Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 1178

Jenkins found that the conductor, who hadn't offered his name, was a veritable chatterbox, talking with an unstoppable flow. His enunciation was crystal clear, his thoughts perfectly organized, and once he began to speak, Jenkins found himself irresistibly drawn in.

"I so rarely get a chance to converse with people from outside the train."

This was the conductor's explanation, which was why he always showed such enthusiasm whenever an intruder appeared.

He answered nearly all of Jenkins's questions, but he couldn't reveal which historical moment the Dawn Express was taking its passengers to witness. According to the conductor, that was the passengers' private affair, and as a crew member, he was forbidden from disclosing it.

If Jenkins was truly curious, he was free to ask the passengers himself; the conductor was certain they wouldn't refuse a conversation with a rational "person from the past."

"I'd better not," Jenkins replied. "My time is running short."

He glanced at the constellations outside the window; dawn was fast approaching. Jenkins flipped the documents he had scrutinized over and over to the signature line and methodically wrote "Jenkins Williams" on each one. Reviewing the contents had taken considerable time, as he’d had to pore over every densely printed clause to ensure no demonic contracts or similar traps were hidden within.

Yet, even after confirming their safety, a new worry surfaced: "Jenkins Williams" wasn't his true name. Would it even be effective?

He then recalled his own declaration—a personal paradox. He had taken on the identity of Jenkins Williams, even if he wasn't the original soul. From that perspective, while not his true name, it ought to carry enough weight to be valid.

He retained all his memories, of course; every detail from his time on the spectral train was perfectly clear. Still, he had no intention of reporting it to the Church. It was, after all, a Series B Transcendent phenomenon related to Time itself, and a single misstep could invite enormous trouble.

The memory of the thirty-one-day time loop was still painfully fresh. He had no desire to meddle with time again. The slightest butterfly effect or a temporal paradox could spell disaster for everyone.

The appearance of the Dawn Express had been the only anomaly on this journey so far. But before the train reached Ruen, there was one more matter to attend to: the Month's End Whisper. It was Sunday, which also happened to be the final day of March.

The train was scheduled to arrive at three in the morning. Before then, Jenkins instructed his servants not to disturb him, then lay down on his bed to await the stroke of midnight.

This was not his first encounter with the Month's End Whisper, so when the familiar sensation of his soul rising began, he felt no alarm. Instead, he calmly released his spirit, opening himself to receive whatever he would see and hear.

March belonged to the Righteous God known as Mother Earth, while April was the domain of the Storm Lord. Every year on the first of April, coastal cities like Nolan would erupt in lively celebrations, much like the Sage's Reading Festival. This year, however, Jenkins would certainly miss it.

He faintly heard the sound of crashing waves, and then, through a swirl of white mist, he saw two indistinct figures standing together.

Observing the convergence of the Righteous Gods went smoothly this time. When he awoke, he had nothing more than a slight nosebleed to show for it; his body felt otherwise normal. It was a sign that not only his soul but also his physical form had grown much stronger in the past six months.

He climbed out of bed, pressing a hand to his forehead as he sat in silence for a moment. Only when the train's whistle blew from up ahead did he reach for his pocket watch. It was half past one. He still had time to sort through his gains before the train arrived in Ruen.

Perhaps due to his calm state of mind during the experience, he had acquired five complete rituals and abilities, in addition to a wealth of fragmented knowledge.

There were two rituals in total. The first was called the "Rite of Abundant Seas," an exceptionally rare, large-scale ceremony conducted on an annual basis.

Large-scale rituals were classified by various metrics, and the Rite of Abundant Seas met the standard in terms of both its immense scale and its year-long duration.

The ritual served a single purpose: to accelerate the reproductive rate of fish within a designated sea region for the coming year.

The ceremony had to encompass an entire sea region, and setting up the foundational array alone required at least thirty fishing vessels, each over a decade old. The subsequent sacrifices, prayers, periodic adjustments to the array, and the use of astrology to locate the region's heart were even more complex. The entire rite had to be maintained for a full year to influence the year that followed.

It was, by far, the most complex ritual Jenkins had ever learned.

This ritual was not a divine art granted to humanity by the Storm Lord. Rather, it was a method developed by ancient coastal peoples, born from accumulated wisdom and experience. They used special lures at opportune times to replenish the ocean's bounty. Over ages, this practical, empirical act was shrouded in legend and story, its mundane origins gaining a mystical quality that eventually culminated in the birth of the complete ritual.

If Jenkins ever decided to establish a fishing company, he could use this ritual to found a dynasty that could last for centuries. Perhaps one day there would be no "hallowed Williams family," but a "Williams Fishery Conglomerate" instead.

Rituals of this magnitude could permanently alter a region's climate or even its underlying principles. Such ceremonies were neither rare nor useless; in fact, many were actively in use. The most famous examples were the great sealing rituals that utilized the natural environment—imprisoning monsters in mountain caverns, subterranean voids, or deep-sea trenches. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novelFirｅ.net

Those were ceremonies that required even longer durations and more intricate processes, typically intertwining astrology and topography. They represented the greatest miracles humanity could achieve through ritual, a means of communing with the very fabric of the world.

The second ritual was "Soil Sense." This was one of the most fundamental divine arts for followers of Mother Earth, analogous to the "Tome Appraisal" used by believers of the Sage. Though basic, its applications were vast. Beyond sensing the fertility of the land, high-level Benefactors could even perceive the soil's history, communing with the earth in a process akin to channeling to learn of past events that had transpired in a given area.

Of course, tomb raiders and bodysnatchers were also fond of such a ritual, though few were audacious enough to use a divine art for such profane purposes.

The three abilities all came from the Storm Lord: "Call Lightning," "Relic Appraisal," and "Storm's Wrath."