Chapter 718: Characters in the Book

Not finding himself overly exhausted, Klein rubbed his temples and

beckoned over a tiny metallic bottle from the junk pile.

Inside it was a tiny tube of blood that he went through great effort to

extract from his vein, and he had long brought it above the gray fog. It

was only waiting for the opportunity when Klein would use his Spirit

Body to enter Groselle's Travels to explore the book world.

After opening the cap, Klein wasn't in a hurry to smear the blood over

the book's dark brown cover. Instead, he summoned all the items from the

junk pile that he had brought to the mysterious space before the Tarot

Gathering, and he spread them out in front of him.

In consideration of how the Black Emperor's form was too eye-catching,

and with him not too certain of the exact situation in the book world,

Klein decided against bringing the Card of Blasphemy. Instead, he used

Azik's copper whistle to fortify his Spirit Body to prevent himself from

failing to return above the gray fog before being instantly killed by

some unknown power.

As the ancient and exquisite copper whistle fused into his body, Klein's

Spirit Body swelled up and became more corporeal.

Two pitch-black flames flared out from his eye sockets as though they

possessed a life of their own.

With the help of Cogitation, he adjusted his spirituality, converging

the iciness that stemmed from the aspect of Death within his body. Soon,

his eyes returned to normal.

This was like an evil spirit taking on an ordinary form to lure prey

into its proximity.

Right on the heels of that, Klein wore Creeping Hunger and held Death

Knell while he hid the Nightmare Beyonder characteristic in his body.

The latter was prepared for him to seek out any abnormalities when

exploring the dreams of the living entities in the book world.

After completing all his preparations, he poured a few drops of blood

and smeared it over the cover of Groselle's Travels.

After a brief wait, his vision turned blurry, as though countless

translucent objects were hidden within it. Following that, it turned

clear---there were blue skies, white clouds, grayish-brown city walls,

and passersby.

*This is no longer the land of ice and snow from before, but a city that

looks very normal on the surface...* Klein stood by the side of

the dirt road as he observed the residents of the book world. He

discovered that most of them wore linen shirts, a short brown coat, and

loose dark-colored trousers. Their overall style was akin to that of the

Loen Kingdom centuries ago.

He looked down at the format of the tailcoat, starched shirt, and

damaged dark-red bow tie as he silently changed it all out. Instantly,

he was no different from the people around him.

He then walked to the city gates in preparation to enter.

At that moment, a leather-vested soldier at the gate stopped him.

"Entrance fees! One liddle."

Do I look rich? I don't even know what a liddle is... Klein

mumbled inwardly, amused. He then "communicated" with him at a spiritual

level, successfully transferring the soldier's attention onto a merchant

caravan behind him.

As a quasi-wraith who could possess anyone and control them, exerting a

psychological influence on others was nothing extraordinary. It wasn't a

particularly potent ability, but it was extremely useful against

ordinary people.

When Klein entered the city, he walked through the streets in a

seemingly relaxed manner, but he inwardly remained wary. He felt that

public hygiene was slightly better than Backlund a few years ago. It

appeared to have a mature sewage system, preventing the situation of any

waste and trash being dumped.

*I couldn't tell that this is an illusory world inside a book at all.

Everyone has Spirit Body Threads...* Klein proceeded forward as

he observed. Suddenly, he noticed a stone building that was more than

ten meters tall to his side. It only had two stories, and the top of the

door was about four meters tall.

Beside the building was a signboard. It was written in a language that

was completely different from any of the outside world's languages, but

Klein instantly understood what it meant: "Pessote Blacksmith Guild."

*There's a blacksmith guild. This place really hasn't entered the Age of

Steam...* Just as Klein was feeling poignant, he saw the door

creak open, and out walked a giant with four long limbs!

The giant's skin was grayish blue, and his head had the trademark single

vertical eye. In his hand was a huge and heavy sledgehammer. He walked

across the street with his lips curled.

The humans walking past him didn't show any fear, as though it was a

common sight.

They even greeted the giant.

"Good afternoon, Groselle!"

Groselle... Klein, who was rather face-blind to giants, had

his pupils constrict. Only then did he realize the familiarity!

He was just about to chase after them when he discovered that the giant

had turned into another street, vanishing from his sights.

Klein stood on the spot, silently observing the intersection as he came

up with a few guesses.

There's another Groselle in the book world?

*No, the ending of the travels is that Groselle died in battle in the

Nation of Frost...*

This is another story?

Filled with all kinds of questions, Klein wasn't in a rush to find

Groselle. He turned and entered a bar by the side of the street.

Such places were often the places with the most messy and multifarious

information in a city. It aided him in quickly gaining a grasp of the

entire situation.

The bar's lighting was dim, and the ventilation wasn't the best, making

the air appear somewhat turbid. At that moment, there weren't many

customers drinking. Most of the people were by the bar counter, chatting

happily with each other or the bartender.

Klein slowly walked over when his gaze froze.

He saw a man wearing a black pointed hat and an asymmetrical coat by the

side of the bar counter. He looked pretty handsome with his

flaxen-colored hair, deep brown eyes, a high nose, and thin lips. He was

none other than the Solomon Empire viscount, Mobet Zoroast!

Upon seeing him, Klein recalled the scene of the Dream Stealer's rapid

aging before he collapsed onto the ground as he struggled to crawl

towards Elvish Songster Siatas and grabbed her hand.

All of that remained clear as day, as though it had just happened

yesterday; yet, Mobet had once again appeared before his eyes.

Klein's expression grew heavy as he walked over and sat beside Mobet.

He didn't say a word, as he knew that Mobet was one to start a

conversation.

"Outsider, first time in Pessote? I swear I've never met you before."

Mobet put down a cup of distilled liquor as he turned his head to the

side.

"I come from the Nation of Frost." Klein randomly cooked up a story.

Mobet immediately laughed loudly.

"You're a funny one. This is the Nation of Frost, but of course, that

was many years ago.

"Ever since the King of the North was killed by a bunch of adventurers,

no---heroes, this place is no longer plagued by ice and snow. Everyone

believes that it should be called the Nation of Neverwinter."

Klein fell silent without responding.

"Why so serious? It looks like you have your own troubles." Mobet rapped

on the wooden bar counter, showing signs of sympathy. He downed a

mouthful of spirits and said, "I'm telling you. Men should absolutely

not get married. It's the beginning of suffering! Do you know? When she

gets worked up a little, she would beat me up. When she's happy, she

beats me up. Same when she's embarrassed or angry! Anyway, she beats me

up for any reason! From this very moment, I've decided not to return

home again!"

Does this mean you got married to Siatas? Klein kept silent

for two seconds as he sized up Mobet's face. He discovered that there

were no signs of bruises and swelling on his face. This meant that the

Elvish Songster knew that men needed to put on appearances.

He asked with a sigh, "Then why did you marry her?"

Mobet was taken aback as he smiled wryly.

"I came here with a merchant caravan. When I first saw her, she was just

that beautiful. Her singing was moving and seemed to hide indescribable

sorrow. Heh, I'm as afraid of her now as I was infatuated over her back

then! I definitely won't return. Hey, why do you seem a little sad? You

don't have to be sad for me. I'm already free!"

At that moment, the door to the bar suddenly opened as a beautiful

female voice shouted.

"Mobet, come out here!

"I'm counting from ten. Never come back if you don't come home!

"Ten, nine..."

Mobet immediately jumped up and ran to the door. As he ran, he muttered,

"I know you don't have any patience. You always jump to two after

counting to eight!"

Klein turned his body and saw Siatas's figure, but he no longer had the

intention of communicating with her.

The real Mobet and Siatas were already dead. The ones living in the book

world were just two characters.

Standing up and leaving the bar, Klein came to a nearby deserted alley.

He planned on confirming the kind of spirit world this world had.

He quickly outlined spherical lights in his mind as his thoughts

gradually emptied out and his body and mind became tranquil.

As his spirituality spread out bit by bit, several indescribable

illusory figures appeared around him. However, up high in the sky, it

lacked the seven lustrous brilliances of different colors that contained

endless knowledge.

*The seven lights don't exist here... The number of spirit world

creatures here are lacking... This place is indeed a fake spirit world

created by the book...* Klein took a step forward and found the

colors in his vision saturate to the extreme as it overlapped with the

obvious differences.

He wasn't in a rush to explore the spirit world. He exited it and began

window shopping through Pessote and chatted with others.

Before long, he found Groselle's residence.

The giant ran a blacksmith shop. He was taking an afternoon nap on a

huge bed on the second story.

Klein directly entered by passing through the wall and came to

Groselle's side.

He observed the giant for a few seconds and took out the Nightmare

Beyonder characteristic from his Spirit Body. With some difficulty, he

used some of its powers that it came naturally equipped with.

Deep, serene darkness quickly spread as it instantly enveloped Klein and

Groselle. And in a Spirit Body state, Klein directly saw a blob of

irregular hazy spherical light.

His spirituality immediately emanated over and touched the spherical

light.

All sorts of scattered scenes instantly flashed past around him before

fixating on a forest with towering but withered trees. On the other side

of the forest was a mountain and steep cliffs. At the top of it was a

magnificent palace.

The palace was huge and opulent, and it didn't seem suitable for humans.

It gave him the impression like it was from a myth as the light of dusk

that scattered above it seemed frozen.

Klein had seen this palace before. It was the Giant King's Court that

had appeared in the dream world of the battlefield of the gods!

However, this angle was completely different from before. He was

situated behind the king's court!