Looking at Klein, who was a new face again, Azik smiled and said gently, "When I traversed the Spirit World into the Berserk Sea, I sensed his aura. I figured it must be you here, so I specifically came to see you."
Guessing that Mr. Azik was referring to the aura of the copper whistle, Klein no longer deliberately maintained his cold demeanor. He pointed to Alger, who was on high alert not far away, and chuckled, saying, "This is Vice Admiral Iceberg. We just reached an agreement to jointly hunt the Vice Admiral Ailment from the Demoness Sect."
In front of Vice Admiral Iceberg, Klein did not shy away from his close relationship with Azik, precisely to solidify the guess that he had a powerful secret organization backing him.
Backed by the intelligence network of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, Alger had already recognized this Beyonder powerhouse, wanted by MI9 in Backlund, and nodded warily.
Not caring about Alger's wariness, Klein took the initiative to walk in front of Azik, then added to the pirate admiral, "The previous agreement is still valid. Once you gather concrete intelligence, I will find the Golden Dream, and we will jointly hunt the Vice Admiral Ailment!"
Mr. Azik, beside him, grabbed Klein's shoulder, just like last time in Backlund, and traversed the Spirit World.
Symbols flickered in Alger's eyes, as if she wanted to analyze and replicate the Spirit World traversal just now. A moment later, she opened the tightly shut captain's cabin door.
Dunn, who was bickering with Ferran Eddas, suddenly turned his head. His physical quality at the Conspirer level allowed him to perform to his fullest at this moment. In the blink of an eye, he blocked the doorway, his peripheral vision scanning inside the captain's cabin.
"He's gone. Notify everyone. All crew members' leave is canceled during this period. Prepare supplies. Next, we're going to the Fog Sea!"
Such an abrupt decision, yet no one objected. After Dunn responded, he glanced at the empty captain's cabin, then hummed with his hands behind his back, "It's a good thing that crazy adventurer with a screw loose ran fast, otherwise I…"
"Otherwise, you'd be following him as a servant…" Before Dunn could finish, Ferran Eddas seized the opportunity to add.
The crew's roaring laughter instantly drowned out Dunn's delayed roar, and the Golden Dream also hoisted its sails amidst the merriment, sailing towards the distance.
---
On a small, densely vegetated island at the edge of the Berserk Sea, Azik led Klein out of the Spirit World.
Seeing that there were no outsiders, Klein directly removed his Faceless disguise, and the loneliness of drifting on the sea also dissipated considerably at this moment.
Looking at the chattering Klein, Azik's stern and serious face softened considerably. He beckoned for the human skin glove in Klein's hand and said gently, "This Sealed Artifact was originally intended as a gift for your protection after you left Backlund, but unfortunately, I was injured and fell into a deep sleep in Backlund at the time, and what I should have done was not yet complete."
As he spoke, the surroundings suddenly deepened, and even the sunlight filtering through the tree canopy instantly disappeared.
Pale, eerie green, complex, and bizarre symbols, marks, and patterns appeared out of thin air, as if written by invisible Wraiths, shadows, and spiritual beings.
They intertwined and combined in mid-air, evolving into a mysterious, illusory pair of bronze Doors, seemingly connecting to another deep, silent world.
This illusory Door shrank smaller and smaller, like a brand, finally settling on "Creeping Hunger."
A few seconds later, the human skin glove, which had become somewhat restless due to Klein's frequent use, became completely silent. It was still a thin layer, but it no longer had any trace of frenzy or impulse.
Handing the human skin glove to Klein, Azik pointed to the brand of the bronze Door on the human skin glove and explained, "The souls herded by this Shepherd's glove do not have the ability to traverse the Spirit World. This is a Spirit World traversal array that I arranged for you using the special properties of the Underworld."
"You understand divination, so you should know how to determine specific Spirit World coordinates. Use your spirituality to engrave the coordinates on this brand. When you encounter irresistible danger, you can actively traverse the Spirit World to escape."
"But it is important to note that Spirit World traversal consumes the power of the Underworld that I used to seal this Shepherd's glove. Be careful when using it!"
Is this what it feels like to have a expert backing you up…? Klein sighed with emotion. After sincerely thanking him, he eagerly put "Creeping Hunger" on his left palm.
Giving up the urge to try it out, Klein thought for a moment, then looked at Azik with some hope and asked, "I have already digested the Faceless Beyonder potion. Now I only need a mermaid to complete my advancement. Mr. Azik, do you know where there are wild mermaids, besides those raised by the Church of Evernight?"
Somewhat surprised by Klein's advancement speed, Azik did not ask further. After thinking for a moment, he slowly nodded under Klein's surprised gaze:
"Normally, wild mermaids mostly hide in the sea where the Sea of Ruins exist, a place where illusion and reality coexist."
"However, the changes in the Sea of Ruins earlier made that sea area almost a forbidden land for living beings, but many Beyonder races that originally lived in the safer outer regions escaped."
"Among them are the mermaids you need, and they are now mostly gathered in the sea areas near the Sonia Sea."
Hearing the whereabouts of mermaids so clearly for the first time, Klein's previously tense mood also relaxed. Although he was curious about what had happened in the Sea of Ruins, his advancement was more important at the moment.
The only problem now was how to find those mermaids hidden in the vast sea. Klein glanced at Mr. Azik and suddenly remembered that he could use a mermaid that had become an Undead creature to divine the whereabouts of its kin.
With the blessing of the mysterious gray fog space, Klein believed this was a feasible plan.
If that didn't work, he could also try to summon the magic mirror Arrodes again. Although he didn't know why this mirror, which had been extremely fawning towards him before, had stopped responding to his summons recently, with his son and Mr. Azik by his side, even if something unexpected happened, he wasn't worried.
He told Mr. Azik his idea, and when he saw the mermaid skeleton emerge from the Gate of the Underworld, Klein's face still twitched.
He decisively abandoned the idea of divination. After taking a bone segment from the mermaid, which had become an Undead creature at some point, Klein took out the same model of "Traveler's Bag" that he had bought from Mr. Emperor for a whopping 1000 pounds, and a brand-new telegraph machine dropped out.
Klein stopped his actions after engraving the strange symbol for summoning Arrodes with his own blood on the telegraph machine, which was imbued with the aura of the gray fog.