World Occult Usage Guide

Lin An waited in the car for about ten minutes when a knocking sound came. Kan Tubi was knocking on the car window, and Fu Bin rolled down the window.

“We’ve found the way and can continue at any time. However, Mel is still chatting with those two oddballs who popped out of the ground, and they’re probably going to be talking for quite a while.”

"What do you mean?" Fu Bin was taken aback.

“I don’t understand either, those three are speaking English.” Kantubi rolled his eyes. “Maybe those two are the village’s food for tonight.”

Fu Bin and Lin An exchanged glances, only to be interrupted by Mel, who had caught up with them, panting heavily.

“Mr. Ranger, that’s not the case! The two people we met were from the United States. They came here a few years ago to do research and have been living here ever since.”

"The United States?" Lin An's interest was piqued. "What kind of research?"

“I don’t know.” Mel twirled a strand of hair between her fingers. “Because Kantubby ran off impatiently, otherwise, with my academic background in journalism from Smith University, I could definitely have found out.”

“I don’t understand what you’re babbling about,” Kantubi said, spreading his hands.

Lin An originally wanted to send Fu Bin to his legendary alumni military camp as soon as possible to prevent any unforeseen complications, but Mei's description aroused his curiosity.

It would be one thing if they didn't rent a place in a well-equipped city, but why did these two Americans go to a remote village without water, electricity, or internet to do their research, and stay there for several years?

After discussing it, the group decided to enter the village.

After the giant [Nigugunogamba] went out of control, the village was severely damaged, with fallen fruit, collapsed houses, and groaning wounded everywhere.

Fortunately, the giants' attention was quickly drawn to their off-road vehicles, preventing the damage and casualties from escalating further.

The villagers cleaned up the mess on the ground. When they saw Mel and Kantubi return, they nodded slightly to them and then hurried back to work. They had to gather as much food as possible before dark to avoid attracting wild animals at night.

It wasn't easy to spot this foreign couple in the crowd; they had tanned skin just like the locals and wore similar styles of clothing.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Mel greeted a man and a woman in the corner. "These are my other companions."

“Hello, I’m Jason Hopper.” The man smiled politely and stepped forward. “This is my wife, Cornelia Bannister Hopper. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Lin An sized up the two men. They were in their early fifties, but their hair and beards were already gray. Their cheeks were sunken due to their thinness and covered with deep wrinkles. Their eyes revealed a refined temperament that could not be concealed by the hardships and fatigue, which reminded him of his professor.

Just as Mel was about to translate, Lin An spoke up in fluent English.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you too. Although we are just a group of travelers passing through, you seem to need some help."

His wife waved her hand and said tactfully, "Thank you for your kind offer, but we are happy as long as we hear the familiar language of our hometown."

"Really? Even if we have a way to treat the wounded?"

The couple were stunned for a moment, and then they saw Mel squat down in front of an injured person who was lying on the ground.

She grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, rolled it into a ball, then pressed it into a flat disc with her palm and wrote a strange symbol on it with her fingernail.

Firefly-like twinkling lights spread out, emitting a glow invisible to the naked eye from the center of the symbol, slowly evaporating harmful substances in the soil.

It became clean and crisp, turning into fine powder that scattered in Mel's palm.

"Humble, humble!"

Upon seeing this, the person supporting the injured person couldn't help but shout out.

Lin An guessed that the so-called "Beiwa" and "Dawa" were somewhat similar, belonging to the same language family variants, referring to something related to magic, or in any case, the names used to refer to mystics around the world.

The villagers seemed to have encountered the mysterious figure before; besides the giant, it was likely that other mysterious figures had passed through this area in the past.
The free-spirited mystics lacked systematic guidance; they were all eccentric, strangely shaped, and aggressive, bringing only fear to the villagers. So much so that when Mel demonstrated even a little supernatural power, the previously quiet people suddenly scattered in terror.

The injured person was unable to move, frozen in place, staring wide-eyed, filled with fear.

"Don't be afraid, this will make you feel better."

Mel cupped the powder in her hands to her lips, blew gently, and the shavings swirled into the wounded man's mangled legs.

The bones returned to their original positions, the flesh began to wriggle, and the skin grew from bottom to top like ivy, until the part that should have been dissected healed completely within a minute, as if it had never been injured.

The injured man did not blink, staring blankly at his lower body as if petrified.

"It's not just your legs, I have a feeling that there's something wrong with other organs in your body too..."

"Alright, stop focusing on just his illness." Kantubi interrupted Mel's concentration. "Every living person has some ailments. There are broken arms, broken ribs, broken heads over there—cough, time is life, let's get moving."

Despite not being able to understand each other's language and not knowing what the other was saying, the two surprisingly cooperated perfectly.

Kantubi acted like a moving track for transporting suitcases, pushing the dawdling and stubborn Mel around in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, he rescued several wounded soldiers who were on the verge of death.

The Hoppers stared in disbelief. After a long while, Lin An coughed.

"Have you heard of the spellcaster, Peral?"

"No, is it the name of a spellcaster named Expel?"

"To be precise, Pellar is a variant of the name for a spellcaster, specifically referring to those rural magic practitioners in the folk magic and sorcery of the Lion Kingdom."

[Name]: Peral, Village Magician, Curse Exorcist

[Rating]: Ghost Story, Level D

Radiation level: 3.2%
[Pollution Level]: 2.2%
[Medium]: God of Agriculture

The green panel followed Mel's movements, and every time she saved someone, the radiation level increased by 0.5%, which made Lin An quite gratified.

In Lion Kingdom culture, witches are often considered an evil, poor, eccentric and reclusive group, but Peral unexpectedly has a better reputation and prestige.

People believed that her magical talent did not come from the devil, but from a fairy or a mermaid or other fantastical creature.

Legend has it that Peral is skilled at breaking spells, curses, and other negative incantations, and people visit her every spring with their children.

Peral put herbs, powders, ointments, medicines, and stones into a small bag and wore it around the child's neck as a talisman.

Sometimes, Peral would scatter ashes and soil from graves on children, cattle, or other livestock to protect them from witches, or give people parchment inscribed with mysterious constellation symbols. These symbols, copied from magical texts, were used to exorcise specific curses, and people had to keep the patterns a secret, otherwise Peral's spells would lose their effect.

"Bewa! Bewa! Bewa!"

The villagers watched Mel's actions nervously. The spellcasting techniques in this foreign land made them feel unfamiliar and fearful. Kantubi shouted loudly.

"No, it's a witch doctor! A herbalist! An evil eye amulet!"

"Oh!"

After the local translation was completed, the villagers finally accepted Mel's abilities.

After whispering to each other for a moment, the husband smiled at Lin An and politely changed the subject.

Where are you planning to spend the night?

"Leave immediately."

“It’s getting dark, and it’s too dangerous to travel now. Why don’t you stay in the village? I’ll treat you to dinner.”

As the sun sets, the faint stars and moon become the only remaining sources of light.

As darkness fell, just as the villagers were about to stop their work, a bright fire suddenly lit up on the other side.

The Hoppers lit a campfire and cooked a pot of thick corn porridge made with rice noodles. Next to it was a plate with stew to go with the porridge.

Some villagers were still collecting food, and the young children were attracted by the aroma. Together with Lin An and others sitting around the campfire, there were more than 20 people.

The couple prepared only enough for five or six adults, and they did not chase the children away, allowing the guests to take food from the pot and plates in order.

Despite being starving, Mel scooped out a small portion of porridge and side dishes that wouldn't humiliate anyone, and then passed the pot around.

Kantubi scooped up a large bowl of porridge without any hesitation, along with most of a plate of stew, causing the children in line to gasp in surprise; the usually polite Kofi, contrary to his usual behavior, took the remaining third and passed it on to Lin An and Fu Bin.

Fu Bin didn't want to compete with the child for food, so he didn't touch his spoon; Lin An, on the other hand, did take a few bites.

Since we're already here, we might as well give it a try.

The corn porridge tasted no different from a cup of sticky hot water. The stew was overcooked and unrecognizable; I could only barely make out that it contained starchy root vegetables and what looked like beans.

When the pot and stew were passed to the children, only a small half bowl remained. They scraped the bottom of the pot with wooden spoons, eating the last bit of food clean.

The Hoppers, who prepared the food, didn't get to eat a single bite.

“This isn’t good,” Mel frowned. “This might be all the children will have for dinner.”

"What are you nagging about now? Don't look at me like that. Why don't you glare at Kofi?" Kantubi clicked his tongue. "You're not eating enough. You're really making us suffer."

The young soldier was very good at learning languages, and he spoke fluent French, which Mel could roughly understand.

"Losing out? Good heavens, we're not robbers! Mr. Coffey, you be the judge—Mr. Coffey?"

Coffey had left sometime earlier, and when he returned, he was carrying two cans of pineapple in each hand.

“This is our food.” Mel was stunned.

"Do you think they'd give you a free meal?" Kantubi wiped his mouth, opened the can with a knife, took a slice of pineapple and put it in his mouth. "Mmm, delicious."

He passed the can around, encouraging everyone to try a bite.

The children happily reached into the pineapple cans with their hands.

The can was passed around again, and everyone took turns drinking a sip of the juice before happily dispersing.

Coffey took two brand-new cans out of the bag and handed them to the Hoppers, who accepted them without hesitation.

“At least living here, I don’t have to worry about getting fat,” the husband joked, but unfortunately, Coffey didn’t understand his humor.

After dinner, the couple led the group to their small hut, where a few straw mats laid on a wooden plank served as beds, and everyone had to squeeze together.

As the only woman, Mel lay down without a single complaint.

"Kantubi, I will never comment on your affairs again."

"What?"

"I'm going to pray now. Goodnight."

After his companions fell into a deep sleep, Lin An went out of the cabin. The Hoppers had set up a foothold in a tree outside, and he climbed up there as well.

Looking down from above, the scattered houses resemble small islands in a vast, desolate sea. The intricate paths connecting the earthen houses are like a giant nervous system diagram. The occasional flashes of green light are shallow lakes and wetlands, filled with water that sustains life.

"I heard you traveled all the way from the UK to Bantu to 'do research.' Are you working on social and cultural topics, or archaeological discoveries?"

As expected, the Hoppers were not asleep. Leaning against the tree trunk, they were observing Lin An, who had come uninvited, as if they had anticipated this.

“No, that’s interesting, but we’re both real scientists,” the husband replied, the shade of the tree casting a swaying shadow on his cheek. “I worked at the Fami Laboratory, and my wife has a tenured position at the Kalevya Polytechnic University.”

Wow, they really are two professors.

If I'm not lying, they're much more influential than my professor...

Lin An hesitated for a moment and said, "You accept witchcraft as quickly as the people of the Southern Continent."

"As long as you live on this land, no matter how educated you are, it's hard not to believe in witchcraft and spells. Even if someone says they're not superstitious, they'll still remember the taboos because they never want to be cursed."

The wife sighed and said in a strange tone.

"Ten years ago, long before the first monster appeared, we were already walking alongside the curse." (End of Chapter)