrait; it can only be barely recognized as human by the position of the facial features.

However, when it is composed entirely of green glowing lines twisted from code and magnified countless times, an indescribable sense of awe washes over you, like looking up at some kind of giant life form, making you feel an uncontrollable fear.

Moreover, the fact that the virtual character has no hair reminded Mel Ashley of the engineers in the science fiction film "Prometheus".

Compared to it, the World Tree's "Forest Ranger" looks more ethereal and elusive, and also seems younger.

As the virtual humanoid began to speak, the code that made up its face rose and fell and swayed left and right, dazzling the eyes. Fortunately, it showed a friendly and perfect smile as it spoke, which slightly eased the fear of the crowd.

"Congratulations to all applicants on completing these personality test questions."

The surround sound system emitted a melodious, synthesized electronic voice with varying intonation; the tone was neutral, making it impossible to distinguish whether the speaker was male or female.

The same sentence was played by a virtual humanoid character in more than a dozen languages.

"Wait, I haven't..."

A few voices, as if waking from a dream, came from the corner. Some people stammered out, but the virtual avatars on the screen did not answer. They could only close their lips tremblingly, not daring to say anything more.

The child soldier Kantubi K. Nehru's eyes darted around, and he immediately realized that the time taken to complete the test was also a hidden scoring criterion.

Those who didn't complete the test on time will probably be eliminated.

Clearly, they were not familiar with or capable of quickly getting started with the World Tree system, or they hesitated during the question-and-answer process, harboring some doubt about what their "personality" really was.

"Secondly, after evaluation by the technical staff, you have all passed the World Tree's initial screening. We hope to work alongside you in the near future," the synthesized voice continued. "Now, please activate the temporary employee accounts in front of you."

The green data shattered and reassembled before everyone's eyes; regardless of whether the previous test questions were completed, it all disintegrated in an instant.

Instead, there was a tiny seed, which seemed to contain some kind of life, twinkling within it.

Kofi Serge, a cautious Sapurian, observed both sides. Mel and Kantubi both stretched out their hands, seemingly groping for something in the air, their expressions shifting unpredictably—one moment surprised, the next puzzled, and then suddenly enlightened.

About half a minute later, he pressed his finger on a pattern resembling a two-headed snake and moved it to the seed.

A green shoot, brimming with tenacious vitality, peeks out, its roots elongating, and two plump leaves unfurling.

The plant images faded, replaced by two directories in the languages ​​he had previously chosen: "My Homepage" and "Repository".

Kofi Serge had a sudden thought and went directly to "My Homepage," where the data was reorganized and a brief message was displayed.

[Name]: Kofi Seysse Serge

[Department]: Temporary
[Privilege Level]: Ai Lu
This...this is me?

Despite his impeccable appearance, Coffey had never actually attended school. He scratched his head at the technical terms until the virtual figure on the ceiling spoke again after about three minutes.

"There are nine days left until the end of the recruitment fair. Please return home and wait for our contact. In the meantime, you can access the 'Database' to learn about the structure of the World Tree, the employee handbook, and information about the mysterious forces."

"Please check your homepage and read the notification updated at 2:0 the following day after the job fair ends on February 25, 2039."

"Thank you for choosing the World Tree. May your wellspring of knowledge be clear."

…………

The group was led out of the Capitol Building through another door by World Tree employees. Looking at the sun high in the sky and the familiar, rolling heat wave, many people couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The experience, which lasted less than an hour, truly overturned their understanding of what they had grown up with.

The silence lasted for less than a few minutes before the crowd naturally split into small groups, tentatively chatting, their words evasive, yet outwardly appearing cheerful.

"Those questions are so weird."

Kantubi grabbed two acquaintances who didn't want to get involved and were just about to slip away, and casually shared the information he had obtained.

"I think those are tests of our personality. For example, most of my answers were 'don't forgive,' 'kill,' and 'solve the problem!' What about you guys?"

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.” Mel Ash twirled his hair with his fingers. “Those questions probably don’t have exact answers. They’re there to label people differently, like psychological tests.”

"Shh, shh, shh, let's go first, let's go first."

Kofi, a Sapur native, stretched out his arms and pushed the two men toward a green belt in a square. Their footsteps followed closely behind, and they realized that their earlier words had attracted the attention of others.

However, after Kofi led them casually through a few streets, none of the people following them disappeared.

“Aside from rats, cockroaches, and centipedes, I should know this city better than anyone else.” He tipped his hat to the two women. “Miss Ashley, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you some… definitions of terms.”

“Of course! Please type your question into the translator.” Mel smiled and handed over the phone.

"You said nouns, right?" Kantubi scratched his head. "I can't read words, so I just scrolled through that snake randomly. I heard something about 'homepage,' my name, 'temporary,' 'permissions,' and 'blue and white'? Can you ask me what blue and white means?"

“A pale green that is almost pure white,” Mel replied. Coffey, acting as the translator, fell into deep thought.

Is the soil in Kan soil bluish-white?
Strange, my permissions list says "Ai Lv". Could it be that everyone gets different permissions?
Perhaps this is the purpose of test questions...

"Did you come back from the World Tree job fair?"

A voice suddenly interrupted the three people's conversation. They looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a young man standing there, dressed in thick clothes, wearing a military helmet, and with a leather belt around his waist.

warlord!

Kanto almost jumped three feet high, and was about to turn around and run away, but Kofi pressed down on his shoulder.

“He has a gun.” He pointed to the soldier’s waist. “Be careful, don’t turn your back to him.”

Mel had almost never experienced anything like this before. Her face turned pale, and she looked around frantically. The passersby had clearly seen what was happening, but they all stared blankly and remained unmoved.

"Did you come back from the World Tree job fair?" The soldier looked up and gave a warm smile. "Could you tell me the exact location?"

Kofi let out a breath, steadied himself, and said politely, "Yes, sir, we know where the World Association's recruitment event is. Please go straight down this road, then turn..."

He gave the soldier detailed directions, and the soldier nodded, maintaining an unusually bright expression.

"Thank you so much, I'll be right there—right there—right there—"

Suddenly, his voice seemed to freeze, unable to utter the last syllable. With each repetition, his pitch gradually rose over a few seconds until it became an extremely sharp, high-frequency noise that even the human ear could not detect.

"Gah, gah, gurgling—poof."

As the three stared in disbelief, the soldier exhaled a breath of green gas, and the rotten, damp smell immediately assaulted their nostrils. Mel coughed violently a few times and quickly covered his mouth with both hands.

"This is... a type of fungus?"

Her eyes widened as she realized that the green gas was filled with tiny, irregularly shaped plant spores, resembling seaweed or neurons.

"I'll take his gun!"

Kan Tu rushed forward with lightning speed, wanting to take advantage of the situation and kill him cleanly and decisively. However, the next moment, the young soldier's movements stopped in place, and his pupils suddenly shrank to their smallest size.

"Buzzing, buzzing..."

A swarm of maggots crawled out of the soldier's mouth, eyes, and ears, instantly covering his entire face. At the same time, umbrella-shaped mushrooms, some red and some blue, no more than a millimeter in size, sprouted from his pores, but in terrifying numbers.

"what!"

The noise in the street paused for a second, then was replaced by screams that rose and fell.

"Monster—Monster!"

Even for the Bantu people, who are used to seeing murders in the street, witnessing such a bizarre scene was truly beyond their tolerance.

"Everyone run away!"

Before Kofi could shout, Kantubi somersaulted backward, rolled once, and ran off in the opposite direction.

Only Mel was paralyzed with fear; her calves trembled so badly that she sat down on the ground, staring blankly at the dark insects and colorful mushrooms multiplying at an astonishing rate.

They spread down the limbs from the neck, densely covering the soldier.

"Kachi kachi, kachi kachi..."

The soft chewing sounds began, growing louder and more frequent.

The proliferating insects gnawed through the soldier's thick clothes; he may have long since lost his internal organs and flesh, becoming a paradise for insect eggs.

The monster, composed of countless flies and maggots, stood before Mel in the same posture the soldier had taken a few seconds earlier, but now she could only vaguely discern its former human form from its constantly writhing outline.

"Ugh, ahhhhh!!!"

She let out several distorted screams, her fingers gripping the mud on the ground as she tried to stand up, but failed due to convulsions.

Fortunately, the "soldier" did not attack her.

After devouring the nearby mushrooms, the insects formed a white egg. With a series of cracking sounds as they emerged from the cocoon, they flapped their newly grown transparent wings and flew into the sky in a massive swarm.

Nothing was left behind; even the soldiers' bones had been devoured.

"What's going on here?!"

After an unknown amount of time, a shadow fell upon the dazed Mel. She stiffly raised her head, and the black raptor Mvias blocked the scorching sunlight.

With the only source of heat gone, Mel slowly hugged his shoulders, shivering violently like a person about to freeze in the nearly forty-degree weather. (End of Chapter)