Chapter 777: Sick and Crazy Setup

On Friday afternoon, Klein, who had skipped a literary salon because of

his feigned sickness, arrived above the gray fog once again.

In front of him was a hard-covered, palm-sized notebook which was bronze

green in color. It was Leymano's Travels which The Magician Fors had

provided.

After flipping the item which was closer to a spellbook over to a

certain page, Klein looked at the yellowish-brown page, raised his hand,

and summoned the Sea God Scepter from the junk pile.

As he injected some of his spirituality into Leymano's Travels, making

it light up with a faint luster, he made the blue gem on the scepter's

tip emit a bright light.

A sizzling sound was produced as bolts of silver lightning appeared out

of thin air. They were thick and menacing as they zapped about, meshing

together to form a hurricane.

At the same time, complicated symbols and labels quickly outlined

themselves on the page of Leymano's Travels. They overlapped each other

and fused together, slowly taking shape.

Just as the page was about to be colored in silver, bolts of lightning

snaked out from it, causing all the patterns to be destroyed!

It failed again... Klein sighed silently as he repeated the

same process.

This wasn't his first attempt. Ever since he obtained Leymano's Travels

on Wednesday night, he would head above the gray fog from time to time,

using this spellbook to record the powers produced by the Sea God

Scepter. He repeated it until his spirituality was nearly drained,

forcing him to return to the real world to take a break.

During this process, there were successes and failures. Klein relied on

repeated attempts before completing the final step, recording the

Lightning Storm spell which he had eyed for a very long time!

This was a demigod power of the Sailor pathway!

Before that failure, Klein had failed nearly twenty times. It could be

said that his luck was terrible.

After repeated failures, he was delighted to see a silver luster spread

across the yellowish page at the fifth attempt. An ancient, mysterious,

complicated, and indescribable symbol contracted, forming a fancy

diagram that made anyone who placed their eyes on it feel as though they

were being struck by lightning.

Phew... I've finally succeeded. Klein rubbed his fingers

against the paper and heaved a long sigh of relief.

He flipped through Leymano's Travels and admired his previous efforts.

Over the past two days, he wasn't fully caught up with Lightning Storm.

He also recorded two other demigod powers. One of them was Paper Angel

that he had used while stirring some of the powers above the gray fog.

It aided in disrupting any divination and prophecies. Similarly, there

was Hurricane that stemmed from the Sea God Scepter.

When recording them, Klein was rather lucky. One took nine times, while

the other took twelve before he succeeded.

As for Flight, Glide, Lightning Strike, and other powers that didn't

reach Sequence 4, they only required him to do it once or twice.

Therefore, Klein had almost filled the entire book.

*This spellbook isn't very useful to unaffiliated Beyonders. It needs

plenty of time and patience to record a sufficient number of powers. And

when the powers exceed Sequence 6, the chances of failure increases,

making the powers difficult to obtain... However, there are 22 pathways

in the mystical domain. If the first few Sequences have their powers

matched well, finishing off a Sequence 5 isn't too

surprising...* Klein closed Leymano's Travels and sighed

inwardly.

From his point of view, the spellbook was equivalent to half a divine

artifact for unaffiliated Beyonders. Although it was more difficult to

be useful than Creeping Hunger in its early stages, once there was a

good combination, it was quite normal for one to fight someone of a

higher Sequence. However, among Beyonders who were supported by major

factions, Leymano's Travels would be ridiculously powerful. This was

because it could record a demigod's powers!

*As long as they wish, a demigod can repeat the power again and again.

As for Creeping Hunger, it has a high chance of failing to devour a

demigod. Even a real Shepherd would find it extremely difficult to Graze

a High-Sequence Beyonder. Firstly, there are no available resources, and

secondly, it's easy to lose control. Elder Lovia from the City of Silver

was someone lucky enough to be able to Graze a Sequence 4 evil

spirit...* When Klein thought of this, he cast his gaze onto a

dark green, coarse stone. It was rough and uneven with signs of burn

marks. It was none other than Fors's stone that allowed the traversal of

the spirit world.

*With Leymano's Travels and this stone, along with the Fate Siphon charm

and Wraith marionette, even if Mr. X has a Saint protecting him, I

should still be able to complete the mission and leave without

problems...* Klein rubbed his temples and returned to the real

world. After setting up a bestowment ritual, he brought the

corresponding items back.

After making all the preparations, he walked to the full-body mirror and

looked at himself. He made himself look haggard.

After dinner, Klein had used the excuse of not being well to return to

his room.

After taking in the night scenery, he took out a palm-sized mirror from

the drawer and placed it on the soft and elastic pillow.

Then, Klein went over, making the mirror reflect the blue-eyed,

white-sideburned Dwayne Dantès.

He then slowly straightened his body and took a step back, creating

another Dwayne Dantès in bed!

This gentleman was wearing silk pajamas and leaning against a pillow. He

held a book in hand with his eyes half-closed as though he was in

thought.

*Not bad, the mirror illusion isn't weaker than a paper figurine

illusion...* Klein returned to the desk and picked up a fountain

pen, drawing the strange symbol that was a mixture of concealment and

mystery prying.

After a brief silence, the Dwayne Dantès in bed suddenly opened his eyes

and gave a toady smile.

"Great Master, your loyal and humble servant, Arrodes, is here!"

*I have to say that even with Dwayne Dantès's face, there's no way he

can look normal with that kind of smile...* Klein silently

sighed and nearly turned to look to his side.

"Very good," he praised with a nod.

He didn't give any other instructions. With a half top hat, he slid down

from the balcony to the first floor. He followed the secluded garden

trail and flipped over the corner perimeter wall of 160 Böklund Street.

During this process, he hadn't forgotten to close the windows.

Pressing his right hand on his hat and landing his feet on the streets,

Klein slowly looked up. At some point in time, his facial features and

outline had changed. He had black hair and brown eyes, with a thin and

angular face.

This was the crazy adventurer, Gehrman Sparrow, who had a bounty of

50,000 pounds from just a single country!

The hunt was about to begin.

Cherwood Borough. Xio, who was just about to head out to East Borough to

participate in Mr. X's Beyonder gathering, was stopped by Fors.

"You want to head out to gather material?" Xio deliberated before saying

the words her friend often used.

Fors stroked her hair and said, "No, to earn money!

"I previously accepted a mission to find the dust left behind after a

ghost fades away. As you know, there aren't any ghosts at the cemetery.

They've all been given a send-off by the priests and bishops to their

respective deity's kingdom. Therefore, I can only head over to East

Borough and find targets that died due to various reasons without being

discovered.

"Can you bear letting such a beautiful and frail lady like me head into

such a messy place alone?"

"But, can't you push it back a day?" Xio said hesitantly. "I'm planning

to participate in Mr. X's gathering."

Fors immediately shook her head.

"No, I need to complete the mission tomorrow. It's a total of 50

pounds!"

"If it's due tomorrow, why didn't you do it the past few days?" Xio

looked suspiciously at her friend.

Fors chuckled.

"Is this your first day knowing me?

"Don't you know I have a severe case of procrastination?

"Besides, you have no money. What's the point of going to Mr. X's

gathering? You don't even know what Beyonder ingredients you need!"

"That's true." Xio was convinced before she smiled. "Does every author

have a sickness of procrastination?"

"Probably." As Fors perfunctorily replied, she secretly heaved a sigh of

relief.

In the East Borough, inside a cheap motel, Klein entered the room which

Miss Magician had reserved for him under a fake alias.

Here, having a room and a bed for one person was an extravagance, but

even so, such rooms only cost 12 pence a night. Of course, many of the

cheap motels in East Borough didn't have any single rooms. The best of

them were some compartments that cost 5 pence a night. It only had a bed

and a partition that blocked others from looking inside, allowing the

occupants to change clothes.

As for the ten to twenty bunk beds in the basement, they cost 1.5 pence

a night. The motel didn't hold any responsibilities for the items that

one stored there.

There's actually a mirror. Not bad... Klein put down his hat

and stood in front of a full-body mirror filled with crevices. He then

wore the hooded robe which Miss Magician had prepared for him.

Immediately after that, his body shrank at a discernible pace. His skin

gradually turned pale with a tinge of malt colors. The Adam's apple at

his throat vanished as his hair grew long and turned blonde.

Klein instantly recognized the image of Fors's friend, even though the

disguise didn't show her looks. It was Miss Xio!

However, because there was a hood to conceal himself, he didn't really

transform into a woman. All he did was handle the easily noticeable

spots.

*I can't do anything about the height of 150 centimeters. I'll need to

digest the entirety of my potion before I can reach this limit...

Thankfully, Miss Xio disguises herself by raising her height. I don't

have to vex over this...* Klein looked at the

160-centimeter-tall figure in the mirror, switched to a pair of leather

boots that looked to be and was flat-soled.

After donning the disguise, Klein hooded himself and silently left the

single room from the window. He came to an alley in East Borough, taking

a detour until he arrived outside the building where Mr. X was hosting

the Beyonder gathering.

After recalling the passcode which Miss Magician had provided, Klein

rapped the door with his fingers---three light taps and three heavy

taps, separated by two long and three short intervals.

After ten seconds, the door silently opened. An attendant wearing an

iron mask first observed the visitor before making way.

Klein calmly walked past him and entered the building without showing

any signs of panic.