In just one night, Luo Shu had logged five of Site-91's six anomalies.
His mission here was essentially complete—time to move on.
Though brief, his stay had revealed the core truth of thaumaturgy:
It was humanity's ancient weapon against anomalies.
Before firearms, before nukes, how else could fragile, mortal humans resist entities that wiped civilizations off the map?
Thaumaturgy.
A crystallization of desperation and ingenuity, born from mimicking the anomalies themselves.
Of the five abilities he'd acquired:
Immortal Blood (Anomalous Item-4612-A) – The outlier, a god's legacy.
Biological Puppetry (Item-5512) – A thaumaturgic knockoff of mental enslavement.
Thaumaturgic Teleportation (Item-3743-A-1) – A crude imitation of "God's" spatial tunnels.
Shapeshifting & Flesh Spores – Seen in dozens of anomalies.
Humanity's brilliance lay in theft.
But thaumaturgy had fallen behind.
The Decline of the Arcane
Two key reasons:
High Barrier to Entry
Mastering thaumaturgy required decades of study, rivaling PhD-level academia.
Meanwhile, any farmer could fire a gun.
Foundation Suppression
Most thaumaturgic sects were branded cults (e.g., Sarkics, Serpent's Hand).
Only collaborators like the Yorkshire Society survived.
Why dedicate your life to a dying art?
The God's Death Reexamined
Anomalous Item-4612-A's demise at Abel's hands was clearly "God's" doing.
On the surface, it helped humanity:
Removing the "god of stagnation" spurred technological leaps.
But "God" wasn't omniscient. Did he foresee the Industrial Revolution?
Or was this just another control measure?
"God" doesn't love this world. He just needs it intact**.
Luo Shu felt no urge to avenge the slug god. Hindering progress was a death-worthy sin.
But the thaumaturges' defiance moved him.
Humanity's rise wasn't luck. It was stubborn will, carved into history with blood and stolen power.
Such a species deserves a world free of anomalies**.
And he—the ultimate D-class—would deliver it.
Leaving Yorkshire
After dismissing his thaumaturge thrall, Luo Shu drove northeast toward Site-67 in Northumberland.
Newcastle was just 100 km away—a two-hour trip.
He arrived by dawn, then deployed Anomalous Item-XXXX (Lethal Perfume) from Site-167:
Deadly to Caucasians.
Harmless to Black individuals.
Targeting mixed-race and Asian office workers, he induced mass heatstrokes—impossible in air-conditioned corporate Britain.
The Foundation took the bait.
But the response team included a shocking face:
His thaumaturge thrall.
"Why are you here?" Luo Shu whispered. *"Isn't this Site-67's jurisdiction?"*
The man trembled with devotion. "O God, Newcastle falls under *Site-91**. Site-67 was decommissioned."*
"..."
A wasted trip.
He should've asked earlier.
According to the thrall:
Site-33 covered memetics + Southern England/Wales/Ireland.
Site-91 handled thaumaturgy + Northern England/Scotland.
Two sites for a postage-stamp nation. No wonder.
Next Stop: France
With England exhausted, Luo Shu weighed options:
Channel Tunnel (Dover → Calais).
Transform Pickup into Ground-Effect Vehicle (Newcastle → France in 1 hour).
Option 2 won. Tynemouth Beach offered the perfect launch point.
As his truck morphed into a wing-in-ground craft, "God" arrived in Birmingham—to inspect Site-33's meltdown.