Chapter 911: Strange Scene
Klein looked down at his palm as his eyes reflected the gold coin.
It was heads.
This meant that Klein should use the marionette's eyes to look at
himself!
After receiving this revelation, Klein remained hesitant. He pondered
about holding a ritual to send Enzo above the gray fog. Doing so was
relatively safer, allowing the damage and corruption his Spirit Body
suffered to be completely screened by the environment before making an
attempt.
However, he suspected that he wouldn't receive an outcome. This was
because Beyonders of the Fate pathway were noticing the projection of
the mysterious space on his body. Above the gray fog, that uniqueness
might no longer exist. It was like an attempt to observe an elephant's
body; instead of doing it outside, he was doing it internally.
Pressing his fingers together, he clenched the gold coin in silence for
a long while before making up his mind.
He suddenly stood up, took out a ritual dagger, and created a wall of
spirituality to isolate the room.
This was to prevent anyone from hearing the possible screams or strange
commotion!
Immediately after that, Klein set up a ritual and sacrificed Creeping
Hunger above the gray fog.
He was afraid that the glove would turn on him when something happened
to him!
This was a fixed trait of Creeping Hunger itself. Once it didn't have
its fill and couldn't secure a schedule of eating one person a day, it
would view its wearer as food. And Klein starved it more often than he
fed it.
After doing all the preparations in a meticulous and orderly manner,
Klein reached out to take the Flower of Blood from Enzo and wore it on
his left palm.
This ensured that he could recover even if he suffered any serious
physical damage.
At the moment he was about to wear it, Klein thought for a moment and
paused. Taking a piece of paper, he wrote: "Remember to take off the
ring."
He was worried that he wouldn't take Flower of Blood off after his
experiment due to his lowered intelligence.
*When that happens, perhaps I need a beautiful princess to wake me up
with a kiss, no---take off my ring...* Klein gave a
self-deprecating laugh and exhaled. Removing his outerwear, he wore the
ring.
Then, he cast his gaze at his new marionette, Winner Enzo.
The sense of crisis and nervousness was inevitable, but as long as he
made up his mind, the experienced him could only forge ahead without
flinching.
After doing some adjustments and entering a state of Cogitation, Klein
made the marionette slowly turn around to look at him.
With the Winner's eyes, he first saw a layer of thin, emanating
grayish-white fog.
Amidst the fog, there was a resplendent door of light that was tainted
with bluish-blackness.
The door of light was formed from countless layers of spherical light.
Each spherical light enveloped squirming maggots. Some of them were
transparent, others translucent. They had complicated and indescribable
symbols and patterns that had profound meanings.
Before Klein could discern the actual details, he felt his mind buzz as
he lost consciousness.
After an unknown period of time, he slowly woke up. He had momentarily
lost his memory, almost imagining that he had slept till daybreak.
What happened? It's still dark outside... Klein sat up with a
push of his hands, only to realize that he was on the ground.
At this moment, he caught sight of Enzo through the corner of his eye.
Plenty of scenes and voices suddenly surged through his mind.
*That's right. I was trying to figure out what Beyonders of the Monster
pathway can see from my body... I suffered too much stimulation and
fainted immediately? I still vaguely remember painful screaming. Was
that me?* Klein, who had recovered his memories, hurriedly
inspected his condition. He was surprised to see a bloody, gruesome
wound on his body, as though something was about to tear out of it.
At this moment, flesh was squirming in the wound, reforming at an
abnormally fast speed.
Klein then looked to the ground and saw that there was blood that had
outlined a silhouette of where he was lying down.
*Thankfully, I wore Flower of Blood; otherwise, I might've slowly died
due to the heavy injuries brought about by the breakdown of my body.
After I resurrect, I wonder if I'll be in a human form or a monster
form...* Klein raised his hand and rubbed his temples as he
scanned his surroundings. He found that the furniture had toppled, but
the wall of spirituality remained intact.
He heaved a sigh of relief, confirming that the abnormality was only
limited to himself and a small area around him. Nothing had spread.
And from the speed at which his wound was recovering at, Klein
determined that he hadn't been unconscious for more than a minute.
He picked up the chair and sat down, feeling as though he had forgotten
something, but he just couldn't recall what.
Only when he instinctively cleared the area did he see a note with the
words: "Remember to take off the ring." Only then was he enlightened as
he removed the golden ruby ring on his left hand.
More memories surfaced as Klein shook his head and muttered with a
lingering sense of fear and amusement, "Luck is really important at
times. If the negative effects of the Flower of Blood randomly reached
its peak potency, I might not be able to recognize those words and fail
to be reminded..."
Seeing that he had mostly recovered from his wound, he made Enzo wear
Flower of Blood and take off Green Essence.
Using the latter's treatment, Klein no longer felt any discomfort. He
focused his attention back on the scene he saw. It was a scene that
Beyonders of the Fate pathway saw on him.
*A door of light tainted with bluish-black. Countless spherical lights.
Transparent and translucent maggots clumped together. Symbols and
patterns that are mystically complicated, hiding plenty of knowledge but
giving zero feedback to others... What do these represent?*
*This is a particular Mythical Creature form that corresponds to the
mysterious space above the gray fog? It's one that belongs to a Sequence
0 true god?*
*Due to the gray fog's screening, only Beyonders of the Fate pathway can
see it directly, suffering the visual impact and corruption? Likewise,
it's also because of the gray fog's screening that those Beyonders don't
directly break down as though they are seeing a deity with their own
eyes while also not receiving any knowledge?*
Klein thought for a moment and began to use divination to decipher the
hidden meaning.
*The door of light seems to resemble the symbol behind the Apprentice's
chair. It might also point to Mr. Door...*
*Countless stacked spherical light is identical to my Cogitation. And
the latter stems from the mythical systems as described by some novels
from Earth... Influenced, my subconscious chose the most relevant and
closely-matching memory? Or could it be that my choice influences the
expression of the scene from the gray fog?*
*The distorted and transparent maggots are similar to the clump of
maggots on the gigantic throne on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain
range, but there are some tiny differences. That's Sequence 0 The Fool
of the Seer pathway? I didn't manage to see the translucent ones
clearly. It's hard to tell...*
*Also, the bluish-black color keeps making me connect it to the depths
of the mysterious space that I can't reach... Back when I stood on the
highest step of the staircase of light, I could see some hints of
bluish-black on the cloud-like mass that condensed in midair...*
Klein thought about it for quite some time but failed to receive an
answer. All he could do was keep it at the back of his mind and analyze
it when he had more information and clues.
After clearing the scene, he took four steps counterclockwise and went
above the gray fog. He planned on doing a thorough inspection of his
physical condition and confirm if Enzo still had any passive luck or bad
luck.
Bayam. In the poverty district, in a dilapidated house that wasn't too
big.
Admiral of Stars Cattleya was sitting behind a table looking at the door
when she heard a unique knocking pattern on the door.
"Come on in." She didn't deliberately disguise her voice.
The wooden door creaked open as The Hanged Man walked in, wearing a
hooded black robe.
Seeing his suspicious disguise, Cattleya nudged her heavy glasses and
said with a smile, "If you were to walk out like this, you would be
surrounded by the members of the Church of Storms within five minutes."
She didn't wear any disguise because she knew that the matter of her
permitting Gehrman Sparrow to board the Future had long spread across
the seas. It wasn't difficult for The Hanged Man to guess that Admiral
of Stars was Ma'am Hermit.
Alger didn't directly reply to her. As he closed the door, he pulled out
a chair and snapped back, "It's the same for you."
He meant that Admiral of Stars was just second to Admiral Hell amongst
the seven pirate admirals. Furthermore, she was suspected to have deep
connections to Gehrman Sparrow. She was a target of pursuit by the
Church of Storms and Church of Evernight. Her bounty had risen to 45,000
pounds, and no matter which city she was in, it only spelled trouble
once she was recognized due to not being disguised.
Cattleya nodded slightly and turned to look at The Hanged Man's hooded
face.
"In front of me, such a disguise is meaningless.
"However, I respect your choice."
She continued wearing her glasses.
*She has a domineering stance and great confidence. As expected of the
Admiral of Stars...* Alger, who was wearing a mask under the
hood, didn't harp on the disguise as he went straight to the point.
"Thank you for providing me with assistance."
Cattleya placed her right hand on her left elbow.
"I'm curious. With your present strength and the resources you have, you
should be able to resolve the Artisan's problem even without my help.
Why are you being excessive?"
Alger was already prepared as he succinctly replied, "I do not wish to
become a topic of discussion for others."
Cattleya seemed to grasp the meaning in between the lines. Pondering for
a few seconds, she said, "I need more information."
Alger nodded lightly and said, "According to my observations and
guesses, the Artisan is likely controlled by those who believe in the
Primordial Moon. The latter belong to the original faction of the
Southern Continent, not the traitors of the Life School of Thought."
Cattleya's expression remained unperturbed as she thought for a moment.
"Why don't you find Mr. Moon? He should be very interested in such
matters."
Alger curled his lips and replied in a normal tone, "If we aren't able
to resolve it, I might do so."