Lord of the Mysteries

Mermaids?

Klein felt delighted as anticipation and excitement filled him.

Having left Backlund for nearly four months and experiencing a series of events, he finally arrived at the destination of his travels. He was completing the last condition needed for him to advance to Sequence 5 Nimblewright Master!

His irascibility and frustrations had been constantly growing ever since he entered these waters, and it was all thanks to the waiting. The various ridiculous and humorous matters on the Future, the matters that seemed abnormally harrowing on careful thought, and the dangers and unknown things contained within the night, noon, and dreams in the ruins of this war of gods had left him even more mentally tense. He lived through every minute and hour with great torment.

Now, the pressure from these emotions finally had a chance of being released!

Phew… Klein slowly heaved a sigh of relief. He directly returned to the cabin and entered the room that belonged to him.

Without being flustered or letting the joy get to his head, he followed the planned sequence of taking out Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane to interfere with the possible spying of Queen Mystic.

After taking out the remnant spirituality of ancient wraiths, the pair of eyes from a six-winged gargoyle, drago bark, and a metallic bottle containing Sonia Island’s Golden Spring from his suitcase, he spread them across his desk, entered the bathroom, and locked the door. He then familiarly set up the bestowment ritual.

After setting up the ritual, he wasn’t in a rush to go above the gray fog to respond to the prayer. Instead, he set up another ritual of summoning himself!

While taking four steps counterclockwise and chanting the incantation, Klein arrived above the gray fog. He responded to the summoning ritual and used his Spirit Body state to come to the real world. He then brought Tinder back to the mysterious space.

After doing all of that, Klein didn’t relax. He came to the seat of The Fool, conjured a pen and paper, and quickly wrote the divination statement: “The singing ahead comes from mermaids.”

Taking off his topaz pendant, he used divination to confirm the situation.

The singing ahead of the Future was from mermaids!

After calming his emotions, Klein summoned the iron cigar case from the junk pile and made it land on the ancient, mottled bronze table.

With a snapping sound, he opened the lid and saw the pupil-less All-Black Eye sitting there in silence. He could sense the extreme madness and danger from it, but it appeared to be in deep slumber.

After observing it for two seconds, Klein took out Tinder and slowly wore it on his right hand.

After completing all of this, Klein didn’t hesitate and reached out his right palm and spread his fingers.

All sorts of blobs of light surfaced before his eyes. Grayish-white, bronze-green, dark red, and black colors formed the foundation of this mysterious space.

And inside the All-Black Eye, there was a flaring and flailing iron-black beam lingering around the remaining colors.

Without using his spiritual intuition, Klein knew with certainty through his understanding of objects that the True Creator’s mental corruption was represented by this iron-black light!

Feeling extremely wary, he closed his fingers and grabbed at the target before turning his wrist.

The iron-black light was instantly extracted as it fused with Tinder. Immediately, the illusory, evil, terrifying, and indescribable ravings boomed in his ear like déjà vu.

This destroyed his line of thought as it ground at his psyche. It brought about a fracturing pain to his brain, but it was soon repressed by the gray fog’s power and turned completely silent.

Klein didn’t think further. He followed his plans and reenacted the trial runs that he had practiced numerous times by grabbing Tinder with his left hand, pulled it off, and threw it onto the stone ground of the magnificent palace.

Right on the heels of that, Klein grabbed the All-Black Eye which was now completely fine. He quickly replied to the bestowment ritual and passed the Nimblewright Master Beyonder characteristic through the illusory door and into the altar in the bathroom.

He didn’t dare delay any further. All he did was glance at the evil-exuding Tinder which was tainted with an iron-black color as its fingers twisted and its palm cracked opened. He then used his spirituality to envelop himself as he stimulated a plummeting sensation to return to the real world.

Klein opened his eyes, grabbed the All-Black Eye on the altar and ran out into his room. While doing so, he had a thought. If I allow Creeping Hunger to watch what happens to Tinder and its outcome, I wonder what its thoughts would be…

Coming before the desk, from the side, Klein took out an iron pot that originally belonged to the Future. He then poured 80 milliliters of Sonia Golden Spring into it.

As the pale gold liquid slowly spread out in a clear and transparent state, it made him subconsciously feel thirsty, as if he wished to drink a cup of it to quench his thirst.

The items—drago bark, eyes of the six-winged gargoyle, and the remnant spirituality of an ancient wraith—were thrown into the pot by Klein, causing different reactions. Finally, the potion turned into a pale gold color, but it looked ethereal as though it was weightless.

At this critical juncture, Klein became abnormally calm instead. He steadily picked up the pupil-less black eye and dropped it into the potion.

He had already confirmed that the True Creator’s mental corruption hadn’t penetrated the gray fog or returned inside the All-Black Eye!

And this was something he had expected.

The All-Black Eye was instantly submerged by the pale gold liquid as the surface began bubbling.

Every bursting bubble made the potion turn blacker. About ten seconds later, all the changes came to a halt.

Inside the pot, the potion took form as a completely black liquid. Inside, it seemed to contain countless tiny worms that were squirming about, worms that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.

Klein took out a gold coin and made a quick divination as a confirmation.

After receiving the revelation that it was a success, he heaved a sigh of relief and poured the Nimblewright Master potion into a metallic bottle he had prepared and stuffed it into his pocket.

He didn’t act in a fluster or rush. He followed the process he had planned by quickly clearing up the altar in the bathroom, and he retrieved Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane.

At this point, he walked out of the cabin and onto the deck.

At this moment, the symbols and magical labels on the Future had once again lit up, forming a resplendent sea of stars. It significantly reduced the mermaids’ singing.

Rumors claimed that the singing of mermaids could make humans lose their reasoning and turn irrational. They would then jump off their ships to become food for the mermaids.

Klein subconsciously nodded at the window corresponding to the captain’s cabin.

Admiral of Stars was standing there as her body swirled with starlight. The gaze she sent back at him appeared mixed.

Have you recalled what you said and how you acted in the dream? Klein lampooned as he said with a calm expression, “I need a dinghy.”

“It has already been prepared.” Cattleya pointed towards the shipboard without any signs of surprise.

Gehrman Sparrow had mentioned that his purpose was to seek out mermaids back when he hired the Future!

Soon, Klein left the Future and the protection of the resplendent sea of stars. He headed into the ocean on his tiny dinghy.

As the singing grew louder, a voice seemed to drill into his Spirit Body, numbing his body, making him wish to hear more of it.

This was far from sufficient for Klein. Besides, his spiritual intuition told him that he needed to be closer to make the singing clearer so as to satisfy the requirements of the ritual.

“Storm!”

Klein took out a charm made of tin, and he summoned a controllable gale that could push the dinghy ahead.

After an unknown period of time, the mermaid’s singing increased in volume. They were so clear, it was as though they were singing softly by Klein’s ears. Each tone stirred his Spirit Body, and the melody was intoxicating.

Klein felt his mind adrift as he nearly jumped into the sea and swam towards the source of the melodic singing.

He tried his best to control himself and discovered many reefs ahead. Figures were seated at its edge as they sang.

These creatures with a human head had quite some beauty in their clear, pure eyes. Their breasts were lifted up high, but they were also covered by dark red scales. The lower halves of their bodies were comprised of massive fishtails as they rhythmically struck the reef.

The mermaids looked different and had different colored scales. From a human’s standpoint, they were all a different kind of beauty.

Klein relinquished his control of the dinghy, raised his right hand, and reached into his pocket for the potion.

At that moment, the mermaids sensed his approach and looked over.

Then, these creatures, who were also known as sirens, stopped singing out of shock. All of them leaped into the water with a splash.

Don’t go… Klein feebly reached out with his right hand.

Isn’t it said that you use your singing to attract humans for food? Why are you running with a human here? I’m not a bad guy. I’m only here to listen to your singing… At this moment, Klein’s heart was filled with “what the f**k” emotions.

He soon discovered that the mermaids’ singing didn’t completely stop. Further away on the reef were a few mermaids with their backs facing him. They didn’t discover the fleeing of their companions, due to the crashing of the winds as they continued boldly singing.

Klein’s mind stirred as he thought for a moment and took out a charm.

This was the charm from the Sea God domain that gave the user affinity with underwater creatures!

“Storm!”

Amidst the incantation, blue flames enveloped the tin plate, making it vanish from the real world.

Although the remaining mermaids noticed him, they didn’t flee in fear. Immediately, Klein took out the metal bottle containing the Nimblewright Master potion and unscrewed the lid.

He made every second count so as to prevent any mishaps!

As he gulped the potion down, a somewhat bitter potion with a mustiness surged down his throat, into his gullet, and into his stomach.

Suddenly, Klein found himself abnormally stiff. He felt as though he had returned to Tingen, back when he was being controlled by the strange puppet known as Sealed Artifact 2-049.

He tried moving his joints, but he felt as though they were filled with lead.

At the same time, he felt that tiny worms were boring into every one of his cells and into his Spirit Body.

His thoughts slowed down as his brain reflected the gradual loss of control over his body.

The mermaids’ singing floated over, stirring those desires, the accumulated fanaticism and infatuation, allowing Klein to hold onto his final lumps of emotions. Through this temptation, he slowly escaped the state of petrification.

A grayish-white fog quickly surfaced before his eyes as he heard the illusory ravings of “Hornacis… Flegrea… Hornacis… Flegrea…” Compared to his advancement to a Seer, Clown, and Magician, these ravings appeared staccato, as though they were being disrupted by something.

It’s different from when I became a Faceless. The ravings are clearly much stronger. It can intermittently break through the obstacles produced from the fusion of the powers of the gray fog and reality… I can think again! Klein was delighted as he attempted to raise his arm.

His joints still felt heavy, but the feeling was weakening!

At the same time, Klein “saw” his present appearance.

His skin was yellowish-brown, like a puppet that had been buried alive for years with old bandages.

Fleshy tendrils were hidden beneath his skin as they squirmed, separated, and fused.

Klein immediately outlined the countless spherical lights in his mind, and he used Cogitation to calm his present state.

During this process, the mermaids’ singing continued to reverberate in his ears, allowing his joints and muscles to twitch before the numbness slowly receded.

After an unknown period of time, Klein opened his eyes, his body having completely restored to normal.

He took a deep breath and silently sighed.

Finally…

I’m finally a Sequence 5!

I’m finally a Nimblewright Master!