Klein

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Klein is a transmigrator also known as Zhou Mingrui. Meeting someone who recognizes that name and wears modern clothing gives him hope of understanding his transmigration and finding a way home. Neph promises to explain the truth once she leaves the Forsaken Land of the Gods, but her reluctance leads him to suspect that the answer will not be what he wants 10 11 41.

On September 9, 1349, Megose entered Blackthorn Security Company and the True Creator’s offspring descended. Klein remembers his captain using Saint Selena’s Ashes, his captain’s death, and his own death. Neph later identifies Ince Zangwill and the reality-writing Sealed Artifact 0-08 as the forces behind the events in Tingen 7 9 13.

Neph’s repeated prayers rouse Klein in his coffin earlier than expected. When he emerges, Azik is visiting his grave and helps him deal with the aftermath. Azik advises him not to return to the Church of Evernight, but to begin a new life somewhere unfamiliar. Klein subsequently establishes himself as a detective in Backlund 9 10 35 37.

Appearance

• Hair and eyes: Black hair and brown eyes 10.
• Clothing at resurrection: Formal tailcoat attire 10.
• Complexion at resurrection: His hand is described as slightly pale as he pushes aside the coffin lid and grave slab 10.

Personality

Klein is cautious about unfamiliar information and supernatural risks. He investigates Neph’s origins through dream divination, checks whether summoning her is safe, and independently verifies both her potion formula and her account of Ince Zangwill. His curiosity is persistent, but he accepts that some knowledge is dangerous or cannot yet be freely discussed 10 13 21.

He is earnest about repaying help. When Neph gives him potion formulas, he values the opportunity to prepare early rather than dismissing the gift as something he would eventually obtain anyway. He also writes to Azik to apologize for spending bounty money that he believes rightfully belongs to him 12 35.

Financial pressure regularly unsettles him: he bargains over potion formulas, reluctantly pays gathering fees, and agonizes over a ten-thousand-pound obligation. Nevertheless, he refuses the complete Unshadowed formula partly because supplying it to an Aurora Order member could strengthen a dangerous organization 26 27 30 35.

Abilities & Skills

Divination

Klein uses dream divination and a bracelet to investigate people, verify information, and assess danger 10 13.

• Confirms that summoning Neph to Sefirah Castle is safe 10.
• Verifies the authenticity of her potion formula and information about Ince Zangwill 13.
• Prepares a divination concerning the risks of hiring Maric’s friend 30.
• Limit: Investigating Neph’s origins triggers a freezing defense that nearly turns him into an ice sculpture; Sefirah Castle’s gray fog releases him 10.

Sefirah Castle

Klein accesses the palace above the gray fog and uses its crimson stars to receive prayers and summon participants 10 16.

• Hosts Tarot Club gatherings and private conversations 16 20.
• Teaches members sacrificial and bestowal rituals for transferring supplies 19.
• Creates furnishings, writing materials, and projections within the space 10 12 32.
• Limit: His available spirituality constrains gathering length. Neph’s crimson star later shows only a white expanse, leaving him unable to locate her 20 49.

Resurrection

Klein returns to life after the Megose incident, gradually regaining sensation and movement before climbing out of his grave 9 10.

• Neph tells him that he can revive four times and has already used two of those revivals 20.
• Her prayers bring his emergence from the grave forward, allowing him to encounter Azik 37.

Clown Expression Control

Klein uses his Clown Beyonder ability to keep his expression composed when Neph unexpectedly imitates his table-tapping gesture during a gathering 33.

Mr. World Projection

Using the All-Black Eye, Klein controls Mr. World as an apparently separate Tarot Club member 32.

• Speaks through World in a gloomy, raspy voice and can adjust that voice 32.
• Uses World to request materials and negotiate trades 33 43.
• Limit: The early projection requires active attention; World topples when Klein’s focus shifts 32.

Investigation and Information Trading

• Builds a reputation through successful detective commissions in Backlund 35.
• Conceals his Beyonder knowledge while selling a Hunter characteristic, preserving his cover as an ordinary person 28.
• Uses Roselle’s Diary to narrow down the likely hiding place of a Card of Blasphemy, then memorizes the exhibition layout while considering how to retrieve it 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Creeping Hunger — A black, thin glove sent by Azik. His seals prevent ordinary hunger, but each use requires feeding it a human soul, flesh, and blood; otherwise, it will devour its wearer. Klein takes it to Sefirah Castle for study 35 36.
• All-Black Eye — Used to create and control Mr. World’s projection 32.
• Azik’s Copper Whistle — Summons Azik’s messenger and can cause zombies to mutate, prompting Klein’s caution around Maric 29 35.
• Rune Steel Sword — Obtained in exchange for the Barbarian potion formula. Made by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, it has purification and exorcism effects and three years of remaining usability at the time of purchase 27.
• Listener-derived charms — Powerful enough to affect Mid-Sequence Beyonders. Klein still considers a bodyguard necessary because a Marionettist might prevent him from deploying them 29.
• Potion formulas — Receives Sequences 7–5 of his pathway from Neph and purchases the Lawyer pathway’s Sequence 8 Barbarian formula for five hundred pounds 12 26.
• Lanevus’s badge — Bears symbols of fate and concealment; Neph identifies its connection to the Hermits of Fate 45.

Relationships

• Neph / Cheng Jianxue / Pure White — Fellow transmigrator, Tarot Club member, and major source of formulas and warnings. Klein admits her to the club, relies on her guidance, and becomes increasingly worried when her crimson star no longer reveals her location 10 11 12 16 49.
• Azik Eggers — Trusted adviser who witnesses his resurrection, recommends a fresh start, and later sends him Creeping Hunger. Klein feels obliged to repay bounty money he believes belongs to Azik 10 35 36.
• Audrey / Justice — Tarot Club member who arranges Beckland’s assassination and discusses the remaining reward with the Fool. Klein also assigns her a task to assess two prospective members 29 32 33.
• Alger / Hanged Man — Tarot Club member who supplies Roselle’s Diary pages and negotiates with World over obtaining Beyonder materials 16 33 43.
• Derrick / Sun — Tarot Club member who seeks a stronger weapon and helps source Mist Treant ingredients for Klein’s Magician potion 25 27 43.
• Kaspars Kanlin — Contact at the Bravehearts Bar who introduces Klein to a private Beyonder gathering and facilitates contact with Maric 26 27 29.
• Maric — Offers to arrange three days of protection from a stronger female friend for one thousand pounds 29.
• Ince Zangwill — Identified by Neph as the person who used 0-08 to script the Tingen events that caused Klein’s death 13.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Meeting Pure White

• Neph’s prayer addresses him as Zhou Mingrui and asks for access to Sefirah Castle, revealing knowledge that no ordinary stranger should possess 10.
• She presents her knowledge of his life as a “history of the future,” while withholding dangerous information about the apocalypse and Sefirah Castle 11.
• Klein accepts her requested twenty-third seat and the name Pure White, then formally introduces her to the Tarot Club 12 16.

Beckland and the Marionettist Threat

• After commissioning Beckland’s assassination, Klein learns from Neph that the ambassador has a Sequence 5 Marionettist assistant who may target him 25.
• Her warnings guide his purchases and bodyguard arrangements, including caution against Faceless Beyonders who can change their appearance 25 26 28 29.
• The assassination and protection costs leave him facing substantial debt. Azik’s subsequent letter relieves the bounty-money obligation and provides Creeping Hunger 29 35 36.

Magician Advancement and Pure White’s Disappearance

• With Neph coordinating ingredient requests, Klein advances to Magician and enthusiastically announces the achievement to her 25 32 43 45.
• When Neph becomes unreachable, he tells the Tarot Club that she has requested leave and conducts the gathering without her 49.
• He continues investigating Roselle’s hidden Card of Blasphemy, but another unsuccessful check of Neph’s star leaves him fearing that something has gone wrong 49.

Notable Quotes

“But you chose to give them to me. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can start preparing.” 12

Trivia

• The name Fool is also the Seer pathway’s Sequence 0 title. Neph explicitly distinguishes Klein’s existing persona from actual attainment of that Sequence 34.
• The author identifies Klein’s early encounter with Azik and early acquisition of Creeping Hunger as changes caused by Neph’s intervention 37.