The Eldritch Files

”A Level?”

Han Su got his answer and was completely stunned for a moment. ”What did I do to get an A Level?”

’Come to think of it, my reaction last time I heard the Encrypted Spell was huge—it sent me ten years into the past. But to everyone else, it must have looked like I just took a nap, right?’

’Didn’t Secretary Cui Qiao say I was pretty slow on the uptake? So what’s with this A Level rating?’

As he was lost in thought, the instructor had already herded the other trainees into the room where Han Su had previously heard the mysterious language. He saw that the only change inside was that where a single chair had once stood, there was now a circle of them, their backs facing the center.

The trainees filed in and took their seats. Once the door was shut, even the instructor backed away from it.

Then, the same secret language he had heard before began to play inside. Outside, an assembly of personnel stood waiting: security guards armed to the teeth, a team of doctors in white coats, and rescue workers clad in hazmat suits.

They waited in silence. After some time, an alarm suddenly blared. The door cracked open, and personnel in protective gear rushed in, emerging moments later supporting a female trainee with a Pale face.

Blood trickled from her nostrils, and her eyes were a ghastly, blood-seeped red. As she was led away, she mumbled, ”I... I heard it.”

”They... they said this is just the beginning... just the beginning...”

”...”

As Han Su watched the female trainee disappear into the distance, the door swung shut. The playback of the secret language was clearly still in progress. A few minutes later, the alarm rang out again, this time accompanied by Flashing lights.

More medical personnel immediately rushed in. This time, they carried out a man. He was convulsing violently, the veins on his neck writhing like snakes. The medics on scene could barely restrain him as he thrashed with all his might, screaming:

”Bronze men, bronze men!”

”The Bronze Age will surely descend upon the city!”

”The god of the Bronze-Worshippers has already opened its eyes in the Abyssal...”

”...”

Han Su stood to the side, watching. In a fleeting glance, he saw an inhuman, eerie metallic gleam flickering in the man’s eyes.

At the same time, the scar on the back of his hand began to throb with a faint, inexplicable pain, as if reacting to something.

He didn’t know why, but a faint sound, like the turning of gears, seemed to echo in his ears. It was like an auditory hallucination—filling his senses one moment, but vanishing without a trace when he tried to focus on it.

”...”

The trainee, who seemed to have gone completely mad, was finally pinned down by the personnel. They had to forcibly inject him with a sedative before they could carry him away to some unknown location.

As the man’s figure receded into the distance, the throbbing in the scar on the back of Han Su’s hand gradually subsided.

But a chill of horror crept through Han Su’s heart.

’What was all that about a Bronze Age? And his eyes... that metallic gleam... Is that something a normal person is supposed to have?’

’And why did the scar on my hand suddenly start to ache?’

He felt a growing, intuitive sense of dread, but he forced it down and remained standing quietly to one side.

A few more people were brought out after that. One was convulsing on the floor, eyes rolled back. Another had suddenly started strangling himself, choking until his own eyes rolled back. They all had abnormal reactions, but none of them seemed to have heard anything specific.

The instructor shot them a pitying glance. For all his laid-back, devil-may-care attitude, he seemed unable to bear the sight.

Han Su saw his opportunity and sidled up to the instructor. ”I heard that sound before and didn’t feel a thing,” he said in a low voice. ”Why are they reacting like this?”

”You felt nothing and still got an A?”

The instructor glanced at him and shook his head. ”But that’s a good thing. With this stuff, it’s better not to understand, better not to hear it at all.”

”So, what exactly is it?”

Han Su pressed. Seeing the instructor’s dismissive expression, he quickly added, ”I asked Uncle Zhang about it, and he told me to ask the instructor during training.”

”Uncle Zhang...”

The instructor froze for a second, then lowered his voice. ”You mean Zhang the Head?”

Han Su nodded. ”Yes!”

”Well, no wonder!”

The instructor clapped Han Su on the shoulder, giving him a look that said he was one of the in-crowd. He chuckled softly. ”Well, for the new leader’s sake, I suppose there’s no harm in telling you.”

”What you were all listening to... it’s a language. Just not one from our era.”

”We have you listen to it to test your Spirituality, your reactions, and your intuition. It’s really a way to see what kind of potential you have...”

”...”

”Mysterious Power training?”

”Exactly!”

The instructor smiled. ”It’s the ability to use the mind itself to fight supernatural aberrations. That’s the real weapon.”

”When you’re up against an aberration like the Ghost Truck, conventional weapons are hardly effective. So, sometimes we need to use Superreal Power to combat those insane things.”

”And to control this kind of Superreal Power, you first need to shatter a certain principle.”

”The mind can influence reality, but it is forbidden from entering reality directly.”

”...”

The instructor’s words made Han Su’s mind snap to attention.

He had vaguely sensed this same principle back when he tried to force his Spiritual Power through his right eye. No one had told it to him; it was more like a warning that had surfaced from the depths of his own DNA the moment he touched that boundary.

Now, to hear someone say it out loud in the real world felt incredibly novel.

The instructor’s gaze grew distant, and he spoke with a hint of emotion. ”The mind... it’s an abstract concept, really. It encompasses a person’s consciousness, their thoughts, their sanity.”

”Humans use their minds to command their bodies. We use our thoughts to create, to study, to change the world through our actions.”

”This all falls under the principle that the mind can influence the physical world.”

”But for the mind to bypass the body and enter reality directly... that is a terrifying prospect.”

”The Mysterious Power training here at the Disaster Management Bureau uses special methods, combined with listening to these ancient secret languages, to get a person to resonate with a certain power from the shadows. The goal is to break that limit and achieve a controlled Penetration of Spiritual Power into the real world.”

Han Su’s interest was piqued. ”Penetration?”

”Correct.”

The instructor held out his palm and slowly closed it into a fist. ”It’s a power that shouldn’t exist in reality, which of course means it’s a power unimaginable to ordinary people. You can think of it as:”

”Super-Real Application Power.”

”All of our Superreal Powers—be they Spells, Talents, or certain items—require this foundation to function.”

”...”

’It all adds up...’

A sense of sudden, dawning comprehension washed over Han Su.

’So, the abilities in my right eye and left hand are both types of Mysterious Power, but they have to be manifested by my mind Penetrating reality?’

’But why does the power in my right eye need to Penetrate, while the one in my left hand seems to work without it?’

The specific question flashed through his mind, but he decided he’d have a chance to figure it out later. For now, he seized the opportunity and immediately asked, ”About the recording just now—why could some of the trainees understand it, while others couldn’t?”

”That’s the difference between high and low Spirituality.”

The instructor rubbed the stubble on his chin. ”The Talented,” he said, ”are those born with such high Spirituality that they’ve already achieved Spiritual Penetration naturally.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the quiet, black-hooded girl leaning against a nearby wall before continuing:

”But people like that are rare, and the Disaster Management Bureau can’t find many of them. That’s why most Executioners and Investigators still need to go through Mysterious Power training. In other words, we use artificial means to help ordinary people achieve Spiritual Penetration safely.”

”Therefore, assessing an ordinary person’s potential for achieving Spiritual Penetration is crucial.”

”The ones just now who heard specific things in the secret language—those are people with extremely high Spirituality. They’re easily corrupted, but they also find it easy to acquire ’Talent’ through Mysterious Power training.”

”Some can even discern ’Spells’ from within that secret language.”

”...”

Han Su was astonished. ”Spells?”

”That’s right.”

The instructor seemed to get a thrill out of explaining this. ”Ah, Mysterious Power...” he said with feeling. ”It’s hidden in the shadows of the world, undetectable by ordinary people. Only the languages unearthed from the ruins can activate it.”

”These Spells are the very languages that can directly call upon that Mysterious Power.”

”When someone who has achieved Spiritual Penetration recites a Spell, they can directly wield this Mysterious Power.”

”Of course, a secret language isn’t the same as a Spell.”

”Many secret languages, despite being unearthed in the same way, don’t point to any specific Mysterious Power. A Spell derived from such a language would be empty.”

”...”

’A language that can command Mysterious Power... ruins from before the age of reconstruction...’

The more Han Su learned, the more he felt like a vast, unknown world was slowly unfurling before his very eyes...

”What kind of language is it, to be so incredible?”

The instructor couldn’t help but glance at Han Su. ’Even if you do have connections,’ he thought, ’asking so many questions is getting a little rude...’

Just then, however, the black-hooded girl, who had seemed oblivious to their conversation, suddenly spoke in a soft voice. ”Some speculate it was the language used by the Gods who once walked the world.”

Han Su’s eyes narrowed at her words. ”Gods?”

The black-hooded girl nodded gently, her voice soft and smooth. ”The language of the Gods is a higher-level language. Conceptually, it contains all other languages. Both our own language and the languages of the Western Continent are merely derivative systems of the divine tongue.”

”And, of course, it contains their power.”

”Humans use the Spiritual Power that has Penetrated reality as a foundation, and through mediums like Encrypted Spells, bloodlines, contracts, or artifacts, we wield the power once possessed only by the Gods.”

”This is humanity’s imitation of the Gods. And it is also humanity’s Talent.”

”...”

”Talent...”

Han Su murmured thoughtfully, glancing over at her.