Chapter 45: A Crazed Configuration

Chapter 45: A Crazed Configuration

Friday afternoon, Klein, who had feigned illness and skipped the literary salon, once again arrived above the gray fog.

Before him lay a palm-sized, copper-green notebook with a shell that looked extremely hard. It was precisely Leymano’s Travels, provided by the Magician Fors.

Turning this object, which was in truth closer to a magic book, to one of its pages, Klein glanced at the scorched yellow color. Then he raised his hand and summoned the Sea God Scepter over from the pile of miscellaneous items, gripping it in his palm.

As he infused a portion of spirituality into Leymano’s Travels, making it glow with a faint, hazy radiance, the blue-green gemstones at the tip of the white bone scepter lit up one after another with brilliant light.

Amid a teeth-grating sizzle, thick and savage bolts of silver-white lightning appeared out of thin air, baring claws and fangs as they interwove, forming a storm-like scene.

At the same time, upon the scorched yellow paper of Leymano’s Travels, complicated symbols and marks rapidly outlined themselves, overlapping one another, fusing together, and gradually taking shape.

Just as the page was about to be dyed silver-white, streaks of electric serpents burst outward from within, destroying every pattern in an instant.

Failed again… Klein silently sighed and repeated the process once more.

This was not his first attempt. Ever since he had obtained Leymano’s Travels on Wednesday night, he had gone above the gray fog from time to time, using this magic book to record the abilities displayed by the Sea God Scepter, brushing through attempt after attempt until his spirituality was nearly exhausted and he had to return to the real world to rest.

Throughout the process, there had been failures and successes. Through repeated attempts, Klein had finally reached the final step: recording the Lightning Storm he had coveted for a long time.

This was a demigod ability of the Sailor pathway!

Before the failure just now, Klein had already failed nearly twenty times. His luck could be described as rather poor.

Failure. Failure again. Another failure. By the fifth time, he finally saw, with delight, the silver-white color spreading across the scorched yellow paper. The ancient, mysterious, complex, indescribable symbols and markings on it contracted inward at the same time, connecting into a strange pattern that gave anyone who saw it the sensation of being struck by lightning.

“Whew… Finally succeeded.” Klein rubbed his fingers over the paper and let out a long breath.

He flipped forward through Leymano’s Travels, admiring his earlier results.

Over the past two days, he had not been completely fixated on Lightning Storm. He had also recorded two other demigod-level abilities. One was the Paper Angel, formed by using himself to leverage a small amount of power from the mysterious space above the gray fog, which could interfere with divination and prophecy. The other was Tornado, also originating from the Sea God Scepter.

When recording these two, Klein’s luck had been relatively good. One succeeded after nine attempts, the other after twelve.

As for Beyonder abilities below Sequence 4, such as Flight, Gliding, Lightning Strike, and so on, they required only one or two attempts. Klein had almost filled the whole book with them.

For a wild Beyonder, this magic book actually isn’t especially useful. It requires a long time and prolonged patience to record enough useful abilities. Moreover, above Sequence 6, the probability of failure increases, and it isn’t that easy to obtain suitable powers… However, in the mysticism world, there are twenty-two pathways. If the abilities from the early Sequences are paired well enough, killing a Sequence 5 isn’t that strange…

Klein closed Leymano’s Travels and sighed inwardly.

In his view, this magic book was indeed equal to half a divine artifact for an unaffiliated Beyonder. Although its early-stage formation was even more difficult than Creeping Hunger’s, once a good combination was assembled, challenging a higher Sequence would become routine.

However, in the hands of a Beyonder backed by a great force, Leymano’s Travels would become even more exaggerated—practically a bug—because it could record demigod abilities!

As long as they were willing, demigods could demonstrate abilities again and again. By contrast, Creeping Hunger almost certainly could not devour a demigod. Even a true Shepherd would find it extremely difficult to graze a high-Sequence existence. First, they lacked the resources. Second, it could easily cause them to lose control. Elder Lovia of the City of Silver had also been extraordinarily lucky to graze an evil spirit roughly equivalent to Sequence 4…

Thinking this, Klein shifted his gaze to the dark-green stone sitting beside him. Its surface was uneven and filled with scorch marks. It was the spirit world traversal stone that the Magician Fors had provided.

With Leymano’s Travels and this stone, plus the Fate Stealer charm and the Wraith marionette, even if a saint is guarding Mr. X, I’m not necessarily unable to complete the mission and calmly leave…

Klein rubbed his temples, returned to the real world, and arranged the bestowal ritual, bringing out the corresponding items.

After finishing these preliminary preparations, he walked toward the full-length mirror, looked at himself within it, and adjusted his appearance until he seemed a little more haggard.

After dinner, Klein used the excuse that he did not feel very well and returned to his room.

After looking at the night scenery for a few minutes, he took a palm-sized mirror from a drawer and placed it upon the soft, springy pillow.

Then Klein leaned forward, letting the mirror reflect Dawn Dantes’s deep blue eyes and graying temples.

He slowly straightened and stepped backward. All at once, another Dawn Dantes appeared upon the bed.

This gentleman wore dark silk pajamas, leaned against the cushion, held a book in his hands, and half closed his eyes as if resting, as if thinking.

Not bad. A mirror illusion isn’t worse than a paper figurine illusion…

Klein returned to the desk, picked up a fountain pen, and drew a strange symbol blending secrecy and prying upon a sheet of paper.

After a brief silence, the Dawn Dantes on the bed suddenly opened his eyes and smiled in a fawning manner.

“Great Master, Your humble, loyal servant Arrodes has arrived!”

I have to say, even Dawn Dantes’s face can’t handle a smile like that…

Klein inwardly sighed and nearly turned his head to look toward the other side.

“Very good.” He nodded lightly and offered a word of praise.

He gave no further instructions. Putting on his half-top silk hat, he slid down from the balcony to the first floor, followed the secluded garden path, and vaulted over the outer wall of 160 Böklund Street from a corner. During the process, he did not forget to close the window.

His right hand pressing down on his hat, his feet firmly touching the street, Klein slowly raised his head. At some unknown point, his features and contours had already changed. His hair was black, his eyes were brown, his face was thin, and the lines of his face were sharp.

He was the mad adventurer with a single-country bounty of fifty thousand pounds: Gehrman Sparrow!

The hunt was about to begin.

…

In the Cherwood Borough, Xio was about to leave for the East Borough to attend Mr. X’s Beyonder gathering when Fors stopped her.

“You’re going out to gather material?” Xio said after some consideration, using her friend’s usual wording.

Fors brushed back her hair.

“No. To earn money!

“I previously accepted a mission to help someone find dust left behind after ghosts dissipate. You know, there are no ghosts in graveyards. They’ve long since been sent by pastors and bishops to the kingdoms of their respective gods. So I can only go to the East Borough and search for targets who died from various causes but have yet to be discovered.

“Could you bear to watch such a beautiful and delicate lady as myself enter that chaotic place alone?”

“But can’t it be postponed one day?” Xio said hesitantly. “I was just planning to attend the gathering convened by Mr. X.”

Fors immediately shook her head.

“No. The mission is due tomorrow. Fifty whole pounds!”

“If it’s due tomorrow, why didn’t you do it over the past few days?” Xio glanced at her friend suspiciously.

Fors chuckled.

“Did you just meet me?

“Do you not know I have severe procrastination?

“Besides, you don’t have money. What meaning is there in going to Mr. X’s gathering? You don’t even know what Beyonder materials you need!”

“That’s true.” Xio was convinced. She then smiled. “Do all authors have procrastination?”

“Probably.” Fors answered perfunctorily while secretly letting out a breath of relief.

…

In the East Borough, inside a cheap hotel, Klein entered the room Miss Magician had booked under a false name.

In a place like this, one room, one bed, and one person was a luxury. Yet even so, such a room cost only twelve pence a night. Of course, many cheap hotels in the East Borough did not have single rooms at all. Their best accommodations were “little compartments,” five pence a night, containing only one bed and boards that blocked the view of others, making it convenient for changing clothes.

As for the basement, where over a dozen or twenty bunk beds were packed together, one bed cost 1.5 pence per night. Personal belongings had to be watched over personally; if something was lost, the establishment took no responsibility.

There’s actually a mirror. Not bad…

Klein set down his hat, stood before a full-length mirror covered in cracks, and put on the hooded robe Miss Magician had prepared.

Immediately afterward, his body began visibly shrinking. His skin gradually grew fairer, taking on a hint of wheat color. The protrusion of his throat disappeared, and his hair lengthened considerably, becoming golden.

After the Magician Fors had provided the disguised appearance of her friend without showing the face, Klein had recognized at once that the one being imitated was Miss Xio.

However, because the hooded robe concealed him, he did not truly feminize himself. He only adjusted the places others might easily see.

A height of 1.5 meters is truly beyond my ability. At the very least, I’d have to completely digest all the potion in my body to reach that limit… Fortunately, Miss Xio uses height-increasing disguise. I don’t need to worry about that…

Klein glanced at the 1.60-meter-tall version of himself in the mirror and put on the pair of leather boots inside the room. They looked flat-soled—and were in fact flat-soled.

After finishing the disguise, Klein pulled up the hood, silently left the single room through the window, and entered an alley in the East Borough. He circled all the way to the house where Mr. X was convening the Beyonder gathering.

Recalling the knocking signal Miss Magician had told him, Klein bent his finger and knocked on the door with three light taps, three heavy taps, and intervals of two long and three short pauses.

More than ten seconds later, the door opened silently. A servant wearing an iron mask first scrutinized the visitor for a few moments before stepping aside.

Klein showed not the slightest panic. Calmly, he passed the servant and entered the house.