World Occult User Guide

Leaving the messy alley, the three of them walked through the not-so-clean streets until a road that was about to be built appeared.

Although there were conspicuous orange roadblocks in many places, the crowd was already huge. There were illegally parked bicycles and tricycles everywhere. Men, women, young and old were crowded together, and the chattering gathered into a buzzing sound, like a formed black beehive.

The girl stood on tiptoe, looked at the endless crowd, and sighed.

"The Capitol is in front, it feels like half of Kinshasa is here..."

"What is she saying?" The boy asked the man.

"I don't understand complicated French, and French doesn't seem to be her mother tongue. Anyway, miss, do you speak Lingala?" The man asked with gestures.

"Sorry, what is that?... Anyway, I downloaded a local language translator before I came here." The girl took out a smartphone from her bag, clicked her finger, and repeated, "In front is the Capitol Building where the World Tree Recruitment Fair is held."

"This thing can talk." The boy exclaimed in surprise, "Although it's nonsense. But... can you lend it to me?"

"I can teach you, no, don't fight for it!"

Just as the two were about to start fighting for the phone, there was a short commotion in the crowd. The sharp boy immediately stopped and looked in the direction they were looking.

They were looking at the sky, or more precisely, a point near a scaffolded building.

It flew quickly from far to near, and a black shadow passed through the cloudless sky.

"Something is flying over here--" the boy's eyes widened, "A crow?"

"A big black bird, like a shadow at night, streaking across the sky, it always lands near the village after the bonfire goes out, capturing and killing the thief who has recently committed theft." The man touched his chin, "This is a folk story I heard about [Mwias]."

"Oh, that seems to be a person!" The girl, who didn't speak the language, still sighed, "Mysterious! He is the mysterious of the world tree!"

Many people present came from remote areas, let alone the mysterious, and had never seen a real plane in their lives. They all opened their mouths and stared blankly at the black shadow slowly landing.

The black shadow formed a graceful arc, and the cool breeze blew. The boy was surprised to find that it was slowly approaching his position.

Wait, legend, mysterious... black raptor that catches thieves?

During his wandering days in Kinshasa, he had heard a lot of rumors about the mysterious catching wind and shadows. He probably knew that they were a group of powerful humans with special abilities, who could kill a fully armed officer with bare hands, which was very scary.

Not only that, their ability types seem to be related to the legends circulating in the market.

The clues were connected, and the boy was so scared that his scalp numbed, and he quickly stuffed the smart phone back into the girl's bag.

"Give it back to you! I'm not a thief - don't kill me!"

As soon as the voice fell, the black shadow had descended to a position two floors above the ground, passing by the heads of the crowd, and people finally saw his appearance clearly.

The "human form" of the black shadow was a sturdy man with a height of two meters. There were giant raptor wings covered with black feathers on his back, which were about four meters wide. His eyes flashed with silver luster, flickering like flames.

There is no doubt that this mysterious person can easily tear an adult male into pieces!

Just when the boy thought he was going to die here, [Mwias] took out a loudspeaker from the thick and dense feathers, cleared his throat, and shouted loudly.

"Those who come to [World Tree] to apply for a job, please line up. The job fair will start soon. Please do not fight each other or try to do anything illegal. Please enter the building one by one in order. Those who cut in line will be disqualified."

Huh?

The boy removed his hand covering his eyes, and [Mwias] had already flown over his scalp, leaving only waves of heat blowing.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the security guards at World Tree are really unique." The man raised his cane, "It seems we have to find a place to line up."

"He, he is a security guard?" The girl was stunned for a while, stepped on her feet again, waved and shouted, "Security! Security! This way!"

"You want him to take me away? Don't, don't, haven't I returned all my things to you!" The boy wanted to run away immediately, but a hurricane came from behind unexpectedly and knocked him to the ground.

The man held the hat on his head and supported himself with a cane. He turned around and saw that [Mwias] had stopped on a signal light that had run out of power. The metal pole that was about to fall down made a "creaking" sound.

"Any questions?"

"It's like this, Mr. Security. I'm a first-time recruiter of the 'privileged channel', but my alarm clock got flooded and broke down this morning, so I missed the bus... Can you help me?"

The girl swiped the screen of her mobile phone and showed a QR code.

"Mel Ashley, I'm one of the special talents who entered the country from Ivory Coast. Mr. [Reporter] registered me on the waiting list."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

Mwias stretched out his bird claws, which should have been his feet, and scratched his head.

"But [Leo] did say there was such a thing as a privileged channel. Let's do this, Mel Ashley, I'll take you to the door of the Capitol. If you lie to me, I'll throw you back."

"Okay, thank you." The girl swallowed her saliva, "I'm not lying!" She glanced at the thoughtful man and the stunned boy, and said tentatively, "Mr. Security, I came with these two people."

"Are they also special talents? Aren't all the immigrants white-skinned?"

"But they are considered seed players! One is a young soldier, and the other is... a scholar."

"The World Tree lacks experienced soldiers and literate civilians." Mwias lowered half of his wings and spread out like a hard and powerful carpet, "Come on, I'll take you there."

"Will you take us to the Capitol yourself?" The girl looked around. The messy crowd had consciously lined up under the shock of this black raptor.

Mwias seemed to see what was on her mind and raised his lips full of features.

"I have colleagues who are maintaining order."

The next moment, a shrill scream came from not far away, attracting the attention of the crowd nearby. A man holding a knife covered his lips, and blood flowed from the wound.

He was dizzy and fell to the ground.

"Although queue-jumping is not allowed, please don't murder those who jump the queue. Thank you for your cooperation."

A deep female voice sounded, coming from a capable woman standing in the shadows. She had animal skins around her waist and barely wore a loose T-shirt.

"Cleft lip... reminds me of the story of [Babalu Iye], the god of plague."

The man stood on Mwias's back and extended his hand gentlemanly.

"A perfect king, a loving doctor, a crazy infectious disease patient - Miss Ashley, ring, ring, don't miss this 'bus'."

"Oh! Okay, you come too."

The remaining two people jumped on Mwias's back. With the weight of three people, the black bird of prey was also a little strenuous. It flew very low, like a dark cloud across the long queue.

"I have to catch more thieves these days." He muttered, "The more fragments, the more radiation value."

The man and the boy had never tried such a flight. They felt the hot wind whistling against their skin, their stomachs itched, and they were speechless for a while; the girl had taken many planes, but it was the first time without "windows".

She soon felt dizzy. In order to prevent vomiting, she turned from the fast-moving scenery to Mwias's shiny black feathers, which trembled like wheat in the wind.

After about a few minutes, the girl recovered, and Mwias also flapped his wings and landed near a beautiful boulevard.

There was also a long queue, and people were still looking forward to it, but they were all wearing decent clothes, at least the cut and color were more sophisticated, and they looked like they were bought, not from a trash can or charity.

"Glorious." The man commented briefly.

Mwias gestured to the girl to hand over to an employee with a green pin on his chest. The latter confirmed the QR code, listened to her introduction of the man and the boy, paused for a moment, and nodded.

"I have confirmed with my superiors, you can pass."

"This is the most formal military camp I have ever seen." The boy whispered.

"But he didn't look at our ID cards, resumes or documents, and directly believed what I said." The girl curled her lips and said, "I should have said you were a lieutenant and that gentleman was a high school teacher."

"Again, it's much more formal than all the military camps I've been in." The boy shrugged.

"Thank you for helping us, Miss Ashley." The man took off his hat and saluted.

"Thank you for helping me get my stolen wallet back." The girl smiled shyly and glanced at the curious boy next to her. "He... just out of kindness and responsibility under the law to protect minors."

At this time, the team began to move.

The three were pushed for a while and soon entered a circular square. The hard road under their feet turned into the elastic touch of fresh green grass.

After waiting for a while, the team was divided into six lanes and entered the building in front of them from different doors.

The three and the other thirty or forty people were taken to a large room, and the smell of paint from the decoration was overwhelming.

The room was very empty, with no partitions inside. The floor was covered with tattered canvas. When people stepped on the wet cement, they left all kinds of footprints.

There were no seats here, and the three leaned against the wall.

Originally, they wanted to chat for a while, but due to the heat emitted by each other and the weather hovering at 35 degrees near the equator, suffocation and dizziness caused by heat stroke followed one after another.

When the door opened, everyone cheered faintly.

If it weren't for the positive reputation of World Tree this month, they would have thought they were tricked into a concentration camp.

"Please follow me, those I called, you, you, and you." World Tree's employees stretched out their hands, as if they were groping in the air, or performing a pantomime, "The rest of you, please take this passage."

The three people he called were the man, the boy, and the girl. Their hearts immediately beat nervously, but the matter was done, and they had to bite the bullet and follow the employees.

Pushing open a few doors with wet paint, they were silent all the way, and the tension of the three people finally reached a critical point.

"Can I ask why you chose us?" The girl asked with courage.

"After the observation of the forest rangers, you are the mysterious ones who are about to awaken. The rest of the people have not yet shown signs of awakening, so a second detailed diversion was carried out." The employee explained, "Please come in, the [atrium] of the [World Tree] is in front."

The three people had no choice but to obey. After passing through an archway, the same smell of decoration came to their faces, mixed with a little burnt smell of burning electrical appliances.

The preliminary built hall came into their eyes. This is a huge circular space. The floor is divided into 12 areas by carpets of different colors.

The carpet extends forward, and at the end are huge columns rising from the ground. The visual trap of the sunken space makes them seem as tall as the sky and impossible to look directly at.

There is a person standing in front of the column, and the rest are empty. Strangely, his face is "shielded" by the flashing green mosaic. No matter how hard he tries, he can't see his real facial features.

This person is probably a high-level member of the World Tree!

The three people didn't dare to stare at him for too long, for fear of offending him, and continued to observe the surroundings.

It is temporarily empty here, and there are no furnishings.

But when they looked up, a shocking scene appeared.

The dome was like a black velvet tent embroidered with stars. On the display screen, a bright ball was hanging in the air, emitting soft light, like a blue-green cat's eye, with the background of dark space.

The girl found that there were many electronic eyes hidden near this romantic starry sky, coldly tracking the every move of everyone below.

She thought she would see a "king" sitting on a chair made of animal skin, looking down at his "subjects", but who would have thought that the interior of the world tree was far more advanced than she imagined.

These dreamy colors, curved columns, backstage lights, viewing screens, and soft carpets, all opened her eyes.

"Ding!"

A sound like an alarm clock in the morning sounded, and a comet passed through the static sky display screen, embroidering a bright golden line in the light blue-gray mist.

The next moment, glowing words appeared in front of everyone.

"Welcome to the second open recruitment meeting of [World Tree]. I am the developer of this system and the guide of this test - [Forest Ranger]."

A neutral electronic synthesized voice without any emotion sounded, and the echoes hit everywhere, so that the sound resounded in everyone's ears.

"Please complete the 100 questions that will appear in five minutes according to the answering guide; you can change the language in the upper right corner; if you encounter reading difficulties, please tell me, 'Enable dictation in xx language'." (End of this chapter)