World Occult Usage Guide

[Name]: The Encyclopedia of Mystery
[Rating]: Source Grade A

Radiation level: 17.6%
[Pollution Level]: 21.8%
[Medium]: The seeker of knowledge

[Inventory]: Seeker of Knowledge x8, God of Truth x3, Dreamer x4, Prophet x4, Chief Judge x2, Mother of Desire x2, Emperor of War x1, Lord of the Earth x10, God of Agriculture x8, Lord of Dreams x4, Goddess of the Lamp x4
Back in the hut, Lin An climbed into the hammock and started working on the data that was glowing green in front of him.

Aladdin's Lamp II: The Black Hen is the first high-rated "Seeker" entry he included, aside from The Complete Book of Magic.

The system showcased two abilities. The first was the "Gold-Seeking Hen," the famous classic magic of the little black hen. It consumes 2 "Seekers of Knowledge," 1 "God of Agriculture," and 1 "Prophet" to summon a hen, which can be commanded to embark on a journey to find people or items.

Each use allows the hen to search for only one item. Once found, it will revert to a normal hen. The energy can be canceled or used for other purposes.

"Other uses?" After hearing the system's explanation, Lin An pondered for a moment and said, "You mean, it can be linked with 'Red Dragon' or other spellbooks?"

"It means you can cook it and eat it."

Lin An was stunned: "Brother Tongzi, have you regained your memories?"

Didn't they say that this time only a blank system was introduced?
"Memory?" The system's tone was icy. "I'm just providing a solution."

"Well said, don't say it next time."

Lin An clicked his tongue and looked at another entry for "Black Hen".

【The Secret Treasury of the Ptolemaic Library】 consumes 2 "Seekers of Knowledge", 2 "Gods of Agriculture", and 1 "God of Truth". Designate a target and require nearby fairies, water spirits, dwarves, and Rudin to continuously harass or confuse him.

This belongs to the Theurgy school of occultism, which uses magic, witchcraft, or rituals to communicate with multiple gods. It is considered one of the three great spiritual arts of Hermes, along with alchemy and divination.

This item is not very aggressive; its main effect is to "confuse and dazzle," somewhat like Mishi's Fairy Ring.

Its effect was obviously slightly different from Zai's experience. He had previously treated these fairies as a formidable enemy, because just being entangled by these "ghosts" a few times left him covered in wounds, forcing him to heal himself through self-harm.

Lin An guessed that Kevin probably added the mystery of "Red Dragon" to the battle.

It seems that when I include the mysteries of the "seekers of knowledge," I won't include the entries they've compiled. Lin An thought to himself.

It sounds a bit convoluted, but to sum it up, it means "My subject's subject is not my subject."

"The Red Dragon" and "The Black Hen" are both ancient magical science books from the late Middle Ages. Their texts have subtle overlaps and are often confused, mistakenly thought to be the same book. In fact, their focuses are completely different.

In short, the records in "Red Dragon" are more directly impactful, while "Black Hen" focuses on functional knowledge such as tracing, amulet making, and magical artifact development.

The woman who kept the "big red dragon" was definitely not a kind person.

Thinking of this, Lin An had a sudden thought.

Kevin's transparent spirit appeared. After being mercilessly slapped and tortured by the Philosopher's Stone, his arrogance vanished, and he hung his head low, like a defeated rooster.

"Wake up, I have a few questions," Lin An said.

"Speak," Kevin raised his head. As a member of a prestigious family, he quickly understood the current situation and replied weakly, "After you finish asking your questions, remember to give me a quick answer."

“Brother Chicken, I know your mother is the Grimoire of Honorius Thebes.”

"I'm not called Chicken Bro."

“She keeps a ‘big red dragon,’ right? Besides that, there are five demons.”

This is the total number of shadows Lin An saw in Zai's illusion.

“More than five…” Kevin shook his head. “I don’t know the exact number. She has never shown me her true strength. What I can tell you is that my mother has summoned more than ten demons.”

"Secondly, how many high-rated Mystics does the [Red Poppy Merchant Guild] have?"

“More than you expect,” Kevin said with a hint of arrogance.

"There shouldn't be more than four people." Lin An recalled the phantom of the Angel Agra, glanced at Kevin who was frowning, and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Brother Chicken, you think 'high rating' refers to a mystic like you?"

"Is not it?"

"Wake up, buddy. In the past, being a legendary figure might have been considered a big deal, but now, with the era of universal awakening approaching, even a dog could become a six-star mystic just by looking at the 'relic'."

Kevin was struck dumb; these words clearly hit him harder than ten threats.

In Lin An's heart, he was not even considered a worthy opponent. If he were not the only son of Count Van Hofwegen and not from the Red Poppy Merchant Guild, the other party would not have given him a second glance.

"Most of the members of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild stay in Broser, while your mother is the only one in Mbanbuka?"

“Pretty much. Before ‘Commes’ arrived, my mother was the main person in charge of the Bantu Kingdom,” Kevin replied. “However, my uncle is about to land in the Southern Continent.”

"The master of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild?"

"Yes."

Why did he come?

“Forest ranger, I have no access to such high-level secrets.” Kevin smiled bitterly. “Even my mother only knows that he is outwardly leading a peacekeeping force to stop the war in the neighboring country of Lacono.”

Lacoão, where Fu Bin and his colleagues work, has recently been the site of a civil war, causing people to be displaced.

Although Lin An was unaware of the reasons for the civil war, he believed that the Southern Continent War was most likely the seed of unrest sown by the colonists.

The Red Poppy Merchant Guild President trying to stop the war? Nobody believes that.

"So in other words, the Chamber of Commerce only has one Mythical-level member in Bantu, your mother?" Lin An continued.

"Yes."

Are there any other legendary players like you?

“No, they’re all in Kinsasha, that’s our headquarters in Bantu,” Kevin answered honestly.

Lin An interrogated him for nearly half an hour and obtained some information that was partly true and partly false.

He didn't believe the man's honesty, so he used the Devil's Dice to verify the information again. However, this item could only determine "yes or no," so Kevin needed to provide specific information.

Leaving Kevin, who couldn't get anything out of him for the time being, aside, Lin An had other plans for him.

With only six days left until the Countess's arrival, he needed to replenish his nearly depleted mediums and his nearly exhausted "Nature Ritual" for any eventuality. However, Lin An didn't want to obtain mediums by killing and then adding entries, because the moment he snapped Kevin's neck, the measurements dropped by 4, and various data points changed.

Unlike constant radiation values, only truly living people can be the objects of "measurement," and if these people die, the values ​​they provide will also disappear.

This is not surprising, as the so-called divinity refers to the tangible entity formed by the convergence of individual faith.

When a person dies, the "light" goes out.

Lin An turned to another panel floating next to the Mysterious Encyclopedia. It belonged entirely to Lin An; it was his most intimate and trustworthy mystery, and his only hope of returning to Comors.

[Letter Name]: Ghost of Dietrich, Ranger, Ancestor of the Lion, Kalenga Mpongu

[Position]: Meme
[Integration Progress]: 0.8%
[Measured value]: 53.8
[Deviation value]: 62.1%
After struggling in the rainforest for more than two weeks, less than 1% has been integrated.

At first glance, it doesn't sound too bad, but the problem is that there are only about two years left before Comors' orbit completely overlaps with Titan's.

At this rate, Lin An can only fuse about 25% at most, not even qualifying as a "demigod".

He might be more than capable of dealing with others, but the problem is that Lin An's enemy is the woman on the entire planet who is the second closest to God, the successor of Eldria, Adria Hughes.

She was already a "demigod" six months ago; it's hard to imagine how terrifying she will be two years from now.

What is Lin Hainan's conservative family doing?
Aren't they in a hurry?

What happened to me being promised to be humanity's only hope for the next five thousand years?

Are you just leaving the children of hope to fend for themselves in the middle of nowhere in the rainforest?

In any case, Lin An knew he could not be content with the status quo and completely obey his father's admonition to stay in the rainforest and live out the next six months in a law-abiding manner.

The population here is too small, and no matter how hard we try, we can't efficiently increase the measurement values ​​out of thin air.

So, if recognizing my "letter name" is considered part of the measurement, why doesn't Lin Hainan take me into his conservative family...?

Lin An always felt that Lin Hainan's situation was strange ever since they met—now that he thought back on it carefully, he realized that the childhood he spent with Lin Hainan was not so peaceful either.

When Lin An was a child, his father lived with him in a relatively remote rented room.

I heard from the nanny and hourly worker that my father leaves home at seven o'clock every morning and returns home at six o'clock, which is the standard time for his day shift; however, after dinner, he leaves again once or twice a week and doesn't return until four or five o'clock in the morning.

I sleep at 5 AM and wake up at 7 AM, and even the King of Hell praises my good health?

What has my father been doing during this time?

Could it be that he was involved in the feuds of the "Comers" family a long time ago?
Another strange thing is that after Lin Hainan left without saying goodbye, Adria entrusted Lin An to his aunt to raise.

No matter how she recalls it, during the 13 years they spent together, Lin An felt that whether it was her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, or any other relatives, they were all ordinary "normal people" who had nothing to do with the "Commerx" world.

They were even staunch materialists, and often ridiculed Lin An's unrealistic ideas.

How did such an ordinary family raise Lin Hainan, a man with close ties to various ancient families and even Adria Hughes?
Bloodline, relics, genes, inheritance... none of the Lin family's characteristics fit the criteria for a high-level mysterious awakening.

Is it... a memory?

However, only two people possess the secret arts related to "memory": Adria and the Duke. It's impossible for them to expend so much effort on an ordinary young man from the Dragon Kingdom.

After thinking it over, Lin An suddenly remembered a past event that his aunt had mentioned.

“Xiao An, you don’t know, your dad has been as stubborn as a mule since he was a child. If someone hits him once, he has to hit that person three times; similarly, if someone gives him a dollar, he has to chase after that person to give him five dollars.”

"During the summer after he graduated from high school, he worked part-time, carrying bricks at someone else's construction site, and was paid by the hour. Later, I don't know what happened, but someone died at that construction site and the boss ran away. He insisted on pretending to be a big shot and giving a widow and her orphans compensation."

"Your dad was only eighteen years old then, where would he get the money? It infuriated your grandpa, who beat him with a broom until he screamed, telling him not to come back home if he didn't think things through. Wow, your dad's temper flared up all of a sudden, and in a fit of rage, he boarded a boat and went to sea!"

This "going into business" is not the same as that "going into business." According to my aunt, he went to work as an assistant for a developer who was involved in border trade.

"And so, your father disappeared for several years. When he came back—guess what?—he not only brought a foreign wife with him, but also a foreign university degree. When he returned to our family, he was all the rage."

“Our parents are always dissatisfied with your mother. Every time they ask her to do laundry, cook, or wipe the table, she gets a dirty look. But your dad comes running over to serve her tea and water. What a joke! Such a spineless man!”

"And then? Your parents ran away again! Seven or eight years later, your mother suddenly appeared, shoved you into my hands, and said that your father had gone to Nanzhou to develop his career and asked me to help take care of you. I think he couldn't stand that vixen of your mother, so he divorced her and found a new wife."

Even after all that he had been through, Lin An still felt itchy and irritated every time he recalled his aunt's incessant and merciless chatter. Fortunately, he found a clue in her nonsense.

My father boarded a ship and left China during his senior year of high school.

During his time in the business world, no one knew what happened. By the time he returned to Beijing, he had already married Adria Hughes.

The mystery that Lin Hainan is hiding is most likely hidden in his overseas experiences over the past few years.

The ocean has always been synonymous with the unknown and mysterious. Given that "Comers" has come true, the blank period in the father's life holds infinite possibilities.

However, it's more efficient to ask Lin Hainan directly than to let one person overthink it.

Lin An picked up the silver device he had obtained from Kevin, which was his tool for communicating with the Countess, and then took out the walkie-talkie that Lin Hainan had given him initially.

Apart from their condition, they are exactly the same.

According to Fu Bin, satellites around the world cannot be used normally due to the magnetic field interference he creates in outer space. So what is the principle behind this device's long-distance communication?

Moreover, Lin An felt that the technology of this silver device was very similar to that of X, the creation of the "Vitruvian Man" in the "Da Vinci Project" of [Xi Yong].

Could it be the "Agnia" technology that Rocky mentioned?
Lin An had received basic training at the St. Anilof Foundation and knew how to disassemble the power supply of the communication equipment. After a brief attempt, sure enough, the switches and buttons of the two devices were basically interchangeable.

They look like they were made from the same mold...

After transferring the power from Kevin's device to his own, Lin An pressed the call button.

“Calling Lin Hainan.”

"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep..."

The next moment, the silver device lit up, and Lin An heard a dial tone echoing. About a minute later, a "ding" sound came from the device indicating that the connection had been made.

"Hello, who are you?" a very familiar voice called out. (End of Chapter)