Chapter 62: Offstage Preparation

Chapter 62: Offstage Preparation

The early preparations for creating the marionette town were quite tedious and complicated. At least, that was what Klein thought.

Inside the vast ancient palace, Klein sat in the high-back chair belonging to The Fool, holding a fountain pen and using ordinary paper to write names, ages, and fates for each marionette. At the same time, he had one Spirit Worm after another crawl out of his body and recombine beside him into avatar after avatar.

Some of these Kleins sat directly on the floor. Some occupied the twenty-one chairs aside from The Fool’s. Some manifested beds and leaned back against them…

Then, they each summoned different books from the junk pile and began reading seriously.

Those books included, but were not limited to:

How to Brew Fine Wine

Train Dispatching

A Comprehensive Guide to Dessert Making

Self-Cultivation for Clergy

A Repair Manual for Gas Wall Lamps, Gas Meters, and Various Household Machines

Desi Cuisine

Practical Port Management

Fundamentals of Law

Ladies’ Aesthetics magazine…

These were the professional knowledge different marionettes needed to master. Only in this way could they play their roles properly and make every aspect of themselves sufficiently real, so that even if they conversed and interacted deeply with outsiders, no problem would be exposed.

If it were merely memorizing that knowledge, it would not be difficult for Klein at all. But he had to truly master and apply it. Furthermore, he could not confuse the roles. He could not let a burly, sturdy, low-income railway switchman blurt out comments on how moisturizing a certain skincare product was, or what flaw a certain silk had.

If such a situation happened in a novel, drama, or opera, it might create a strange kind of appeal. But placed in reality, it would be obviously false and would hinder the progress of the ritual.

To avoid such problems, Klein could only put in more hard work during the early stage, striving to make every role in the marionette town real, full, and appropriate.

Fortunately, in a town, there were not too many people who truly needed to deeply grasp corresponding professional knowledge. Most residents were semi-literate, or even genuinely illiterate, relying on experience to live and passing their days in a muddled way. For those roles, Klein needed to study much less, like workers who entered an assembly line after simple training or with no training at all.

After an unknown length of time, Klein’s main body put down the fountain pen, rubbed his temples, and let out a long breath.

He had finally finished writing the profiles of nearly five thousand residents in the marionette town, and the corresponding reserves of knowledge were also nearly complete.

“This is practically like directing an enormous film. And I’m the scriptwriter, the lighting technician, the prop master, the makeup artist, and every single actor… Continuing with this ritual really means I’m wandering along the edge of losing control. One careless move, and my personality will split, plunging me into the abyss of madness… Fortunately, I have a competent psychiatrist…

“Mm, during the marionette town’s operation, I need to pay attention to one problem. Although I personally am a polite and well-bred gentleman, in a town, most residents belong to the lower classes. Whether in speech or behavior, they will lean toward vulgarity… I cannot stay too prim and proper while acting. I have to break through that psychological barrier…” Klein sighed soundlessly as he made the surrounding avatars collapse into Spirit Worms and had those Spirit Worms burrow back into his body.

Of course, that was not all of them. One “Klein” maintained his earlier state, preparing to take his shift on duty in Sefirah Castle.

The next second, Klein’s main body returned to reality and took Creeping Hunger out from the historical pores, putting it on.

Then he teleported to an island in the Berserk Sea that clearly deviated…