After speed-reading the documents on Anomalous Item-5612, Luo Shu was disappointed.
Stripped of its historical narrative, it was just a pile of old paper. The actual anomaly—Anomalous Item-5612-B, a two-billion-year-old entity—was buried 100 meters underground in Iraq's Rabban Hormizd Monastery.
Not worth trekking to the Middle East for a Safe-class curiosity.
He skimmed the other files, but they matched the digital records he'd already stolen.
Time to move on.
The Library of Secrets
The Thaumaturgy Library should've been Site-91's crown jewel—a treasure trove of occult knowledge.
Instead, Luo Shu stared at walls of cuneiform texts, feeling like he'd barked up the wrong tree.
Even the English passages might as well have been alien code.
A Silicon Valley polymath… reduced to a thaumaturgic illiterate.
Not a single beginner's guide in sight.
Fine. If I can't read the traps, I'll cheat.
The Guided Tour
Luo Shu returned to the slug god's chamber, where the same thaumaturge still guarded the stairs.
The man sensed something—his wards tingling—but saw nothing.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
Perfect.
Luo Shu activated Cult Leader's Charisma.
Thaumaturges, he'd learned, were uniquely susceptible to divine persuasion. Their craft originated from worship, after all. Even Priest-King John (Anomalous Item-3221-2), the source of Luo Shu's power, had begun as a thaumaturge.
Within minutes, the man was on his knees, babbling devotion:
"O true god I've sought! Guide me to illuminate the arcane!"
"Take me to the old god's corpse," Luo Shu ordered.
The thaumaturge obeyed, weaving through the chamber's sigil traps. With each gesture, a rune flared and dimmed, neutralizing its threat.
Luo Shu followed, clueless but safe.
The God's Wound
Up close, the "slug" revealed its fatal injury: a gaping vertical slash leaking sapphire blood that never coagulated.
Luo Shu recognized the cut's origin: Abel's spatial severance.
Records claimed Anomalous Item-4612-A had stifled human progress for millennia, linked to multiple collapsed civilizations. Its death in the 18th century (by Abel's blade) coincided with the Industrial Revolution's dawn.
Was this thing a god of stagnation?
And why did Abel kill it?
"What's most valuable here?" Luo Shu asked his thrall.
The thaumaturge pointed at the blue pool. "God's blood."
The Archive's Verdict
A vial of the ichor triggered the Anomaly Archive's recognition:
[Page 170]
Item #: Anomalous Item-4612-A
Name: Not All Gods Rot
Class: Undefined
Image: [Deity. Gaze not.]
Description: [Deity. Describe not.]
Containment Procedures: [Deity. Contain not.]
Abilities: Immortal Blood. A prehistorical deity, born during Earth's Great Oxidation Event (2.32 billion years ago). Its blood is a thaumaturgic catalyst, granting the unworthy a shred of divine craft.
Status: Contained
Interaction Log: [Click to Play]
[O]
First confirmed god in the Archive.
Yet even gods bled to Abel's edge.
Which raised the question:
How the hell did Cain kill him as a child?