"Those who practice Strange Arts can use all kinds of rituals and incantations of their own devising to draw upon the Power of Will gathered through faith, unleashing all manner of mysterious and powerful Strange Arts."
"As Strange Arts developed, mythologies around the world were constantly updated too. Now and then, a few newly emerging prodigies among Strange Arts practitioners would create new myths of their own and share in that feast of the Power of Will."
"That's the history of Strange Arts practitioners: a bunch of the most despicable, yet most wonderful, frauds."
Li Shuhong suddenly smiled. "But unfortunately, like martial artists, they were defeated by science."
"The foundation of Strange Arts lies in deception—in keeping the masses ignorant. Now that people are better informed, hardly anyone truly believes in the gods anymore. The Power of Will gathered around the world has also weakened considerably, causing the forces behind Strange Arts to dwindle."
"Their lives aren't much easier than ours."
Shuya listened, fascinated. He took several deep breaths before he could process all that information.
So all mysteries came from humanity itself.
Human power... surpassed every god!
That chuunibyou thought made Shuya feel incredibly excited for a moment.
But then he thought of something.
"Teacher, if what you say is true, and there have never been any gods in this world, only humans, then why do monsters and demons exist?"
Shuya wondered if the setting had some kind of bug.
"They don't. Monsters and demons were originally humans too, just humans with special abilities."
Li Shuhong smiled. "That has to do with the history of Strange Arts. Let's take Vampires, which I mentioned to you before, as an example."
"Vampires were originally just a group of Strange Arts practitioners who studied how to use blood as a weapon. After