Chapter 127: Laying the Foundations

The light of the gas lamp glowed through the glass, illuminating the

guard room. Old Neil finished flipping through his newspaper, took a sip

of coffee, and looked at Klein.

"How do you feel now? Have you calmed down? Or do you need a glass of

wine, or an advance on your salary, or a day off?"

Klein, who had completely digested the Seer potion, was attempting to

change his "switch" that activated his Spirit Vision with Cogitation. He

didn't want it to be too obvious.

The present him no longer needed to rely on a physical motion to

activate his Spirit Vision. Therefore, he could use a more concealed

approach to achieve his goal; for example, stroking the joints of his

middle finger with his thumb in quick succession, or clicking twice with

his left molar.

Klein considered the situations in which he needed to use his Spirit

Vision while holding a revolver in one hand and a cane in the other.

Finally, he settled on clicking his molar. His left molar would be used

to activate the Spirit Vision, and his right molar to deactivate it.

After repeatedly suggesting to himself, he completed the change. He then

opened his eyes and smiled.

"I was merely too concerned about the Captain's operation. I don't need

to calm myself down."

At the same time, he clicked his left molar twice and attempted to

activate his Spirit Vision. He wanted to familiarize himself with this

method as quickly as possible.

Cough! Cough! Cough! Old Neil started coughing violently. He

coughed till his face turned red, like a cooked lobster.

"What happened?" Klein froze before asking in concern.

He scanned Old Neil's aura seriously, only to notice that the colors

representing his health were still normal, only a little dull due to his

age.

Old Neil coughed for nearly twenty seconds before earning respite. He

felt for his cup of coffee and slowly took a sip. "Everyone makes

mistakes, ahem. I choked on my drink just now... Shall we begin our

mysticism lessons for today?"

"Alright." Klein silently clicked his right molars twice.

Klein was elated, yet frustrated that he had completely digested the

Seer potion a week or two ahead of his prediction. He was naturally glad

that he was freed from the risk of losing control and would advance

soon, obtaining even more Beyonder powers. That was something anyone

would be happy and excited about. But he was also frustrated, as it

disrupted his plans and schedules.

Considering the fact that he still had to stay with the Tingen

Nighthawks for some time, Klein thought that secretly advancing to Clown

wasn't the wisest choice. If he did so, he would be constantly worried

about being exposed, and he would be unable to use his abilities when

there were missions, making it even more dangerous for himself.

He planned to learn from Spirit Medium Daly and submit an application to

the higher-ups. He would use his contributions to obtain the recipe and

extraordinary ingredients before officially advancing into a Sequence 8

Nighthawk.

But there was a difference between grasping a potion in a month and in a

year. Klein could bear the scrutiny of the Holy Cathedral and become a

talent for nurturing, but he didn't want the higher-ups to suspect him.

He needed to find a convincing reason to explain his circumstances.

He had planned to use the time before the Seer potion was completely

digested to lay some foundations with the Captain. For example, he would

mention that he felt his spirituality become more active whenever he

went to the Divination Club, or pretend to casually describe the laws of

a Seer that he had derived from helping other people divine their

fortunes. He could also mention that he didn't hear any voices that he

shouldn't be hearing, or see things that are not for his eyes.

This way, the higher-ups of the Nighthawks would think that he had

unintentionally learned something from Daly when completing his

"mission" and had done a more thorough job than her.

This would make the higher-ups focus more on summarizing the laws and

discovering the "acting method," reducing the suspicion placed on Klein.

*That way, I could even help the Captain and the rest learn about the

acting method...* Klein added in his heart. He felt that Dunn

Smith was a good captain. He had no glaring flaws other than his poor

memory. Thus, he wanted to reduce the risk of Dunn losing control and

make him more powerful.

Of course, Klein could also choose to apply after a year to avoid any

risks. But the continuous coincidences and the red chimney he saw in his

dream divination gave him no choice but to improve his abilities as soon

as possible.

"I'll lay the foundation with the Captain three or four times over the

next two weeks before formally submitting my request. At the same time,

I can head over to the underground market to see if there are any of the

necessary extraordinary ingredients. They will probably be very

expensive..." Klein quickly made a decision and focused his attention

once again on the mysticism lessons.

Time passed quickly as lunchtime slowly approached. Old Neil finished

his coffee and cleared the stuff on the table as he laughed.

"Your mysticism lessons will come to an end soon. From the test just

now, it would seem that you can create charms for yourself now."

"That's my plan for the next few days." Klein heaved a satisfied sigh.

Charms were different from the protective amulets he had given Benson

and Melissa. They needed to be carved with the help of ritualistic

magic, and they had certain unique abilities that could be used in

battle.

But a low-grade charm couldn't do everything. The spirituality it

contained would decrease over time and had to be renewed once every two

weeks. Also, he needed to activate them with specific incantations; it

was impossible to use them at will.

Furthermore, the charms wielded by the Nighthawks were still limited to

the "domains" of the Evernight Goddess. Klein could only make three

different kinds of charms for the time being. The first was the Slumber

Charm, and its effect was similar to Dunn Smith's and Leonard Mitchell's

ability to put someone to sleep with their singing. The second was the

Requiem Charm, which was able to soothe ghosts, souls, zombies, and the

like. It could also deal with vengeful and evil spirits to a certain

extent. The last was the Dream Charm; its abilities allowed the wielder

to enter the dream of someone else.

These abilities were similar to the abilities of the Midnight Poet and

Nightmare from the Sleepless Sequence, so Dunn and Leonard had no use

for these charms. Corpse Collector Frye, Sleepless Royale, and Kenley

would bring one or two along with them, but they hadn't needed them in a

long time. They frequently brought their charms back to Old Neil so he

could "recharge" them.

Old Neil glanced at Klein and smiled.

"I remember you saying that you practiced a lot this month and have run

out of materials. Are you going to the underground market?"

Klein was taken aback at first before he nodded with a pained heart.

"Yes."

He clearly knew the prices of the ingredients. He could only hope that

he succeeded in making the charms on his first try instead of wasting

materials...

After being presented with the mission of bringing lunch underground,

Klein put on his jacket and hat before returning to the Blackthorn

Security Company on the second floor with cane in hand.

As he walked past the recreation room, he saw that Leonard and the rest

had already returned and were enjoying their lunches.

Knock! Knock! Knock! He knocked on the Captain's door.

"Please come in." Dunn's mellow voice sounded.

Klein pushed the door open and took off his hat.

"Captain, did you catch Instigator Trissy?"

Dunn rubbed his temples and shook his head in exhaustion. "We didn't

find her at Tingen Station, but according to the telegraph we received

from Backlund, a passenger saw her in the first class carriage of the

earliest train. Regrettably, she got off in the middle of the journey."

"How regrettable." Klein sighed even though he had expected this.

"Divination isn't all-powerful..."

Dunn's gray eyes swept past him.

"There's no need to be depressed. It isn't easy to capture a Sequence 7

Beyonder. At the very least, we disrupted Trissy's evil ritual and saved

at least forty innocent lives. Furthermore, we understand her situation

now. She can no longer commit crimes as she wishes."

"If she tries to do something similar, she'll be noticed, discovered,

and reported at any time. Sooner or later, she'll be captured by the

Nighthawks, Mandated Punishers, or the Machinery Hivemind. It's even

possible that she'll be killed."

"Let's hope that is the case. May the Goddess bless us." Klein drew the

crimson moon on his chest.

Following that, he paused and pondered over his words.

"Captain, I haven't heard unwanted voices or seen unwanted visions for

over a week now. Also, that's true even when I am in Cogitation or using

my Spirit Vision."

"Really?" Dunn creased his brows, puzzled.

Klein immediately elaborated, "I feel that I'm not far off from

achieving full control over the Seer potion. This could be due to my

frequent visits to the Divination Club and helping others tell their

fortune."

"...Why do you think so?" Dunn immediately changed his seating posture,

his expression lost.

Klein added a stammer into his sentence. "E-every time I head to the

Divination Club, I can feel my spirituality becoming more active, and

every time I help someone divine something, my heart, body, and soul

become more relaxed. I've also come up with a set of, well, a set of

rules for a Seer. I've been following it strictly, just like how a

Mystery Pryer can "do as you wish, but do no harm." I found inspiration

from this maxim and tried coming up with a maxim designed for Seers.

"I think that this might be an effective way to help Beyonders gain

control over their potions faster and reduce the risk of losing control.

Just like Madam Daly who has always been a Spirit Medium."

It was unknown when Dunn had taken out his pipe. He placed it at his

nose and took a whiff, seemingly forgetting about Klein as he thought

for a few minutes.

"A remarkable guess, and an interesting trial..."

Klein had only wanted to briefly mention it this time around to set up

an underlying reason, so he did not say anything further. He switched to

a half-joking tone and said, "Perhaps I'll be the fastest Nighthawk in

history to gain control of a Sequence 9 potion."

"May the Goddess watch over you," Dunn blessed him, not taking him

seriously. He then slipped into deep thought once again.

Witnessing this, Klein turned around and said his goodbyes before

leaving the Captain's office.

He was closing the door to the room when he suddenly thought of another

difficult question. *How in the world was he going to act as a

Clown!*

*Must I join a circus? There are no fixed circuses in Tingen, they're

all roaming ones...* Klein's expression became a little bitter.

Being a Seer was still a rather respectable occupation. Klein would

still be able to hold his head up high even if he was spotted by someone

he knew. But if he became a Clown, there was no way his reputation would

hold!

*Perhaps there are other ways of acting as a Clown. There were no

circuses or clowns when the Blasphemy Slate was revealed to the world...

Forget it, I won't have the chance to advance for another two or three

weeks, so there's no need to deliberate over this for now.*

Klein avoided the question and headed to the reception area. He walked

toward Rozanne, Mrs. Orianna, and Bredt to fetch his and Old Neil's

lunch.