Part 1. The Joker Chapter 28: The Tantric Sessions

　　Poof! Poof! Plop!

　　Klein’s heart suddenly began to beat violently; it contracted into a ball, and then bulged so violently that it sent a slight tremor through his body.

　　For a moment he almost forgot what he was going to do, what he should do, until the figure of the infiltrator suddenly had a pause, and slightly inclined his ear, as if he had heard some change.

　　”Blood” dropped back from his brain, and Klein, regaining his basic ability to think, ran his hand under the pillow and gripped the wooden handle of the revolver.

　　Hard and smooth to the touch, his emotions quickly stabilized, and with a soothing, silent movement, he drew the pistol and aimed it at the infiltrator’s head.

　　Honestly, he was unsure if he would be able to hit his opponent; although he had been able to get on target consistently before, a moving person and a stationary target were very different concepts, and he wasn’t arrogant enough to confuse the two.

　　However, he vaguely remembered a saying from his previous life, which probably meant that the greatest power of a nuclear bomb only existed before it was launched.

　　In this time and circumstance, the reasoning was the same, the best deterrent was before the bullet was fired!

　　Without hooking the trigger and firing blindly, the other guy won’t be sure that he’s a rookie, and with the great likelihood that he won’t hit him, he’ll worry, he’ll wince, and he’ll think about it so much that he’ll put his own leash on himself!

　　In a flash, thought after thought surfaced, giving Klein an immediate decision; he wasn’t the type of person who became calmer the more critical he became, but had long ago envisioned an encounter with a watcher, envisioned a predominantly intimidating, non-attacking scenario.

　　The Big Eater State idiom was that it never hurts to be prepared!

　　As Klein’s gun was aimed at the infiltrator, the thin man froze in a huff, as if sensing something.

　　Immediately afterward, he heard a voice containing a light laugh:

　　”Good evening, this gentleman.”

　　The lean man’s hands clasped quietly, his body seemed to tighten as Klein sat on the bottom bunk of the high-low bed, aiming the gun at his head, and said in a tone that was as leisurely and natural as possible:

　　”Please raise your hands and turn your body as slowly as you can; frankly, I’m a timid, easily nervous man, and if you go too fast, I’ll be too intimidated to guarantee that there won’t be a misfire, yes, that’s it.”

　　With his hands half-raised beside his head, the lean man turned his body a little, the first thing that caught Klein’s eye was the neatly buttoned black leotard before two thick, sharp brown and yellow eyebrows.

　　Klein couldn’t see fear in his azure eyes, instead he had the feeling of being stared at by a vicious beast, as if if he wasn’t careful, the other would pounce on him and tear him to pieces.

　　His grip on the handle of the gun tightened, doing his best to keep his own expression subdued and bland.

　　It wasn’t until the lean man was completely square with himself that he raised his chin and pointed towards the door, saying softly and gently:

　　”Sir, let’s go out and talk, don’t disturb other people’s beautiful dreams, well, move a little slower, tread a little lighter, this is a gentleman’s most basic courtesy ……”

　　The thin man’s cold eyes turned, swept Klein a glance, still half-raised his hands, and took a step towards the door.

　　With the revolver in his sights, he twisted the handle and slowly opened the door.

　　Just as the door of the room was half-opened, he suddenly crouched down and rolled forward, while the door, as if pulled by a gale, clanged back together.

　　”Well ……” Benson, who was on the upper bunk, was startled by the great commotion, and was in a daze, about to awaken.

　　At that moment, there was a melodious and serene melody coming in from outside, and a low, soothing voice chanted:

　　”Ah, the threat of fear, the scarlet hope!

　　At least one thing is true: this life flies by.

　　O one thing is true, and all the rest are lies.

　　The flower blossoms once and then will be gone with the world ……” (note 1)

　　The poem seems to have the power to relax and stabilize people, and Benson on the top bunk and Melissa and others in the inner room fall asleep again in a daze.

　　Klein, serene in both mind and body, nearly yawned.

　　The lean man had just gotten rid of it so quickly that he hadn’t had time to react.

　　Looking at the closed door, he smiled slightly and said to himself:

　　”You may not believe me when I say it, this round of mine was actually a blank round.”

　　A blank round in case of an errant shot!

　　Next, Klein listened to the midnight psalm and patiently waited up for the battle outside to end.

　　In but a minute the melody, peaceful as the surface of a moonlit lake, ceased, and the blackness of the night resumed its deepest silence.

　　Klein wordlessly slid the spinning wheel, shifting the empty bit out of the way, and waited for the results to be presented.

　　It was a ten-minute wait, and just as he was fretting and hesitating to go out and investigate, the calm, gentle voice of Dunn Smith finally came from the doorway:

　　”Resolved.”

　　Exhaling, Klein exhaled, lifted his revolver, grabbed his keys, and, barefoot, cautiously approached the doorway, opening it noiselessly and exiting to see Dunn-Smith, with his black trenchcoat at his knees, his half-height bowler hat at ease, and his dark gray eyes, standing across the room.

　　Closing the door behind him, he followed Dunn to the end of the corridor and stood in the faint scarlet moonlight.

　　”Wasted some time getting into his dreams.” Dunn said in a quiet tone as he looked out the window at the red moon.

　　”Know where he came from?” Klein relaxed considerably.

　　Dunn nodded slightly:

　　”An ancient organization called the ‘Secret Cultivation Society’, they were established in the Fourth Age, and the Solomon Empire, related to some of the fallen nobles at that time, heh, the notes of the Antigonus family originated from them, because of the negligence of one of the members, it only got into the antique market, and it was obtained by Welch, and they had to send people around to track it down.”

　　Not waiting for Klein to ask a question, he paused and added:

　　”We’ll follow the clues and capture some of their members in reverse, well, it won’t necessarily turn out too well, these guys are as adept at hiding as rats in a sewer, but at least they’ll understand as a result of that that the notes of the Antigonus family have most likely already been obtained by us, or that we hold the key clues, and in that case, as long as it’s not a very key and very important item They will all completely abandon this operation, this is their philosophy of survival.”

　　”…… What if the notes are very critical and very important?” Klein asked worriedly.

　　Dunn smiled and didn’t answer, instead saying:

　　”We know very little about the ‘Secret Society’, this time we were able to achieve success thanks to your resourcefulness, this is a credit that belongs to you, and considering the possible, lurking dangers, as well as the increased inspiration that will help in the search for the notes, you have one chance to choose. ”

　　”A chance to choose?” Klein vaguely guessed what was going on, and his breathing became subconsciously heavier.

　　Dunn tightened his smile and said with a solemn and serious expression:

　　”Do you wish to become an Extraordinary? One can only pick the starting Extraordinary Person from the incomplete sequence.”

　　”Of course, you can also give up this opportunity and choose to accumulate credits until it is enough for you to become a ‘Sleepless One’, which is the initial of the Goddess’s own Night Guard, the beginning of the complete sequence that the Church has mastered.”

　　Sure enough …… Klein’s heart rejoiced, and without hesitation for the moment, he took the initiative to ask:

　　”Then which ‘Sequence 9’ can I pick from?”

　　There always had to be detailed information in order to determine whether to give up, or accept, and which one to choose specifically!

　　Dunn turned his body, draped in the spilled scarlet “light veil”, looked into Klein’s eyes, and slowly said:

　　”In addition to the Insomniac, the Church also has three ‘Sequence 9’ magic potion formulas, one is called ‘Secret Peeper’, which is the ability mastered by the old Neil, heh, Roxanne should have mentioned it to you, she can’t always keep her mouth shut. ”

　　Klein smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to answer, luckily Dunn didn’t care and continued:

　　”Our ‘Secret Peeper’ magic potion formula and the unconnected part of the follow-up was obtained from the ‘Moss Ascetic Order’, at that time, it was said that they were not yet corrupted, and still adhered to the morals and precepts, the pursuit of knowledge and the strictly guarded the secret, and all initiates, after becoming ‘peeps into the secret’, were required to abstain from speaking for five years, and to learn to be silent, in order to cultivate and improve their concentration, and the ‘peeps’ motto of ‘do whatever you want, but do no harm’ was derived from them ‘ motto came from them.”

　　”‘Secret peepers’ have a thorough but rudimentary understanding and mastery of magic, sorcery, astrology, and other occult knowledge, and know quite a bit of ceremonial magic, but are prone to perceive certain presences hidden behind things, and must be careful and in awe of extraordinary forces. ”

　　”We lack most of this sequence to the point of piecemeal stringing into a chain, like, for example, its Sequence 8, but of course, maybe the ‘Sanctuary’ has it.”

　　That pretty much fits everything I’m looking for …… Klein nods slightly, having the urge to choose.

　　Luckily, he remembered something else:

　　”What about the other two?”

　　”The second one is called ‘Corpse Collector’, a lot of those death-worshipping cultists in the southern continent choose it, after taking this magic potion, they will be saved from attack by unintelligent undead who mistake them for their own kind, can endure cold, decay and the erosion of the breath of death, can directly see some of the evil spirits, understand the many undead creature characteristics and weaknesses, as well as gaining some physical improvements, we have its subsequent Sequence 8 and Sequence 7, huh, its Sequence 7 you should be able to guess, ‘Psychic’! That was Daley’s choice in the first place.” Dunn described it in considerable detail.

　　”Psychic” does look mysterious and cool, however, what I want most is to master the knowledge of the occult …… Klein did not interrupt, quietly listening.

　　Dunn Smith glanced sideways at Crimson Moonlight and said:

　　”The third one we only have Sequence 9, I’m not sure if the ‘Sanctuary’ is hiding anything else, it’s called the ‘Diviner’.”

　　Diviner? Klein’s pupils shrunk, thinking of the regrets that Rossel the Great had left behind in his diary:

　　He regretted not choosing between an apprentice, a thief, and a soothsayer!

　　Note 1: Adapted from Edward Fitzgerald’s English translation of The Rubai Collection.