Chapter 174: The Special Nature of the Spirit World

Chapter 174: The Special Nature of the Spirit World

With Klein’s explanation and comfort, Allen relaxed considerably. He planned to observe for a few more days and see whether he would have a similar nightmare again.

After smiling and seeing the famous surgeon out the door, Klein’s expression suddenly turned grave, as though he were thinking about something.

There had been no problem with his interpretation of the dream. The pitch-black tower, the many layers of obstructing walls and doors, and the silver-white serpent did indeed symbolize Will Auceptin’s situation: that he was being threatened by something. They symbolized the child’s fear and helplessness, as well as his mindset of trying to hide behind layer upon layer of protection.

But the key issue was that, in all likelihood, this had not been a revelation obtained by Dr. Allen’s own spirituality. Otherwise, there was no way he would have waited until last night—until he dug out that paper crane—to have such a dream. As early as before Will Auceptin left the hospital, as early as the moment his spirituality unconsciously sensed something strange, there should have been similar developments.

Therefore, Klein suspected that the dream had been instilled into Dr. Allen by someone else, and that the medium was that paper crane.

Klein had activated Spirit Vision and carefully examined the handicraft, but he had not found any spiritual radiance on it. Even so, his inspiration and intuition both told him that there was something wondrous about the paper crane—perhaps something involving the most illusory, hardest-to-grasp, and most awe-inspiring thing of all: fate.

That child named Will Auceptin is not simple… It seems the miraculous thing might not be that deck of tarot cards, but him… A silver-white serpent is a symbol of danger, and this matter is related to misfortune, luck, and similar factors. Could it represent the Mercury Snake—the Sequence 1 of the Monster pathway, the Mercury Snake? Klein’s thoughts wandered, yet he could not be certain of anything.

He turned instead to analyzing how the dream had been instilled.

With Klein’s present mysticism attainments, this was not something too complicated or too difficult to understand. Very quickly, he developed a line of thought.

“First, the influence of wraiths or ghosts can be ruled out. That would have dyed the colors of Dr. Allen’s aura with varying shades of black-green, and I didn’t discover any sign of that earlier.

“There are roughly two methods of instilling a dream without causing anything abnormal to appear in the dream’s owner. One is similar to the Beyonder power of a Nightmare. Like the Captain, it achieves its goal through guidance, and the user cannot take part too deeply either, or traces will still be left behind. The second is far more ingenious and high-level.

“The principle behind dreams is that the astral body wanders the spirit world, allowing certain details that went unnoticed in ordinary unconscious awareness to be transformed into symbolic revelations under external stimulation—or else directly obtaining some revelation related to itself from the outside world. It then tells this to the mental body, to the spirit body itself. Because the owner is asleep, this takes the form of a dream.

“So the second method is to instill something through the spirit world.

“First, through certain miraculous means, one creates the revelation one needs. Then, naturally, the target’s astral body obtains it while wandering the spirit world and feeds it back. In that way, the target can dream of the scene others want him to dream, while not a single trace appears externally.

“That is something the current me cannot do, even in spirit-body state, when I can slightly leverage a tiny bit of the power above the gray fog.”

Klein paused for a moment, then added another possible guess:

Dr. Allen had been given a suggestion through the paper crane. Once he dug it out, he would have the corresponding dream.

This one is easy enough to confirm. If I use Spirit Channeling on Dr. Allen, I should be able to find the corresponding traces… But would it be rather unfriendly to use Spirit Channeling on him? Or should I borrow that Nightmare Candle from Father Utravsky? No, wait. The one who recognized my identity was that vampire, the fanatical doll lover Emlyn White, not Father Utravsky, who has muscles as solid as a giant’s… Klein pulled back his thoughts and considered what he should do next.

He decided that later, he would go above the gray fog and divine the degree of danger. If it was acceptable, he would sneak into Dr. Allen’s home that night and use methods such as Dream Charms to secretly observe whether the dream’s source was direct guidance or indirect fabrication.

However, with Klein’s strength and level, finding traces of the latter would be quite difficult. Even he himself did not have much confidence.

It was not as though sitting beside Dr. Allen and meditating would allow his astral body to wander the same part of the spirit world. Sufficient positioning was required to accomplish that.

According to The Book of Secrets, the existence of the spirit world was exceedingly marvelous. It completely overlapped with the real world—fully overlapped—so everyone could receive revelations from the spirit world at any time. Yet the spirit world had no distinction between up and down, left and right. The past, future, and present might all converge there. It was like a strange sea formed from the gathering and compression of countless pieces of knowledge, countless pieces of information, and countless illusory spirits. It was utterly different from a “world” as understood through normal concepts and ordinary logic.

Because of this, revelations obtained from the spirit world could only appear as various symbols, not direct answers. Because of this, which part of the spirit world each person’s astral body wandered was not only connected to the place and time their body currently occupied, but also closely related to the body and mind’s present state. Without the corresponding positioning method, attempting to lock onto and find a particular person’s astral body in the spirit world was impossible, even if one was sitting right beside them.

Also because of this, the astral body’s wandering in the spirit world had its limits. It did not dare to venture too deeply. Once it became lost and could not return to the body, its owner would become an imbecile; in more severe cases, they would become a vegetable.

And attempting to enter the spirit world with the physical body, using it as a springboard to complete teleportation, was even more difficult. With the slightest carelessness, one would become lost and would never be able to return to the real world, rotting away until death.

Phew… Klein let out a breath and temporarily cast the problem to the back of his mind.

He took out his pocket watch and checked the time, discovering that he had spent too long thinking. His breakfast had gone completely cold, while Reporter Mike still had not arrived. This meant the commission had most likely been delayed by a day.

In the spirit of not wasting food, Klein finished the remaining breakfast. Then he went above the gray fog to perform a divination and, to his astonishment, received the revelation that this matter posed no danger at all.

After all of this, the appointed time had already passed. No longer hesitating, he changed into a thick jacket, put on a peaked cap, took the wordbook, and left 15 Minsk Street.

His original plan had been that, while accompanying Mike Joseph to the East Borough for interviews, he would find an opportunity to give Old Kohler a hint not to mention that he had previously promised to help Liv search for her daughter.

As for Liv’s family, Old Kohler would remind them.

Now that Mike had delayed the matter by a day, Klein was even more at ease. He no longer worried that mistakes or accidents might occur.

…

Combining the address Old Kohler had mentioned with the revelation obtained through divination, Klein entered the depths of the East Borough. Under gazes that were wary or guarded, numb or greedy, he found the room on the third floor.

Inside were two bunk beds. Some worn-out bedding was also spread across the floor, and every bit of empty space was piled with miscellaneous objects.

Klein looked directly toward the lower bunk at the innermost side and called out, “Old Kohler.”

With a swish, Old Kohler rolled over and sat up, then leaned toward the door in surprise and delight.

“You really came, sir. After sending you that letter yesterday, I guessed you would come looking for me today, so I didn’t go to the docks. I’ve been waiting at home the whole time.”

Well, that saves me from having to think about what lie to tell to explain why I came straight here looking for you… Klein looked around, then said instead, “Old Kohler, with your current income, you can completely afford to rent a better room and move somewhere better. Why have you only changed from sleeping on the floor to a bunk bed?”

“Most of that money is meant to help you gather information,” Old Kohler said with a smile. “And I’m not young anymore. I have to save some money for when my body completely weakens in the future.”

Klein fell silent for two seconds, then said, “You can consider buying some insurance. For example, that ‘Lonely Elderly Assistance Insurance.’ Once you truly become old, it can give you a weekly sum—at least enough to fill your stomach and sleep indoors.”

In this world, the insurance industry had sprouted in the Fourth Epoch. After being promoted by Emperor Roselle, it had now become relatively mature. It mainly included various types of insurance related to maritime trade, fire insurance, injury insurance, and pension insurance appearing under different names. Overall, it was more focused on the wealthy and the middle class.

“I know about that. Back when I was still a worker, I paid three pence in insurance fees every week, but later I had no income…” Old Kohler sighed.

His biggest problem now was that his income was unstable. He did not know when the informant’s fees from Mr. Detective would stop.

Klein had no way to promise him anything either. He pointed outside.

“Let’s go to Liv’s home and return the wordbook to that girl.”

After leaving the room, Klein mentioned casually, “It really is embarrassing. The day before yesterday, I said I’d do a bit of volunteer work and help look for Daisy, but yesterday, she was sent back by the police. Don’t bring this up again in the future. I don’t want to be laughed at.”

“All right,” Old Kohler first agreed, then added, “No one will laugh at your goodwill and kindness.”

Passing through one dirty street after another, the two arrived at Liv’s home. Klein saw that the young girl who had just been rescued had already begun ironing clothes again, with the ever-present possibility of burning herself. He saw the clothes drying there hanging down one by one, dripping water, exactly as they had before. For a moment, he did not know what to say.

“Daisy.” After a while, he finally spoke. “Your wordbook.”

Daisy’s eyes lit up, but it was not convenient for her to leave. Only after busily working for a while did she stop and come to the doorway, saying “thank you” over and over again.

When Liv and Freja also put down the work in their hands and came over to express their thanks, Klein repeated the words he had just said to Old Kohler.

After receiving an affirmative answer, he took out the two pounds in change that he had prepared long ago and handed it to Liv.

“A reporter will come tomorrow to interview Daisy. This is the compensation he paid in advance. But don’t mention it in front of him, or many things will be hard to handle. Heh, he might give a little more tomorrow, but not this much.”

“No. I’m willing to expose that villain’s evil deeds. I don’t want money!” Daisy shook her head fiercely.

Klein laughed.

“This is the rule. Rules cannot be broken, understand?”

He then looked at Liv.

“Accept it.

“Your thinking is correct. Only if Daisy and Freja learn more words and more things will you be able to escape your current circumstances.”

Originally, he had prepared many things to say. He had wanted to advise Liv’s family to move to the edge of the East Borough. After all, customers who could afford to have clothes washed would not live inside the East Borough. In the end, however, he said none of it.

Originally, he had intended to give them more help, but he still restrained himself.

There were more than thousands of people like Liv’s family in the East Borough. There were tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even over a million. If a single individual wanted to help them, even if that person was a major banker, it would hardly stir a ripple. And this was only the East Borough. Above it was the whole of Backlund, and above that, the Loen Kingdom.

“…Thank you. Please thank that reporter on my behalf.” Liv was silent for a while before accepting the money.

Klein did not linger. He left in haste, as if there were some ghost hidden there, ready to devour his soul.

After walking outside together with Old Kohler, he looked back, suddenly let out a breath, and said softly,

“There has never been a savior…”