The bishop is unfathomable.

"A combat-type mechanical doll? I've heard of them before, but this is the first time I've seen one."

"I didn't expect that the Belgor Autonomous Territory had already started using it eight years ago."

Li Wei didn't think too much about it.

For example, are the things you see real, or are they just things made up by that wandering ghost?

This isn't very important; even if the Beldor region didn't have this thing eight years ago, it wouldn't affect his ability to broaden his horizons now.

Mechanical artifacts and alchemy are essentially equivalent to the technology tree of this world point.

Although the steam engine was invented in this world, it was quickly rendered obsolete.

Just like the Earth before the time travel, the essence of many technologies is, in the end, boiling water, using various methods to boil water.

The technology tree in this world is rather unique.

At least for now, although it has not been fully applied on a large scale, human mechanization, intelligent robots capable of autonomous combat, and even weapons of war have already emerged.

The former is a unique technology of the Church of Radiance, and many of its agents have undergone prosthetic modifications, albeit to varying degrees.

Some people may have had their limbs replaced with prosthetics simply because of accidental injuries.

Some actively modify themselves to gain greater combat power and some resistance to strange spells and ritual effects.

The latter is the Lerepon Empire's trump card. Its ever-evolving mechanical technology and alchemy have given the empire powerful weapons capable of determining the course of battle.

However, the cost of those things is still very high at present, making it impossible to fully deploy them.

"We've had enough of the excitement... it's time to check out the clues left by that unfortunate guy."

During the promotion ceremony, Li Wei's interface was still functioning normally.

So when he came across the Book of Edcon, he understood what it contained.

Based on the progress of the analysis, most of the content in this book consists of harmless historical knowledge and some unofficial historical accounts of unknown veracity.

However, the book records a spell for summoning creatures from the Dream Realm. It is said that as long as the incantation is recited, a monster called the Crimson Siphon can be summoned to serve one's purposes.

This extremely easy-to-kill vampire monster, though fragile, can drain all the blood from an adult male's body in a second, and is normally invisible, only becoming visible when it attacks.

Li Wei quickly saw the incantation, memorized it, and immediately closed the book.

The vast majority of the contents of this book are historical records; only this line of incantation is real and useful.

Moreover, it happens to be the kind of incantation with the lowest barrier to entry, which can be activated simply by reciting it, or even silently.

Even this record is incorrect, because the summoned creature is clearly not under the summoner's control.

Li Wei tucked the book under his arm and then began to look through his notes.

Then his eyes lit up.

[That bastard Thomas, his spells for selling things were completely useless!]

Luckily, I remembered the book's title and even saw where it was placed.

[We stole the book! The spells were indeed problematic; a section was missing!]

The notes abruptly stopped.

Then Li Wei filled in the blanks with a simple, perhaps incomplete, account of the events.

This thief, Jimmy, clearly knows, like the detective he's playing, that Old Thomas's bookstore contains books containing extraordinary knowledge.

However, he was clearly somewhat careless, perhaps having spent a lot of money to buy that useless incantation.

So he chose to steal the book, and then, after unconsciously chanting the incantation, he was summoned a monster that was not actually under his control.

But how does this swamp phenomenon occur?

Did I overlook something?

Livy began to recall the causes of the swamp phenomenon.

The most common and widespread phenomenon is that people read books they shouldn't have, which then become a gateway connecting fantasy and reality.

The essence of the swamp phenomenon is the disorder of the laws of reality.

Another contributing factor is...

"A chain reaction caused by the mythical beast?"

Li Wei recalled a record he had once seen in a document.

That happened five hundred years ago during the sectarian war. As a continuation of the war of gods in the Dream Realm, the real world was also thrown into chaos at that time.

There were suspected incidents during that period.

In order to win the war, the Sons of the Sand, then known as the Church of Death, launched a massive ritual in an attempt to summon the phantom beasts of the Dreamland to attack the army of the Church of Radiance.

Unfortunately, the ceremony was both a success and a failure.

They did summon some phantom beasts, but those summoned phantom beasts seemed to retain some connection with the dream world.

Those mythical beasts began to use themselves as bases to summon other members of their kind, which then triggered a terrifying swamp-like disaster.

The Church of Death achieved its goal by repelling the army of the Church of Radiance, but at the cost of losing a large number of its own people.

This is one of the few documented alternative events that triggered swamp formation.

At this moment, Li Wei remembered what had happened in the room.

The number of those disgusting bloodsucking worm monsters is wrong, could it be...?

Li Wei understood; those monsters must have also experienced that self-summoning phenomenon, constantly dragging their own kind out of the dream world.

That's why I saw so many monsters in the room.

So even if the scholar who was the source dies, the swamp will still appear in Jimmy's room.

By this point, Li Wei had a general understanding of the entire incident.

Although old Thomas was a shrewd businessman, at least he didn't do anything wrong in this incident.

Jimmy stole the book, inadvertently summoning a monster that killed him. The monster then began a chain reaction, triggering a swamp phenomenon.

If Li Wei had arrived slower, or hadn't discovered this place at all.

So by the time they are discovered, there will be no survivors in the entire Riverside Apartments.

While the falcon could easily deal with this monster, for an ordinary person, this kind of vampire that lunges at their face would obviously be extremely difficult to handle.

Not to mention it can also become invisible.

Moreover, the swamp formation caused by this special phenomenon can only be completely eliminated by destroying all the summoned phantom beasts in reality.

These small, invisible monsters, once multiplied to a certain number, could cause unimaginable trouble.

With that thought in mind, Li Wei turned and walked toward Thomas's bookstore.

There's nothing left to guess.

That's all he could guess.

How many optional tasks you can complete depends on whether your guess is correct.

On the way back, Li Wei deliberately tore off the page containing the incantation to summon the worm monster, then shredded it into pieces and threw it into the river.

Even if it's just a virtual scene, an echo and fragment of history, Li Wei doesn't want this kind of thing to circulate among ordinary people.

This dangerous knowledge was placed in a seemingly ordinary historical record... Li Wei unintentionally began to feel some recognition for his work.

But after returning to the bookstore and giving the book back to Thomas, the whole world seemed to stand still.

After a flash of dim yellow light, Li Wei returned to that special space once again and sat down in the chair.

The tall, thin god stood before him and couldn't help but applaud.

"A good performance. You've shown me another possibility in history."

"Now, it's time to grade your performance."