Chapter 109: Making Good Use of Items

Chapter 109: Making Good Use of Items

Klein still remembered the matter of the paper crane clearly, because back then, Will Auceptin, that Mercury Snake, had used that very object to locate Dr. Allen’s astral body. When the doctor’s spirit roamed the spirit world in a dream, Will had poured information into him, forming a revelation and evolving it into a specific dream.

Later, Klein had used a paper crane he folded himself to replace Will Auceptin’s. He had then taken the original above the gray fog and performed a divination, yet failed to obtain an effective result. Only after Dr. Allen’s wife became pregnant, through calculations involving time and his vague understanding of the situation from Sequence 1 to Sequence 0, did he guess that the child was Will Auceptin, who had restarted by swallowing his own tail. He guessed that Will was locked in an intense struggle with another Mercury Snake over the position of Sequence 0, and that the nightmares caused by the paper crane were merely an addition. Its true purpose was to help Will Auceptin secretly become an infant.

The funniest part of the entire affair was that the paper crane Klein had folded had been mistaken by Backlund’s Nighthawks for Will Auceptin’s original. They had used their even rougher craftsmanship to counterfeit another one and replace it.

“Will Auceptin’s paper crane has been left above the gray fog all this time. I almost forgot about it… Using it for divination can only produce very vague revelations. Without other encounters, it would be very difficult to infer that the child Dr. Allen’s wife is carrying is Will Auceptin. But in reverse, Will Auceptin was able to use it to determine a location in the spirit world, just like the magic mirror Arrodes used the aura of the gray fog to connect to that wireless telegraph receiver from the spirit world…

“Huh. This seems to contain a certain possibility…” Klein abruptly sat up, having come up with an extremely creative idea.

He was going to use that paper crane to communicate with Will Auceptin in a dream!

This may be of no use to me right now, and it might even hide a certain amount of danger. But if Will Auceptin really is the Life School of Thought’s Mercury Snake, then providing the relevant intelligence will definitely earn me a measure of goodwill… For an existence at the level of a King of Angels, early investment is necessary. Once he is truly born, perhaps the returns will be dozens of times greater. In any case, trying will not kill me. Er… even if I die, I can resurrect… Though Klein thought this, in practice he was very cautious. He planned to first go above the gray fog and divine the level of danger before deciding whether to actually carry it out.

After some busy preparations, he confirmed that the danger involved was acceptable. He then used a ritual to bring that paper crane down from above the gray fog and back into the real world.

Perhaps because it came from Sequence 1, Mercury Snake, this paper crane showed no special changes from having spent so long above the gray fog. It remained plain, ordinary, and unremarkable.

“I hope the aura above the gray fog has not neutralized its original specialness. Otherwise, Will Auceptin will not be able to locate it… Mm… The Sequence before Mercury Snake is Soothsayer. Could what I am about to do be within Will Auceptin’s expectations?

“Did he choose Dr. Allen as his father because Dr. Allen is my friend, indirectly establishing a connection with me? Isn’t that a little too narcissistic…

“However, there is one suspicious point. After Will Auceptin used the paper crane to locate Dr. Allen, he could have simply ‘reincarnated’ directly. Why did he make him repeatedly have nightmares, with those dreams even revealing the struggle between Mercury Snakes? To an ordinary person, not only would they be unable to understand it, they would also have no way of playing any role in the matter. Wasn’t that like using one’s eyes to flirt with a blind person?

“Were the dreams Will Auceptin created meant for me to see?”

Klein frowned slightly, developing a certain guess.

He pressed down his doubts, picked up his round-bellied fountain pen, filled it with ink, and considered what sentence to leave on the paper crane to attract the attention of Will Auceptin, that Mercury Snake.

What should I write? Klein recalled the Life School of Thought’s situation as described by Arrodes and felt that there was one sentence that could summarize everything, was extremely vivid, and contained rich emotion.

That sentence was:

“Your house exploded!”

That is too vulgar and too direct. It is not polite enough. Besides, Will Auceptin may not be the chairman of the Life School of Thought… Klein weighed it over, unfolded the paper crane slightly, and wrote different words on its various surfaces, forming a very short sentence:

“Roy King has been captured.”

After finishing all this, Klein put away the fountain pen and slipped the paper crane into his wallet, just as Dr. Allen had done back then.

…

At the edge of the Rorsted waters, on a giant island concealed by mist and lying off the main shipping routes.

With a piercing cry, a blue raptor that moved as fast as a shadow plummeted from the sky and smashed heavily into the ground, sending mud flying and blood scattering.

Alger Wilson did not grow careless. Standing some distance away, he raised his left hand, aiming the black-iron ring worn on his thumb at the Blue Shadow Falcon, that terrifying Beyonder creature.

At the top of the ring was a spike-like protrusion stained with old blood. It looked both ancient and sinister.

This was the mystical item he had bought from the Artisan with the bounty from Steel Maviti. The price publicly declared was 5,200 pounds, but in reality, he had spent only 3,100 pounds.

The ring was named Spirit Whip. It could inflict severe and difficult-to-resist mental damage upon an enemy. Aside from that, it merely strengthened Alger’s mastery over all kinds of weapons. Therefore, it was not actually that expensive.

At the time, the Artisan and his friend had two mystical items on hand. One was Spirit Whip, and the other was the Ring of Sorcery. The latter had many abilities, was highly adaptable, and cost roughly the same as the former. It was clearly the better choice. But after careful consideration, Alger had still chosen Spirit Whip. He believed that without this item, hunting the Blue Shadow Falcon would become several times more difficult, because it was a flying Beyonder creature. The facts had proven his judgment correct.

For this, Alger was willing to endure the constant headache that made him want to ram his head against a wall.

After waiting several minutes and seeing points of light float above the Blue Shadow Falcon’s body, condensing six crystalline feathers where its wings had been, Alger finally relaxed and walked over.

Around his forehead was tied a strip of linen, upon which was embedded a blood-red gemstone. The light it emitted resembled moonlight.

This was the Blood Clan Baron inheritance that should have belonged to Emlyn White. But after obtaining it, Alger had not hurried to complete the transaction. Instead, he borrowed the characteristics it could be used to activate in a preliminary manner, adding an insurance measure to his operation of hunting the Blue Shadow Falcon.

At certain times, being a middleman is quite nice… Alger silently sighed as he collected the six crystalline feathers.

He straightened and looked toward the towering mountain at the center of this primitive island, as well as the dense jungle around it, sensing that many indescribable dangers were hidden there.

My current strength is still insufficient to explore this place… Alger withdrew his gaze and headed toward the island’s edge, constantly paying attention to whether there were any other hunters nearby.

Before long, he jumped into the sea. With the abilities of a Seafarer, he easily swam toward the distance. His ghost ship was moored there, and his sailors were still asleep under the effects of the Blood Clan’s anesthetic gas.

To reach this primitive island, the ship had to deviate from the main route and sail for at least six hours under circumstances where sea monsters lurked and storms surrounded the area. At any moment, it might sink. Only a Seafarer familiar with the route could bring a ship safely near it.

…

Late at night, Klein, who had rested for an entire day, put down the newspaper and got into bed.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly thought of a problem.

Danitz has returned to the Golden Dream. Isn’t it a bit wasteful for me to live alone in such a large suite? Klein nodded almost imperceptibly and decided to check out at dawn and switch to another inn.

Having made up his mind, he soon fell asleep and then abruptly became lucid while still half-dazed.

He knew that a power had invaded his dream!

I can even detect an invasion from a Mercury Snake. I really am amazing—no, the gray fog is amazing… Klein looked around and discovered that he stood upon a pitch-black, barren plain. Not far away was a black spire.

This was the scene he had once seen in Dr. Allen’s dream, but now there was no silver-white mysterious giant serpent atop the spire.

Klein nodded thoughtfully, quickened his pace, and entered the dark spire. It remained ancient and rotten, its layout chaotic. Some stairways spiraled upward, while others slanted downward. Some rooms were normal, while others were upside-down or embedded inside other sections.

Passing through doors and walking through walls, Klein once again arrived deep within the black tower.

There, Tarot cards lay scattered across the ground, surrounding a slightly raised area in the center.

On that spot was a line of silver-white words and a portrait.

The portrait belonged to the fat Apothecary, and the silver-white words formed a sentence:

“Inform Darkwill.”

So the fat Apothecary’s name is Darkwill… Will Auceptin really is the Life School of Thought’s Mercury Snake, and I can indeed use the paper crane to communicate with him in dreams… Klein waited for a while. Seeing no other revelations appear, he left the dream and went back to sleep.

…

After dawn, Klein, having confirmed that checking out at noon would not incur extra fees, put on his top hat and took a carriage to the entrance of the Red Theater.

This famous brothel was at its quietest time, so silent it seemed like a haunted house.

Klein glanced at it, then walked straight into the alley diagonally opposite and arrived outside Darkwill’s folk herbal shop.

He suddenly sensed something and looked up toward the roof, where he saw a plump owl standing there, staring fixedly at him.

The fat Apothecary did seem to be trying to tame a Beyonder animal before… Klein thoughtfully withdrew his gaze and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.

After waiting for a while, he saw the fat Apothecary Darkwill open the door, still bleary-eyed with sleep.

“…You are not sick,” Darkwill said after examining him.

Maintaining Gehrman Sparrow’s cold expression, Klein politely pulled at the corners of his mouth and said, “Good morning, Mr. Apothecary.

“I have found your teacher.”

“Really?” The fat Apothecary Darkwill asked in disbelief. “You only accepted the commission the day before yesterday…”