Chapter 249: Harvest

Chapter 249: Harvest

Strands of illusory black thread extended from Senor’s body and entered Klein’s palms, reacting differently with every leap of his spirituality.

In truth, manipulating Spirit Body Threads did not necessarily require the use of both hands. It was simply something Klein had grown accustomed to doing. It gave him the feeling that he truly was controlling a marionette.

“Judging from the current situation, others of the same pathway can all discover one another’s puppets. The abnormalities on Spirit Body Threads cannot be hidden from their eyes. I have to be sufficiently cautious in that regard.” As Klein summarized the initial problems he had discovered, his thoughts quickly returned to Senor himself.

This Blood Admiral was effectively already dead. His spirit body had become an appendage of a puppet, losing the special qualities that belonged to him. Therefore, many methods of divination were no longer effective on him.

Of course, methods used to search for corpses were still useful. Klein planned to first let this Wraith undergo a round of “disinfection” through the gray fog. Then he would use a Paper Angel to wrap the mirror-like object Senor possessed, and finally place it into an iron cigarette case sealed by a wall of spirituality, together with Azik’s copper whistle. That would create triple interference.

In this way, Klein believed it would be nearly impossible for the Rose School of Thought’s angel to rely on Blood Admiral and lock onto his position through divination, prophecy, or similar methods.

As for whether the Mother Tree of Desire had left some “back door” inside Senor, he was not too worried. If the Mother Tree of Desire truly had tampered with Blood Admiral, then during the previous demigod melee, She could have made Senor suddenly mutate and attack him. Judging from the circumstances at the time, that would certainly have succeeded.

“The Mother Tree of Desire—or rather, the Chained God’s strict control over members of this organization relies on oath contracts that penetrate deep into the soul, and similar methods. This can be inferred from Miss Sharron’s description and condition, as well as my own experience after touching the corresponding characteristic…

“As long as I do not try to use Blood Admiral to divine the Rose School of Thought’s secrets or the potion formulas of the Mutant pathway, it should not trigger any problems. That Werewolf Beyonder characteristic stayed above the gray fog for so long before, and nothing abnormal happened…

“And besides, there is still the gray fog’s ‘disinfection’ process. If there really are hidden problems, they will be cleared away…” Klein thought for a while, then took Azik’s copper whistle out from his body.

He turned it lightly with his right hand, exposing the part with fewer patterns to the sunlight, where it reflected light like a mirror.

At once, Senor’s figure appeared on the copper whistle and swiftly became clear.

Blood Admiral, standing before Klein, suddenly vanished.

“Perhaps the Mother Tree of Desire can still use oath contracts and other things to roughly locate him, but that doesn’t matter too much. In any case, She can sense the gray fog trait on me and perceive me within a certain range… Besides, this puppet might become a shield someday and get destroyed…” Like an unemployed vagrant with enormous debt, Klein felt that he had little left to fear.

Of course, he did indeed owe enormous debt.

As long as I advance to demigod and can conceal that trait, this puppet can be abandoned at any time… Klein looked around, bent down, picked up the silver necklace, then walked four steps counterclockwise and softly recited the incantation.

This time, he had not used the method of summoning a spirit body to enter, so he could not directly return.

Gray-white fog swiftly filled his vision. Hysterical ravings and roars echoed eternally. The Azik copper whistle in Klein’s hand did not mutate, indicating that there were no major hidden problems inside Blood Admiral’s body.

After sitting down at the head of the bronze long table, Klein placed Azik’s copper whistle before him. Senor, wearing his dark-red coat and old tricorne hat, appeared at his side like a butler awaiting his master’s commands.

“What items do you still have on you?” Klein asked, as if Blood Admiral were still alive.

He was attempting to act as a Marionettist!

Immediately afterward, he controlled Senor and made him search every pocket. One after another, Senor took out 325 pounds, 16 soli, and 8 pence in cash, including thirteen gold coins.

Apart from those, perhaps because he often needed to transform into a Wraith, Senor carried no other items.

“So poor… A pirate admiral, yet he only has one mystical item? Did he hand the rest over to the Rose School of Thought, or distribute them among his pirate subordinates?” Klein seriously considered whether he should monetize Blood Admiral through black-market channels.

In the Loen Kingdom alone, Senor was worth 42,000 pounds!

“Mm. Claiming the bounty from Loen is unrealistic. Whether it is the Church of Storms or the Kingdom’s military, they would both be very happy to use that clue to capture Gehrman Sparrow, who triggered a battle between multiple demigods, and investigate the organization behind him. They wouldn’t pay the money. Even if they did, it would be a trap…

“The same logic applies to the Churches and governments of other countries. They would certainly have similar thoughts. Their attitudes might be slightly better, but claiming the bounty would still carry enormous risk…

“Besides, there is no hurry. When I want to replace my puppet, I can hand Senor over then. Being a marionette for a few days won’t affect his identity or value anyway…” Klein withdrew his thoughts and turned his gaze toward the silver necklace with the ancient coin-like pendant.

He then used divination to roughly grasp the necklace’s origins and effects.

It came from a Sequence 5 Winner of the Life School. After this gentleman died at the hands of a Rose School of Thought demigod, his Beyonder characteristic and remaining mental imprint fused with an ordinary silver necklace he had carried on his person, forming a mystical item.

As to why that ordinary silver necklace had been carried closely by a Sequence 5 powerhouse, too much time had passed, and the object was contaminated. Klein was unable to obtain any effective revelation.

This mystical item had two effects. The first was to passively make its wearer lucky. In everyday life, the necklace’s owner would run into good things from time to time, and whatever they did would tend to succeed. When suffering a fatal attack or facing a terrible disaster, dramatic scenes would occur, allowing them to be successfully rescued. The latter effect could only last ten minutes.

The second was to actively give enemies bad luck, making the target unlucky. Whether in daily life or during battle, they would easily fail due to some small problem.

The necklace’s negative effect was “conservation of luck.” Luck would immediately be followed by misfortune. However lucky one had been before, that was how unlucky one would become afterward. The owner needed to focus very seriously on avoiding danger, or they might easily die in a ridiculous manner and even implicate people nearby.

Luck gained in everyday life would often reverse a month later. Whether the user wore it or not, they would become unlucky. However, that misfortune would be released in a gentle way and would not be too dangerous.

Luck gained in battle would backlash with equal intensity ten minutes later.

“Overall, it’s quite a good mystical item, but it isn’t very useful to me. Even Ricciardo, the Councilor of Fate, couldn’t change my luck… Mm. I’ll wear it for now. It basically has no negative effect on me. If there’s a chance, I’ll sell it and repay my debt to Miss Messenger… Miss Messenger wants gold coins, while what I have are pounds. To exchange 10,000 gold coins through banks and formal markets is nearly impossible. Looks like I’ll need to split it up by batches and people, having every Tarot Club member handle a portion separately…” Klein quickly finalized his plan and very casually gave the necklace a name:

“Scales of Luck!”

Afterward, he looked once more at Blood Admiral Senor, who stood respectfully to the side, and seriously studied what abilities a Wraith possessed.

Forced possession, control over enemies, Wraith screams, mirror jumps, passing through obstacles, death-type spells, invisibility that most low- and mid-Sequence Beyonders could not detect… Klein identified them one by one, comparing and verifying them against what Sharron and Maric had described, as well as what he had personally experienced in battle.

He quickly ended this process, afraid that the candles in the real world would burn out. A cave without much light was currently extremely unfriendly to him, given his fear of the dark.

Klein immediately drew a paper figurine from the junk pile. Combining it with the Black Emperor card and a small amount of power from above the gray fog, he transformed it into an anti-divination angel.

This angel swiftly spread its wings and embraced a gold coin. On the coin’s reflective surface was Senor’s figure.

Then Klein moved the gold coin, Azik’s copper whistle, the Death Knell revolver, his suitcase, and other items back to the real world. As for Creeping Hunger and Travels of Groselle, one had no food for the time being, while the other had already been carried too long and might swallow Klein’s body into the book at some unknown moment. Both were left in the junk pile above the gray fog.

Returning to the cave, Klein busied himself placing that gold coin and Azik’s copper whistle together inside the iron cigarette case, then sealed it with a wall of spirituality.

He tidied up the scene, changed into formal attire, picked up his suitcase, and followed the beach until he found an inhabited area. Only then did he discover that he was unexpectedly near Pritz Harbor.

He did not immediately return to Backlund. Instead, he changed his appearance and took a steam train to Conant City in Desi Bay, preparing to circle around from there and change identities again.

…

Bansy Harbor.

Under the afternoon sun, Alger Wilson gazed at the destroyed city.

He saw that every house had collapsed. Deep ravines cut through the ground, and charred traces were everywhere.

The scene continued all the way into the depths of the island. Even mountain peaks had collapsed.

At that moment, no members of the Church of Storms were guarding the ruins, because nothing remained here, and plans to rebuild the harbor had yet to be put on the agenda.

Alger jumped down from the Blue Avenger and, together with his sailors, walked through the ruins once. They found nothing of value.

“Let’s go,” he ordered steadily.

They soon returned to the ship, raised sail, and left the island behind.

After an unknown amount of time, a figure suddenly walked out from the depths of the ruins.

He wore a pure black, double-breasted clergy robe. His hair was dark gold, and his features were like a classical sculpture, without a single wrinkle.

One of his pupils was deep blue, nearly black. The other looked dull and lightless, yet was covered in dense, tiny blood vessels.