Lord of the Mysteries

Klein’s memories of the paper crane were still fresh on his mind. Back then, Will Auceptin had used this item to locate Dr. Aaron’s Astral Projection and injected information into him while he was dreaming of the spirit world in his dreams. It created a revelation that evolved into a specific dream.

Klein later exchanged a paper crane, he had folded himself, for Will Auceptin’s and had gone above the gray fog to make a divination. He failed to gain any effective conclusions until Dr. Aaron’s wife got pregnant. By calculating the time and from his understanding of the situation between a Sequence 1 and Sequence 0, he guessed that Will Auceptin was performing a cyclic restart, and he guessed that Will was in an intense battle with another Snake of Fate for the position of Sequence 0. And the nightmare that came with the paper crane was only an auxiliary outcome. Its true purpose was to help Will Auceptin secretly become a fetus.

What was most humorous about this matter was that the paper crane, that Klein had folded, had ended up being treated as the original from Will Auceptin, and the Nighthawks had used even cruder means to replicate one to swap them.

Will Auceptin’s paper crane had always been above the gray fog after I had thrown it up there. I nearly forgot about it… Performing divination on it can only gain an extremely vague revelation. If there weren’t any other developments, it would be hard to infer that the child conceived by Dr. Aaron’s wife was Will Arrodes. On the contrary, Will Arrodes can use it to locate it in the spirit world, just like how Arrodes can rely on the gray fog’s aura to connect to the radio transceiver via the spirit world…

Eh, there seems to be some possibility for this matter… Klein suddenly sat straight and had an extremely creative idea.

He wanted to use the paper crane to communicate with Will Auceptin in a dream!

This might not be of any use to me, the present me. There might even be certain hidden dangers, but if Will Auceptin is really the Snake of Fate from the Life School of Thought, my act of providing him with intelligence will definitely win me a favorable impression… Towards an existence at the level of a King of Angels, it’s necessary to make investments ahead of time. If I wait until he’s really born, I might be repaid dozens of times over. Since I won’t die from trying, uh—I can still revive if I die… Although Klein had such a thought, he was in fact very cautious. He planned on divining the danger above the gray fog before deciding on executing his plan.

After busying himself and confirming that the danger involved was acceptable, he used a ritual to bring back the paper crane from above the gray fog into the real world.

Perhaps it was because it came from a Sequence 1 Snake of Fate, the paper crane didn’t exhibit any peculiarities from its prolonged stay above the gray fog. It remained ordinary.

I hope the aura above the gray fog didn’t neutralize its uniqueness; otherwise, Will Auceptin won’t be able to locate it. Hmm, the Sequence before Snake of Fate is Soothsayer. Would this matter already be within Will Auceptin’s expectations?

The reason why he chose Dr. Aaron is because he’s my friend. And by doing so, he can establish a connection with me? Am I being too narcissistic…

However, this question is worth suspecting. After Will Auceptin used the paper crane to locate Dr. Aaron, he could’ve directly “reincarnated,” so why did he repeatedly make him have nightmares? Furthermore, the dream also indicated the struggle between the Snakes of Fate. To an ordinary person, they would neither understand it or play a meaningful role in this matter. Isn’t this like using a gaze to entice a blind person?

Will Auceptin created the dream for me?

Klein frowned slightly and had certain guesses.

He suppressed his puzzlement and picked up a fountain pen. As he filled it with ink, he considered a sentence to leave on the paper crane to garner Will Auceptin’s attention.

What should I write? Klein recalled what Arrodes had informed him about the situation with the Life School of Thought, and he felt that there was one line that could encompass everything while feeling extremely fresh and filled with emotions.

That line was: “Your home blew up!”

This sentence is overly crude and direct while lacking manners. Besides, Will Auceptin might not be the president of the Life School of Thought… Klein deliberated and slightly spread open the paper crane. On the different surfaces, he wrote different words that formed a very short sentence: “Roy King has been captured.”

After doing all of this, Klein put down the fountain pen and placed the paper crane into his wallet, just like Dr. Aaron had done before.

…

In the periphery of the Rorsted sea, on a gigantic fog-covered island far from the main sea routes.

Amidst a shrill cry, a blue bird of prey that resembled a shadow had plummeted from the sky and crashed heavily into the ground. It sent soil scattering as its blood splattered.

Alger Wilson remained cautious. He stood far away and raised his left hand which had an iron-black ring on his thumb. He pointed it at the terrifying Beyonder creature known as a Blue Shadow Falcon.

On the tip of the ring was a spike-like protrusion. It was tainted with old blood, looking ancient and sinister.

This was the mystical item he had bought from an Artisan, using Steel Maveti’s bounty. He publicly claimed that it cost him 5,200 pounds despite it actually only costing 3,100 pounds.

The ring’s name was “Whip of Mind.” It could deliver irresistible intense mental damage to an enemy. Apart from that, it could strengthen Alger’s mastery of various weapons; therefore, it wasn’t actually very expensive.

Back then, the Artisan and his friend had two mystical items. One was the “Whip of Mind” and the other was the “Ring of Witchcraft.” The latter had more abilities and high adaptability while costing almost the same as the former. It was a better choice, but after serious consideration, Alger still chose the Whip of Mind. He believed that without such an item, his hunting of the Blue Shadow Falcon would be several times more difficult. This was because it was a Beyonder creature that could fly. And reality had proven that his judgment was right.

For this, Alger was willing to experience a constant headache, a nagging feeling that made him want to slam his head into a wall.

After waiting for several minutes, he saw points of light float up from the Blue Shadow Falcon. Six crystalline feathers condensed around its wing as Alger heaved a sigh of relief and walked over.

He had a flaxen cloth tied around his forehead, and embedded inside it was a blood-red gem that emitted a light that resembled the moonlight.

This was meant to be the Vampire Baron inheritance for Emlyn White, but Alger wasn’t in a hurry to complete the transaction after obtaining it. Instead, he used the characteristic, which he could use to a certain extent, to add insurance to his hunt for the Blue Shadow Falcon.

At times, being a middleman is rather nice… Alger put away the six crystalline feathers as he sighed silently.

He straightened his body and looked towards the towering mountain peak and dense forest around it on the primitive island. He felt that many indescribable dangers lurked there.

My strength is insufficient to explore the area… Alger retracted his gaze and walked towards the island’s periphery, constantly wary for any “predators” around him.

Soon, he jumped into the sea, and with his powers as a Seafarer, he easily swam into the distance. His ghost ship was anchored there, and his sailors were still sleeping thanks to the Sanguine’s anesthetic gas.

To come to this primitive island, the ship had to steer away from the main sea routes. In a situation where sea monsters lurked while the storms lingered, navigating would take at least six hours, with the danger of sinking at any moment. Only a Seafarer who was familiar with the route could bring the ship close.

…

Deep into the night, Klein, who had rested an entire day, put down his newspapers and burrowed into bed.

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

Now that Danitz has returned to the Golden Dream, would it be a waste for me to stay in a large suite alone? Klein nodded indiscernibly and decided to check out at daybreak and switch to another inn.

After making up his mind, he quickly fell asleep. Suddenly, his mind became clear from its prior haziness.

He knew that some force had intruded into his dream!

I’m very impressive to be able to sense the dream intrusion of a Snake of Fate. No—the gray fog is very impressive… Klein surveyed his surroundings and discovered that he was located in a pitch-black desolate plain. Not far away was a black steeple.

This was a scene he had formerly seen in Dr. Aaron’s dream, but at this moment, there wasn’t a mysterious silver giant snake on the steeple.

Klein nodded in thought as he sped up his pace and entered the pitch-black steeple. It remained ancient and decadent. The layout was chaotic, with the staircase occasionally spiraling upwards and dropping downwards diagonally at times. Some of the rooms were normal; others were upside down, and there were others that were embedded into other parts.

Passing through, door after door and wall after wall, Klein once again arrived deep inside the black tower.

There were tarot cards scattered around here as they clustered towards the ground in the middle which was slightly protruded.

There was a line of silver words and a portrait.

The portrait was that of the chubby Apothecary, and the silver words formed the sentence: “Inform Darkwill.”

So the chubby Apothecary’s name is Darkwill… Will Auceptin really is the Snake of Fate from the Life School of Thought. And I really can use the paper crane to communicate with him in a dream… Klein waited for a moment, and seeing that there weren’t any other revelations, he exited the dream and fell asleep again.

…

After daybreak, Klein asked if there weren’t any additional charges for checking out at noon, he then put on his top hat and rode a carriage to the Red Theater’s entrance.

This famous brothel was in its quietest period of the day, it was like it was a ghost house.

Klein glanced at it before walking diagonally across to the alley and arriving outside Darkwill’s folk herb store.

He suddenly sensed something as he looked up at the roof, and he saw a fat owl perched there, looking at him.

The chubby Apothecary was apparently attempting to tame a Beyonder animal before… Klein retracted his gaze in thought as he knocked on the door.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

After waiting for a while, he saw Darkwill open the door with his eyes hardly open.

“… You aren’t sick,” Darkwill said after observing him.

Klein maintained Gehrman Sparrow’s cold expression and politely widened the corners of his mouth.

“Good morning, Mr. Apothecary.

“I’ve found your teacher.”

“For real?” Darkwill asked in disbelief. “You just received the mission the day before yesterday…”