An agreement made three hundred years ago
Empty your mind. Let your spirit grow as still as the crystal ball.
Maternal Grandmother had once said that divination placed great importance on ritual-not because those rituals necessarily had much influence on the outcome, but because they helped adjust the diviner's or medium's own state.
Of course, those without any genuine ability, who were only out to swindle people, also used rituals to create a dazzling air of mystery.
From playing at it as a child, to occasionally doing it for amusement as an adult, to now making a living from it.
Su Su had performed divination many times, but she had never slipped into the right state as quickly as she did today.
Almost the instant she quieted her mind, the magic power within her began spreading over the surface of her body.
It soon formed a connection with the crystal ball.
The mystic realm's power had already settled upon Su Su, temporarily allowing her to use it to exchange information with the world around her.
The slips of paper her mentor had provided lay beside her hand.
Su Su lightly brushed her right fingertips over the information on the paper. The magic power between them passed over the names of people and places little by little, like dancing musical notes.
As she brushed over each person's name, some seemed to bring an unfamiliar voice to her ears-sometimes speaking, sometimes weeping in sorrow, sometimes laughing out loud.
Others produced a jumble of disordered sounds that seemed rather chaotic. Only a very few gave little response.
These must have belonged to the people bearing those names.
Whenever her fingertips passed over a place name, illusory scenery appeared inside the crystal ball like a mirage, some as distinct as a painting, others hazy