With a whoosh, a silvery-white lightning bolt, shaped like a tree branch, lit up the early winter night.
It didn't cleave down, but instead pierced through the air, illuminating the area around where Klein had just stood as if it were daytime, revealing every detail.
" The Songster of God " Ace Snake withdrew his gaze, his face grim as he muttered:
" The Rose School of Thought?"
"It's not a ' Wraith,' nor is it a true undead creature..."
A mature middle-aged man with golden eyes glanced at Capim's corpse and said:
The target's body was covered with tarot cards...
This is the second similar case in the last two months.
"When was the first time?" Snake asked in a deep voice.
A mature, middle-aged man in a sharp suit coughed lightly and said:
"The ' True Creator ' attempted to use the arrival of a fraudster."
"Then it's not the Rose School of Thought," Snake asserted.
Those organizations that believe in evil gods, although they dislike each other, will not deliberately sabotage such things. On the contrary, they have a mentality of enjoying the outcome and waiting for the other party to stir up trouble first.
"I think so too. Perhaps it's a newly emerged Concealment organization, their hallmark being the covering of their targets with tarot cards," the mature and handsome middle-aged man chuckled. "And the different ways the tarot cards are presented seem to express different meanings... This corpse only had two cards covering its face, one ' Judgement ' and one 'The Emperor.' ' Judgement ' represents the motive and purpose, while 'The Emperor' is the code name of the person from earlier? Of course, it could also be a ritual."
Snake did not answer, but looked around and said:
Let's see what's going on here.
It was only at this point that the first group of Mandated Punishers arrived at Capim's villa.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein, who had only used the " Paper Figurine Substitute " three times and had not yet reached his limit, was using Divination to confirm Daisy's safety.
"May Daisy return home safely." He held the pendulum in his left hand, closed his eyes, and silently recited the words.
After seven repetitions, Klein opened his eyes and saw the citrine pendant rotating counterclockwise, but with a very small amplitude and a very slow speed.
This means that Daisy's journey home will still have a few minor hiccups, but they are almost negligible... After interpreting the revelation, Klein put aside his last worries.
He then looked at the two items placed in front of him, both of which emitted a rather strong Spirituality light.
One of them is a light blue, semi-transparent hexagonal prism, with wisps of light occasionally flashing through it, like lightning from the depths of consciousness— Beyonder Characteristic left behind by Lady Kitty.
The other item belonged to Parker, who hadn't been able to contribute in the previous battle; his Beyonder Characteristic were condensed into a ball, like a child's fist.
This "fist" is composed of three colors: iron black and dark red intertwined with large areas of silver white.
Without hesitation, Klein immediately conjured paper and pen, preparing to use these two Beyonder Characteristic Divination to divine the corresponding Potion recipe.
Before he advanced to Sequence 7, his remaining Beyonder Characteristic had too many additional effects, making it almost impossible for him to use this Divination formula, even with this mysterious space eliminating interference and enhancing his Divination abilities to some extent.
Therefore, in the past, Klein only had " Spirit Channeling " as a method.
Only after becoming a " Magician " did he begin to possess the ability to Divination using his remaining Beyonder Characteristic above the Gray Fog, though he was unlikely to succeed.
This time, without exception, Klein suffered a shameful defeat.
However, he also gained something: he figured out the Sequence names corresponding to the two Beyonder Characteristic.
" Parker is Sequence 8 ' Sheriff,' Kitty is Sequence 7 ' Interrogator '... Isn't this the ' Arbiter ' pathway? This pathway is controlled by the royal family, the military, and a small number of older noble families in Loen, and they strictly control the leakage of formulas and extraordinary materials... Could it be that some of the girls Capim kidnapped will be sent to some noble's manor?"
"But they wouldn't send four extraordinary beings to help Capin just for their own enjoyment; it's clearly unequal... Heras is much stronger than Katie, perhaps a Sequence 6 on this path, and with that glove, he might even reach Sequence 5... Could it be that some bloody and sinister rituals are involved, and the target they're seeking can't be revealed?"
"Besides within the kingdom, the Castiya Family of Feynapotter also controls this Beyonder Pathway, which has been transmitted to their military and intelligence systems... Is this yet another espionage case involving unknown matters?"
Klein tried to Divination a few of his predictions, but failed again.
He temporarily put the matter out of his mind, and instead tapped lightly on the edge of the bronze table, muttering to himself:
"Given the recipe and the corresponding auxiliary materials, these two Beyonder Characteristic can respectively enable one to become Sequence 8 ' Sheriff ' and Sequence 7 ' Interrogator '... It seems that Miss ' Magician's' friend named Hugh is lacking the extraordinary materials for becoming a ' Sheriff '..."
"Next time, I can use 'The World' to sell Parker's copy to Miss ' The Magician ' and quickly accumulate the material costs for my subsequent ' Faceless ' Sequence... Always using 'The World' doesn't seem quite right. This time, I deliberately kept the Tarot cards. If Miss ' Justice ' hears about this, she'll definitely think it was done by my Blessed... I'll have Mr. ' The Fool ' sell them for her..."
Klein quickly finalized the plan and allowed the Beyonder Characteristic of the " Sheriff " and " Interrogator " to fly to a corner and hide in a pile of clutter.
"I wonder what Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 of the ' Arbiter ' pathway are called... It feels like it's using order and law... ' Judge '?" Klein pulled himself out of his thoughts, half-closed his eyes, and carefully examined his own state.
He regained his Spirituality and became lively; the Potion was activated, and he felt his digestion accelerating.
This time, he intuitively believed that he had summarized most of the " Magician Code." It would be better if some of the remaining details were included, but it wouldn't matter if they weren't, as they wouldn't significantly affect his progress in understanding the rules.
The round-bellied fountain pen and parchment material materialized, and Klein wrote with enhanced memory as if...
Magician Code:
1. Do not perform unprepared;
2. Challenge the impossible, even if the final result is false;
Klein believes that the above are the two core rules of the " Magician Code." Grasping these two rules means grasping the key, and the rest are supplements and improvements to them.
3. Take the initiative to perform more often;
4. Try to get applause from the Spectator;
5. Control the target's attention.
Setting down the dark red, round-bellied fountain pen, Klein scanned the entire document from beginning to end and made his own judgment:
"Daily Acting combined with three to four proactive 'performances' is enough for me to digest the ' Magician ' Potion before the New Year. If I were to do an impossible 'performance' in between, the progress would be even faster... That's about the speed I'm hoping to achieve."
At this time, there were still about two months until January 1, 1350.
Having done all this, Klein rubbed his temples and prepared to return to the real world.
After putting away the " Black Emperor " brand, the Biotoxin Bottle, and other items, he suddenly laughed and said self-deprecatingly:
"Challenging the impossible... isn't that just courting death?"
As the sound echoed, Klein's figure disappeared into the Gray Fog.
In a cheap hotel in the Backlund Bridge Area, he suddenly opened his eyes and saw the candlelight of his own ritual summoning him.
After quickly finishing up, Klein put on the thicker work jacket he had just bought for 4 Soli and walked to the window.
He picked up the sweet iced tea he had bought earlier, gazed at his blurry reflection in the window, and smiled sincerely, muttering to himself:
"Cheers."
As soon as he finished speaking, he tapped the glass of his cup against the glass, then raised his chin and drank it all in one gulp.
He then leisurely left the hotel. The nearby gas streetlights were already on, and pedestrians and carriages were busy going about their business, completely unaware of the explosion at the border between the Cherwood Borough and the West Borough.
Klein strolled around the " Bravehearts " bar, lingered for a while, and then knocked on the door of the " Eye of Wisdom " gathering of Beyonder at 7:58.
He put on the iron mask, donned the hooded robe, and behaved in an ordinary, unremarkable manner.
Meanwhile, Hugh, who regularly went to different places every night to check for contact marks, saw a sign that had never appeared before.
It belonged to the man in the golden mask who, at the party organized by Mr. A, sold her the " Sheriff " formula under the guise of someone else.
It's a sign of an urgent meeting!
"They hadn't contacted me before, and I pretended nothing was wrong, so why suddenly..." After thinking for a moment, Xiu decided to go and check it out.
The man in the golden mask promised to give her some tasks so she could save up enough money to exchange for extraordinary materials from him.
So, Hugh changed locations and marked the time and place for their meeting.
Half an hour later, in a secluded but well-connected alley, Hugh, who had been secretly observing for a while, emerged from his hiding place and walked towards the man wearing the golden mask.
The man was still wearing a black tailcoat, his light brown eyes sweeping over Hugh's head as he said:
I have a task for you.
"Difficulty and reward?" Hugh asked knowingly.
The man pushed up his mask, which looked like it was cast in gold:
"There's no real danger, but there could also be significant danger; it all depends on what you do."
"The initial reward is 30 pounds. If you can obtain useful intelligence, I can even give you an extraordinary item corresponding to the ' Sheriff ' rank."
"What mission?" Xiu asked, frowning slightly.
The man wearing the golden mask said with a darkening gaze:
"Use your connections to find out who has been inquiring about Capim recently."
" Capim? That human trafficker?" Hugh asked in surprise.
The man wearing the golden mask nodded:
"Yes."
"I refuse this mission, I hate it!" Hugh immediately replied.
The man opposite him scoffed:
"I'm not working for Capim."
"Because he is already dead."
"Dead?" Hugh was momentarily stunned.
"He died in his own home, his body covered in tarot cards, with two on his face, one of ' Judgement ' and the other of 'The Emperor.' By the way, keep an eye out for any cases involving tarot cards in recent years that haven't been reported to the police," the man in the gold mask added.
PS: Second update delivered. Only three days left, please vote with your monthly tickets! It would be a waste not to!