Lord of the Mysteries

Klein didn’t rush to do a divination. He first answered The Hanged Man Alger’s sacrificial ritual and got the cane made from the Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristics to appear in front of him.

Word of the Sea… This name, when transliterated to Chinese, does bring back memories. I’ll just leave it at that… It’s basically a weaker version of Sea God Scepter. It doesn’t have demigod-level powers like Lightning Storm or Tsunami either… There are quite a number of negative effects… As Klein recalled The Hanged Man’s descriptions, he stroked the silver inlaid black cane.

Perhaps the mysterious space above the gray fog had naturally suppressed it, causing this Beyonder cane to not express its living characteristic. It silently lay there like it was the most common and ordinary piece of wood.

Klein nodded slightly and muttered silently to himself, Mystical item with living characteristics are really rather troublesome. But from a different angle, it means that they can be communicated with. The Die of Probability back then was quite a nasty fellow, but didn’t it also become obedient after getting schooled?

Besides, I can always have my servants hold it most of the time. Yes, Winner Enzo will be most suitable. Although he already has zero passive luck, he is still accumulating luck constantly to make preparations for that critical moment. Releasing a little bit of it wouldn’t affect anything. This way, be it being tripped, thrown, or beaten, he would be able to smoothly avoid it and not garner the attention of others.

On careful thought, the cane’s pranks aren’t completely useless. If I were to meet other Marionettists, Spirit World Plunderers, or Bizarro Banes and lose my initiative and end up being initially controlled, my thoughts and actions would turn sluggish. It would be quite difficult to extricate myself from that state by myself. At this moment, if an uncontrollable cane were to suddenly hit me or trip me to the ground, wouldn’t I be successfully escaping from my predicament?

Sigh, if a mystical item’s negative effects are used well, they can be quite a boon…

Of course, in normal combat, such pranks can bring about unnecessary dangers. How it should be balanced or avoided will need repeated trial and error.

As for the negative effects of easily being struck by lightning on a stormy day, Klein didn’t mind. Firstly, unless he was in a special region, stormy weather wasn’t common to begin with. It wasn’t something that needed to be taken into consideration most of the time. Secondly, as a Seer, divining the day’s weather before heading out was a common act. Finally, if he couldn’t avoid sudden flash storms, Klein could always give the cane to Enzo. This way, even if the lightning were to strike the Winner, it would even up being attracted by a nearby lightning rod.

Let’s just hope I’m not that lightning rod… Klein gave a self-deprecating laugh as he considered the most worrisome negative effect.

It would belt out Beyonder singing every six hours!

This was indiscriminate, and it was basically a huge AOE[1] attack!

After some thought, Klein decided to communicate with the Word of Sea cane to reduce the frequency at which it sang, or to give prior warning before it sang.

I had breakfast early today. It’s almost time for Creeping Hunger to start its howling… In thought, Klein removed the human-skinned glove from his left palm and threw it at an empty spot in front of the junk pile.

Right on the heels of that, he lifted the silver inlaid black cane and threw it over. Then, he stirred some of the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, creating a barrier that isolated all sound and images. He made Creeping Hunger and Word of the Sea spend time alone.

After doing all of this, Klein rubbed his palms and conjured a pen and paper. He wrote down a divination statement: “My scouting of Calderón City’s periphery today is dangerous.”

After putting down the dark red fountain pen, Klein removed the spirit pendulum from his left wrist. He let the topaz hang down over the paper in close proximity with it.

After chanting seven times in his mind, he opened his eyes and saw the topaz standing still and not spinning

This meant that the divination had failed.

Calderón City’s actual situation is a secret to the entire spirit world, and divination lacks a starting point… Besides, that was once a divine kingdom of an ancient goddess. There’s a mutated resurrection setup left over there. It can similarly interfere with divination… Klein rolled up his spirit pendulum and deliberated in thought. I can only trust what Red Light said. The danger around Calderón City’s periphery isn’t that great… Besides, I still have marionettes. I can let them go first and confirm if that place screens the gray fog. If it can, I’ll give up. If it doesn’t, I’ll enter myself.

Klein quickly came to a decision. Without any hesitation, he waved his hand to remove the barrier he had previously created.

Then, he saw the Creeping Hunger which had retreated to the side of the junk pile. It was propping itself up with three fingers while its thumb and pinky were pressing backward on Groselle’s Travels. It looked weak and could hardly stand.

At the same time, there was a mouth in the middle of the palm. It revealed two illusory, white, and eerie teeth that kept gasping for air.

On the other side of the barrier, the silver inlaid black cane was on the ground. It twitched from time to time as its tip kept oozing with blue transparent water bubbles.

“Very good, silence at last…” Upon seeing this scene, Klein muttered in gratification.

Just as he said that, the Word of the Sea suddenly stood up. And as though it was being held, it “hopped” towards Klein, circling about The Fool’s seat and dodged elsewhere. Creeping Hunger used all its five fingers as legs as it chased after the cane with great difficulty. Midway, it collapsed to the ground.

Klein watched speechless before letting out a sigh.

“After fusing with Mr. A, Creeping Hunger seems to have a living characteristic, but this level of intelligence is way too low. It clearly Grazed a Wind-blessed and is capable of Short-distance Flight; yet, it still uses its fingers as legs to chase…”

After saying that, he turned his head towards the Word of the Sea cane which was hiding beside him.

“Aren’t you a Sequence 5 of the Sailor pathway? What kind of mystical item are you if you can only hop on one leg?

“Seriously, are such low-level living characteristics equivalent to babies? No, a particular baby is way smarter than all of you!”

Klein reprimanded each of them and sighed as he said in amusement, “It’s not like I’m a devil…”

Just as he said that, the glove and cane who were still stirring froze at the same moment. They didn’t dare make a sound.

Klein’s subsequent words were left in his throat. All he could do was reach out to pick up Word of the Sea and kindly and sincerely speak to it.

After a friendly and frank negotiation, this silver inlaid black cane used high frequency swaying to gesture that it would reduce its singing to a minimum. If it really couldn’t hold back, it would inform its owner. The exact manner included, but was not limited to, trembling slightly or automatically moving up a few centimeters.

At the same time, it raised a request via singing:

Never use the hand wearing Creeping Hunger to hold it!

Of course, if its master insisted on doing so, it didn’t object to it and was happy to accept it.

Better than Creeping Hunger. It’s not too stubborn… Klein beckoned for Creeping Hunger and wore it on his left palm.

Taking a glance at the Door of Summoning which had been produced from the ritual, Klein began considering the items to bring on his scouting of Calderón City.

Needless to say, the two marionettes were going. They could be used as bait, to scout the path ahead, be used as test subjects, and verify any traps. They allowed a Marionettist to not need to undergo too many dangerous actions, so they were definitely going.

They would be wearing Enzo’s Flower of Blood ring and Ludwell’s Harris Sword. They were all standard equipment. In addition, Klein decided to get Enzo to carry the Word of the Sea.

As for himself, Klein planned on heading there as a Spirit Body. Once anything was amiss, he would immediately end the summoning and return above the gray fog. This way, what “clothes” he matched was something worth considering.

Azik’s copper whistle? No, that is related to Death, and Calderón City belongs to ancient Death… There’s a small possibility that this might create a terrifying anomaly, causing the danger in the core region to automatically come out.

Black Emperor card or the Tyrant card? Hmm, I’ll be moving about the spirit world. The two marionettes are basically dead. I’m not afraid that they have their blood extracted. Heh heh, Ludwell is a half-human, half-dead entity. He doesn’t have blood to speak of. The value of Enzo’s blood only makes him appear human most of the time. And this could be recovered via using Flower of Blood. It also means that I can bring the Sea God Scepter to Calderón City!

It’s a place that’s deep in the spirit world. It’s far from the Rorsted Archipelago, so I don’t have to worry about being affected by the believers’ prayers. The only problem is that I’ll become irascible and short-tempered. It will be easy for me to become hot-headed… This is taboo when it comes to exploring. However, this is easily resolved. I’ll leave it with Enzo or Ludwell. Besides, the Tyrant card’s level is very high. It can produce a suppression effect to a certain degree on the Sea God Scepter, preventing me from easily flaring up.

With the combination of the Tyrant card and the Sea God Scepter, I’m equivalent to half a Sequence 4. This can then most effectively reduce the risk I face. In the future, even if I were to enter with Miss Sharron, I can also equip myself in such a manner. I’ll get her to maintain her state as a wraith—no, an evil spirit state to circumvent all problems!

I don’t have to worry about the law of convergence. If Calderón City can screen the gray fog, I’ll return after taking a look from the outside. No one will lock onto me or pursue me. After all, the spirit world isn’t the home ground of the Sailor pathway. If Calderón City can’t screen the gray fog, and a High-Sequence Beyonder of the Church of Storms really does get drawn there, I can end up using him… Amidst his thoughts, Klein suddenly reached out his hand, attracting the Tyrant card to fall into his palm.

Immediately after that, he fused the Card of Blasphemy into his Soul Body.

Suddenly, extreme might and terrifying auras emanated from The Fool’s location. A heavy papal tiara silently appeared on Klein’s head as his clothes turned into a religious robe.

The latter was similar in dressing as a pope from Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac which he had seen in his previous life. However, the colors were dark blue that was almost black.

As howling winds sounded, the pontiff robe flared up suddenly as Klein raised his right hand and suspended himself in midair before catching the white bone scepter that flew towards him.

At the tip of the scepter, the gems emitted either blinding silver or blue light like bolts of lightning that circled around the Tyrant.

With a thud, the Word of the Sea cane prostrated to the ground, right beside Klein who was wielding the scepter and dressed like a pontiff.

[1] Area of Effect.