Chapter 179: A Strange Image

Chapter 179: A Strange Image

Klein lowered his head and looked at his palm. Reflected in his eyes was the appearance of the gold coin.

Its obverse faced upward, showing the king’s portrait.

This represented affirmation. It meant that Klein should use his marionette’s eyes to look at himself!

After receiving this revelation, Klein still hesitated, wondering whether he should first hold a ritual and bring marionette Enzo above the gray fog, then attempt it in that relatively safe environment where any damage or corruption suffered by a spirit body could be completely erased.

However, he suspected that doing so would yield no result at all. Beyonders of the Fate pathway noticed the projection cast upon him in reality by that mysterious space itself. Once above the gray fog, that kind of peculiarity would very likely no longer exist. It was like trying to observe an elephant’s outward shape by crawling into its body.

His fingers curled one by one, gripping the gold coin. After a long silence, Klein finally made his decision.

He abruptly stood, took out the ritual silver dagger, and created a “wall of spirituality,” enclosing the room within it.

This was to prevent any possible shrill screams or strange noises from leaking outside!

Immediately afterward, Klein arranged another ritual and sacrificed Creeping Hunger above the gray fog.

He was worried that if something went wrong with his own condition later, the glove might devour its wearer in return!

—This was a property Creeping Hunger had possessed from the beginning. Once it could not eat its fill and could not guarantee devouring one person every day, it would treat its wearer as food. And for Klein, the times he starved it were far more numerous than the times he fed it.

After making every other preparation in clear order and without the slightest disorder, Klein reached out and removed the Blood Flower ring from marionette Enzo’s hand, bringing it close to his own left palm.

This would ensure that even if his body suffered severe damage, he could recover.

Just as he was about to put it on, Klein thought for a moment and stopped. He took out paper and pen and wrote one sentence:

“Remember to remove the ring.”

He was worried that after the experiment ended, he might be affected by Blood Flower’s intelligence-lowering influence and not want to remove it.

When the time comes, perhaps I will need a beautiful princess to wake me with a kiss—no, to help me pull off the ring…

Klein smiled self-mockingly, exhaled, removed his clothes, and put on the ring properly.

Then he turned his gaze toward his new marionette, Winner Enzo.

Hesitation beforehand and inner retreat were always unavoidable, but once Klein made a decision, after everything he had gone through, he could already advance courageously, firm and unyielding.

After making slight adjustments and entering a meditative state, Klein made his marionette slowly turn and look toward him.

Through the Winner’s eyes, he first saw a thin layer of grayish-white fog, faintly spreading outward.

Inside the fog, one could vaguely see a brilliant door of light stained with a touch of blue-black.

That door of light was composed of countless stacked spheres of light. And each sphere’s true body was a pile of twisted worms embracing one another into a clump. Some of those worms were transparent, others semi-transparent, and upon them were either complex and indescribable or far-reaching symbolic signs and patterns.

Before Klein could clearly make out the specific details, his mind suddenly buzzed, and his entire person lost consciousness.

After an unknown length of time, he slowly woke. For a moment, he had actually forgotten what had happened and almost thought he had simply slept normally until dawn.

“What happened? It is still very dark outside…”

Klein propped himself up with both hands and sat up, only then realizing that he was lying on the floor.

At that moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw marionette Enzo standing beside him. Large numbers of images and sounds abruptly flooded into his mind.

“Right. I was just studying what Beyonders of the Monster pathway can see on me… Was the stimulus beyond the limit, causing me to faint directly? I vaguely remember hearing cries of pain at the time. Did they come from me?”

Having recovered his memory, Klein hurriedly examined the state of his body. He was stunned to discover one bloody, hideous wound after another across his skin, as if something had crawled out from within.

At present, in those densely packed wounds, flesh and blood were wriggling and rapidly reorganizing back into a complete whole.

Klein immediately looked toward the floor and saw that where he had lain earlier, his blood had imprinted the outline of a figure.

“Fortunately, I wore the Blood Flower ring. Otherwise, perhaps I would have slowly died from the severe injuries caused by my body’s collapse. I wonder whether, after such a death and resurrection, I would return in human form or monster form…”

Klein lifted a hand and rubbed his forehead. His gaze swept around and discovered that tables and chairs had fallen, but the “wall of spirituality” had not been shattered.

This allowed him to truly breathe out in relief. He confirmed that the earlier mutation had been limited to his own body and the small area around him. It had not spread outward.

And judging from the recovery condition of his wounds, Klein determined that he had been unconscious for no more than one minute.

He righted a chair and sat down, feeling as though he had forgotten something, yet unable to remember what it was.

It was not until he instinctively began cleaning up the scene and saw a note written with the words “Remember to remove the ring” that he suddenly understood and pulled the gold ring set with a ruby from his left hand.

More memories surfaced along with that. Feeling lingering fear yet also finding it funny, Klein shook his head and muttered, “Luck really is important sometimes. If the negative effect of the Blood Flower ring had randomly reached its strongest just now, perhaps I would not even have recognized the words and would not have obtained the reminder…”

Seeing that the wounds on his body had nearly recovered, he made marionette Enzo put Blood Flower back on, then remove the Green Flower ring.

With the latter’s treatment, Klein no longer felt uncomfortable anywhere. He shifted his attention back to the image he had seen earlier—that was the image Beyonders of the Fate pathway saw on him:

“A door of light stained with a slight blue-black; countless layered spheres of light; transparent and semi-transparent worms embracing one another into clumps; mysterious, complex symbols and patterns that contain large amounts of knowledge yet prevent people from receiving feedback… What do all these symbolize and represent?

“Is this some kind of mythical creature form corresponding to the mysterious space above the gray fog? The kind belonging to the level of a Sequence 0 true god?

“Because of the gray fog’s isolation, only Beyonders of the Fate pathway can directly see it and endure the impact and corruption? Similarly, because of the gray fog’s obstruction, Beyonders of the Fate pathway do not completely collapse the way one would after looking directly at a deity, but they also obtain no knowledge?”

Klein pondered for a while and began trying to interpret the symbolic meaning contained in that image through divination techniques.

“The door of light resembles the symbol behind the Apprentice seat, and it also seems to point toward Mr. Door…

“The countless layered spheres of light are consistent with the content of my meditation, and that comes from a certain mythological system constructed in novels from Earth… Was my subconscious influenced, causing me to choose memories close and similar to it, or did my choice instead influence the presentation of that image within the gray fog?

“The twisted transparent worms are close to that clump upon the giant throne on the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains, but slightly different. Does this belong to Sequence 0, the Fool, of the Seer pathway? I did not see the semi-transparent ones clearly enough to judge…

“And also, the blue-black color on the surface always makes me think of the place deep within that mysterious space which I still cannot climb to… When standing upon the highest step of the staircase of light, I can see clouds gathering in midair with a hint of blue-black…”

Klein thought for a long time but failed to obtain an answer. He could only temporarily press the matter into the depths of his heart and wait until he had more intelligence and more clues in the future before analyzing it further.

After handling the traces at the scene, he took four steps counterclockwise and entered above the gray fog, preparing to perform a more comprehensive and thorough inspection of his own condition, and to confirm whether marionette Enzo still retained passive “luck” and “calamity.”

…

Bayam, in the slums, inside a small and dilapidated room.

Admiral of Stars Cattleya sat behind a table, looking toward the door. She heard knocks with a special rhythm.

“Come in,” she said without deliberately disguising her voice.

The wooden door creaked open. The Hanged Man, wearing a hood and black robe, walked in.

Seeing the other party’s concealed attire, Cattleya pushed up the heavy glasses on the bridge of her nose and smiled faintly.

“If you walk outside like that, within five minutes, you will be surrounded by the people of the Church of Storms.”

She herself had made no disguise, because she knew that the matter of her allowing Gehrman Sparrow aboard the Future had long since spread across the sea. It would not be difficult for the Hanged Man to guess that Admiral of Stars was Madam Hermit.

Alger did not respond directly. While closing the door and pulling out a chair, he answered without losing any ground, “You would as well.”

What he meant was that Admiral of Stars ranked second only to Admiral of Hell among the Seven Pirate Admirals, and she was suspected to have a close relationship with Gehrman Sparrow. She was a major target pursued by the Church of Storms, the Evernight Church, and several other factions. Her bounty had already risen to 45,000 pounds. No matter which city she entered, as long as she did not disguise herself and was recognized, much trouble would follow.

Cattleya nodded very slightly, then looked toward the face hidden beneath the Hanged Man’s hood.

“In front of me, that attire actually has no meaning.

“However, I respect your choice.”

She remained wearing her glasses.

Such imposing bearing, such confidence. As expected of Admiral of Stars… Alger, who was wearing an additional mask beneath his hood, did not dwell on the matter of disguise. He went straight to the point.

“Thank you for offering help.”

Admiral of Stars Cattleya placed her right hand against her left elbow.

“I am curious. With your current strength and the resources you possess, even without my help, you should be able to handle the Artisan’s problem. Why seek me out in addition?”

Alger had long prepared for this. He answered simply, “I do not wish to become someone else’s topic of discussion.”

Cattleya seemed to grasp the meaning hidden behind those words. After pondering for a few seconds, she said, “I need more intelligence.”

Alger nodded lightly.

“Based on my observations and guesses, the Artisan should have been controlled by people who believe in the Primordial Moon. These people belong to the faction that originally existed on the Southern Continent, rather than to defectors from the Life School of Thought.”

Cattleya’s expression did not change. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Why not look for Mr. Moon? He should be very interested in matters of this kind.”

The corner of Alger’s mouth curved slightly. His voice remained normal as he answered, “If we cannot solve it, perhaps I will.”