Chapter 319: Summoning Target

If he were still in Cordu Village, facing this kind of thing, Lu Mian would very likely pick up that invitation letter, find a time at the end of the month, go to the "Different" cabaret with a playful attitude, stage a big prank, and return all the fright he had just received.

But now, having a certain understanding of the mystical world and having experienced quite a few abnormalities, he flicked his finger, letting a spark of crimson fire fly out and land on the hard paper with a black background.

In the rapidly expanding firelight, Lu Mian carried the calcium carbide lamp, left the quarry hollow directly, and walked toward the nearest exit of underground Trier.

On the way, he suspected this and that, feeling that the moss on the rock wall, the insects in the darkness, and the invisible things in the air had all become Monit's eyes, watching him without moving.

This couldn't even be called a hallucination, yet it made Lu Mian's spirit remain highly tense, and his heart beat violently.

The only thing that made him feel comforted was that Termiboros didn't speak and didn't show anxiety or worry. The problem didn't seem to be very serious.

A quarter of an hour later, Lu Mian climbed to the ground along the stairs made of steel.

When the clear sunshine penetrated the blue sky and white clouds and shone on his face, he had a feeling of finally being alive.

Phew, no wonder Ms. Magician said to try to live in the sunshine of Trier... Lu Mian extinguished the calcium carbide lamp, identified his location, and returned to White Coat Street.

After entering the safe house, the first thing he did was summon Ms. Magician's messenger and tell the holder of that Great Arcana card about the subsequent developments.

Ms. Magician's reply was very simple:

"Well done, stay away from the 'Different' cabaret.

"Mr. Fool's 'Time Angel' will pay attention to this matter."

Mr. Fool's "Time Angel" will pay attention to the problem of the "Different" cabaret? There really is a "Time Angel"... The Angels believed in by those swindlers in the "Different" cabaret and Mr. Fool's "Time Angel" have some degree of connection, or hatred? Lu Mian pondered for a while and couldn't figure out the specific situation.

He put his mind at ease for the time being, fell to the bed, and used sleep to restore his mental and spiritual state.

By noon, Lu Mian ate two meat pies at random, drank a glass of apple sour wine, sat at the table, and earnestly flipped through that "Spirit World Creature Data Index."

While reading quite quickly, he held a black absorbent fountain pen and occasionally drew a circle on the paper, hooking out targets that felt relatively suitable.

After more than an hour, Lu Mian initially screened out fifty or sixty Spirit World creatures with relatively suitable abilities and not-so-dangerous degrees. According to the marked page numbers, he pulled out the original manuscripts and began detailed research.

He looked for a while, rested for a while, and by the evening, he had finally read through the corresponding original manuscripts and mastered the knowledge carried on them, having made a final choice:

The first type was "Abscessed Severed Hand." This Spirit World creature had left legends in the Central-South region—it was summoned by some mysticism enthusiasts and strangled everyone present to death.

According to the scene records, the dead were distributed in different places in the forest. Except for those who died first in the hunter's cabin, the rest of the death times were almost exactly the same, which showed that after the "Abscessed Severed Hand" strangled one person, it immediately appeared in front of another target and pinched his neck, then flashed to another victim, even if the two sides were separated by hundreds of meters.

From the scene presented by dream divination, it was a blue-black severed hand that had rotted to the point of swelling and pus. It always suddenly appeared in front of the victim, pinched his neck within two or three seconds, and then flashed to another victim.

It was precisely based on this characteristic shown by the "Swollen Severed Hand" that Lu Mian believed it had a relatively strong "Spirit World traversal" ability.

And its danger level, according to Ms. Magician's description, could only be considered ordinary and would be bound by the power brought by the summoning ritual itself.

However, that holder of the Great Arcana card also specifically marked a sentence:

"It is suspected to be a component of some creature."

There is a severed hand, could there be severed legs, head, torso, internal organs? What would happen if they met each other? If they were recombined, what would they become? Lu Mian recalled the process of flipping through the index before and didn't find similar creatures. After all, he mainly browsed abilities, characteristics, and danger levels and didn't pay attention to the corresponding names.

Of course, there was another possibility, which was that the remaining parts of the "Swollen Severed Hand" belonged to the "powerful" and "dangerous" categories and weren't read by Franca, Jenna, and their "Knowledge Rabbit."

If the "Swollen Severed Hand" didn't have the "Spirit World traversal" ability Lu Mian expected or required a price he couldn't bear to sign a contract, he had several other backups.

And for disguise ability, the Spirit World creature he took a fancy to was "Headless Bride":

Its legend was in the Kingdom of Hagati in the Southern Continent, and its original form was a girl who eloped with her lover.

When she and her lover were holding a private wedding, they were found by her parents and family. She was killed on the spot by her brother in the name of blaspheming the sacred marriage and clan rules, and her head was cut off.

This girl might have been special herself, or she might have come into contact with Spirit World-related things on the way to elope. Thus, catalyzed by the pain, unwillingness, hatred, and resentment before death, she absorbed the power from the Spirit World and became a creature similar to an evil spirit.

Wearing red-bottomed gold-patterned bride's clothing, it crazily hunted and cursed its own clan, making them encounter various disasters in the next thirty years until the bloodline was cut off.

The current "Headless Bride" is active in the Spirit World, will transform into different appearances, lure creatures around and "travelers" passing by to approach, and kill them.

For a "Pyromaniac," this is a target that can be dealt with under the protection of a ritual.

The backup for "Headless Bride" is "Human-Faced Mantis":

"This is a unique Spirit World creature. Before death, he was a playboy with good demeanor and appearance.

"He was a teacher in the Saine area of the East Hornacis Province of the Republic of Intis, loved and pursued by ladies and misses.

"He had literary talent, was very good at writing poetry, and had a large number of lovers.

"Such a life continued until the spouse of a lady reported to the church that he was a wizard and used witchcraft to control his wife.

"The investigator sent by the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' church questioned a large number of local men, and the answers obtained were all similar to the content in the report letter, and most of these men didn't know each other and had never been in contact.

"On the contrary, those ladies and misses believed that they were voluntary and tried their best to defend that playboy.

"Amidst the dissatisfaction of local men, the trial ended quickly, and that playboy was sent to the stake.

"In the subsequent review, the official confirmed that the playboy wasn't a wizard, and all the accusations originated from collective jealousy and hatred.

"It is said that there was the shadow of an 'Instigator' in this matter.

"After that playboy died, he turned into a mantis with a human face in the Spirit World. He hated everything and was good at changing and hunting..."

These two pieces of data made Lu Mian quite emotional.

Having lived in the countryside for almost six years, he could indeed feel that the villagers were very ignorant in some aspects.

And this also let him know that Spirit World creatures didn't all come from nature. Under special circumstances, dead humans could also transform into long-existing Spirit World creatures, which might be the reason why some places were haunted.

After repeated consideration, Lu Mian gave up "invisibility" and "hiding" type abilities and left the last contract quota for characteristics that could directly affect the spirit body.

His two backups were "Thousand-Eyed Evil Thing" and "Screaming Shadow."

Both of these creatures were "natives" of the Spirit World, only occasionally appearing in some terrifying dreams and the notes of true wizards.

"Thousand-Eyed Evil Thing" was pieced together from pieces of flesh and blood dripping with pink liquid, and each piece grew an eye without eyelashes.

After being reflected by the black pupils in those thousands of white eyeballs, no matter whether the target was a human, a beast, or a creature that only had a spirit body left, they would quickly fall asleep and enter a deep slumber.

"Thousand-Eyed Evil Thing" also had a certain connection with dreams. In those terrifying dreams recorded, their figures were occasionally seen at the deepest and most frightening levels.

"Screaming Shadow" was a large mass of transparent shadows blended together. They frequently made screams, causing creatures approaching them to fall into a coma.

Besides screaming, they also had all the characteristics of ordinary shadows.

Lu Mian copied the data of these backup targets onto new paper, folded them, and tucked them into his pocket.

He stayed at the Breeze Ballroom for a while, didn't leave Market Avenue until around 10 PM, detoured to Rist Wharf, and entered the two-story building he had burned down.

The fire here had long been extinguished, the house was pitch black, and there was no one.

Considering that this time he was asking Mr. Fool to witness the contract, not the existence named after fate, he didn't intend to go underground to summon, to avoid running into those weird and dangerous swindlers from the "Different" cabaret again.

He only needed to choose a place nearby where there was no one and it was relatively hidden. In that way, even if the ritual had some accidents and the summoned creature lost control, it wouldn't affect the surroundings, allowing him to solve it calmly.

In a room that was still relatively intact deep inside this pitch-black building, Lu Mian simply cleaned up the environment and set up an altar.

According to the knowledge brought by "Contractee," he didn't summon in the "name of self" but lit two extra candles symbolizing gods.

Mr. Fool would be the object of prayer and witness of this ritual.

After creating a "Wall of Spirituality," lighting the candles, and dripping essential oil and pure dew, Lu Mian didn't rush to chant the incantation, but took out an iron-gray military flask from the inside pocket of his brown jacket.

The inside of the flask's mouth was inlaid with a thin string added by Lu Mian, and its other end was connected to the "Decent" brooch submerged in absinthe.

Such a design could ensure that Lu Mian could quickly and accurately take out that sealed item without pouring out the wine to search or using two fingers to grope inside.

Lu Mian hooked his index finger, and the golden flower brooch was pulled up with a brush.

Crimson sparks flew out, breaking the knot of the string at the end of the sealed item.

Lu Mian didn't hesitate and pinned the "Decent" brooch, which was glowing with golden light, to his chest.

He felt that paying the price and signing a contract with a Spirit World creature was equivalent to a kind of "bribery," and "Decent" might play a certain role in this scene.

After pinning the brooch, Lu Mian looked at the three candle flames burning quietly, took a deep breath, and prepared to hold the ritual.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 320 =====