Lord of the Mysteries

Panda Novel

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 Luck 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 secrecy 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 Beyonder. 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.