Inside the library.
In front of Shawn lay a heavy black book, and within his view, countless script symbols were dancing across the sky. They moved like living creatures, swarming around him like schools of fish swimming through the deep sea, yet they turned remarkably obedient and docile near Hecate.
——Reading Magic!
The pages in front of Shawn were flipping rapidly; his hand hadn't even touched the black book but hovered above the pages. Page after page turned as if by an invisible wind, quickly skimming through almost a third of the contents.
"A remarkable talent!"
There was a hint of surprise in Hecate's gaze as she stared at Shawn, who was focused intently, and whispered, "No wonder Okein sent you to me."
"Do not stop."
"Keep going to your limit."
Shawn's expression showed a hint of pain; unlike the geography book given by the Butcher, the black book presented by Hecate was very obscure and profound. More importantly, it contained living mystical knowledge that was like sharks among schools of fish, occasionally gnawing at other knowledge, providing Shawn with a sense of mental sting.
"Learning to make mystical knowledge submit is the first step in becoming a Caster!"
"Be careful."
"They can bite!"
After transforming into the youthful and vibrant appearance of a young girl, even Hecate's tone became much lighter, her fingertips brushing past Confusion, she whispered, "A Caster's talent is closely linked to inspiration."
"It's both a gift and a curse."
"Your inspiration is far beyond the norm."
"This means you can easily see knowledge, see all supernatural existence, but it also makes you more susceptible to being tainted by them and even targeted to become their host."
"Everything in this world is tainted."
"Including knowledge."
"Knowledge is fascinating and dangerous at the same time."
"Before humanity claims back the destiny of knowledge, you must be very careful with any mystical knowledge because it belongs to an ancient entity whose name cannot be mentioned."
Humanity failed!
Humanity lost the destiny of knowledge.
Shawn's expression was shrouded in a touch of agony, his eyes unknowingly reflecting a streak of furious madness. The book Hecate gave him was a very ancient history book, still bearing traces of history that Shawn could not comprehend, belonging to humanity's crimson traces in this world.
——Volume One of the Dark Era!
Shawn's Reading Magic allowed him to rapidly memorize the content he read, as if engraved in his mind, making him remember it at a glance. Although he could not fully understand the content, especially those parts containing mystical knowledge, he could revisit his memory anytime and understand the content through review.
His brain became a storage unit, and Reading Magic was the interface connecting knowledge. Now Hecate wanted to know what his limits were.
But Shawn had to be cautious because some mystical knowledge was like viruses that could invade his brain at any moment.
A series of failures.
Humanity failed repeatedly; as other races successively succumbed and perished, humanity still held onto the last stronghold, struggling bitterly.
Humans refused to become the Clan of the Old Ones.
"In the year 3001 of the Third Epoch, the sun extinguished and the Dark Era began.
Humanity lost the destiny of knowledge; blind ignorance clouded everyone's minds, people no longer loved learning, and the transmission of knowledge became exceptionally difficult and dangerous. Deep within people's hearts, madness kept growing; all mystical knowledge was given life, becoming entities beyond human understanding. The path to acquiring knowledge was riddled with thorns, and the slightest carelessness led to pollution into an indescribable monster.
Illusions reflecting reality.
The primordial 'indescribable illusion' was conceived through knowledge, ushering humankind into a nearly hundred-year-long era of folly. Each birth of an ancient 'indescribable illusion' led humanity to lose pieces of knowledge held by them.
Humans were forgetting knowledge.
All the knowledge they once possessed in the past.
This desperation continued until an unnamed Great Sage arrived, bringing knowledge from the Otherworld, extending humanity's legacy."
.........
"In the year 3033 of the Third Epoch, humanity was defeated once again, the destiny of Life was seized, and from that year onward, the infant mortality rate among humanity soared to insane levels. Large numbers of newborns appeared with congenital physical anomalies, and soon the reproductive methods of humans and other organisms were also tainted.
Over more than thirty years, half of humanity's newborns came into the world via ovoviviparity and oviparity, and the survival rate for these newborns was less than one in ten.
Living creatures shrouded in gray mist began to go extinct in large numbers, while new species were spawned by corrupted life mothers.
The era of Evil Objects began."
.........
In the year 3055 of the Third Epoch, indescribable unknown existences crossing spatial dimensions eroded Death.
Humanity faced defeat once more, legendary destinies fell one after another.
The boundary between the living and the dead began to blur, those who were meant to die became polluted wanderers of the world, decomposing little by little, losing their humanity bit by bit, yet remaining unaware of it, as if forgetting Death and being forgotten by Death.
Knowledge, Life, Death, Nature, Sky, Earth...
The entire world has fallen.
Everything humanity once possessed has been taken away, the essence of the world is twisting, their destined era has become history, and the world has been reshaped into a mad realm suitable for those 'outsiders.'
The Bizarre Realm was born!"
Thus began a Dark Era lasting an entire epoch.
In Shawn's mind, it was as if countless screams reverberated, the Dark Era recorded in books, just touching those living words, already made Shawn feel pain and madness.
In the luxurious hall.
Unbeknownst to when, the ancient murals on the walls suddenly 'came to life,' a murmur of whispers arose, a gray mist like a curtain being drawn aside, in that profound black abyss, an exceedingly sharp blade emerged, it pierced through illusion reflecting reality, amidst increasingly insane whispers, climbing out bit by bit.
"Maintain focus."
"Focus is the first essential for a Caster!"
Lady Hecate was undoubtedly an excellent teacher, she slowly turned around, her eyes slightly narrowed, with a strange faint glimmer in them.
——Blade Dancer [Unnameable Vision].
With a crisp landing sound, two sharp blades fell, the bloodstained mottled blades breaking and replacing the feet right at the knees, with rusty tight pants, like a gentleman's shirt and jacket, a withered flower pinned at the collar.
It slowly stood up, approaching two meters in height, its arms broken at the wrists, embedded with two slender swords.
This creature's body twisted bit by bit, raising the tip of the blade like a dancer with flexibility, presenting a swastika-like dance pose, then it bowed slightly forward as if signaling to the audience, severing the blood-drenched blade at the wrist elegantly across its chest.
"Continue."
"You now only have one chance to read this book." Lady Hecate elegantly turned, her black floor-length dress like a blooming black rose.
She calmly stepped onto the stairs, facing the Blade Dancer with a face wrapped in bandages, softly speaking: "Blade Dancer."
"Unnameable Vision."
"Originally completed by a down-and-out artist named Otoli, who committed suicide after completing this work. In tumultuous times, many mad artists improved this work, elevating it to an Ascender."
"Also making it a reality."
"If you encounter it elsewhere, you'd best run as far as possible."
Lady Hecate slightly raised her hand, in that gradually mottled gray-white, like faded ink in the corridor, the figure of the Blade Dancer suddenly disappeared, ink-like colors began spreading to everything around, as if reality was splashed with ink, all colors twisting and changing.
Reality turned into illusion!
Walls, corridors, bookshelves, chandeliers, and everything that existed in reality, gradually transformed into items within the painting, the entire hall turning into an old and worn oil painting full of twisted and bizarre lines.
This was the strongest unnameable vision Shawn encountered, besides the great detective, Morty Laine!
——"True Words: Death!"
Lady Hecate's lips parted slightly, her palm clenched as if grasping something, yet no sound was made.
Before Shawn even noticed, a cold blade was already pressed against his forehead, less than a centimeter from his skin, the Blade Dancer's figure spanning several tens of meters, disappearing from the nearly six-meter-high corridor and instantly appearing before Shawn.
Focus was broken.
Shawn felt the danger of death, and then the next second, the figure of the Blade Dancer began to twist, its entire body collapsing inward, the sharp blades becoming rusty and mottled, twisted limbs like a splashed oil painting, filthy hues spreading over its slender body, finally, it started disintegrating in place, turning into a puddle of indistinguishable colored paint spilled on the white floor.
"Looks like you need to learn how to focus on Casting." Lady Hecate's expression showed a little disappointment.
When Shawn came back to his senses, the black book on the table had disappeared.
"Today's lesson ends here."
"You should go back." Lady Hecate's voice gradually grew low, like a middle-aged person's voice, her graceful silhouette disappearing into the corridor.
Shawn just stood up.
An image of a Banshee Attendant walked out from the bookshelf beside him, her pale face gazing at Shawn before her, with an undeniable tone said: "The lady needs rest."
"Please follow me."
Shawn looked at the mottled filthy oil paint on the ground, slowly taking a deep breath, then followed the attendant's steps to leave.
He now needed to calm down.
His brain was filled with too much knowledge he couldn't comprehend at the moment, rendering his thoughts unclear.
"Bizarre Realm."
Before stepping into the labyrinth-like corridor, Shawn took one last look at the filthy oil paint.
From this moment on, he knew he must abandon previous understanding and reinvent his perception of this mad world.
.........