The Secret Sect Long Table

The pirate ship sailed across blue waters, its flag bearing a great white shark.

The captain's quarters.

Zhang Wei slowly came to. Before him sat two wooden boxes containing secret letters, along with a Bronze Parrot Statue.

"Ah—"

Zhang Wei's head throbbed as a new stretch of memories surfaced: memories of secret training and life as a pirate.

"I'm Zhang Wei, playing Cultist Simulator—and I'm also Arthur, captain of the Great White Shark Pirate Ship."

He had been playing Cultist Simulator without looking up any guides. After beating the game, he had crossed over into this world.

Arthur was a servant of the Stuart Family, one of the noble houses of the Tudor Dynasty.

After undergoing secret training, he had gone to the nearby seas to become a pirate, serving the Stuart Family.

At the same time, he was a "Believer of Light."

Under the Stuart Family's arrangements, he had infiltrated the Shadow Temple of the Church of Light to steal the Theocracy's intelligence.

The two wooden boxes on the table held secret letters, one from the Stuart Family and the other from the Shadow Temple.

He had accepted Arthur's identity.

"The Stuart Family has a cargo ship returning to the Tudor Dynasty from the New Continent by way of the Grand Route."

"The family ordered me to protect it in secret, attack any pirates we come across, and make sure the ship reaches its destination safely."

"The Shadow Temple's orders are to seize the cargo ship and expose the Stuart Family's smuggling."

Arthur rubbed his temples, his brows knitted tight. The orders contradicted each other perfectly.

The problem was that, according to his memories, the pirates of the Great White Shark Pirate Group already knew about the cargo ship and were urging him to pull off the job.

A pirate captain had to bring his crew profit. Otherwise, no one would risk their life for him.

Now, he had to go to Blue Bay Island to report in.

The Shadow Temple's Deacon and the Stuart Family's lord wanted to hear his report.

They would also lay out the specifics of the next stage.

Suddenly,

Arthur's gaze fell on the Bronze Parrot Statue on the table before him.

It was one of his possessions, taken during a pirate raid. It was also what had caused "Arthur's" death.

The object was connected to the supernatural.

The history everyone knew:

The Grand Route had been opened, and people had discovered the New Continent, but the boundless ocean was shrouded in mist;

the Church of Light and the Orthodox Church, royal families, pirates, and merchants had all taken the stage in turn;

and the Age of Occult Discovery had begun.

Arthur suddenly clutched his head. Clouds of mist appeared before his eyes, and whispers rose in his ears.

With a thud, Arthur's head struck the table.

The Bronze Parrot opened its beak and let out a shrill, grating cry:

"Foolish human!"

Everything around him was pitch-black, its features impossible to make out. Before him stood a dark green long table.

Arthur had the vague feeling that the table looked familiar.

Suddenly!

The concept of the long table surfaced in his mind: [Secret Sect Long Table].

Four icons appeared on the Secret Sect Long Table:

[Research] [Explore]

[Rite] [Dream Entry]

At once, Arthur understood what the four icons meant.

[Research]: Decipher mysterious writing and symbols, or study the Invisible Arts.

[Explore]: Explore cities and wilderness; you can draw acquaintances into the Secret Sect Long Table.

[Rite]: Use special means to commune with Great Beings and offer yourself.

[Dream Entry]: Enter special dreams and obtain states such as [Ease, Despair, Dread].

Arthur understood the purpose of all four icons.

He cautiously tried Dream Entry.

Closing his eyes, Arthur entered a dream. In it, he was trapped in a cage.

Amid the chaos, he broke free and plunged into a dense forest.

Arthur raced through the woods, relying on his instincts to keep running.

After crossing an endless stretch of forest, he suddenly came to a clearing, where a lone tree stood.

A giant moth hung upside down from one of its branches.

The moth grew larger and larger, imprinting itself on Arthur's mind until it became chaos and passion.

[Moth Principle]

A new icon appeared on the Secret Sect Long Table: a gray-white moth.

Arthur opened his eyes. Looking at the Moth Principle, he felt passion well up inside him.

"This wasn't an ordinary Dream Entry. It was a special dream, and I gained the power of a Principle."

The Moth Principle:

Chaos, instinct, passion, nature and woodlands, longing and forgetting, and more.

Within the Secret Sect Long Table's domain, he could wield the power of the [Moth Principle].

He possessed a Principle, but had no target on which to use it.

Arthur felt powerless, as if he'd thrown a punch at a loaf of bread. Yet the power was undeniably real.

His gaze fell on [Explore].

As his awareness entered [Explore], darkness filled his vision. In the gloom, several "giant light bulbs" shone.

The "giant light bulbs" glowed in different colors, like suns, each dominating its own area.

Arthur studied their positions and recognized those areas as the core territories of the Orthodox Churches.

But the nearby seas where he was, and the Mist Sea farther out, were pitch-black.

"The extent of the light represents the Orthodox Church's rule."

Arthur's memories held many stories of cultists and heretics being put to death.

"Does that make me a cultist now, too?"

Within the Secret Sect Long Table, Arthur held far greater authority than he had in the game in his previous life. It gave him the strange impression of being a god.

Perhaps... he really was one.

He probed the darkness with his gaze. Suddenly, he heard a moan, pained and despairing.

He looked toward the sound.

Not far ahead lay an area dim to the point of darkness, filled with crisscrossing rays of light.

"My current location is the nearby seas, in the waters of the Tudor Dynasty. The closest island is Blue Bay Island."

Blue Bay Island was well known as a smuggling hub.

Most pirates came there to resupply, and smuggling ships also docked there.

Legitimate merchants who paid their taxes would instead head to Rhine Island, where they registered their goods and paid their duties under the tax officials' watchful eyes.

That was where Arthur was supposed to report this time.

In his "vision," a little figure had a black skull hovering over it.

It represented some kind of misfortune, or a curse.

"You've encountered your target: Arina Stuart."

"Would you like to draw the target into the Secret Sect Long Table?"

Arthur's expression turned complicated. That surname belonged to the very family supporting him.

Arina Stuart was well known herself: she was the daughter of Grand Duke Stuart.

She was the superior to whom he was reporting this time.

"Draw her in."

[Explore] transformed into a water mirror, reflecting Arina's location.

Arina lay on a wool blanket, rolling around and wailing, her screams tearing at the heart.

"Help me! Can anyone save me?"

The Black Devil's curse had left unbearable pain deep in her heart.

The instant Arthur extended his awareness and drew her in,

Arina, like a drowning person, clung to the only lifeline and struggled with all her might.

It went smoothly. Arina's consciousness arrived at the Secret Sect Long Table.

Arthur crossed his hands, rested his elbows on the table, and looked down at Arina... a soul no bigger than his thumb.