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Klein, sitting rigidly on the sofa, felt a tremor originating from his soul. The sluggishness of his thoughts instantly vanished. After regaining control of his body, he immediately followed his spiritual intuition and closed his eyes.
Rosago stood dazed in place, his skin cracking inch by inch, revealing the flesh and blood beneath, and veins that seemed about to burst.
His body shattered little by little, yet strangely, no blood flowed out. From his veins surged illusory, distorted, translucent insects. This "Marionettist" of the Secret Order lost control and died directly!
In the silent room, Klein, with his eyes closed, felt his heart pounding violently. Only when the Clown's crisis warning subsided did he cautiously open his eyes.
Rosago's shattered, shriveled corpse fragments formed a human outline on the floor, while the Wheel of Fortune card lay face-up, revealing the silver wheel that had returned to its original state.
A terrifying chill went straight down his spine. Klein subconsciously swallowed, moved away from the Tarot card, and rubbed his slightly sore eyes:
"Is this card that powerful?"
"It seems constantly courting death has its benefits; at least one can gain a certain immunity."
Looking at Rosago, who had just died, Klein suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind. Taking advantage of the lingering spirit before it dissipated, he planned to divine the subsequent potion formulas for the Seer Pathway through spiritual communication.
Considering that Rosago was likely corrupted by an unknown existence, direct spiritual communication would be suicide. Klein decided to perform the spiritual communication above the gray fog, taking Rosago with him!
With his current Spirit Body level, reinforced by Azik's copper whistle, he could bring the remaining spirituality of the other party to that gray fog space.
Klein took out candles, quickly set up the ritual, summoned himself, responded to himself, and transformed into a special Spirit Body.
After becoming a Spirit Body, he saw Rosago's vague and indistinct lingering spirituality, and saw a flash of light on that Tarot card.
Considering the limited time of the residual spirit, Klein didn't waste time thinking. Carrying Azik's copper whistle and enveloping Rosago's remaining spirituality, he entered above the gray fog.
After preparing, Klein's thought flashed, and he chanted the divination statement:
"The potion formulas of the Seer Pathway."
.....
"Sequence 7, Magician."
"Main ingredients: One piece of true root from a Mist Treant, all spinal fluid from an Evil-Patterned Black Panther."
"Supplementary ingredients: ..."
"Sequence 6, Faceless."
"Main ingredients: Mutated pituitary gland of a Thousand-Faced Hunter, Beyonder characteristic of a Human-Skin Wraith."
"Supplementary ingredients: ..."
"Sequence 5, Marionettist."
"Main ingredients: Dust of an Ancient Spirit, core crystal of a Six-Winged Gargoyle."
"Supplementary ingredients: 80 milliliters of golden spring water from Sonia Island, 10 grams of Dragon-Patterned Tree bark, residual spirituality of an Ancient Spirit, 1 pair of Six-Winged Gargoyle eyes."
"Advancement ritual: Consume the potion amidst the singing of mermaids."
As the spiritual communication vision flickered and swayed, on the verge of shattering, Klein endured the dizziness brought by his nearly depleted spirituality and memorized the potion formulas he saw.
As Rosago's residual spirituality dissipated, the dream transformed into countless illusory light spots and vanished. Klein, whose spirituality was nearly depleted, was pushed back into the real world by an invisible force.
After a moment of recovery, he forced himself to stand up. Rosago's demise would soon be known in Backlund, and he had to use this time difference to completely eliminate Backlund, extracting himself before getting caught in the eye of the storm, as his current identity could not withstand scrutiny.
Klein put on his gloves, moved closer, and with a conflicted expression, picked up the Tarot card and put it back in his pocket, then quickly searched for relics.
He quickly found over a dozen pounds in cash, some essential oils and herbal powders, two crudely cut paper figures, and a strange piece of paper.
The paper was orange-yellow, with the symbolic depiction of the Sun and magical symbols circling an empty rectangle. Just holding it in his hand made him feel warm and secure, somewhat similar to the feeling of the "Sun Brooch."
"Good stuff…" A thought flashed through his mind. Klein saw specks of profound light separate, attracting each other to condense into a single mass, forming a completely black eye without a pupil.
The Beyonder characteristic of a Marionettist!
As soon as his finger touched the completely black eye, Klein's vision gained some strange elements: countless black, illusory fine threads extending from his own body, from every part of his flesh, penetrating the void and leading to infinite distances.
Klein suddenly bared his teeth, feeling as if his consciousness was being split into countless parts along with those black illusory fine threads, almost losing control.
He hurriedly placed the completely black eye into a tin cigarette case, and only then did the negative state alleviate:
"Is that the essence of a Marionettist's Beyonder ability? To see and control certain threads on everyone's body and spirit, which is why they're called marionettes?"
"Then, above the gray fog, can I use this to create a marionette that is almost like a real person?"
His eyes slightly brightened. Klein exhaled a turbid breath, tidied his belongings, opened the door, looked at the bustling crowd, pulled down his hat brim, and took a public carriage to the "Bravehearts Bar."
-----------------
Caesar Port, North Borough, where the rich and indigenous nobles gathered, Viscount Villard's mansion.
After initially stabilizing the situation, Aaron confirmed his position. He was a local indigenous noble, with a status roughly equivalent to that of the Watson family before their decline.
However, unlike the ancestors of Sid Watson, the ancestors of the Villard family were said to have carried out a non-resistance policy to the end, first fawning over Roselle to gain a peerage, and after the White Maple Palace incident, then fawning over the Sauron royal family to preserve their peerage.
What now piqued Aaron's interest was why, after receiving the luck blessing from Will Auceptin, his Spirit World traversal brought him here.
The strange woman who had just escaped and the abnormal reaction of the Nation of Disorder made Aaron recall the Tamara family, who believed in the Uncertain Mist, and he suspected that he might have been drawn here by the Judgement card.
A gasp interrupted Aaron's thoughts. Instantly arriving beside Audrey, Aaron looked towards the depths of the hall, which resembled a collection room, where a chieftain's attire with distinct Southern Continent characteristics lay on the floor, marked with numerous scratches.
Smelling the faint scent of blood in the air and recalling the scene of the woman turning into white mist and dissipating, Aaron vaguely guessed the fate of Viscount Villard.
After comforting Audrey, Aaron pondered for a moment, then simply activated his True Sight, somewhat headache-inducingly sifting through each item in the entire collection hall.
Recovering from the bizarre scene of turning into white mist, Audrey quickly entered the Spectator state. She had already learned from Aaron that the goal of this expedition was a "Blasphemy Card" hidden with the secret of becoming a god.
Looking at the numerous collectibles, Audrey tried to analyze them based on Roselle's personality as described by Aaron, and a flash of inspiration suddenly struck her:
"Roselle was the pioneer of the safe sea route in the Southern Continent and the leader of that era, yet Caesar Port, as the first city he landed in, does not have a single statue of Roselle."
Hearing Audrey's words, Aaron paused slightly. This statement was not entirely accurate; more precisely, after Roselle's downfall, all his statues were dismantled by the Sauron family, who utterly detested Roselle.
"Roselle must have guessed the consequences of his failure. Given his personality, he might have truly hidden that Blasphemy Card inside one of his statues."
"Tsk, tsk, in the trash you discarded, there's actually a peerless treasure hidden? Absurd and ironic…"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Aaron directly led Audrey to the exhibition hall in the depths of the main hall, specifically for statues. Perhaps it was just for commemorative purposes, or perhaps out of genuine nostalgia for Roselle, this Viscount had indeed collected quite a few statues of Roselle, although most of them were damaged.
Using the Nation of Disorder and the Black Emperor card as resonance, Aaron used True Sight to scan inch by inch the selected Roselle sculptures, finally discovering an anomaly.
Looking at the Roselle statue before him, with an arrogant expression, pointing a sword to the sky, Aaron waved his right hand. The statue instantly turned to dust. He squatted down, and under Audrey's curious gaze, picked up the only intact sword hilt from the powder and spoke in ancient Hermes:
"I came! I conquered!…"
Aaron suddenly felt the sword hilt in his hand sink. Obscure patterns lit up one by one, generating an invisible vortex that frantically absorbed the holder's spirituality.
In an instant, clear light rose little by little, and the sword hilt became three-dimensional, like a miniature book.
The cover depicted countless angels blowing trumpets and pointing swords to the sky. At the very top of all the angels, Roselle, clad in golden armor, held up a balance and looked majestically at the sky.
In the upper left corner of the image, brilliant starlight condensed into a line of text:
"Sequence 0: Justiciar!"
Audrey, who also saw this scene, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:
"Sequence 0! Is this the legendary secret to becoming a god?"
Nodding gently in affirmation of Audrey's question, Aaron took a deep breath. The book immediately turned to the last page without wind, revealing an image of Roselle covered in golden armor, with corresponding ancient Feysac text descriptions next to it:
"Sequence 0: Justiciar!"
"Main ingredients: The Uniqueness of a Justiciar, three Beyonder characteristics of the Hand of Order."
"Supplementary ingredients: The 'world' manifested by the intertwined rules and beliefs within a nascent Divine Kingdom."
"Advancement ritual: Incarnate as order, permanently modify a fundamental rule of the world, and use this rule to judge a True God, powerfully suppressing their authority and power, and enforcing one's own order."
Shifting his gaze from the supplementary materials, Aaron recalled the already nascent "Moon City." He had never expected this to be a material needed for future advancement to Sequence 0.
"How did the Night Emperor advance to Justiciar back then, and which Sequence 0 suffered?"
"He must have an extreme aversion to the Trunsoest lineage. I need to investigate this thoroughly soon and be cautiously vigilant."
"I also don't know how the Night Emperor modified the world's fundamental rules, or what the modified content was?"
"The search for the Night Emperor's Divine Kingdom fragments must be put on the agenda soon. Compared to Alger Wilson, who entered the Specter Empire early, the Darkness Goddess witnessed the Night Emperor's fall. She should know something…"
After a quick scan, Aaron, having made his plans, watched the Blasphemy Card thin out again, transforming into a playing card.
However, it no longer disguised itself. Its surface was Roselle holding up the balance, it was Sequence 0 "Justiciar"!
-----------------
At the Bravehearts Bar, Kaspars raised an eyebrow, looking at the somewhat pale Klein, and teased:
"You seem a bit off today, but I do have some good news for you, hehe, your previous commission has a lead."
"That fast?" Klein looked at Kaspars with some surprise, took out five pounds of banknotes from his pocket, and handed them over. This was the final payment for the commission.
Kaspars smiled, took the money, poured himself a drink, and, meeting Klein's questioning gaze, teased:
"This is also thanks to your excellent drawing skills. Blood-red eyes are not common in Backlund, and for us, identifying someone is not a difficult task."
Looking at the investigation report Kaspars handed over, Klein flipped through it, skipping the process and going straight to the end. He frowned slightly and murmured:
"Emlyn White… Vampires…"
Classic images of Vampires and Werewolves flashed through his mind. Klein controlled his facial muscles, calmly put away the report. It contained Emlyn White's home address. After dealing with Backlund, he would decide what to do next.
Looking at the wine glass placed in front of him, Klein narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice:
"Do you accept assassination missions here?"
Kaspars scrutinized Klein from head to toe and chuckled:
"Of course we do, but this service is only offered to premium clients!"
He emphasized "premium clients." Klein wasn't annoyed by the slight. He took out the orange-yellow paper from his pocket, which had the symbolic depiction of the Sun and magical symbols circling an empty rectangle.
Looking at the somewhat surprised Kaspars, Klein pulled down his hat brim and said in a deep voice:
"I want to ask the powerful individual who guards the gathering to help me hunt down Intis Ambassador Bakerland!"
.....
In the dimly lit basement, where only faint light shone, Klein cautiously followed Kaspars and stopped in front of an ancient-looking silver mirror.
After explaining the whole story and learning that the Intis strongman protecting Bakerland was already dead, Kaspars reluctantly agreed to give Klein a chance to meet the strongman named Maric.
A somewhat familiar chilling sensation emerged. Under Klein's astonished gaze, a pale-faced man, more like a wraith, walked out of the rippling mirror.
Looking at this somewhat familiar ability, and after confirming it wasn't a Demoness, Klein breathed a sigh of relief. He repeated what he had said before, finally adding:
"The Sequence 5 strongman's corpse is currently at my home. I can take you to verify it yourself, I wonder…"
Maric scrutinized Klein, slowly extended his index finger, and said in a hoarse voice:
"If what you say is true, then I can accept your assassination mission. The reward is 10,000 gold pounds."
The smile that hadn't quite formed instantly froze on Klein's face. He somewhat doubted if he had misheard:
"T-Ten thousand gold pounds?"
Even if he sold himself, he couldn't raise that much money. The poor Mr. Fool had never even seen 10,000 gold pounds in real life until now.
Maric nodded indifferently, pointing to the golden paper in Klein's hand, which corresponded to Notary, and added:
"It can be worth 5,000 pounds. I allow you to pay the remaining gold pounds in installments within a month."
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