Chapter 236: Characters in the Book

Chapter 236: Characters in the Book

Feeling that he was not yet too fatigued, Klein rubbed his temples and beckoned. A small metal vial flew from the junk pile and landed near him.

Inside was a small tube of blood he had previously spent great effort drawing from his own vein. He had long ago brought it above the gray fog, waiting for an opportunity to have his spirit body enter Travels of Groselle and explore the world inside the book.

After unscrewing the cap, Klein did not rush to smear the blood over the book’s dark-brown cover. Instead, he “summoned” all the items he had brought into this mysterious space before the Tarot Gathering from the junk pile and scattered them in front of him.

Considering that the Black Emperor appearance was far too eye-catching, and that he was not yet clear on the specific situation inside the world of the book, Klein decided not to carry that Card of Blasphemy. Instead, he used Azik’s copper whistle to reinforce his spirit body, so as to avoid being instantly killed by some unknown force before he could return above the gray fog.

As that ancient and delicate copper whistle fused into him, Klein’s spirit body seemed to swell slightly, while in truth becoming much denser.

Two clusters of pitch-black flame then leaped out from his eye sockets, as though possessing their own life force.

Using meditation to adjust his spirituality, Klein restrained all the coldness originating from death back into his body. The abnormality in his eyes soon vanished.

It was like an evil spirit displaying the appearance of an ordinary person to lure prey closer.

Immediately afterward, Klein put on Creeping Hunger and hid the Death Knell revolver and the Nightmare Beyonder characteristic inside his body. The latter was something he had prepared in order to explore the dreams of the living beings inside the book world and search for abnormalities.

Once all preparations were complete, he unscrewed the metal vial’s cap, poured out a few drops of blood, and smeared them over the cover of Travels of Groselle.

After a brief wait, what he saw first became blurry, as though countless transparent things were hidden within it. Then everything turned clear. There was blue sky, white clouds, gray-brown city walls, and pedestrians coming and going.

Not the previous ice-and-snow land, but a city that appears perfectly normal on the surface… Klein stood beside the tamped-earth road and examined the residents of the book world. He discovered that most of them wore linen shirts, brown short coats, and dark, loose trousers. Their overall style resembled that of the Loen Kingdom several hundred years earlier.

Looking down at the tailcoat, stiff-collared shirt, and dark-red bow tie he had manifested, Klein silently changed them all. In an instant, he became indistinguishable from the people around him.

He then walked toward the city gate, preparing to enter.

At that moment, a gate guard wearing leather armor stopped him.

“City entrance tax! One riddle.”

Do I look like someone who has money? I don’t even know what a riddle is… Klein muttered inwardly in amusement. He then used “communication” between spirits to successfully shift the gate guard’s attention to the merchant caravan entering the city behind him.

As a quasi-Wraith capable of possessing and controlling another party, exerting mental influence on a target was a normal operation. The ability was not especially strong, but against ordinary people, it was extremely useful.

After entering the city, Klein walked through the streets with inward caution and outward ease. He felt that the public sanitation here was even slightly better than Backlund’s in earlier years. It seemed to possess a mature sewer system and would not suffer situations where people upstairs dumped feces, urine, garbage, and other things downward.

“You can’t tell at all that this is a false world inside a book. Everyone has Spirit Body Threads…” Klein examined the area while walking forward…