Part 1. The Joker Chapter 182 – Klein the Wanderer

　　The weather had gone from cool to slightly chilly in Tingen in early September, but the sunlight at three or four in the afternoon still made it feel warm.

　　Klein floated through the wall of spirituality and the cambered belly window, halfway across the sky beyond his bedroom, looking down on the pedestrians and carriages coming and going on Daffodil Street.

　　Just then, a man in gray and blue worker’s clothing looked up suddenly and looked over.

　　Startled, Klein tried to hide on the spot, but for a moment couldn’t find suitable cover.

　　Spinning around and seeing no other way out, he tried to burrow back into his home, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the man’s gaze from earlier had only swept past the second floor window, always moving after a sparrow, which was eventually and regrettably thrown off.

　　Birds can still be seen occasionally in downtown Tingen.

　　Whew …… I forgot, ordinary people can t even see me …… Klein sighed with relief, feeling that he hadn t fully adapted to the current state.

　　With his heart in the right place, he lowered his flight altitude, nearing the still wide streets, and just floated above the heads of the pedestrians.

　　As soon as he drew closer, Klein immediately realized that his “gaze” was already slightly equivalent to spiritual vision, and did not need to be opened additionally, but there was only a limitation on the range.

　　In addition, in addition to the aura and emotional color, he also vaguely perceived the existence of the soul of each pedestrian, hazy, illusory and transparent.

　　It seems that I in my current state can directly pass through the physical body and attack the soul …… Klein nodded thoughtfully.

　　He circled around, ready to test extreme speed, and flew as hard as he could toward Iron Cross.

　　It didn’t take long for him to stop, having returned to the apartment outside the one he originally lived in.

　　It should have the speed of a normal car in the last life, the kind that normally runs on the highway …… It’s a pity that you can’t freely enter and exit the spirit world yet, otherwise it would be perfect …… However, if you get lost in the spirit world, the consequences are said to be very serious… …Klein had just finished his self-assessment when he felt his mood become low, gray, and indescribably depressing.

　　He looked around, only to see that the place was shrouded in a dark color that could not be seen by normal people and was difficult for sunlight to dispel, and the residual numbness, despair, and pain were layered on top of each other like substance.

　　”The same as what I experienced with inspiration after my last promotion to ‘Diviner’, the middle and lower streets of Iron Cross Street have always remained the same …… I don’t know how many years it takes to accumulate such depression and grayness …… “Remembering earlier, Klein sighed and drew up his figure, flying up to the third floor.

　　It was here that he finally felt the sunlight and got rid of his low mood.

　　As Klein flew along the lower streets, every now and then he could see residents with tattered clothing, numb expressions, and malnutrition, and even encountered two normal deaths, both of which were of the chronically starving, ill-healthy, and suddenly diseased type.

　　There was no telling how many people would painfully pass away here each month, yet the bankrupt farmers and the ex-slaves pouring in from the southern continent would soon fill their places …… Klein exhaled silently and changed direction, flying towards the southern district.

　　That was the industrial zone of Tingen City, with steel mills, lead-white factories, ceramics factories, printing factories, metal crafting factories, and machine building factories next to you and next to you.

　　As he flew, Klein saw the towering chimneyed iron furnaces, the dust that filled the air, the heavy grayness that was only a little better than Lower Street.

　　It was filled with exhaustion, pain, pessimism, and numbness, and workers in their thirties were in the minority.

　　Just as Klein was about to lower his altitude and take a closer look at the area, he suddenly felt weak, weak from the inside out.

　　”My spirituality can no longer support this state ……” Klein’s heart was shocked, first rushing back home, then immediately thought of a better possibility.

　　I was “summoned” out, end the “summoning”, will naturally return! He quieted his mind, carefully sensed his own state and the surrounding environment, and not surprisingly found that there was a subtle connection between a place infinitely high and infinitely close to him.

　　Following this connection, Klein wrapped the “Yang Yan Charm” tightly and gave a strong intention to end the “summoning”.

　　With a huge and terrifying suction force, his transparent and almost invisible figure leaped and disappeared into the material world.

　　……

　　The boundless gray mist filled with silence, the illusory stillness of the crimson stars without flickering, Klein reappeared in the lofty palace like the residence of giants, appeared in the ancient and mottled bronze long table head.

　　The whole process was this …… and …… Klein’s eyes appeared surprised as he looked into his own spiritual body, only to see a warm and pure thin sheet of gold wrapped inside.

　　”Yangyan Charm!”

　　I really did use my own “summoning” method to bring reality into the gray mist! He pulled out the charm with a smile on his face and played with it repeatedly to make sure it wasn’t a manifested virtual product.

　　Kraven stood up and paced a few paces, full of anticipation:

　　”Sure enough, materials and items are also able to enter this mysterious space!”

　　”As long as we can find the right way!”

　　”However, this way is more complicated and requires a bit of turnaround to reach the goal, and always being ‘summoned’ by a member will tarnish the image of the ‘Fool’, so only I can use it myself, or after knowing more about it Devise a spell that summons the ‘Fool’s Familiars’ but also points to me as well ……”

　　”…… I was born a hard worker, why does the spell have to point to myself, when the time comes, I can make a messenger-like but more special ‘family member’, which will receive and give materials. ……”

　　Klein’s thoughts were in a flurry, having idea after idea, but limited to his strength and knowledge level, none of them could be realized for the time being.

　　The weakness became worse, and Klein didn’t dare to linger any longer, wrapping himself in spirituality to simulate the feeling of falling into the gray mist.

　　In the blink of an eye, he returned to his bedroom and saw the brilliant sunlight shining in through the cracks in the curtain.

　　He examined himself, and confirmed that the “Yang Yan Charm” had not been brought out, and had been left on top of the gray mist.

　　”After I get some rest, I’ll repeat the previous summoning ritual in the wee hours of the morning, and take the ‘Yang Yan Rune’ back to the real world. …… Hey, it would be nice if that state just now could be maintained for a bit longer, so that I can more quickly Examine the houses with red chimneys, unfortunately, it doesn’t work at the moment, after just flying for a while and examining a few houses, I’m afraid I’ll have to return above the gray mist and rest for a half day, which is equally inefficient.” Klein walked over to his desk and extinguished the quietly burning candle.

　　Gathering his belongings, he didn’t immediately disarm the wall of spirituality, but sat down, took out a pen and paper, and began to write a letter, a letter to Mr. Aztec!

　　After writing “Dear Sir” and deliberating for a few minutes, Klein put pen to paper and said:

　　”…… I recently received a piece of information, one of the seven pirate generals, ‘Hurricane Lieutenant General’ Zilingus infiltrated the Bekrand, he is carrying a magic item called ‘Creeping hunger’, which is a magical item. ‘ magical item, which can provide similar abilities to ‘shepherds’, which are Sequence 5 Extraordinaires who devour and enslave different souls and correspondingly gain an ability, and it is said that the number of souls they graze at the same time is Limited, but replaceable ……”

　　”…… Zylingus has many kinds of extraordinary abilities, and I don’t really know what he wants to do in Berkland …… Intelligence suggests that it may involve a very important and very magical item, enough to make Zylingus a high sequence Powerhouse, or an item comparable to a High Sequence Powerhouse ……”

　　Klein described the matter of Zilingus in general with the help of fictional sources of intelligence, and anyway, he believed that Mr. Aztec was unlikely to go to the level of the captain of the night watchman to ask for confirmation.

　　Here, he didn’t directly ask for help, mentioning it as if casually, telling the other to be careful.

　　Regardless of whether or not he would ask Mr. Azik for help afterward, it wouldn’t be wrong to lay the groundwork first! That way it wouldn’t seem out of the blue if it did come to that! Klein exhaled slowly and began to write the main content of the letter:

　　”That man behind the scenes has not made any further moves, and I still haven’t found any relevant clues.”

　　”I contacted you out of the blue, mainly because I wanted to ask for your knowledge on ‘Sacrificial Rituals’, I encountered something similar in one of my recent missions ……”

　　With the description of the “Sun” and Mr. Aztec’s answer as a comparison …… I should be able to attempt the “Sacrifice Ritual”, and the reverse would be “Giving” …… would be a better way of exchanging materials and items than “summoning” myself. …… Hmmm… , hopefully Mr. Aztec remembered that aspect …… Klein nodded slightly and put down his pen without signing it.

　　There was only so many copper whistles, and he was sure Mr. Aztec wouldn’t get the wrong sender.

　　So, Klein was careful not to leave a name.

　　Folding the letterhead and glancing at the height of the three-meter-or-so tier, he picked up the copper whistle from the bed with a slight hesitation.

　　Just right, let it squat to receive the letter! Klein emphasized in his mind, raised his right hand, put the copper whistle to his mouth, puffed out his cheeks and blew hard.

　　The copper whistle did not make a sound, but Klein acutely felt that his surroundings instantly became gloomy.

　　He opened his spiritual vision and saw one white bone after another with a hazy luster gushing out like a fountain on top of the desk, rising higher and higher.

　　These white bones quickly coalesced into an illusory and massive monster, its head burrowing into the wall of spirituality and reaching out somewhere.

　　Looking at the white bone thighs and body in front of him, at the hanging arms, the open right palm, the corner of Klein’s mouth twitched, and he threw the folded letter paper upwards.

　　The white bone giant palm swept and held the letter steadily.

　　At this point, without hesitation, Klein picked up the copper whistle again and blew it.

　　The monster disintegrated in an instant, turning into a white bone that landed on top of the desk and drilled into it illusorily, disappearing.

　　After doing so, Klein disarmed the wall of spirituality and trudged towards the coat rack in the sudden gust of wind, placing the copper whistle back in its place.

　　Then he ran quickly to the bed and fell head over heels.

　　His body had barely touched the soft bed when his entire body had passed out.