Secret Sect Long Table

In the deep blue waters, a pirate ship flew the flag of the Great White Shark.

Inside the captain's quarters.

Zhang Wei slowly regained consciousness. Before him sat two wooden boxes containing secret letters and a Bronze Parrot Statue.

"Ah—"

With a splitting headache, Zhang Wei found a new set of memories in his mind—memories of secret training and life as a maritime bandit.

"I am Zhang Wei, who was playing Cultist Simulator, and I am also Arthur, captain of the Great White Shark Pirate Ship."

After playing Cultist Simulator without any guides and achieving a clear, he had transmigrated into this world.

Arthur was a servant of the Stuart Family of the Tudor Dynasty.

Following secret training, he had gone to the coastal waters to become a pirate, serving the Stuart Family.

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

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

The two wooden boxes on the table contained secret letters from the Stuart Family and the Shadow Temple, respectively.

He accepted the identity of Arthur.

"The Stuart Family has a freighter returning to the Tudor Dynasty from the New Continent via the Grand Route."

"The family wants me to protect it in secret and attack other pirates in the vicinity to ensure the freighter arrives safely."

"The Shadow Temple's order is for me to raid the freighter and expose the Stuart Family's smuggling."

Arthur rubbed his temples, his brows furrowed tightly; these orders were perfectly contradictory.

The crux of the matter was that, according to his memories, the pirates of the Great White Shark Pirate Group already knew this news and were inciting him to pull off this job.

A pirate captain had to be able to bring profit to his crew, or no one would risk their lives for him.

Right now, he had to head to Blue Bay Island to report for duty.

The Deacon of the Shadow Temple and the lords of the Stuart Family would be waiting to hear his report.

At the same time, they would lay out the specific details for the next phase.

Suddenly.

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

This was one of his collectibles, obtained during a pirate raid, and it was also the cause of Arthur's death.

This item involved the realm of the occult.

It was a history known to all:

The Grand Route was opened, and people discovered the New Continent, but the vast ocean was shrouded in mist.

The Church of Light, the Orthodox Church, royal dynasties, and pirate merchants took turns appearing on the stage.

This unveiled the Age of Occult Discovery.

Arthur suddenly clutched his head as mists swirled before his eyes and whispers echoed in his ears.

With a thud, Arthur's head slammed onto the table.

The Bronze Parrot opened its mouth at that moment, emitting a sharp, piercing sound:

"Foolish human!"

The surroundings were pitch black, making it impossible to see anything, save for a dark green long table.

Arthur felt a vague sense of familiarity with the table before him.

Suddenly!

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

Four icons appeared on the Secret Sect Long Table:

[Research] [Explore]

[Rite] [Dream Entry]

Information regarding these four icons immediately surfaced in Arthur's mind.

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

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

[Rite]: Use special methods to communicate with Great Beings and offer oneself.

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

Arthur understood the function of these four icons.

He tentatively used Dream Entry.

Closing his eyes, Arthur experienced a dream in which he was trapped inside a cage.

Amidst the chaos, he broke free from his cage and burst into a dense forest.

Arthur sprinted through the thicket, relying entirely on his intuition to keep running.

After crossing the endless woods, he suddenly arrived at a clearing where a single, solitary tree stood.

Hanging upside down from the tree was a large moth.

The moth gradually grew larger, imprinting itself upon Arthur's mind and transforming into chaos and passion.

[Moth Principle]

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

Arthur opened his eyes, gazed at the Moth Principle, and felt a surge of passion welling up within him.

This is no ordinary Dream Entry, but a special dream where I have obtained the power of a principle.

Moth Principle:

Chaos, intuition, passion, nature and woodlands, longing and oblivion, etc.

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

He possessed the principle, yet had no target upon which to unleash it.

Arthur felt a sense of powerlessness, as if punching a loaf of bread, though the strength was undeniably real.

His gaze fell upon [Explore].

As his consciousness sank into [Explore], darkness emerged before his eyes, and within that darkness were several "large lightbulbs."

The "large lightbulbs" emitted lights of different colors, dominating certain regions like suns.

Arthur carefully examined the positions of the "large lightbulbs" and identified those regions as the core dioceses of the Orthodox Church.

As for the coastal region where he currently resided, and the deeper Mist Sea beyond, they were shrouded in darkness.

The range of the light represents the rule of the Orthodox gods.

Arthur's memories contained many stories of cultists and heretics being executed.

Do I count as a cultist now?

Arthur's authority within the Secret Sect Long Table was far, far greater than it had been in the game from his past life. It gave him the illusion of being a deity.

Perhaps... he was a deity.

His gaze groped through the darkness until he suddenly heard a moan, painful and filled with Despair.

He followed the sound with his gaze.

Not far ahead lay a region dimmed to the extreme, filled with intricate, tangled light.

My current position is the coast, the waters of the Tudor Dynasty, and the closest island to me is Blue Bay Island.

Blue Bay Island was a very famous smuggling island.

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

Legitimate merchant ships that paid taxes naturally headed to Rhine Island to register their cargo and pay duties under the watchful eyes of tax officials.

That was the location for Arthur's current debriefing.

In his "vision," a black skull appeared over a small figure.

It represented some form of misfortune or curse.

"You have encountered a target: Arina Stuart."

"Do you wish to pull the target into the Secret Sect Long Table?"

Arthur's expression became quite fascinating; this surname belonged to the very noble family that supported him.

Arina Stuart was famous in her own right, the daughter of Grand Duke Stuart.

She was the superior to whom he was meant to deliver his debriefing report.

"Pull."

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

Arina lay on a wool blanket, rolling on the ground and wailing, letting out heart-wrenching screams.

"Save me! Someone, please save me!"

The curse of the Black Devil was leaving extreme agony deep within her soul.

Arthur projected his consciousness, and the moment he pulled her in—

Arina, like a drowning person grabbing the only rope available, struggled with all her might.

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

Arthur crossed his hands, rested his elbows on the long table, and looked down at Arina... a soul the size of a thumb.