Part 2 THE FACELESS MAN Chapter 161 Artificial Sleepwalking
Lawrence sat in the cubicle of the café, and it was difficult to contain the memory of the suffering of the Abraham family over the years.
Since splitting up into small families and scattering them all over the place, the Elder Council’s control over the family members had dropped to its lowest point, and a large number of Abrahams were unwilling to go for promotion in order to circumvent the effects brought about by the curse, always remaining at Sequence 8 or Sequence 9, and did not even try to become Extraordinary Persons at all, wanting to spend their lives calmly and beautifully as ordinary people with a certain amount of knowledge and a certain amount of wealth.
The Council of Elders considered this to be an act of forgetting the honor of the family, but there was no way to deal with it strictly because it was tantamount to self-extermination.
In such a situation, the upper echelon of the Abrahamic family emerged with the idea of change. They imitated the master-disciple inheritance system of the School of Life and trained non-family members in the hope that, after their promotion to the higher ranks, they would in turn help the Abrahamic people to solve the curse that had existed for 1,500 to 1,600 years, and to recover the ancestors who had disappeared in the “Battle of the Four Emperors”! Bertram Abraham.
This plan started off very smoothly, the apprentices who did not need to worry about the curse under the careful cultivation of the Abrahams family, quickly become stronger, constantly promoted, in just ten years, there are several Sequence 5 powerhouses among them, while the Abrahams family’s direct lineage of extraordinary people, there is not even a Sequence 6.
The trunk was too weak, the branches were too strong, and the seeds of tragedy were planted, and the ambitious among the disciples set their sights on the several powerful seals that the Abraham family possessed.
Their scheming failed, but it also brought serious fallout, as all the Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 Extraordinaires who weren’t members of the family felt that their status within the Abraham family didn’t match their own strength and weren’t trusted with the right to manipulate certain seals.
In the process of back and forth, hard negotiation and mutual compromise, an accident happened, one of the sequence 5 “travelers” called Burtis was seduced by the “real Creator” and joined the Aurora Society, which led to a terrible disaster.
In this disaster, the upper level of the Abrahams family was nearly wiped out, and more than half of the already small number of powerful seals were lost, with only three remaining, and Lawrence’s half-brother Richard died as a result.
Butis, on the other hand, was greatly benefited, not only collected all the extraordinary materials needed, but also successfully overcame the obstacles with the help of the “Real Creator”, stepped into the demigod sequence, and became one of the five saints of the Aurora Society, the “Sage of Secrets”.
After the disaster, the rebuilt Abraham family council of elders reflected on the behavior of the past years, but could not find a solution to the problem, negativity, disillusionment, despair and other emotions in the hearts of the few remaining members of the family.
Lawrence, unwilling to be in such an environment, unwilling to face the sighs and depressing atmosphere every day, found a reason to leave the Presbyterian Church, and came to Birkeland to look for his other half-brother, Laubro, and half-brother, Sam.
Now, suddenly, he realized that he seemed to be the only one left of his father’s branch.
And he himself was nearly eighty years old, and all of his children had died in the disaster that Buttis had brought about.
The mere recollection of this made him inconsolable and unbreakable.
What pained him most of all was that he could see no hope of revenge, no ray of light on the return of his family’s glory.
”I’m already very old and have been traumatized before, I don’t even dare to use extraordinary abilities anymore unless it’s necessary, that would bring about a loss of control, or let the curse come …… Where exactly is the future of the Abraham family?” Lawrence took a sip of his Filmer’s coffee and fell into a long silence.
……
Back inside the rented house, Forsyth immediately entered the bedroom and unlocked the wooden door.
She sat down to the edge of the bed, adjusted herself, and chanted in a low voice the honorable name that represented hope and the future:
”O Fool who does not belong to this age;”
”You are the mysterious lord above the gray mist;”
”You are the Yellow and Black King who reigns over good fortune.”
”I would like to pray to You and state what has happened to me today.”
”I met the elder brother of the husband of the old woman who made me an ‘apprentice’ and who is suspected to be a member of some family ……”
”I concealed things related to the mystical realm, but I fear that he possesses great powers of divination and could find out the complete truth ……”
……
At this time, Klein was just above the gray mist.
He saw the crimson star representing the “Magician” expanding outward, causing ripples, and heard layers of prayers spreading.
After figuring out the details, Klein tapped his fingers on the edge of the ancient table and said quietly to himself:
”Very cautious, knowing to ask for help from a fool.”
”Moreover, your guess is correct, the sequence 7 corresponding to ‘Apprentice’ is called ‘Ascendant’ ……”
He, who had recently been reading the Book of Secrets diligently, quickly worked out a program that could help the other party interfere with Divination through a ritual.
”I have to say, after advancing to Sequence 7 and having the Book of Secrets, I’m becoming more and more like a true deity above the Gray Mist, but of course, for the time being, it’s just an empty shell ……
”Speaking of which, I’ve performed in front of Miss ‘Justice’, Mr. ‘Inverted Hangman’ and the others many times, perfectly hoodwinking them, so why is it that there’s never been any corresponding spiritual feedback, and the progress of the magical potion hasn’t gotten any quicker with it? Did it have to be in the real world? Well, it could be that the ‘applause’ from the audience was cut off by the gray fog and couldn’t affect me directly, just like the ‘Eternal Sun’ and ‘Real Creator’ had trouble penetrating the gray fog to find This mysterious space ……
”So it seems that the gray fog and this mysterious space react mechanically, not dynamic enough, lacking intelligence …… However, for me, this is actually a good thing ……”
In the midst of his thoughts, Klein materialized the corresponding knowledge into an ancient parchment, and threw it into the crimson star that symbolized the “magician”.
Suddenly, an infinite grayish mist filled the sky in front of Voorhees’ eyes, while an illusory yellowish-brown parchment descended from the sky.
She saw the knowledge written on it, and her mind settled down.
With Mr. Fool at his side, Mr. Lawrence would not be able to get the right revelation in his divination! Forsyth thanked him sincerely and busied herself with the preparations for the ceremony.
She had seen a lot of evil spirits harming people, and she didn’t really trust Mr. Fool that much, but the full moon curse made her rely on him.
Without the help of Mr. Fool, I would have lost control of my life and become a monster during the last blood moon……. Every day I live, I earn one more day, and it’s all because of Mr. Fool’s blessing. “Mr. Fool can take it back whenever he wants to……. Well, it’s best not to……. Forsyth took a breath and lit the two candles that symbolized the Fool.
The steps in the early stages of this ritual were not much different from those she had mastered before, until the candles were lit and the essential oils, pure dews, powdered herbs, and other items were thrown into the fire.
When the ethereal scent filled the room, and a thin, illusory mist enveloped the altar, Voorhees quickly adjusted her mind and body according to what was written on the parchment, and entered into meditation, reciting the name of the “Fool” over and over again.
This monotonous and repetitive behavior, so that the already calm and peaceful due to contemplation Forsyth slowly entered a state of mental slumber and spiritual dispersion, the whole person is both muddle-headed, but also maintains a peculiar wakefulness, only to feel that the spirit is floating, and constantly upward.
This is similar to the process of “secret contract” reached with the help of external objects, but it is different in many places. This belongs to a technique of psychic art, which is used for communicating with higher-level spirits, and in the extreme, it can even allow extraordinary people to roam the spirit world while retaining a peculiar wakefulness.
Some extraordinary people who are good at influencing the mind call it “artificial sleepwalking”, and they can use hypnosis and other techniques to make ordinary people also enter this state.
In this way, the ordinary person seems to be asleep, but can answer questions, seemingly closed eyes, closed mouth, but can find all kinds of spirits around, and complete a certain degree of communication.
The reason why Klein didn’t allow Forsyth to use the “secret contract ceremony” was because it could only give knowledge, purification or erosion and other direct effects, allowing the other person’s spirit to have a marvelous experience, but could not interfere with the other person’s divination, etc. In short, the “secret contract ceremony” could only give knowledge, purification or erosion and other direct effects, allowing the other person’s spirit to have a wonderful experience.
To put it simply, the “Secret Contract Ritual” directly affects the target’s own spiritual, astral, mental and etheric bodies, and any positive or negative states associated with them are removed, while the ritual under “Artificial Sleepwalking” allows Klein to do something indirectly to cope with the intrusion from the outside world. The “Artificial Sleepwalking” ritual allows Klein to do some indirect things to cope with the intrusion from the outside world.
In a daze, Forsyth felt himself drifting back to the majestic and ancient palace above the gray mist, and saw Mr. Fool, who was perched at the top, looking down on everything.
Klein looked at the “magician” silhouette outlined in crimson starlight, and unhurriedly picked up a paper figure that he had just retrieved from a pile of clutter in the corner.
As a “soothsayer” who had been promoted twice, he had many ways to interfere with other people’s divination without the help of magical objects.
At this moment, under the influence of the ritual, the mysterious space above the gray fog shook slightly, and some power flowed from being pried.
Klein pressed the “Black Emperor” card on the surface of the bronze table with his left hand, and connected it to his own spiritual body, which brought about an increase in his status, just as he had previously used the “Yang Yan Charm” and the Aztec copper whistle to solidify his spiritual body and raise his level.
Immediately after that, he flicked his right wrist and threw the paper figure out.
The paper figure suddenly became bigger, and twelve pairs of black angel wings cut out of paper grew out from its back, with lifelike feathers.
The paper “angels” flew through the crimson light and overlapped with the illusory figure of the “magician”.
Noiselessly, it burned up and completely disappeared.
Half asleep, half awake, Forsyth seemed to see a majestic angel, saw the other side with many pairs of black feathers layer after layer wrapped around himself!
I do not know how long, Forsyth suddenly from the “artificial sleepwalking” state of wakefulness, in front of the only three candles quietly burning altar and filled the entire room of the fog, the nose is that familiar ethereal fragrance.
”Angel ……” Forsyth was so mesmerized that he forgot to end the ceremony for a moment.