Meeting Again

"I will only pay a total of two thousand gold pounds." Facing the Hanged Man's reminder, Aster smiled faintly. "After deducting the cost of purchasing the materials, the rest of the money is yours."

"That's a fairly reasonable offer." The Hanged Man nodded calmly. Under normal circumstances, a Beyonder material corresponding to Sequence 6 was worth around fifteen hundred pounds. During a markup, its price could rise to eighteen hundred or even two thousand pounds.

Both the offer and the method of paying the brokerage fee clearly displayed Aster's forcefulness, but Alger had been mentally prepared.

Other than Aster, no one else was seeking to purchase Beyonder materials. Audrey had only just advanced to Spectator and had not even figured out the acting principles yet; Alger had also advanced not long ago and had no intention of buying Beyonder materials for the time being.

"Justice" looked toward the "Hanged Man" and carefully organized her words before asking, "Where can I come into contact with members of the Psychology Alchemists?"

"The Hanged Man," Alger Wilson, shook his head. "Miss Justice, first, I don't know any clues. Second, I don't think you need to be in such a hurry to find the Psychology Alchemists. Your current priority should be digesting the Spectator potion."

That was true... "Lovers" Aster rather agreed with Alger's suggestion.

Audrey Hall was only a Sequence 9 Spectator at this point. It would be difficult for her to conceal her true thoughts before members of the Psychology Alchemists. It would only be somewhat safer for her to contact them after advancing to Sequence 8.

"I know of a member of the Psychology Alchemists in Backlund." Aster still spoke up. "He's a Sequence 8 Telepathist. It's difficult for a Sequence 9 to hide their true intentions before him... As long as you show an interest in psychological matters in front of him, he'll definitely find an opportunity to invite you to join the Psychology Alchemists."

He ultimately decided to sell this intelligence for no other reason than that Aster was nearly out of money as well.

When there was a wealthy sucker to fleece, he naturally had to fleece them... Aster stroked his chin, considering which unlucky person's information he should hand over to "Justice"—those members of the Psychology Alchemists were all yellow-named monsters he had killed in the game.

Don't contact the Psychology Alchemists before Sequence 8... Hearing the underlying meaning in "Lovers" words, Audrey nodded expectantly. "Mr. Lovers, what payment should I offer?"

"Two hundred pounds." Aster had wanted to name an exorbitant price and wring this rich girl dry, but for the sake of his credibility and reputation in the Tarot Club, he ultimately named a fairly reasonable price.

Audrey, that wealthy girl, truly did not care about such a small sum. This transaction was also the final one of today's Tarot Club gathering. Afterward, the members discussed secret organizations. Klein listened very attentively. Whether it was "Lovers" or the "Hanged Man," their understanding of the Beyonder world far surpassed his own as a mysticism novice.

Having learned his lesson last time, Klein desperately wished they could continue discussing things forever, but his spirituality clearly could not support that. The Tarot Club ended before long. Klein sighed and once again attempted to simulate the actions of an alternate account, but ultimately failed.

In that case, I can only hope Miss Justice plays along and asks a few more questions... Klein sighed softly and once again summoned the three members' copies of Roselle's Diary to read over and over.

Just then, he suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation from a Crimson Star beside him!

A prayer?

Klein's spirits lifted, and he extended his spirituality toward that star.

"Ah, Miss Angelica, there's no need to be so hostile toward me." Standing at the entrance to the Divination Club, Aster spread his hands helplessly. "Didn't Mr. Gracis explain things to you?"

"Mr. Melvin... Mr. Gracis truly never mentioned this to me." Angelica looked somewhat wary. "Last time, he only claimed that you knew bizarre evil sorcery and easily obtained trade secrets from him..."

"But he didn't call the police, did he?" Aster shrugged and pressed a banknote onto the desk. "I'm looking for Klein Moretti... He isn't here now? Then may I wait for him in the Yellow Crystal Room?"

"You may wait for Mr. Moretti in the activity room." Angelica ultimately yielded. "However, if you commit any more aggressive acts against our members, you will be blacklisted by the Divination Club."

"Thank you for your tolerance." Aster sat down in the activity room and pulled a copy of History of Loen Nobility from the bookshelf to read.

When he used to play the game, there had also been many books and documents that could be read in-game, but Aster had hardly ever read them. Unless there was some particularly interesting joke, he would not even consider picking one up. But that was in the past. Now that he had transmigrated into the game, Aster knew perfectly well that he could no longer rush blindly into dungeons and slaughter everything in sight—understanding intelligence and history could effectively improve his chances of survival.

After reading for about an hour, Aster closed the book, returned it to the shelf, then stood and turned toward Klein, who had silently appeared behind him. "Going to the Yellow Crystal Room?"

He had always kept several spirits stationed around him. The moment Klein went upstairs, Aster received the information.

"Sure. I have something to ask you as well." After their previous encounter, Klein remained cautious toward Melvin, but he was somewhat less guarded.

The Yellow Crystal Room was Klein's spawn point in the game. Players could come here to find him if they needed divination or wanted to accept quests.

Aster closed the door to the Yellow Crystal Room and sat across from Klein. "You can relax a little. I believe that, based on everything I've done so far, I should have earned the most basic trust of the official Beyonders."

"All right, Mr. Melvin..." Klein fell silent for a moment before asking first:

"How is Lanevus now?"

"Hmm, let me think..." Aster gave him an appraising look. "I'm guessing that, after my interference, his scam in Tingen completely failed, right? You put out a warrant for him, didn't you?"

"Yes. The bounty was over a hundred pounds," Klein replied. Prompted by the question, he also guessed Lanevus's fate. "He died?"

"Yes. It's a pity I had no evidence, or I could have claimed the bounty." Aster made a cold joke. Naturally, he could not personally collect the bounty while exposing his identity as a Beyonder... Besides, when he killed Lanevus, the True Creator had temporarily assigned him a quest, leaving him with no mind to deal with Lanevus's corpse. Coupled with the motive of preventing divination, Aster had ultimately chosen to use Black Flame to destroy the body.

"Mm, I'm done asking. Then, shall we do it like last time, one question and one answer?" Klein observed Melvin's expression. He could tell that when the other man mentioned Lanevus's death, obvious brutality and bloodlust had flashed through his eyes.

At the very least, he doesn't reject killing... He's quite dangerous. Even if Melvin helped Old Neil and the Mandated Punishers, I can't let down my guard... Klein silently reminded himself.

"If you're still nervous, of course we can... But personally, I prefer a more efficient approach. If there's anything you want to ask me, just ask directly." Aster crossed his legs, looking very relaxed.

Hearing Melvin's words, Klein recalled the advice Miss Daly had given him while tutoring him in mysticism these past few days:

"If that Melvin truly is a Spirit Medium, then when speaking with him, try not to look into his eyes. Many Spirit Medium spell-like abilities require eye contact to use."

"Besides that, be careful of the spirits he carries... Some radical Spirit Mediums allow spirits to possess them so that they can borrow the spirits' power... That harms the user greatly, but we cannot rule out the possibility that he might do it."

"Your Silver Eyes... are very unusual." After a brief moment of thought, Klein brought up Melvin's eye color.

Those Silver Eyes were remarkably distinctive. Their color was clear as a mirror, giving off an indifferent and chilly feeling. Since transmigrating, Klein had only seen Melvin with that eye color.

And during that battle with Ray Bieber, both 2-049 and Klein's own eye color had turned the same silver as Melvin's!

Although his eye color had returned to normal not long afterward... Although Miss Daly had examined him and concluded that everything was normal...

Klein did not have a habit of treating his life as a joke. Some hidden dangers could not be ignored merely by closing one's eyes.

Melvin was the only Beyonder Klein could currently contact who might know what was going on with the "Silver Eyes." Naturally, he could not let this clue go.

Of course, Klein's question was at least somewhat indirect: "Are your eyes an outward manifestation of a Beyonder Ability?"

"...I don't think so." Aster was always very perceptive at times like this. "I've always had Silver Eyes, and they haven't given me any special abilities related to vision."

Aster actually knew very little about his own eye color. He did not even know whether his Silver Eyes were a hereditary trait of the Crowley Family.

That was because when he transmigrated here, he had not received any of the original Aster Crowley's memories—not even the slightest trace. It was remarkably clean.

Fortunately, the Crowley Family had already gone bankrupt at the time, and all of this body's relatives had died. Thinking quickly, Aster dismissed all the servants in the household on the grounds that he was overwhelmed by grief and had lost his title.

Only after ensuring that everyone who might discover he was a transmigrator had moved far away from him did Aster relax for a while.

"You may as well make yourself clearer." Seeing Klein's somewhat evasive gaze, Aster sighed. "We're exchanging information right now. There's no need for excessive concealment... And let me remind you once more: whether in the Beyonder world or the ordinary world, what one pays is always equal to what one gains—your questions may obtain information, but the questions you ask will also reveal your intentions."