Xu Le, Medium, Guyinduo Tree

"Just a cat."

Xu Le was about to begin the summoning, but his fingers tightened, and he suddenly stopped.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he turned toward the black cat, bent down, and stroked its head.

"Everyone calls you a bad-luck cat, you know. But every time I run into you, my luck seems pretty good. How about this? If we get through tonight safely, I'll buy you a bag of dried fish. Deal?"

Meow!

The black cat rubbed affectionately against Xu Le, making him rather happy. Petting cats feels so good!

He returned to the rune. That little petting session had not been quite so innocent.

Just as he had said, every time he encountered the black cat, his luck seemed pretty good.

He wanted his luck to be a little better this time, too.

So his petting the cat could be understood as absorbing good fortune!

Improving his luck would let him advance smoothly and complete the ritual.

He would become a true Warlock.

Yes, he looked perfectly serious.

"One good deed a day, one disaster avoided a month. I've done plenty of good deeds today, so asking to avoid one disaster isn't too much, right? Even counting it by the person, saving one life is worth building a seven-story pagoda. I saved more than three hundred people. Let's round that down to a two-thousand-story pagoda. That should be enough, right? And the black cat. Oh, black cat, if you really represent good luck, please let me succeed!"

Xu Le muttered for quite a while, praying to everything he could think of.

Then he pressed his bloodstained palm onto the summoning array drawn in blood on the floor.

"Let's begin!"

Hum!

A faint wash of multicolored light swept over Xu Le's body. His distortion ability activated on its own, and everything around him began folding and shifting before his eyes.

Energy began gathering in the sky. In his dazed state, Xu Le seemed to glimpse a gigantic shadow overhead.

While he was still trying to identify the shadow, a voice spoke.

It sounded rather elegant as it rang beside his ear.

"Young Medium, why have you used this spell to summon me?"

"Huh?"

Xu Le had no idea who was speaking to him.

He had no teacher to guide him, nor did he know what might happen during this so-called spirit summoning.

All he could do was try his best to make this summoning succeed.

"I want to become a Medium, a Red Moon Warlock."

"Oh? Become a Red Moon Warlock?"

"Is there a problem?"

The moment Xu Le asked, he realized his tone sounded wrong and hastily added:

"I'm not questioning you. I just want to know whether I've made a mistake."

"Hehe, no. Everything lies along the path of fate. But the path of forbidden power is not an easy one. Are you ready?"

Along the path of fate? The path of forbidden power isn't easy?

Though puzzled by the meaning of those words, Xu Le nodded firmly.

This was his chance to truly step into the supernatural.

"Yes, I'm ready."

Having come this far, he had no other choices left.

The future was unknowable. He had no idea what the Guyinduo Dark Tide would be like three months from now, nor could he even begin to guess.

Advancing as a Calamity Sorcerer was far too dangerous. He did not want to gamble with his life.

All he could do was improve himself as much as possible during this time.

Seizing the present and obtaining every reasonably safe source of power available now was the right choice.

"State your name, the profession you wish to become, and your cornerstone."

"What's a cornerstone?" Xu Le asked in confusion.

"The cornerstone is the foundation of everything, and the object bound to a supernatural individual's very being. Something that truly exists."

An object bound to my very being, huh?

For a moment, Xu Le thought of many things he liked.

His phone, his computer, even the masturbator he had bought in his previous life, and his adorable Tifa figurine. All of those truly existed.

But those things belonged to his previous life. As for this life...

He was penniless, with almost nothing valuable or worth commemorating.

But if it just has to be something that truly exists... let's try it!

"Xu Le, Medium, Guyinduo Tree."

After Xu Le answered, the voice fell silent.

That silence lasted a long time. Xu Le dared neither move nor speak.

Only after a long while did the other party slowly reply:

"Very good! Young Medium, Mr. Xu Le."

As the words fell, light blossomed. Xu Le felt the Guyinduo Soul Tree inside him sway slightly, dropping seven fruits on its own.

Naturally, they were lust fruits, the kind he had the most of.

The multicolored energy before him immediately broke down those lust fruits, then surged into the sky before his eyes.

It disappeared into the distant shadow.

Through the chaotic light, Xu Le looked ahead as a beautiful angel gradually floated into view before him.

Inside and outside the classroom, everyone who could see the Red Moon, including Wang Shu and Gu Beichen, turned their eyes toward the crimson sky.

Powerful energy gathered overhead. Most of it came from the dead Oddities nearby.

Living Corpses, Five Heads, and several unidentified Oddities were broken down and drained.

They formed a stream of energy that converged in the sky.

A smaller portion of the energy connected to Xu Le's body as he performed the ritual.

The three formed a rather eerie zigzag.

As the thing in the sky gradually took shape, shock appeared in their eyes, but disbelief was stronger still.

Even Wang Man, who had been singing to her classmates all this time, rushed straight outside.

She ran up to Xu Le and shouted:

"Xu Le, what on earth are you doing?"

Still immersed in his own world, Xu Le finally came slowly to his senses. The multicolored light in his eyes gradually faded.

Red once again replaced everything that had come before.

The Red Moon, the sky, and his beautiful angel.

It had become...

White robes, white wings, White Cicada.

Looking at White Cicada in the sky, Xu Le still could not process what had happened.

Even though he had entertained the faintest suspicion, he could not explain this outcome himself.

"I summoned... White Cicada?"

Wang Shu, who had been covering for Xu Le all along, suddenly spoke:

"Xu Le, have you been bewitched by Guyinduo?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"Another fellow who's surrendered to the Oddities?"

Gu Beichen still spoke in that infuriatingly pretentious manner.

Neither Wang Shu nor Gu Beichen had taken his eyes off the sky, because White Cicada was still there.

Xu Le, who had remained calm and composed all this time, now felt somewhat at a loss.

He looked around. Most people were staring at him with disappointment and disgust.

Even Wang Man's expression held a trace of sorrow now.

"Sigh. So everything I did earlier counts for nothing now? These people don't even know what actually happened, but they're already judging things based on their feelings and personal preferences."

Xu Le looked up at White Cicada in the sky. White Cicada's eyes were still closed, its expression peaceful and sweet.

He did not know whether it had yet to awaken fully or was waiting for something.

[White Cicada, level 3 Oddity, Guyinduo, summoner-Xu Le.]

All right, his last shred of wishful thinking had been shattered.

Other things might deceive him, but his own ability had never been wrong so far.

He really had summoned this White Cicada himself...

"Stars damn it! I actually summoned a White Cicada. Will it listen to me?"

No one dared approach Xu Le to question him now, because in a sense, he had become an emissary of the Oddities.

If they angered him, would White Cicada kill everyone?

The more they thought about it, the more frightened they became.

Even Gu Beichen and Wang Shu's gazes held a trace of suspicion as they looked at Xu Le.

"Has he been bewitched by Guyinduo?" Gu Beichen asked.

"Do you think there's a chance that..."

"You mean he's a Medium?"

Amid their uncertainty, a tremendous noise suddenly came from the direction of the classrooms to their left.

Boom!

Flames and thick smoke were clearly visible even beneath the Red Moon's light.

"Have the other classrooms... been hit too? There are over four hundred students."

Gu Beichen's expression darkened. Dawn was close now, but if the other classrooms had been overrun, the remaining Oddities would come here.

With Heart Energy present, that was almost inevitable!

Gu Beichen turned his handsome face, pointed at Xu Le, and spoke to Wang Shu with a rather serious expression:

"Blockhead, keep an eye on this kid."

"All right!" Wang Shu was equally concise.

With that, wisps of flame rose from Gu Beichen's body as he headed toward the explosion.

Wang Shu took a bottle of liquid from his pocket and drank it straight down, then stood beside Xu Le.

He glanced at White Cicada in the sky and pondered for a few seconds.

Having interacted with Xu Le once before, Wang Shu knew Bai Jing's assessment of him.

Bai Jing had said Xu Le's personal history was strange. His past behavior did not match his behavior after staying overnight at all.

Xu Le himself posed a certain degree of risk. Someone like him was best kept under their control.

One thing was certain, however: they could now discard Xu Le's old records.

He already possessed the foundation for a transformation.

His abilities would be fully revealed during this Black Tide.

Wang Shu had not been quite sure what abilities Xu Le possessed, but after seeing him summon White Cicada, he had a rough idea.

Wang Shu had always felt that his own abilities were inadequate, so he was not a good judge of people.

But that was fine. The captain was an excellent judge of character.

"Xu Le, can I still trust you?"

For a moment, Xu Le did not know how to answer.

He really had summoned White Cicada, so was he truly still worthy of anyone else's trust?

Should I explain that I was trying to become a Medium?

"I was actually trying to become a Warlock..."

Wang Shu looked at Xu Le. Clearly, that was not the answer he wanted.

Xu Le shook his head. After pondering for a few seconds, he spoke again:

"Apart from me, you probably won't find anyone else you can rely on."

Wang Shu was rather surprised. He had expected Xu Le to say something like, "You can always trust me," not this.

"The captain was right. You really are different."