Coincidence

Aster's silver eyes became somewhat translucent. As he directly summoned spirits in the alley, he considered how to deal with Lanevus.

Summoning spirits outdoors was relatively dangerous. Without cover, it was difficult to create a Wall of Spirituality, and the summoning ritual had a certain chance of attracting powerful and unpredictable entities.

The spirits Aster summoned had all formed contracts with him, so it was somewhat safer.

After summoning thirteen combat-capable spirits, Aster had one stealthy spirit begin investigating Room 201 of the Rose Hotel at No. 4 Olsna Street.

While waiting for the spirit to bring back information, Aster reviewed his strategy for Lanevus.

"Lanevus is a boss with fairly high randomness. During phase one, he continuously summons polluted runaway creatures and Aurora Order members to surround the players. When the adds die, they explode, and they also explode if they remain alive for more than a minute. While the adds harass and attack the players, he constantly channels high-damage targeted AoEs, once every five seconds. Players who get hit twice die on the spot..."

"You have to use his targeted AoEs to blow up adds below 20% health... Hmm, I can't rely completely on the game guide. When he was in Backlund, he could summon adds because he worked with the Aurora Order, but he probably hasn't gotten involved with them yet... So he shouldn't have that mechanic."

"Phase two has him absorb all the adds to awaken the True Creator's divinity within him and transform into an Iron Giant... If I go all out, I'm about seventy percent sure I can kill him, assuming his current strength doesn't exceed that Lanevus from the game... If it really comes down to it, I can summon Alidibus. That big shot is definitely a Demigod. Killing Lanevus would be easy... I just don't know what price I'd have to pay, so I'll keep that as a backup option..."

A normal Spirit Medium had around twenty Spirit Contract slots. An experienced Spirit Medium would contract roughly five offensive spirits, ten functional spirits skilled in divination, reconnaissance, or control, and leave five slots open as backups.

But Aster was rather different—he had twice as many Spirit Contract slots as an ordinary Spirit Medium, reaching an astonishing forty!

Aster could not figure out why. He only felt that either the Crawley Family pendant he wore was having an effect, or the ten pet slots he had received from completing an event in the game were still working.

Still, he could not be bothered to investigate the true reason. Wasn't having more pet slots a good thing? Dwelling on things he could not understand would only create more worries. Things would work themselves out when the time came.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Aster pressed a hand to his temple. Through the connection of the contract, he sensed the information brought back by the scouting spirit.

"There's no one in the room, and I didn't find any traps." The ethereal voice rang out in his mind. Aster turned his head and, unsurprisingly, found that the spirit had already returned to his side.

"No one..." Aster frowned, then led the spirits quickly across the street and into the Rose Hotel.

"My friend left something in Room 201. He asked me to come get it." Aster knocked on the hotel counter, frowned, put on an irritable expression, and spoke loudly to the waitress.

"Sir, I'll need you to provide the key and the information registered by the room's occupant." After looking at Aster's face and committing his appearance to memory, the waitress replied politely.

"I don't have the key. Also, his name is Lanevus." Aster appeared somewhat impatient.

"Lanevus... Yes, that gentleman was indeed registered under that name, but he checked out and left this morning." The waitress checked the register before answering.

He left... How could that be? Did he receive word and run away? Damn it, I really wasn't discreet enough...

Aster instinctively wanted to chop something apart to vent his frustration, but then he remembered that he was on the Death Pathway and could no longer go around hacking people up like before.

"You people are such a pain..." Muttering complaints, Aster took out some money and placed it on the counter. "Then I want to rent that room. I need to go in and retrieve what he left there..."

"Sir, I should remind you that Room 201 has already been cleaned. Our cleaning staff did not find any valuable belongings left behind." The waitress glanced up at him and pushed over the guest registration form. "Please fill this out." She was a little puzzled as well. He was only going in to retrieve something—was there any need to spend money renting a room again? He could have simply made a request, and she would have opened the door for him to check... Still, the waitress did not point that out. It was not her money being wasted anyway.

"What counts as something left behind isn't for you to decide... All right, hurry up and give me that damned key!" Aster cursed gruffly, handed over a fake identification document, quickly filled out the registration form, snatched the key, and ran up to the second floor.

That excuse was terribly clumsy... The waitress watched his hurried retreating figure with some confusion.

Why would someone who had checked out deliberately leave something in a vacated room for a friend to retrieve?

Could he be a Detective? Or one of those people here to catch a cheating spouse... Or maybe a fugitive meeting a contact? He looks so irritable, but he gives me such a chilling feeling... The waitress silently lifted a cup of hot black tea and took a sip.

In any case, it was none of her business. Playing dumb was best.

"There's no danger inside. There's no danger inside..."

Using the pendant as a pendulum, Aster performed Pendulum Divination outside Room 201. Only after confirming it was safe did he insert the key into the door.

Pushing open the door, he walked straight to the bed, looked at a faceless spirit beside him, and asked in Ancient Hermes, "What did the last person who slept in this bed look like?"

"..." The faceless spirit said nothing. A face slowly emerged where its head should have been—broad forehead, black hair, brown eyes, and lips curved slightly upward, as though mocking everyone.

"It really was him..." Aster murmured.

Those were Lanevus's features!

When Aster had first challenged Lanevus, he had still been a clueless beginner. He did not know how many times he had been blown to death in that instance, so he could not have been more familiar with that face. Moreover, every time Lanevus attacked, he would throw out a few taunting lines, aggressive in every sense—whether in mechanics, numbers, or dialogue.

Aster would never forget that punchable face.

I need to find out where that bastard went as soon as possible. I have a feeling he'll cause a lot of trouble... Aster entered the washroom, took a candle from his pocket, lit it, and placed it on the sink between himself and the mirror.

"I call upon you to come..." Aster raised a hand and placed it against the mirror. "In my name, answer me, Aster Crowley..."

As he whispered, the Aster in the mirror also raised his hand at the exact moment Aster did and pressed it against the mirror.

However, both of them had raised their left hands.

"Did Lanevus once reside in this room?" Aster stared at his smiling reflection and asked expressionlessly.

This was one of the Spirit Channeling abilities mastered by Spirit Mediums: Self-Spirit Channeling!

It was also the most precise divination-like ability Aster currently possessed. Its essence was to ask one's own spirituality and obtain answers from the Spirit World, operating on the same principle as divination. What Aster used now was a Self-Spirit Channeling method improved by a previous Death Pathway player—using a mirror as the medium to question his own spirituality directly!

"That's right. It isn't what you were worried about. The one who stayed here truly was Lanevus himself, not someone transformed by a Faceless." The Aster in the mirror pressed one hand to the mirror and spread open the other. "You don't need to be too anxious. I can sense that he has already left Tingen. At the very least, you definitely won't run into him today."

For the Aster in the mirror, divination came purely by instinct.

"...Can you see why he left?" Aster's brow furrowed deeply. He isn't never coming back, is he? Did I scare him away? Would that actually be good? He can go wherever he wants, as long as he doesn't cause trouble here... If those important NPCs die, I'll really be fighting alone.

"I can't see it, but I didn't sense any Beyonder factors. Perhaps it was merely a coincidence." The self in the mirror was actually Aster himself, able to directly obtain information from the Spirit World. He was serious when it mattered and would never intentionally harm the original body. Sensing Aster's urge to retreat, he shook his head and reminded him:

"You'd better not entertain such naïve thoughts. I can sense that Lanevus will most likely return."

"I understand." Aster nodded and asked his final question. "Where did he go?"

"Sivellas County." After answering for the third time, the reflection pressed his other hand against the mirror while withdrawing the left hand that had already been touching it.

The instant his right hand overlapped with Aster's left hand against the mirror, the cold, eerie aura flowing through the washroom vanished. The Aster in the mirror also took on the exact same expression as the Aster outside it.

This was how Mirror Self-Spirit Channeling was cut off: synchronizing the reflection with the original body.

It was actually such a coincidence... I only found this place today, and he hurriedly left today... After ending the Self-Spirit Channeling, Aster wearily pressed a hand to his head and flopped directly onto the bed, utterly unconcerned that Lanevus had been staying in this room that very morning.

The Mirror Self-Spirit Channeling Aster used was more effective than normal Self-Spirit Channeling, but it was also far more dangerous. Aster's will could only sustain three questions; any more, and he might suffer a split personality.

That previous Death Pathway player had used Mirror Spirit Channeling too often, causing his character to receive the "Mental Fragmentation" debuff. He had no choice but to seek help from other players on the Spectator Pathway to repair it.

Furthermore, Self-Spirit Channeling consumed an enormous amount of spirituality, so Aster rarely used it unless he encountered a relatively cunning and troublesome enemy like he had today.

Using his last bit of energy to dismiss several spirits, leaving only a few behind to stand guard, Aster swiftly fell asleep and began replenishing his spirituality.