Red Moon Warlock-Medium

To be honest, Xu Le was a little disappointed.

Meow!

A cat's cry interrupted Xu Le's thoughts, and he looked toward the sound.

Good grief. Because it was hiding in the shadows, all Xu Le could see were two glowing green eyes.

But the familiar look in those eyes and the meow prompted him to ask tentatively:

"Black cat?"

The black cat emerged from the shadows and slowly walked toward Xu Le, then suddenly leaped onto his shoulder and meowed again.

Meow!

"It's dangerous right now. What are you doing here?"

Just then, the manual in Xu Le's hand began to grow slightly warm.

Although there was no visible change in the manual, he could clearly feel the heat.

"What?" Xu Le looked at the black cat, wanting to ask whether it was trying to warn him of something.

But the black cat merely licked its paw on his shoulder, showing no intention of paying him any attention.

"Right. I actually expected a cat to give me answers. I must be crazy."

Xu Le shook his head in self-mockery, then his expression turned serious.

He looked at the manual again, concentrating. As that familiar scorching heat emerged, the manual changed along with it.

New content appeared on the manual's true final page-the sheet that formed its cover.

[Red Moon Warlock-Medium LV1 Advancement-Ritual Method. Specific requirements are as follows.]

LV1: Medium.

Advancement requirements:

1. Consume a Guyinduo product. The purer and more potent its energy, the higher the success rate.

2. Make three correct judgments during the Guyinduo Dark Tide.

3. Within ten minutes of the third judgment, consume 169 grams of oddity ashes. Chew them dry, without drinking water.

4. Use your own blood to call upon the Red Moon or Guyinduo and summon a spirit entity.

5. Successfully make it say, "Hello, esteemed Medium."

You may then advance.

Reading this, Xu Le clenched his fists tightly.

Perhaps this was the real answer!

Although, in a sense, the requirements for becoming a Medium were even more outrageous than those for becoming a Flame Secret Sorcerer.

The advantage was that, apart from the first requirement, none of them involved anything lethal.

Zhang Zhe had already said that these ashes had been refined by a Warlock to remove the Guyinduo pollution.

So eating 169 grams of oddity ashes would not kill him, either.

As long as he completed the steps, he could become a Warlock.

The Guyinduo Dark Tide happened to be taking place right now, and there happened to be oddity ashes here, too.

But all these coincidences felt a little too good to be true.

So much so that Xu Le could not help wondering whether any of this was really a coincidence.

Or was it a trap someone had arranged long ago?

Xu Le could not help thinking of that Medium, Gan!

"Did that guy arrange everything? What's he after?"

Xu Le did not know whether Gan was behind all this. If he really was, what was the point?

Had he seen my ability? Did things like body possession exist in this world, too?

Xu Le could not figure it out. Besides, he remembered Gan saying that he was also a Medium.

In other words, a level 1 Red Moon Warlock.

Wouldn't that put us at the same level once I became a level 1 Warlock?

Meow!

The black cat suddenly meowed, then looked up at the sky.

Xu Le followed its gaze and looked up as well.

[The Red Moon Calamity has descended.]

As the notification announcing the Red Moon Calamity appeared, Xu Le heard a piercing scream.

He looked up at the sky in surprise. That scream seemed to have come from above.

"Is the Red Moon screaming? Or is it something else?"

Xu Le did not know what it was, but he felt certain it was no ordinary thing.

He instinctively looked around, but the people nearby seemed completely unaware of the sound, as though he alone could hear it.

"Is it coming?"

"Don't be nervous. The Black Tide really isn't that scary."

Despite his words, Zhang Zhe tightened his grip on his weapon.

"Is that so?" Xu Le remained noncommittal.

Ordinarily, the Black Tide really was not much of a threat. It could not even breach the outer city walls.

Humanity's steam-powered equipment, firearms, and cannons were enough to drive it back.

Under those circumstances, Warlocks did not even need to intervene.

But there was no need to explain how things stood tonight.

Before the Red Moon had even risen, before the Black Tide had descended, several isolated Oddities had already appeared at the university and in the library.

A teacher had even been killed by a level 3 Witch Cicada.

Normally, something like that would have been a major incident warranting the Night Watchers' involvement.

Now, however, everyone seemed to take the appearance of Oddities for granted.

Even after people had died, no one raised any objections.

Some students had, of course, asked the teachers why Oddities were appearing at the university.

But the teachers either said they did not know or offered only silence.

All these circumstances pointed to one thing: tonight would definitely be different from the Black Tides of the past.

"Of course. The Black Tide is actually very easy to get through. Besides, I'll stand in front of you."

Xu Le kept feeling that Zhang Zhe was tempting fate, but he nodded along anyway.

"Let's hope so."

Soon, cannon fire and gunshots rang out from the darkness in the distance.

The Guard on Lighthouse's outskirts had probably begun fighting the Oddities of the Black Tide.

The relentless cannon fire made the night feel especially long.

Time ticked by, and Zhang Zhe glanced at his wrist from time to time.

That gesture alone told Xu Le how nervous this retired Night Watcher was.

There was still one question he could not understand-the same old question.

Why was Zhang Zhe the only teacher here? What exactly were the university and Lighthouse hiding?

Had something happened in Lighthouse that required large numbers of troops to be reassigned? Enough to strip even Lighthouse University of its defenses?

"Xu Le, are you sleepy?" Zhang Zhe suddenly asked.

After more than two hours of waiting, everyone was getting tired.

It was almost half past two in the morning, probably the time when people were most exhausted.

Indeed, both the university and the Lighthouse Council had reminded the public and students alike.

Before the Black Tide arrived, they had to get plenty of rest.

That had been true even during the relatively harmless Black Tides of the past.

But it was like being told in his previous life to study properly before an exam: when the exam actually came around, plenty of people would still have spent the lead-up doing whatever they pleased.

This world was no different.

Some people who had stayed awake this late were already struggling to keep their eyes open.

Naturally, Zhang Zhe had anticipated this. The role of Lighthouse's Night Watchers was to protect the public.

When people could not protect themselves, that was when the Night Watchers had to step in.

Even if he was only a retired Night Watcher.

"No."

Xu Le was quite calm, and he was not lying. His gaze remained fixed on the distance.

Through his constantly distorting vision, he could sense fierce fighting taking place near the city walls.

Cannon fire kept ringing out. It seemed the tide of Oddities had been held outside the walls.

He actually wanted to see what combat between this steam age's war machines and the Oddities looked like.

But this clearly was not the time.

"Young people really do have plenty of energy!"

Zhang Zhe was clearly making conversation for its own sake.

Still, Xu Le was a little bored, too. He looked at Zhang Zhe, but before he could speak, the cat on his shoulder interrupted him.

Meow!

Xu Le instinctively looked at the cat.

He happened to see the classroom behind it, and that single glance made his scalp prickle!

[Under the influence of the Children of Guyinduo, someone will mutate within 10 seconds.]

[Under the influence of the Children of Guyinduo, someone will mutate within 14 seconds.]

"Mr. Zhang, behind you!"

Zhang Zhe jolted, then spun around as though he, too, had sensed something.

The battle sword he had kept tightly gripped flew from his hand, spinning like a windmill at full speed.

Clang!

A mutating student with pitch-black eyes was pinned to the wall.

Black blood splattered across the floor.

Yet even with the battle sword pinning the student to the wall and shattering half their body, they continued to writhe.

Black flesh forced the wound open, spreading outward like layer upon layer of black oil.

"Everyone, get back!"

Zhang Zhe charged straight inside, rushing toward the student who had become a mass of black flesh.

"Wang Man, watch out!" Xu Le shouted at her.

Though Wang Man did not understand what was happening, she would absolutely listen to Xu Le.

Xu Le had already saved her twice. Here, at least, he was more worthy of her trust than Zhang Zhe.

She hurried toward Xu Le. As she ran, he hurled the iron sword that had been bent earlier.

Thud!

The iron sword merely struck the other mutant in the face, briefly hindering it without inflicting any meaningful damage.

Well, although Xu Le had bent the sword back into shape, its crooked blade simply could not deliver enough force.

And his own strength was worlds apart from Zhang Zhe's.

"Aah!"

Screams erupted after Xu Le threw the iron sword. With Oddities appearing right beside them, crowds scrambled to flee the classroom.

After Zion's Steam Revolution, industrial standards across Deep Blue had risen to a new level, though the benefits to the Lower City were not particularly apparent yet.

But in the Upper City, neither ordinary citizens nor students had suffered an Oddity attack for decades.

Usually, the Night Watchers simply gunned down the Black Tide. Ordinary students in the Upper City had little experience dealing with the Black Tide, psychic energy, or Oddities.

They could only follow their instincts, because in their eyes, the classroom was no longer safe.

But their actions made Zhang Zhe's face blanch.

Both he and Xu Le understood one thing.

The classroom was the safest place. Even with Oddities inside, it was still safer than being outside.

Zhang Zhe was actually very strong: an advanced swordsman, what people called a level 2 expert.

Under normal circumstances, he had more than enough strength and speed to kill the two level 1 Oddities inside the classroom.

Even if these Oddities rushed into the crowd, they were only strong enough to injure one or two students at most.

Most people would still be safe.

It was such a simple principle, yet only those who stayed understood it. Those who ran out had not thought it through at all.

And neither Zhang Zhe nor Xu Le had enough time to explain.

They did not understand how dangerous it would be outside, beyond Zhang Zhe's protection.

"Come back! It's dangerous outside!" Zhang Zhe shouted.

Some hesitated, and some stopped, but most continued charging straight out the door.

Xu Le did not stop them, nor would he.

When people were terrified, he could not expect them to make rational judgments. Nor could Xu Le save so many people. He, too, was helpless.

"This probably counts as an incorrect prediction."

Xu Le thought of the requirements for becoming a Medium. The second was to make three correct predictions.

"That seems to be hinting at something! What counts as a correct prediction? Did warning Zhang Zhe just now count? Did throwing that sword count? Did telling Wang Man to run count?"

While Xu Le pondered these questions, the people who had fled were already crossing the defensive fortifications and making their way through the ground spikes, one after another.

They all sustained at least a few cuts, leaving traces of blood.

That blood, along with their exposed flesh, might be the perfect trigger for this disaster.

And as he watched them, distorted notifications kept appearing.

[Fear is a delicacy to all Oddities and will draw them here.]

[Psychic energy exceeds the level 1 warning threshold.]