Chapter 196: Warning

Chapter 196: Warning

After lifting away the covering Paper Angel, Klein poured the bottle of demon blood into the ceramic jar and stirred it for quite a while with a glass rod he had manifested.

“Whew. I’ve finally gathered it all.” At last, he gazed at it for several seconds and sighed.

That meant he still had enough time to make some extra preparations before George III held the ritual.

As for whether the blood of Assassin and Demon would have enough time to erase its connection to the original owners, Klein did not care, because he had confirmed that both original owners were already dead.

He had divined the origin of the Assassin blood because he wanted to know whether it belonged to the witch Trissy. If it did, he would have considered saving a little and smearing it across the surface of Groselle’s Travels later.

The result disappointed him, but did not surprise him in the slightest. He had long since discovered that Trissy was just as prudent and cautious as he was.

Witches also have a Sequence called Instigator, and that similarly requires no small amount of intelligence… Hmm, the Instigator and Conspirer potions probably both have an effect of increasing intelligence. Otherwise, Danitz’s future is worrying… As Klein thought, he tossed the ceramic jar before him into the pile of miscellaneous items.

He immediately returned to the real world and began browsing the detailed ritual provided by the witch Trissy.

It was the ritual that could help Klein speak with Mr. Door on the night of the full moon.

“Nine kinds of gems in total… Isn’t this a little too extravagant?” Klein muttered while reading.

As a rich man who, even after donating quite a lot of money, still had nearly thirty thousand pounds in cash—fourteen thousand pounds in banknotes, fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of gold bars, thirty-five gold coins, and some change—he was not unable to afford the gems. He merely felt it was too wasteful.

After thinking for a dozen or so seconds, Klein decided to first try whether he could use images from the historical void as substitutes. In any case, he did not intend to please Mr. Door. Once the ritual ended, the gems would disappear, and there would be nothing Mr. Door could do to him.

If it failed, then he would consider buying them from a jeweler… Klein stood and began arranging the ritual in the outer room of the rented apartment.

After finishing the other preparations, he stretched out his right hand and slowly, heavily, made a grabbing motion before himself.

He pulled an ancient brass key out of thin air.

This was the key item for summoning Mr. Door: the Master Key.

Immediately afterward, Klein once again reached forward with gravity and dragged an item out of the void.

It emitted a tranquil glow and had the shape of a full moon. Around it were inlaid crimson gems one after another, while its center bore the symbol representing the moon and many mysterious patterns.

The Crimson Moon Crown!

The Crimson Moon Crown currently belonging to Sharron!

It could create the effect of a “full moon,” allowing anyone holding the Master Key to hear Mr. Door’s ravings.

If Klein only wanted to hear what Mr. Door was shouting, reaching this step would already be enough. No other ritual would be necessary. However, his goal was to speak with that King of Angels, so he still had to follow the process.

After placing both the Master Key and Crimson Moon Crown upon the altar, Klein recalled briefly, then again extended his right hand and grabbed at the air before him.

This time, he took out a magnificent necklace decorated with broken diamonds and centered on an emerald.

“Hmm… Dawn Dantès’s experiences really are useful. Otherwise, how could I have come into contact with so many upper-class ladies, danced with them, and seen jewelry of different styles and materials? Without that close observation, how could I now so easily summon corresponding images from the historical void? This can last a quarter of an hour—more than enough…” Having achieved his goal so easily, Klein sighed with satisfaction in his heart.

Then he pressed on, extending his right hand again, intending to gather the required nine kinds of gemstones from the ladies and madams he had known in the past.

The next second, his hand paused in midair, and his expression turned rather strange.

“I forgot that I can currently maintain only three images from the historical void at once… What do I do now? Replace this necklace and find an accessory with at least nine kinds of gemstones? Hmm, let me think if I’ve seen something similar. Right, I can use Dream Divination to recall… This… Is Dream Divination meant to be used at times like this? Seer and Scholar of Yore really do pair quite well. Mm, this is also an extreme form of magic…” Amid a jumble of thoughts, Klein was just about to find a chair, sit down, and perform divination when he suddenly frowned.

He had discovered something wrong.

Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for him to forget that he could maintain only three images from the historical void at the same time.

“Is this some subtle spiritual warning?” Klein glanced at the Master Key and Crimson Moon Crown on the altar, gently waved his right hand, and made them vanish directly.

Then he took four steps counterclockwise, recited the honorific name, and arrived above the gray fog, sitting in the seat belonging to The Fool.

He manifested paper and pen, then carefully wrote:

“Speaking with Mr. Door at present is dangerous.”

This divination would clearly point to Mr. Door and cause Klein to suffer a certain backlash. However, now that he had initially grasped Sefirah Castle and could mobilize angel-level power, Klein believed he could endure it. After all, Mr. Door was in a state of exile and sealing.

He undid the pendulum hidden under his left cuff and held it in his left hand, letting it hang above the sentence, just shy of touching the paper’s surface.

He then closed his eyes and, with his mind highly tense, silently repeated the divination statement seven times.

Silently and soundlessly, a shadow suddenly flashed through Klein’s heart, seeming to completely cover his spiritual intuition.

He hurriedly opened his eyes and saw that the yellow crystal pendant had shattered into powder.

“After I initially grasped Sefirah Castle, certain divinations became more concealed, less likely to trigger accidents?

“Hmm, did matters involving my own safety become like this? Or is it because the gap between me and Mr. Door has narrowed to a certain extent? Of course, I mean Mr. Door in His sealed state… Or perhaps both effects combined?

“This result shows that speaking with Mr. Door at present would bring danger I cannot withstand… Why would that be?” Klein frowned, unable to make an effective conjecture or think of a reasonable explanation.

After quite a while, he leaned back against the high-backed chair, shook his head, sighed, and gave up his original plan.

“I can only make more preparations in other areas…” With a light press of his left hand, the yellow crystal pendant instantly returned to its original state. After all, it was only a projection of the main body above the gray fog.

Because of the change that had appeared during the divination just now, Klein developed a few associations. One was that peering at the twisted, transparent mass of worms on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range might no longer be as dangerous as before.

“That is very likely a Sequence 1 angel of the Antigonus family, perhaps even the ‘half-Fool’ Leonard once mentioned to me… If I can sustain the peering a little longer, the possibility of directly interpreting the Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker or Sequence 1 Attendant of Mysteries potion formula should not be low. Hmm. There is only one chance. With a completely insane monster like that, who knows what changes might occur because of this… Once I have completely adapted to the Scholar of Yore potion, I can try…” Klein rubbed his temples, and his figure abruptly vanished from above the gray fog.

After returning to the real world, he did not hurry to tidy up the altar. Instead, he sat down in a chair and seriously considered what unconventional preparations he could still make.

The so-called conventional preparations included: meeting the Queen of Mysteries once to discuss the details of their cooperation; giving more gifts to Will Auceptin, Reinette Tinekerr, and Pallez Zoroast; praying to the Evernight Goddess to increase the probability of summoning a projection of Arianna from the historical void; and becoming proficient with the core abilities of Scholar of Yore.

As for the unconventional preparations, they depended purely on Klein’s own imagination.

After thinking for a long while, Klein’s expression turned grave. His brows knitted slightly as he extended his right hand and grabbed at the air.

This time, he pulled nothing out.

Klein grabbed ten more times in succession, yet every attempt failed. He had no choice but to accept a fact:

By relying purely on himself, success was impossible!

He immediately took out his wallet, drew out a paper crane, and wrote with a pencil on its surface:

“Give me some luck. I’ll bring you ice cream from Selenzo Restaurant.”

After folding the paper crane again, Klein entered the inner room, lay down on the bed, and restored his spirituality through sleep.

In the hazy dream, he saw short, slender silver-white snakes forming a response:

“Five!”

“No problem,” Klein answered with a smile.

In the next instant, he woke.

Turning over and sitting up, Klein once again extended his right hand and grabbed ten times in succession.

Every attempt still failed!

“Even enough luck won’t do… The difficulty is too high…” Klein subconsciously wanted to tap the edge of the bed with his finger, but instantly restrained the impulse, because that movement belonged to his habit above the gray fog and was not suited to being brought into the real world.

After pacing back and forth for a very long time and seriously considering all kinds of connections, Klein finally left the bedroom and used the altar in the outer room, which had not yet been tidied up, to bring an item back to the real world.

It was an ancient book bound in parchment with a deep-brown cover.

Groselle’s Travels.

Picking up the travelogue, Klein took a deep breath and half-closed his eyes, as though sensing something.

Slowly, he extended his right hand and made a very small grabbing motion.

Failure.

He grabbed again.

Still failure.

After five consecutive failures, Klein’s movements grew increasingly slow, as though he were trying to pull a piece of charcoal out of a burning furnace.

Suddenly, his arm muscles tightened, and he began drawing his hand back with exceptional caution.

His right hand slowly returned, inch by inch dragging out a rather dim, ancient-looking quill.

It came from Resurrection Square in Kukva City, in Northern West Balam on the Southern Continent. It came from beside Ince Zangwill’s corpse.

It was 0-08, before Amon’s brother picked it up.