*Click.*
Loen snapped the pocket watch shut and gently turned the hand on the dial with his thumb.
"Mental Storm."
The sapphire embedded in the pocket watch's cover emitted a faint, subtle glow.
The next second, Loen clearly felt the surrounding spirituality instantly become chaotic.
But at the same time, he felt a strange wave of dizziness wash over him, as if he had instantly lost his sense of direction, with the concepts of up, down, left, and right becoming blurred. This discomfort lasted for about a second—
"The strength is probably about seventy percent of when I cast it myself—but it's still not intuitive enough. This kind of attack targeting spiritual bodies and the mental plane isn't like fire or frost, where you can see the power at a glance." Loen sighed.
He had wanted to use this pocket watch to record some of his own Beyonder abilities to test their specific effects. Unfortunately, his own abilities, such as "controlling luck" and "Mental Storm," were relatively abstract. Once recorded, it was hard to intuitively see how effective they really were.
"Should I... ask Sharron and Maric for help?" he mused. The abilities of the "Mutated" Pathway were indeed quite convenient. Whether it was a blizzard or body steeling, they were very intuitive and practical.
The greatest advantage of the "Monster" Pathway was its abundant spirituality. If he used a little bit of luck, maybe—he really could collect all three or so abilities on this pocket watch.
"It's a pity I still know too few Beyonders. Although Fors and Xio are also Beyonders, their Sequences are too low, and the recorded abilities wouldn't be of much use. Hazel—she's even worse than them."
Loen suddenly felt a bit nostalgic for his time at sea. Back then, there was at least Danitz around. The abilities of a Sequence 7 "Pyromaniac" were quite good; at least, he had been quite envious of Danitz's fireball spell.
"There are also quite a few Beyonders on the 'Golden Dream.' If I were on the ship, maybe I could ask the captain for help."
At this point, Loen suddenly thought of Captain Edwina's abilities.
He remembered that Edwina had once shown him an ability to imitate others' Beyonder powers.
"If—I first use the pocket watch to 'record' her 'Imitation,' and then use the pocket watch to release 'Imitation' to imitate 'Recording'—wouldn't that achieve an infinite loop?"
"I wonder which is actually stronger, 'Imitation' or 'Recording'—"
"How is it? Are you alright?"
Klein looked at Detective Isengard Stanton, whose face was still a bit pale.
"I didn't expect you to also possess healing-type Beyonder abilities."
Detective Isengard and Klein exchanged a look, and then both of them couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
That day, as soon as Klein returned home, he received a threatening letter from a "Demon."
Before long, a group of private Detectives who had shared the same experience organized a secret seminar to discuss how to handle the situation.
At the meeting, many Detectives with families showed varying degrees of breakdown and retreat. Fortunately, the sudden appearance of Great Detective Isengard Stanton stabilized the situation in time.
After the meeting, he specially kept Klein and another relatively courageous Detective to discuss specific countermeasures. As a result, they were suddenly attacked by that "Demon" at that very moment.
As the strongest combatant, Isengard bore the brunt of the attack and was the first to be knocked down—but this was also within his plan.
Originally, according to Isengard's plan, after being attacked by the "Apostle of Desire," he would deliberately show weakness, pretending to be severely wounded and in a desperate situation to lure the opponent into continuing the attack, thereby revealing a flaw. Once the opponent did so, he would immediately use the backup plan he had prepared to recover from his injuries, and then work with Klein to hold off the enemy until the authorities Beyonder squad arrived.
Who would have thought that Klein also possessed a healing ability like "Damage Transfer." As soon as Isengard collapsed, Klein immediately stepped forward to treat him. Combined with the backup plan Isengard had prepared, the two forces joined together and actually healed Isengard's injuries directly.
Once the "Apostle of Desire" saw this, he immediately realized it was a trap. Without a second word, he turned and fled. Meanwhile, the two Great Detectives were so busy with the healing that neither of them stepped forward to stop or delay him. They could only watch helplessly as that arrogant "Demon" escaped.
Since Isengard had a very good relationship with the Church of Steam and Machinery, members of the "Machinery Hivemind" quickly arrived to help investigate the attack.
As a participant and key witness at the scene, Klein was also asked to stay and cooperate.
Furthermore, because the case involved a Beyonder of the "Demon" Pathway, the "Machinery Hivemind" prepared to deploy their famous Sealed Artifact once again—the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes.
Strange... why does something feel off? Why... does it feel like the members of the "Machinery Hivemind" are intentionally or unintentionally avoiding their captain?
When Captain Ikanser arrived carrying Arrodes wrapped in black cloth and his squad members, Klein clearly noticed a very obvious barrier and sense of estrangement between Ikanser and his squad.
"Respected Arrodes, my question is: what did the Demon who was here before look like?"
Ikanser seemed to have resigned himself to his fate. He didn't even care that an outsider like Klein was present, directly asking his question to the mirror.
Before long, the surface of the mirror rippled like water, revealing the image of a strange man with high cheekbones and cold blue eyes.
Isn't this an all-knowing magic mirror! It's even more convenient than my divination. What an amazing Sealed Artifact—it was also Klein's first time seeing Arrodes with his own eyes, and he couldn't help but marvel.
However, he quickly understood what kind of virtue this broken mirror actually possessed.
"According to the principle of reciprocity, it is my turn to ask a question—"
"Have you ever dreamed of 'him' in your dreams? Dreamed of 'him' having an intimate relationship with you?"
Good grief—this question left Klein completely stunned on the spot. The specific pronoun "him" used here was extremely obvious.
He finally understood why the squad members looked at Captain Ikanser with such strange expressions, and why Ikanser always had a weathered look of having seen through the mortal world.
It turned out... this manly-looking captain of the "Machinery Hivemind" was actually a—
No wonder his squad members wanted to maintain a "safe distance" from him!
Thinking of this, he also unconsciously took two steps back.
Having had the experience from last time, Ikanser had come to terms with it. He knew that whether he answered or not, his reputation wouldn't change. With an expression that looked like he was about to cry, he directly nodded in admission.
"Yes."
The voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the quiet room. Several Machinery Hivemind members turned their faces away in unison, their shoulders twitching suspiciously.
Having witnessed Ikanser's tragic social death on the spot, Klein couldn't help but gulp.
This magic mirror actually had such a perverted hobby! It used the questioner's dark history as a question, and they had to answer it out loud in front of everyone!
What kind of magic mirror was this? This was clearly a social death mirror!
"What, are you curious too?" Ikanser noticed Klein's highly sympathetic gaze and suddenly spoke up.
"Do you want to give it a try too? Come on, don't be polite, experience it, it's very convenient!"
Seemingly unwilling to suffer social death alone and wanting to find a scapegoat, Ikanser acted quite eagerly. He let out a neurotic laugh and shoved Arrodes directly into Klein's arms.
"No... No need, you've misunderstood." Klein waved his hands frantically while backing away repeatedly. He couldn't afford such a "blessing." Although his sexual orientation was straight, heaven knew what kind of lethal question this wicked mirror would ask? What if it suddenly blurted out, "Are you from another world?" That would be a huge disaster!
"It's fine, it's fine, don't be polite!" Ikanser was still persistent, almost shoving the mirror right into his face.
Looking at the other party's clearly unstable mental state, Klein was genuinely terrified. What if this Captain Ikanser suddenly took a liking to him? What should he do then?
Out of options, he could only steel himself to reach out and take the mirror, then turned his back to the other party.
As he reached out and gently wiped the cold mirror surface.
Upon the mirror, lines of white words quickly emerged: "Your loyal and humble servant, Arrodes, is at your service."
Huh?