Chapter 105: Spirit Channeling

Chapter One Hundred Five
Spirit Channeling

Klein unscrewed the cap of the small metal vial, brought it near his nose, and smelled a slightly irritating scent that nevertheless refreshed his mind.

This was Holy Night Powder, made from herbs such as deep-sleep flowers, dragonblood grass, crimson sandalwood, and mint. Because its preparation was simple, after Klein replenished his materials at the underground market, he had found a chance to mix a bottle on the spot. Now it came perfectly in handy.

He poured a portion of Holy Night Powder into his palm. Then he settled his spirit, causing his eyes to darken.

After putting away the metal vial, Klein pinched up the powder, infused spirituality into it, and sprinkled it toward the ground.

As he sprinkled, he walked, circling Sirius’s corpse once.

An invisible wall abruptly rose, isolating this place from the outside world.

Klein shook off the small amount of remaining Holy Night Powder, then took out several other metal vials, dripping Amanda hydrosol and other liquids one after another toward the surroundings.

The order in which he arranged this ritual was different from Old Neil’s at Ray Bieber’s home, because what he wished to pray for was different, and the result he hoped to achieve was different.

For instance, Old Neil had first scattered liquid, then used Holy Night Powder. That could create peace and sanctity second only to a formal altar. Klein, however, used Holy Night Powder first, then dripped liquids afterward, because his aim was merely to prevent Sirius’s lingering spirituality from being disturbed by surrounding objects and to possess an environment that barely satisfied the ritual’s requirements.

If he switched to Old Neil’s method, Sirius’s lingering spirituality would be driven away, making communication impossible.

Once all this was complete, Klein put away the materials, maintained the state of meditation, and softly chanted the incantation written in Hermes.

“I pray for the power of night;

“I pray for the power of concealment;

“I pray for the Goddess’s favor.

“I pray that You allow me to communicate with the spirituality of the cultist within the altar.

“…”

As the incantation echoed within the sealed environment, Klein suddenly felt a vast, terrifying, hidden power descend.

His eyes became entirely black, as if they had lost their pupils and whites alike.

Grasping this chance, Klein silently repeated the divination statement in his heart:

“The formula for the Clown potion.

“The formula for the Clown potion.

“…”

Amid the silent recitation, he relied on meditation and briefly entered a dream—entered a dream while still standing.

Within that gray, hazy world without sky or earth, Klein stared with unusual clarity at a transparent, illusory figure.

He stretched out his right hand and touched Sirius’s lingering spirit.

With a boom, the scene before his eyes changed abruptly.

It was a desk painted dark red. Upon it stood a silver candlestick holding three candles. Beside it lay a blank sheet of letter paper.

Sirius held a fountain pen and wrote in standard Loenese:

“This is the second formula. The name recorded in the notebook is Clown.

“Pure water, 80 milliliters; mandrake juice, 5 drops; black-edged sunflower powder, 7 grams; gold-cloak grass powder, 10 grams; hemlock juice, 3 drops. The above are the supplementary materials.

“The main extraordinary materials are: one crystallized horn from an adult Hornacis gray mountain goat, and one complete human-face rose.”

Sirius seemed to need no recollection. With swift strokes, he wrote out the Clown potion formula.

Then he paused slightly, drank a mouthful of coffee, and unwound the silver pendant wrapped around his wrist.

Holding the pendant, he half-closed his eyes and murmured words and phrases such as “day of destruction,” “peace of the heart,” “may the Lord protect me,” and “I confess to You.”

After Sirius finished his prayer, Klein finally clearly saw what that pendant looked like.

Beneath the silver bracelet formed from interlocking rings hung a thumb-sized humanoid statue.

The statue had a giant’s unique vertical single eye. Its head hung downward, while its feet were bound by chains that connected to the top.

Just then, the giant’s vertical single eye suddenly flashed with blood-red light.

Crack!

The scene Klein saw instantly shattered into pieces. His knees weakened, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Pain struck his head as though someone had viciously clubbed him. His vision filled with blood-red, and his hands involuntarily braced against his knees.

Several seconds passed before he finally recovered and slowly straightened, feeling his own spirituality extraordinarily weak. It was as though he could again hear whispers that pierced the spirit.

However, thanks to the progress he had made in digesting the potion, the abnormal reaction soon returned entirely to calm.

“The Hanged Giant. The True Creator… Sirius and Hynas were members of the Aurora Order? But what the Captain saw inside Hynas Vincent’s dream was a gigantic cross, a terrifying existence hanging upside down and nailed to that cross, not the Aurora Order’s Hanged Giant…”

Klein took two deep breaths, waiting for his spirituality to slowly recover.

The Aurora Order was a secret organization that had appeared only in the last two or three hundred years. They worshipped the True Creator and used the Hanged Giant as the symbol of that existence. They believed every person possessed divinity, and that as long as one’s spirit was sufficiently tenacious and could withstand trial after trial, one could accumulate abundant divinity and become an angel.

According to the Nighthawks’ internal information, the Aurora Order’s Sequence 9 was called Supplicant. Such Beyonders could sense certain mysterious, terrifying existences, command a measure of sacrificial knowledge and a small amount of ritual magic. There was enough evidence showing that experienced Supplicants more or less developed distortions in cognition and views, and were prone to losing control.

The Aurora Order’s Sequence 7 was unknown, while Sequence 8 was Listener. That was an extremely terrifying Beyonder “profession.”

Every Listener could directly hear the whispers of the corresponding hidden existence. Therefore, they could often obtain many powerful, twisted, and unique abilities. Correspondingly, however, if Listeners could not advance, they had difficulty living beyond five years. In addition, the Nighthawks’ internal materials offered one evaluation: all Listeners were madmen. Even if they behaved normally in ordinary times, they were necessarily hidden madmen.

Klein rapidly reviewed the Aurora Order’s information in his mind and preliminarily judged Sirius to be a Supplicant.

“Judging from the description, Supplicant is as terrible as Seer in a sudden encounter. That fits Sirius’s performance. Afterward, was his loss of control caused by severe injury? Uh, Frye did say that after every Beyonder dies, more or less, some strange changes occur…”

As Klein thought, he tapped his chest four times and praised the Goddess.

Immediately afterward, his spirituality having recovered slightly, he ended the ritual in proper order and released the sealed wall of spirituality.

Wind blew with a faint wail. Klein forced himself to look once more at Sirius’s corpse.

He noticed that one obvious tumor still remained on Sirius’s blood-blurred face. It was deep purple, almost black, and inside it, liquid and light seemed to sway.

“What kind of change is this?”

Klein rubbed his temples and did not dare touch it.

He bent down, picked up his cane, and let it bear part of his body weight.

After the backlash just now, he knew that Sirius’s remaining spirituality had been thoroughly destroyed. Even if the Spirit Medium Daly came, she would no longer be able to communicate with him.

After waiting for a while, Klein saw Captain Dunn arrive with his teammates Leonard and Kenley.

“I feel that you and Beyonders—no, you and evil powers—have some fated entanglement. The number of supernatural incidents you have encountered during this period is greater than what we used to see in an entire quarter.”

Leonard glanced at the corpse on the ground and made what sounded like a casual joke.

“Perhaps it is not coincidence.”

Klein abruptly thought of the red chimney he had seen through dream divination, as well as the majestic palace on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range and that invisible gaze from last time. So, seizing the chance, he gave a hint.

Dunn looked around once, then fixed his deep gray eyes on Klein.

“You attempted spirit channeling?”

The scent of Holy Night Powder, hydrosol, and essential oils still lingered at the scene.

“Yes.”

Klein answered frankly.

“I was worried that you would arrive too late and that the remaining spirituality would begin to dissipate.”

“You do not look very well,” the short Kenley said with concern.

While handing Sirius’s unsent letter to the Captain, Klein began from the start.

“When I went to the underground market to purchase ritual materials, I suddenly thought of how Selena had once gone to the Dragon Bar, and that Hynas Vincent had been the one who introduced her inside. That meant Hynas was a frequent visitor there. Therefore, I suspected the gentleman in the portrait—the gentleman connected to Hynas—might once have also visited the underground market.

“I took the portrait and asked the owner, Swain. He gave an affirmative answer and told me this gentleman had tried to purchase cultural relics and ancient texts related to the main peak of the Hornacis. That immediately made me think of this place, of the fact that when I borrowed the corresponding journals and magazines, someone had just returned them…”

Leonard smiled as he listened. Suddenly, he cut in:

“So you took your probationary inspector identification and Special Operations Division badge here to investigate the borrowing records for those journals? Actually, I am very curious. Why did you come into conflict with this gentleman? Even if you directly encountered him, with your way of doing things, you should have pretended not to recognize him, left the library as soon as possible, and gone to Zouteland Street for our help.”

“Yes,” Dunn added while browsing the letter. “There was no need for you to take the risk. As long as the target was confirmed, and as long as he had not left Tingen, there would always be a way to find him afterward.”

Klein became a little awkward.

“The librarian recognized him and loudly shouted for the officer to help.

“I could not possibly pretend I had not heard it…”

Leonard and Kenley immediately exchanged a glance. One made no attempt to hide his smile, while the other turned his head to the side.

Dunn nodded lightly, shifting his gaze away from the letter.

“What did you gain from the spirit channeling?”

“I saw a pendant carved with the image of the Hanged Giant. I saw the giant’s single eye flash blood-red, and then I was forced out of the ritual,” Klein described truthfully.

For the time being, he did not mention the Clown potion. This was based on two considerations.

On one hand, if Dunn and the others later found corresponding records in Sirius’s hiding place, then whether Klein said anything now would make no difference and would not add additional merit.

On the other hand, if Dunn and the others failed to find anything, then he could later find an opportunity to report it, accumulating more merit for applying for materials and preparing the potion. In other words, one contribution would be claimed in two portions. This method came from Old Neil’s words and example over this period.

“The Aurora Order?”

Dunn muttered thoughtfully, then asked several related questions.

After Klein answered each in turn, Dunn looked at his fatigued expression, raised his cane slightly, and said, “Not bad. You destroyed a plot aimed at Tingen City. You may return and rest. Kenley, go find Old Neil.”

After giving the instruction, Dunn shook his head and smiled bitterly.

“Before Sequence 6, Beyonders of the Sleepless pathway lack many auxiliary abilities. They can grasp only the simplest and most basic forms of ritual magic.”

“Captain, do you mean that beginning at Sequence 6, Beyonders of the Sleepless pathway receive corresponding enhancement?” Klein asked curiously.

“Mm,” Dunn answered affirmatively.

…

After leaving Deweyville Library, Klein took a public carriage back to Daffodil Street. Several times on the way, he nearly fell asleep.

Holding on with effort, he entered the house, removed his hat, took off his coat, and fell asleep right on the sofa.

No one knew how long had passed before he suddenly woke. He took out his pocket watch and snapped it open.

“Melissa will be back in half an hour. Benson in forty or fifty minutes… They will have to wait an hour and a half before enjoying dinner…”

Klein rubbed his forehead and walked into the kitchen.

He first washed his face with cold water, then took out the oxtail, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and other ingredients he had bought at noon.

After finishing the preparations, he suddenly froze, feeling vaguely that this did not quite match what he had experienced that afternoon.

“I am a man who just saved Tingen City…”

Klein muttered with amusement. Then he put on a white apron, picked up the kitchen knife, and began busily working.