World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 43 Welcome to Elysium
[Name]: Wendigo

[Rating]: Disaster Level D

Radiation level: 21.4%
[Pollution Level]: 37.2%
[Medium]: Lord of the Earth
The Wendigo is a monster from the Algonquin tribes that appears in winter and feeds on humans.

Legend has it that the Wendigo is a emaciated, ashen-skinned humanoid creature.
It has sunken, glowing eyes, sharp teeth and claws, and pointed ears or antlers like a deer, and smells of rotting flesh.

Wendigo is a natural hunter with exceptionally keen eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell. He is incredibly strong, moves like the wind, and can even walk on open water without sinking, making it easy for him to track down and subdue his victims.

The modern explanation is that Wendigo arose from the fear of food scarcity and snow-covered mountains during winter in the northern regions of Maple Leaf Country and Eagle Country.

In fact, Wendigo is a deity-like creature in native mythology, and its rating shouldn't be so low. Lin An felt that the mysterious prototype of that person was more like a product of modern "distorted" cognition.

The Wendigo picked up his top hat from the ground, dusted it off, and put it back on, covering his two conspicuous antlers.

His nails and teeth retracted, and he became almost indistinguishable from a normal person.

This reminded Lin An of Hector from the Foundation; both of them might also belong to the "transformation" category.

Wendigo's level of contamination wasn't high. Once he was out of combat mode, to ordinary people he was just a gloomy-faced, thin, tall man with an outdated style of dress.

He dragged the corpses on the ground, lined them up, and kicked them off the bridge one by one.

"Gudong!"

Ripples spread outwards from the black water, a string of bubbles and filthy blood rose from below, and a few heads bobbed up and down in the waves before being swept away by the river and disappearing.

After walking for another two minutes, the man reached the center of the international bridge, stopped by the railing, and looked around to make sure there were no spying or stalkers.

Finally, Wendigo clasped his hands together, lowered his head, and muttered something under his breath.

His voice was very soft, and Lin An had to concentrate on listening. His pronunciation was strange, like a string of disordered and jumbled English words. Lin An suddenly realized what was going on when the man finished talking to himself.

Brother, are you speaking Latin?

This dead language had no standard pronunciation, so Wendigo used his own eagle-like pronunciation, which Lin An didn't understand at all.

Whether he understood or not was irrelevant, because after Wendigo finished reciting the prayer, a strange energy surged, and the real world distorted, like a hallucination caused by overheating.

In that instant, Lin An seemed to see a series of glowing, rotating, downward staircases.

"Whoosh!"

Wendigo climbed over the railing and jumped straight off the International Bridge.

He didn't fall into the river like the corpses, but landed on a dilapidated fishing boat below. The constantly shifting view and the swaying of the boat made Lin An feel dizzy and disoriented again.

A dilapidated...fishing boat?
wrong!

This is where?

Suppressing his nausea, Lin An could hardly believe his eyes. The fishing boat had suddenly transformed into a magnificent, golden wonderland, where the light of dawn and the colors of dusk intertwined, covering the long-abandoned facilities.

Amidst radiant joy, an incredibly beautiful place appeared before us.

The ground is paved with gold and silver mosaic tiles, with musky mortar and pearls interspersed in the gaps between the tiles. A sapphire-like swimming pool flows gently, filled with warm steam, and three or four strangely shaped figures can be vaguely seen swimming in the pool.

Besides the hot spring in the center, the magnificent hall is surrounded by tall mosaic walls, with a thin layer of gold leaf wrapped between cubes of various colors and layers of transparent glass.

Endless light shone from the semi-circular dome, making it difficult for Lin An to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Everything was operating with ecstatic euphoria, the scenery shone like stars in all directions, and even Lin An himself was spinning, his senses bombarded by virtual sensations.

He strained to open his unfocused eyes, and from the corners of the hall's double images, the dilapidated walls of the fishing boat would occasionally appear. These illusions seemed to grow on the foundation of reality, yet they also seemed to have detached from reality, becoming some kind of special space.

Lin An couldn't help but think of a divine medium.

A dreamer?
Wendigo had already accepted this paradise as reality, and was not as distressed as Lin An. He greeted the people in the pool and walked towards the protruding terrace.

On the round platform stands an ivory-white piano, with fair fingers caressing the keys, producing beautiful notes. The shape of a tail grows from the pianist's reflection, and there are also a pair of fluffy, pointed ears.

Nevertheless, the female form lacks the characteristics of these animals; she is the complete opposite of the shadow.

She was dressed in modern long sleeves and trousers, with her hair tied in a neat high ponytail. Her shadow, however, showed her with wide sleeves, flowing clothes, and long hair cascading down like a waterfall, reaching her waist.

That figure...

A strange emotion flickered in Lin An's eyes.

Beside the pianist, a thick python was coiled up, resting. Its body was connected to a rooster-like head, and its flat lobes trembled up and down with its breathing.

"state."

The pianist pressed down on the keys with both hands, producing a dissonant scale. The loud noise made Wendy Gortau stop in her tracks.

"Don't wake him, Wendigo. He's finally getting a normal night's sleep."

What does "the living world" mean?

"Sigh, he gets up during the day and sleeps at night, while the basilisk sleeps at five and gets up at seven every day. Even the King of Hell praises his good health." The pianist turned around, revealing a delicate face. "You loser, always late. Do you think everyone is an unemployed bum like you?"

Wendigo stuck out his long tongue, awkwardly licked the corner of his eye, and stammered an explanation.

"Sorry, fox spirit, I got a little carried away watching NBC talk show... Where's the witch?"

"She went to watch the New Year's Eve broadcast too." "Really?"

“Jenny Lopez said she has something important to announce and we can only begin once everyone is here.”

The pianist stood up, put one hand on his hip, and made a gesture that Lin An found extremely familiar.

Senior sister...

You truly are a mysterious figure among the "liberals".

The day after awakening the mystery, Lin An began to suspect his senior, but he never brought it up.

She always reminded Lin An not to linger in the city center, and was even a little overly sensitive. Now that I think about it, as a mystery person, she had heard about the "mystery activities" in Dietrich and was afraid that Lin An would run into danger.

According to the Foundation's records, the Witch and the Free Mystic faction is a group of "ruthless" people who commit murder, arson, and all sorts of evil deeds. However, personal experience tells Lin An that both Wendigo and his senior sister have their own set of independent principles of conduct.

The senior student tries her best to keep ordinary people away from the struggles of the mysterious, but she will not step in to stop the conspiracies planned by other mysterious individuals.

Although Wendigo is a man-eating monster, at least in these few tens of minutes, he did not indiscriminately kill innocent people, and he only took action because the other side fired the first shot.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the free-spirited mystic is a good person.

If the Foundation did not fabricate the facts, the witch's followers committed many crimes, including several cases of murdering entire families for blood sacrifice rituals.

The biggest difference between free-spirited mystics and foundations and families lies in their attitude towards mystery.

The St. Anilof Foundation views the "Commerx" radiation as a monstrous threat, the culprit that disrupts social order and undermines existing laws. They control the mysterious individuals, using the useful as employees, the useless as "patients," and the disobedient as prisoners.

As for the aristocratic families, it seems that they are centered around their clans and use their advanced knowledge to recruit mysterious individuals to work for them.

Only when "Comerth" and Titan overlap can the aristocratic families rise to prominence. It's not hard to guess that they fanatically worship the radiation of "Comerth" and try every means to take advantage of this decade to maximize their own interests.

The free spirits, on the other hand, appear "eccentric and unrestrained," seemingly embracing all possibilities of change.

At least that's the perspective Lin An saw.

The atmosphere in the illusion is relaxed, casual, and friendly. The mysterious figures are not in a superior-subordinate, colleague, or interest-based relationship, but rather like friends with common interests.

【The Witch of Bavomet】, what kind of existence are you exactly?
As if to fulfill Lin An's wish, a seductive, husky female voice rang out.

“You’ve come, Wendigo.”

"Witch-sama!"

[Shot Successful] The ten-minute countdown ended and returned to zero. Lin An blinked, and the empty coffee shop replaced that dizzying paradise.

Outside the window, the stars shone brightly, and fine snow drifted down. The international bridge was quiet, with only a few cars occasionally whizzing by.

That is the free mystic.

That is... a witch.

Even after escaping the illusion, Lin An remained immersed in that blissful land of flowing light, his heart unable to find peace for a long time.

It turns out that one of the witch's abilities is to create "alternate dimensions," and she set up her base on the border between the Eagle Nation and the Maple Leaf Nation. No wonder the Foundation could never find the whereabouts of the Free Mystic.

In the early morning, Lin An returned to his apartment. While eating breakfast, he sorted through his emails. His fingers unconsciously clicked on the new email page, and he fell into deep thought as he stared at the blank page.

Should we inform the Foundation about the information regarding the Free Mysteries?

After thinking it over, Lin An gave up the idea.

There is no need for this at present.

“You have remained neutral; your observation of the situation has attracted the medium ‘God of Truth’ x1.”

The system's voice echoed in his mind, and Lin An raised his eyebrows.

He originally intended to test the mystical arts of the Tu Ting Secret Manual on the mysterious person, but found the other party's behavior suspicious, so he went to the headquarters of the free mysterious person.

So the God of Truth is attracted to a "neutral, wait-and-see attitude"?
"Due to the radiation from the 'God of Truth,' your pollution level has increased by 1.5%."

Gan.

Fortunately, the level of contamination this time was less than that of the "Presiding Judge," and the "God of Truth" medium was more useful to Lin An.

"Ding dong."

A new email lit up, and Lin An clicked on the red dot. The St. Anilov Foundation's seal and electronic signature appeared.

Dear Lin,

The other two team members are expected to complete their first two rookie training sessions in three days. Please report to the Foundation within 48 hours; we will conduct the first shift next Monday.

I'm really looking forward to your performance.

Your captain,

Simon Lloyd.

Thank you to Qiu Laohushan and Zhenxiangyu for the monthly tickets, thank you to Bolu and Tieji for the donations, and thank you to all the readers for the recommendation tickets!
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(End of this chapter)