Part 1. The Joker Chapter 105 – Psychic
Klein unscrewed the cap of the metal vial and brought it up to his nose, where he smelled a slightly irritating but invigorating odor.
This is the “Holy Night Powder”, which is blended from Deep Sleep Flower, Dragon’s Blood Grass, Crimson Sandalwood and Peppermint, etc. Because it is easy to make, Klein found a chance to get a bottle of it after replenishing the materials in the underground market, and it is just right for him to use it now.
He poured out some of the “Holy Night Powder” into his palm, and then settled his spirit, letting his eyes turn deep.
Then, Klein put away the metal vial, twisted the powder, poured the spirit into it, and sprinkled it on the ground.
As he sprinkled, he walked around Cyrus’ body.
Invisible walls were erected with a flourish, isolating the place from the outside world.
Klein shook off a little of the remaining “Holy Night Powder” and took out other metal vials, dripping the “Amanda” Pure Dew and other liquids into the surrounding area in turn.
The order in which he set up the ceremony was different from the one Neil had done at Riel Bieber’s house, because the things he wanted to pray for were different, and so were the purposes he hoped to achieve.
For example, the old Neil sprinkled the liquid first and then used the “Holy Night Powder”, which could create a serenity and holiness that was second only to the formal altar, while Klein used the “Holy Night Powder” first and then sprinkled the liquid, because his purpose was only to avoid Cyrus’s residual spirit from being disturbed by things around him, and to have an atmosphere that was barely satisfactory. Disturbed, and have an environment that barely meets the needs of the ceremony.
–If he switched to the old Neil’s way, the residual spirituality of Cyrus would be driven out, and there would be no communication at all.
With that done, Klein gathered his materials, held his meditative state, and whispered the incantation written in Hermetic:
”I pray for the power of the night;”
”I pray for the power of concealment;”
”I pray for the favor of the Goddess.”
”I pray that you allow me to communicate spiritually with the cultists within the altar.”
……
As the incantation echoed through the hermetically sealed environment, Krynn violently felt the majestic, terrifying, and insidious power descending upon him.
His eyes darkened completely, seeming to lose their pupils and the whites of his eyes.
Seizing this opportunity, Klein recited the “Divination Statement” in his heart:
”The formula for the Joker’s Magic Potion.”
”The formula for the Joker’s Potion.”
……
In the midst of his meditation, he allowed himself to enter the dream world briefly, standing up.
In the gray world without sky or earth, Klein was unusually awake this time, gazing at a transparent, illusory figure.
He reached out his right hand and touched it toward the lingering spirit of Cyrus.
With a loud bang, the scene in front of him changed drastically.
It was a desk painted in dark red, where stood the silver candlestick bearing three candles, and where lay a page of blank letter paper.
Cyrus was holding a fountain pen and writing out the universal Lune language:
”This is the second recipe, the name recorded in the notes is ‘Joker’.”
”80 milliliters of pure water, 5 drops of mandarin juice, 7 grams of black-edged sunflower powder, 10 grams of golden cloak grass powder, 3 drops of poisonous cordial juice, and the above are auxiliary ingredients.”
”The main, extraordinary ingredients are: one adult Horatches gray goat unicorn crystal, and one intact human-faced rose.”
Cyrus didn’t seem to need to think back, brushing off the recipe for the Joker’s Magic Potion.
At this point, he paused briefly to take a sip of his coffee before unclasping the silver pendant wrapped around his wrist area.
He held the pendant, half-closed his eyes, and muttered words and phrases such as “Day of Destruction,” “Peace of Mind,” “Blessed be the Lord,” and “Repentance to You! “and other words and phrases.
When Cyrus had finished praying, Klein finally got a good look at the pendant.
Below the silver bracelet, which clasped together in one ring, dangled a thumb-sized statue of a man.
The statue had the distinctive vertical single eye of a giant, with its head facing downward and its feet bound by chains attached to the top.
Just then, the giant’s vertical single eye suddenly flashed with a blood-red shimmer.
Ka-ching!
The scene Klein saw instantly fragmented, and his legs weakened, nearly falling to his knees on the ground.
The pain of a hard blow to the head came from his head, and Klein’s eyes were all blood-red, and his hands involuntarily braced themselves in the position of his knees.
It took a few seconds for him to recover and stand up straight again, only to realize that his spirituality was abnormally weak, and that he seemed to have heard the piercing whispers again.
However, thanks to his progress in “digesting” the magic potion, the abnormal reaction quickly subsided.
”The upside-down hanging giants, the real Creator …… Cyrus and Hynas are members of the Aurora Society? However, what the captain saw in the dream of Haynas Vansant was a giant cross, a horrific being hanging upside down and nailed to a cross, not the ‘upside down giants’ of the Society of the Aurora Borealis ……” Klein took two deep breaths and waited for the for the slow recovery of spirituality.
The Aurora Society is a secretive organization that has only emerged in the last two to three hundred years. They worship the “Real Creator” and use the hanging giant as a symbol of that being, and they believe that everyone possesses divinity, and as long as one’s spirit is tough enough to withstand the trials and tribulations, then one can accumulate an abundance of divinity and become an angel.
According to the internal records of the Night Watch, the Aurora Society has the Sequence 9 called “Secret Prayer Man”, these extraordinary people can detect certain mysterious and terrifying existences, and have mastered a certain amount of knowledge of rituals and a small amount of ritual magic. There is enough evidence to suggest that veteran “Secret Prayers” have more or less distorted cognitive perspectives and are prone to losing control.
Sequence 7 of the Aurora Order is unknown, and Sequence 8 is the “Listener”, which is a rather frightening and extraordinary “profession”:
Each “Listener” can directly hear the whispers of their counterpart’s hidden existence, so they often have access to a number of powerful, twisted, and unique abilities, but accordingly, if a “Listener” is unable to obtain promotion, it is very difficult for them to survive for more than five years! In addition, the internal data of the Night Watchers gave the evaluation that all “Listeners” were crazy, even if they usually behaved normally, they were definitely hidden crazy.
Klein quickly went through the information of the Aurora Society in his mind, and initially decided that Cyrus was a “Secret Prayer Man”.
”From the description, the Secret Prayer Man and the Diviner are just as lousy above encounters, which is in line with Cyrus’s performance, and then was it a serious injury that caused the loss of control? Erm, Fry said that every Extraordinary dies with more or less strange changes ……” Klein thought as he nodded four times on his chest, praising the goddess.
Immediately afterward, with his spirituality slightly restored he ended the ritual in order, unsealing the sealed wall of spirituality.
The whimpering wind blew as Klein forced himself to look at Cyrus’ body again.
He noticed a telltale sarcoma remaining on Cyrus’ bloodied face, deep purple and nearly black, with what appeared to be liquid and light bobbing around inside.
”What the hell kind of change is this?” Klein rubbed his temples, not daring to touch it.
He bent down and picked up the cane, letting the other bear some of his body weight.
After the reaction just now, he knew that Cyrus’s remaining spirituality had been completely destroyed, and even “psychic” Daley was unable to communicate with the other party.
After waiting for a while, Klein waited for Captain Dunn and teammates Leonard and Kornleigh.
”I feel that you have a fatal bond with the Extraordinary, with the forces of evil, and you’ve encountered more transcendent events in your time than we’ve seen in a previous season.” Leonard glanced at the bodies on the ground and joked as if casually.
”Maybe it’s not a coincidence.” Crane thought fleetingly of the red chimney he’d seen in the Dream Divination, and of the last sighting of the looming palace and invisible gaze of the main peak of the Hornachis, and took the opportunity to chime in.
Dunn looked round and said, looking at Crane with his dark gray eyes:
”You’ve tried psychic powers?”
There was still a lingering smell of the “Holy Night Powder” and pure essential oils.
”Yes.” Klein replied frankly, “I was worried that you arrived too late and the residual spirituality showed signs of dissipation.”
”Seeing your condition, not too good?” The shorter Kornleigh was concerned.
Klein said from the beginning while handing the captain the letter that Cyrus hadn’t yet mailed:
”When I went to the Underground Exchange Market to buy ritual materials, it suddenly occurred to me that Selene had once been to the Evil Dragon Bar and that it was Linus Vansant who had guided her in, which would indicate that Linus belonged to the regulars there, so I suspected that the gentleman in the portrait, the one who had some relationship with Linus, might have once been to the Underground Exchange Market as well.”
”I questioned the owner, Svein, with the portrait, and he replied in the affirmative, telling me that the gentleman was attempting to purchase artifacts and antiquities related to the main peak of Hornachis, which reminded me at once of this, and of the fact that when I borrowed the corresponding periodicals and magazines, someone had just returned them …… ”
Leonard smiled as he listened, and suddenly interjected:
”So you came here with your trainee inspector’s credentials and your Special Operations badge to investigate the borrowing records of those periodicals? In fact, I’m curious as to why you came into conflict with this gentleman. Even if you had a direct encounter, with the way you do things, you should have pretended that you didn’t know each other, left the library as soon as possible, and sought our help on Zotland Street.”
”Yes, there was no need for you to take the risk, once the target is identified, there will always be a way to follow up and find him as long as he hasn’t left Tingen.” Dunn, who was skimming the letter, followed and added.
Klein was instantly a little embarrassed:
”The librarian recognized him and yelled for the officer to help.”
”There’s no way I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that ……”
Leonard and Cornley instantly looked at each other, one not hiding a smile and the other cocking his head to the side.
Dunn nodded gently, letting his eyes drift away from the letter and said:
”What did you get out of the séance?”
”I saw a pendant carved with an upside down hanging giant, saw the giant’s one eye flash blood red, and then exited the ritual.” Klein described it truthfully.
He did not say anything about the “Joker” magic potion for the time being, which was based on two considerations:
On the one hand, if Dunn and the others were able to find the corresponding records from Cyrus’s hiding place in the subsequent tracking, then there was no difference between what he said and what he didn’t say, and there would be no extra credit added.
On the other hand, if Dunn and the others didn’t find it, he could find a chance to report it in the future, and accumulate more credits for claiming materials and blending magic potions, which was the method of splitting a single credit into two, originating from Old Neil’s words of wisdom during this period of time.
”Aurora Council?” Dunn murmured thoughtfully, then asked some related questions.
When Krynn answered them all, he glanced at the other man’s tired demeanor and raised his cane, saying:
”Good, you’ve disrupted a plot against the city of Tingen, you can go back to resting, Coenley, you go get old Niall over here.”
After the order, Dunn shook his head and smiled bitterly:
”Before Sequence 6, the extraordinary people of the ‘Sleepless One’ pathway lacked many auxiliary abilities, and even the ritual magic could only master a few of the simplest and most basic ones.”
”Captain, do you mean that from Sequence 6 onwards, the extraordinary person of the ‘Sleepless One’ pathway will be enhanced accordingly?” Klein asked curiously in return.
”Uh-huh.” Dunn replied in the affirmative.
……
After leaving the Devereux Library and taking the public carriage back to Daffodil Street, Klein nearly fell asleep on the way several times.
He braced himself to enter the door, remove his hat, take off his coat, and fall asleep right on the couch.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he jerked awake, pulled out his pocket watch, and snapped it an open.
”Melissa will be back in half an hour, and Benson in forty or fifty minutes …… Gonna have to make them wait an hour and a half for dinner ……” Klein rubbed his forehead and walked into the kitchen.
He first washed his face with cold water, then took out the ingredients such as oxtail, tomatoes, carrots and onions that he had bought at noon.
After making the preparations, he was suddenly a bit baffled, always feeling that this didn’t quite fit in with what had happened to him this afternoon.
”I’m the man who just saved Tingen City ……,” Klein muttered amusedly, put on his white apron, lifted his kitchen knife, and began to get busy.