Act I: A Study of Ciphertext (4)

I believe that what they call "the bottom of the water" exists, that it is neither individual nor whole, but a vast existence that lurks beneath all things. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

This is a passage from William Coulter's record in the pile of strange symbols, which seems to tell the story of what he is seeking. Everyone knew that the spiritual realm was a dangerous world, but they obviously didn't know exactly how many terrible things existed there.

And after that, he went on to write - I had seen it "under the water" by chance, but I must repeat it as a dark and deep nightmare. The origin of the soul may be an imaginative term, but researchers must remember that it is a product of primordial chaos.

It may just be my whims, which can seem ridiculous and full of crappy rhetoric when put into words. I hope you'll forgive me for my haste as I'm reading this, since I've never been a writer of words.

I don't think I'll ever forget the wonderful world covered in gray mist, and I won't forget the strange existence that hovers in the gray wilderness. Their appearance is constantly changing, and when I try to get close to them, they turn into a harmless mist, humming and dissipating into nothingness.

It wasn't until I began to explore the world hidden beneath countless minds and spirits that I finally realized how unconventional my research was, and I became overwhelmed by the traps of that world and the threats of its inhabitants—and I chose to use their powers.

Frick Sierra Leone, if you've seen this, you've met those people, and I should have died at their hands. You don't need to worry, and you don't need to feel sorry for my death, because it's almost a predetermined thing that was meant to happen.

That's right, as you can imagine, I saw a slice of the future with the help of the last bit of strength, and if this was my destined destiny - or rather, the destiny of the "me" of this world, then I should still be able to leave some marks before I get there.

When Frick finished deciphering the part that was still intact, the strange symbols he had clumsily painted began to glow with some incredible force. In the pages that had completely dissipated, something was there that gathered on these symbols, causing them to begin to change shape.

However, instead of becoming any of the words Frick knew, they became more regular, looking exactly like the original shape on the page. But for some reason, they are clearly words that Flick has never been exposed to, and he is able to read the meaning of the symbols without any obstacles.

"So these are the spell marks left by William Coulter...... It turns out that the traps that guy set up before were all on you?"

Looking at the strange symbols on the blank paper, Aculi couldn't help but say, "He went too deep into that world, and therefore he was lucky enough to come into contact with the truth about himself—on this basis, he already knew that his death was an inevitable future, so he left these ciphers in the book...... In other words, he didn't just count you at the beginning, but even after the end. ”

She seemed to be quite troubled by the words, and subconsciously licked her lips with her tongue, and then pulled another one from the spare white paper.

She was anxious to know what those symbols were, and the symbols used by Wittarian Kurt did not seem to convey a specific meaning, but seemed to be carriers of ideas in their own right. She immediately began to transcribe the strange symbols, and though there were only a few of them, some of them could indeed be written down by her—and as for those that could not be transcribed, Frick would write them down.

And in the time between they copied those symbols on the white paper one by one, the white paper that had been affected by the magic left by William Kurt no longer had any traces of the magic working. The marvelous symbols were finally restored to their original form, and the sorcerer's last words were conveyed to Frick.

Just as Frick had originally conceived, the people who killed William Kurt had been his helpers and had helped him a lot in his research. In particular, the imitations of the red liquid medicine are actually made from a certain "universal medicine" provided by this organization as a raw material.

It may not be accurate to say that it is a "panacea", because most of the potions made by alchemy have a clear direction, and nothing is truly omnipotent except for the legendary red potion. The potion that was handed over to Dr. Coulter actually had the same effect as Frick's perception of "spices", a hallucinogen, but with a slight ability to suppress illness and pain.

Here's how he recorded his first use of potions: They told me that all they needed to do was use their potions and follow some of the rules to enter the spiritual world. But in the beginning, I didn't believe what those people said or that they could help me get in.

So they asked me to try out the powder they called "essentia" in their eerie stronghold. Dissolve them in a certain amount of alcohol and take them the same way they gave me, after which I relaxed and lay down in my chair...... Just as I told you to do it, and they duly lit some kind of wonderful incense in the corners of the room.

I didn't know how these potions would affect my body at first, and they did have the property of having effects that vary depending on the individual's constitution. Still, I tried to keep my mind calm and rest, waiting for the wonderful potion to take effect.

After about ten minutes of taking the potion, I noticed that my body was carrying some kind of heat, and my senses began to change indescribably.

You have reported to me the hallucinations you see, and they are indeed talents that only you have, because at that time I only saw some indescribable colors, at most my vision became brighter. After that, the outline of things appeared slightly distorted apparitions, which stretched endlessly in strange directions, leaving translucent light and shadow in my sight.

I know that it is completely different from the "world" you see, at best it is an extension of ordinary physical vision, and there will be no other perspective that is difficult to control. But when I saw the contents of the book through the cover of an unknown foreign volume, I felt an irrepressible excitement.

But this is only a prelude after all, and it is just a primer for me who wants to enter the depths of the spiritual world through the channel of the dream world and explore that wonderful realm. In that state of distraction, I could only barely see a small gray scenery swaying around me.

William Coulter made Theosophy his main subject at a young age, and it was his lifelong desire to enter the deep spiritual realm through the channels of dreams. But this is not an easy subject after all, there are many people who study it, but very few of them can achieve results, and those who are left are either stuck in some difficult subject or die because they have dabbled in dangerous fields.

When the group approached Dr. Coulter, he also happened to be stuck in a bottleneck, so he agreed to make a deal with them. They had mastered the method of entering the spirit world long ago, but for many reasons did not make a breakthrough in this area. It was with their help that William Kurt was able to continue his research in the spiritual realm despite his difficult situation.

In return for their assistance, William Coulter conducted numerous undisclosed experiments on spells at the direction of the group. These include issues such as the development of replicas of red potions and the exchange of different objects between the material and spiritual worlds using spiritualism.

Without Dr. Coulter's help, they wouldn't have been able to get a large number of people to travel back and forth between the two worlds, let alone make those wonderful spell tools. It may be argued that the technique that put Dr. Kurt to death was developed by himself.

He has a contract with them, but because of the constraints of that "contract", he can't reveal the specific content to others, not even on the carrier. And the reason why those guys chose to kill him was because he had broken the contract before that.

I know that you and your friends are not very interested in why I am working with this organization - and the record says after many things - you want to know the information of that organization, and where their tentacles have extended over the years.

I'm sorry, however, that I have no way to reveal them, and perhaps I can violate the specific provisions of the Covenant in some of my actions, but I have no way to convey information that is directly related to them. I have a special pact with them that is highly binding, and even though I have tried countless times to circumvent their influence, I have not been able to record the more central information on other mediums.

Recording so much information in ciphertext had reached William Coulter's limits, and after his death, the sorcerers had apparently systematically erased any remaining information about him. Whether it's the public's loss of interest in his affairs or the surprisingly forgetfulness of the sorcerers who study his manuscripts, it seems to have something to do with them.

But under such a massive intelligence purge there are bound to be fish or two that slip through the net, and if those people have been planning this event for a long time, they will certainly not let go of any element of instability - and it will not be long before they are ready to attack these fish.