Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 100 Interpreting Symbols

"A clue to the 'Clown' potion."

……

At the head of the ancient and weathered bronze table, Klein read the "divination text" several times before leaning back and falling into a deep sleep.

His surroundings quickly became peaceful and quiet. What he saw in his "eyes" was ethereal and hazy. Countless distorted and indistinguishable images flashed by, like drops of dew on tender flower petals in the early morning.

Gradually, Klein regained control of his spirituality and a certain degree of awareness.

He saw a fireplace in front of him, and in front of the fireplace was a rocking chair, in which sat an old woman wearing a black and white striped dress.

Although the other person had her head down and her face was obscured, Klein was absolutely certain that she was an old woman.

Directly opposite the old woman was a table with newspapers and a tin can inlaid with silver on it.

"This is..." Klein, who felt the scene was strangely familiar, quickly recognized what he was seeing:

This is where Riel Bieber and his mother live!

This was the first time I had ever seen the "Giants" in person!

"Is there a clue to the 'Clown' potion here?" Klein's thought had barely crossed his mind when the surrounding scenery changed.

It was a gray-white warehouse, hidden at the very back of the same building;

It contained scattered white bones and several clumps of flesh and blood that looked like they had been crushed by boulders.

Just as Klein recognized where he was and remembered what that thing was, the image in his eyes distorted and shattered like a reflection on water being stirred, giving rise to a new, hazy scene:

A naked body lay on a long table covered with a white cloth, with a blood sphere with a hint of blue floating in front of it.

Klein frowned immediately and muttered to himself:

"That was Riel Bieber's hiding place and his remains just now, and now it's something that's turned into the brand on the Joker's wrist?"

Just as he was trying to decipher what these images symbolized, the scene suddenly shifted dramatically:

A marble coffee table, a leather sofa set with one main sofa and two secondary sofas, and a chandelier hanging high in the ceiling;

Klein Moretti, with his black hair and brown eyes and scholarly air; a plump, fair-skinned, and wealthy man; and a beautiful young woman wearing sheer gloves.

A middle-aged man in a black robe with thick, stiff, upright brown hair; a plump, fair-skinned man; a middle-aged man with messy eyebrows, sparse brown hair, and gray-blue eyes; and a dark black notebook placed on the round table between them, a notebook with an ancient and distant aura.

The Antigonus family's notes!

Klein sat up abruptly, the dream completely gone.

Gazing at the boundless gray mist and crimson stars beyond the magnificent temple, he thought with a mixture of astonishment and confusion:

"I was divining for clues about the 'Clown' potion... how did the Antigonus family's notes suddenly appear?"

"Let me think, let me think... that chubby guy is Welch, yes, Welch, the unlucky guy who bought the Antigonus Family Notes and triggered a series of subsequent events... the beautiful young lady wearing sheer gloves is Naya..."

"I remember now, that combination of marble coffee table and leather sofa was the symbol of Welch's residence, where I met 'the psychic' Daly."

"In other words, I just saw Welch's living room and the scene where the original owner was discussing notes with two classmates."

Klein calmed himself, regaining his composure, and rhythmically tapped the edge of the bronze table with his fingers:

"What does the last image represent? The notebook appears, Welch appears—could it be the scene when he bought that 'antique'?"

"Of the other two people present, one looks very familiar. That middle-aged man in the black classic robe seems familiar... spiky brown hair, heavy dark circles under his eyes... Yes, I know who he is, Haynes Vancent, Haynes Vancent of the Divination Club. Because Selena stole the secret incantation, the captain sneaked into his dream and he died 'peacefully'!"

"Hiss, so he sold that notebook to Welch?"

"After going around in circles, it all connected like this. What a small world! No, Tingen is really small! Thinking about it carefully, it's quite possible. Haynes Vancent isn't an ordinary diviner; he's clearly delved into the realm of mystery and gained the attention of some ancient evil god. He has the channels, the ability, and the opportunity to obtain the notes that were accidentally leaked from the secret society..."

"No wonder the captain and his team couldn't find out where Welch bought the notebook. They were going in the wrong direction. They were trying to investigate the antique market... After they found out the notebook's exact location, they gave up on that attempt."

"What a pity. Haynes Vancent has only been dead for a short time, otherwise we could definitely have found something about the notes from him... As someone who has delved into the realm of mystery, he should have studied that notebook... His death was truly a coincidence!"

"However, there was another person present, an elderly man in his fifties, who probably also knew quite a lot."

Klein paused, tapping his fingers on the edge of the table, and went through all the images he had seen in the "dream divination":

"Rail Bieber's house; Riel Bieber's hideout; Riel Bieber's remnants; the thing formed from the brand on the tuxedo clown's wrist; Welch's house; the scene where Welch, Naya, and the original owner interacted; the 'group photo' of Welch, Hynas Vancent, and the Antigonus family notes... Hey, except for the tuxedo clown's brand, everything else is directly related to the Antigonus family notes!"

"But I was divining for clues about the 'Clown' potion... This isn't scientific, no, this isn't mysticism!"

After becoming a "diviner," Klein once tried to divine where Welch had bought the Antigonus family notes, but he did not take into account the special nature of the gray fog at the time and failed to gain any insight. Now, when he divined another matter, he seemed to accidentally reveal the truth.

After calming down for about ten seconds, Klein, combining the contents of Russell's diary, began to try to interpret the dream he had just had:

"The first possibility is that Zarathustra, or the Secret Order, is searching for and pursuing the relics of the Antigonus family. So the symbolic meaning of this dream is that by using matters related to the Antigonus family, the Secret Order will be lured out in order to obtain the recipe for the 'Clown' potion."

"The second possibility is that the Antigonus family's notes directly record the recipe for the 'Clown' potion... The Zarathustra family is searching for traces of the Antigonus family, which indicates a deep connection between them. They might be friends or enemies. Therefore, it's quite normal for the Antigonus family to have some information about the other family. Friends are self-evident, but enemies are the ones who understand each other best..."

"But the second symbolic interpretation can't be connected with the brand of the tuxedo clown. Sigh, I hope it's the second one. Once the Sanctuary has the experts decipher the notes, I can obtain the 'clown' potion without any risk."

"At present, the first interpretation seems the most likely, but my intuition as a diviner tells me that there should be a deeper symbolic meaning."

Thinking about this, Klein rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling a deep sense of the limitations of diviners.

Unless faced with very simple and intuitive symbols, fortune tellers must be extremely careful in their interpretations, as if walking on the edge of an abyss or on a thin ice lake. If they misinterpret the symbols or fail to grasp the most crucial meaning, the tuxedo clown is a living, bloody example!

In that instant, Klein had the illusion that he had grasped the true essence of the diviner, as if he was just one step away from completely digesting the potion.

"Thank you for guiding me with your life... Praise be to the goddess!" he whispered, drawing a crimson moon on his chest.

He then divined whether Azik was benevolent and whether he was a powerful being, and received affirmative answers from both.

At this point, the continuous divination and the exertion of being above the gray fog began to wear Klein down. He had to stop his wandering thoughts and decide on the key things to do next:

"Find the old man who appears in the same picture as Welch, Hynes Vancent, and the Antigonus family notes as soon as possible!"

"We can start with fortune-telling clubs."

"Go see Mr. Azik more often, whether you have something to do or not. Hmm, he might be a member of the Middle Sequence School of Life, but there's a lack of information, so he can't do divination..."

Klein exhaled, and the portrait of a middle-aged man with messy eyebrows, sparse brown hair, and gray-blue eyes suddenly appeared on the parchment in front of him.

This was the third person present when Welch and Hynas Vancent traded the Antigonus family notes!

Looking at the portrait, Klein suddenly found himself in a dilemma:

"...I can't draw. In elementary school art class, I was always the target of the teacher's criticism."

"Using ritual magic, like Old Neil? But that's praying to a goddess... and it all comes down to the special power above the gray fog... If the gods discover anything, I'll be finished!"

"Wait a minute, maybe I can pray to myself! Transmitting images is similar to transmitting sound... Although I can't manipulate the mysterious power above the gray fog for now, this kind of small thing shouldn't be a problem!"

With an idea in mind, Klein immediately spread his spirituality, enveloping himself and simulating the feeling of falling.

Back in his bedroom, he casually turned on the gas lamp and began to whisper a prayer:

"A fool who doesn't belong to this era;"

"You are the mysterious ruler above the gray fog;"

"You are the king of yellow and black who holds the key to good fortune."

"I pray that you will give me revelation, that I may depict what I see."

After reciting these incantations, Klein did not sprinkle essential oils, burn herbs, or rely on their power.

Praying to yourself is that casual!

He suddenly heard a murmur in his ear, and he saw the four black dots forming a square appear on the back of his hand.

He took four steps counterclockwise, chanting incantations as he went, and once again pierced through madness and frenzy, returning to the gray mist.

This time, he did not find any crimson star contracting or expanding, but he noticed that behind the high-backed chair at the head of the bronze table, a strange symbol composed of parts "eyeless eyes" and parts "twisted lines" was flickering with a faint light, stirring up illusory prayers.

Klein listened intently, and after confirming that it was correct, he reconstructed the image of the "third person" and, in accordance with the way of responding to the prayer, cast it into the flowing glimmer.

Having done all this, he immediately left the mysterious world above the gray fog and returned to his bedroom.

As soon as he regained his footing, the image immediately appeared before Klein's eyes, and he felt a faint, illusory power emanating from him.

He picked up a pen, found a piece of white paper, and wrote down his intentions.

To Klein's surprise, his right hand began to move uncontrollably, rapidly tracing lines.

Before long, he saw a lifelike portrait of the "third person".

After writing down the characteristics such as hair color and eye color, Klein, whose right hand was twitching slightly, let out a long sigh of relief.

The "hallucination" he was seeing was fading away rapidly.

(End of this chapter)