Chapter 49: Divination

Chapter Forty-Nine
Divination

As a Seer who had only just stepped through the door of mysticism, Klein dared not claim he understood much. Yet he was certainly far more knowledgeable than an ordinary person. He knew that all kinds of divination methods could be sorted into three great categories according to a certain standard.

That standard was the source of the “revelation.”

The first category included tarot, playing cards, pendulums, dowsing, dreams, and similar methods. These relied on the “querent’s” own spirituality communicating with the spirit world to obtain revelations, which were then interpreted from the divination result. Pendulum and dowsing methods placed very high demands on spirituality, the Spirit Body, and the Astral Body; without being a Beyonder, one could not obtain accurate or obvious “revelations.” Card divination, by contrast, used the idea of providing fixed symbolic elements in advance, allowing even the vague, instinctive revelations ordinary people sensed to appear in a comprehensible form. Dreams fell somewhere between the two.

The second category included numerology, astrology, and all types derived from them. Through objective information provided by the querent or by natural changes, the diviner calculated, inferred, and interpreted the corresponding result. In this case, initiative did not lie with the querent, but with the diviner.

The third category borrowed power from a third party outside both diviner and querent. The spirit board and pen spirit Klein had known in his previous life belonged to this kind. Through a certain ritual, one requested that an unknown, mysterious existence directly provide an answer. Although ordinary people most likely would not succeed, if by some chance they did—and if they communicated with an existence full of malice, or one whose mere contact could cause collapse—the result would often become tragedy.

The “magic mirror divination” Hynas Vincent had just mentioned belonged to this kind of method. In mysticism, mirrors were doors leading to the unknown, the bizarre, and the spiritual world. That was why Klein had stopped outside the meeting room. He intended to hear how this well-known diviner explained it, then decide whether to report to the Captain and come raid the man’s gas meter in the middle of the night.

Of course, there were safe ways to perform magic mirror divination: by praying to one of the seven orthodox deities for an answer. Even if ordinary people found it extremely, extremely difficult to obtain genuine revelation, at least there would be no danger, no lingering aftereffects.

The kind of magic mirror divination strictly controlled by the Nighthawks, Mandated Punishers, and similar organizations involved requesting help from evil gods or mysterious existences worshipped by certain organizations. Inventing one’s own ritual at random was no good either. For all one knew, a single word or particular trait might attract unknown attention.

In this world with extraordinary power, divinations of that sort always tended toward the worst possible results. Klein even suspected that the original owner, Welch, and Naya had performed a similar “black divination” based on the Antigonus family notebook.

By then, Hynas had already explained the principle of magic mirror divination clearly to the five members and had begun describing the concrete procedure.

“First, choose a suitable date and time according to the deity you believe in. This can be decided through the Manual of Astrology. For example, we all know that Sunday symbolizes the Evernight Goddess and embodies rest. And the periods from two to three in the morning, nine to ten in the morning, four to five in the afternoon, and eleven at night to midnight are moon hours, ruled by the Evernight Goddess. Therefore, diviners who believe in the Evernight Goddess may perform magic mirror divination during those time periods on Sundays.”

A very solid foundation…

Klein nodded slightly, using the half-open door of the meeting room to conceal his reaction.

He had to admit that under the mutual restraint of the seven great Churches, certain mystical knowledge had indeed leaked out. For example, the Manual of Astrology provided many symbolic meanings. It was simply that without potions and without extraordinary power, ordinary people could almost never achieve the effects they wanted.

“Second, we carefully wipe the mirror clean. It must be a silver-plated mirror. Then place it in the position in the home symbolizing the moon…”

Hynas used the prop in his hand to demonstrate.

No. At this step, what is needed is pendulum divination. First choose a position, silently recite seven times, “This place is suitable for magic mirror divination,” then look at the direction in which the pendant rotates. Clockwise is correct; counterclockwise is wrong… Of course, if you are praying to a malicious, unknown, mysterious existence, the position is not the key. The key is whether He is interested…

Klein corrected him soundlessly.

At this moment, he felt as though he were a teacher listening in on a class.

Unable to hear Klein’s thoughts, Hynas Vincent described the preparations in a normal tone.

After the members finished taking notes, he continued, “After bathing, confirm that all curtains have been drawn and that the door is locked tight. Then light one candle and place it before the mirror. Pray devoutly to the deity you believe in. Keep the question as simple as possible; do not use complicated modifiers… After praying seven times, pick up your mirror and lightly throw it to the ground. It must be very light… Remember the pattern of the breaking. That is the revelation given by the deity. I will now explain several major symbols in detail.”

Whew. This is orthodox magic mirror divination.

Klein exhaled in relief. He walked slowly into the meeting room, sat in his earlier place, and drank the remaining Southville coffee in one gulp.

By “orthodox,” he meant that revelation could indeed be obtained, but basically could not be truly interpreted.

When a Beyonder performed this step, if they received a response, they would be able to see certain images directly in the mirror and obtain comparatively clear information.

Because there were many symbols formed by the shattering of a mirror, Hynas spoke for a long time. Even after Edward Steve finished performing divination for someone and returned to the meeting room, Hynas still had not concluded.

Klein did not ask Edward what he had divined, or what method he had used. That was an unwritten rule among diviners. Since he was acting as a Seer, he naturally had to observe it strictly—unless the other party mentioned it first.

“I have found that many times, our interpretations are far too vague. They seem to cater to different needs, allowing different people to find descriptions that fit themselves,” Edward said softly with a sigh after taking a sip of Sibe black tea. “For example, ‘You will encounter many twists and turns, suffer many misfortunes, but in the end, you will see the dawn.’ Heh. No one knows when that dawn will come. Or, ‘Your journey will not be very smooth, but you will certainly arrive alive.’ Ha. Dead men do not come back to refute me.”

Because he had not listened from the start, he had missed Hynas’s lecture on magic mirror divination.

“Survivorship bias,” Klein added with a smile.

The rough meaning of survivorship bias was that many statistics came only from the living—the survivors—while the dead were ignored. The result naturally contained a clear deviation.

“Exactly. Emperor Roselle truly was a philosopher,” Edward praised.

…

Klein picked up his empty coffee cup and pretended to take a sip.

For the entire afternoon, the members were immersed in astrolabe and magic mirror divination. From time to time, they came over to discuss matters with Klein and Edward.

Whenever this happened, Klein fulfilled the duties of an unofficial member of the Nighthawk team, doing his best to guide them away from lines of thought that might involve the extraordinary or danger.

However, the thing he most wanted to do never succeeded. Several querents came and went, yet none of them chose him to perform a divination.

“Perhaps next time I will have to actively ‘receive’ them and say something like, ‘You are haunted by bad luck,’ ‘You will meet misfortune soon,’ or ‘Nothing you do will go smoothly’? No. That does not feel like a Seer anymore…”

Thinking this, Klein shook his head and mocked himself.

He picked up his cane, stood, said goodbye, and left.

At half past five, Edward Steve put on his coat and was about to leave the Divination Club when he suddenly saw a familiar figure.

“Good afternoon, Glacis. Long time no see.”

He greeted him with a smile and saw that this friend with the same hobby was dressed in his usual formal clothes, wearing a black bow tie, with a monocle hanging near the pocket on his chest.

Immediately afterward, he noticed that the man’s complexion was extremely poor. Even his soft pale-yellow hair seemed to have dried out.

“Good afternoon, Edward… cough, cough.”

Holding his hat, Glacis suddenly pressed a fist to his mouth and coughed several times.

Edward asked with concern, “You seem ill?”

“A very serious illness. It even turned into pneumonia at one point. If my wife had not happened to encounter a remarkable pharmacist and obtained some magical medicine for me, I am afraid you would have had to visit the cemetery to see me.”

Glacis’s tone was full of fear and gratitude.

“Lord above, I can hardly believe it. You were so healthy before. Look—look how weak you are now! I remember performing a divination for you last week, and there was no sign that you would suffer any serious illness,” Edward said in astonishment, moving his cane.

“My own divination result was the same as yours. Perhaps we are not yet qualified diviners. And besides, besides…”

Glacis suddenly remembered what had happened on Monday, and his expression became exceptionally solemn.

Just then, the pretty lady Angelica came over and gave a gentle, smiling salute.

After the mutual greetings, she first expressed concern for Glacis’s health and offered a few suggestions. Only afterward did she casually mention, “Mr. Glacis, the Mr. Moretti who came to you for divination last time has also joined the club.”

“The Mr. Moretti who came to me last time?”

Glacis’s eyes lit up at once.

“Lord above! Where is he?”

“He has already left,” Angelica said, unable—like Edward—to understand Glacis’s abnormal reaction.

Glacis paced two steps in agitation.

“If he comes again and I am not at the club, you must ask when he will return!”

“Glacis, what is going on? Did that Mr. Klein Moretti do something to you?” Edward asked in confusion.

Glacis raised his arm, meeting the searching gazes of Edward and Angelica. His voice grew impassioned.

“He is a very, very, very miraculous…”

His arm swung down. Having used three verys to describe the man, Glacis declared in a ringing voice:

“Doctor!”