Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 33 "Switch" (First Update, Please Vote)

As soon as Old Neil finished speaking, the illusory eyes in the dim light behind him vanished instantly, and even Klein, who was in a state of "spiritual vision," could no longer find any trace of their existence.

"This is a symbol of ritual magic," Old Neil chuckled as he explained.

It's kind of amazing... Spirit Vision is just an enhanced version of Yin-Yang Eyes? Klein, like a child who has received a new toy, excitedly shifted his gaze and examined every corner of the room, wanting to see what the differences were between the current alchemy room and the previous one.

The dim light outlined the shapes of the objects: the long table, test tubes, scales, cups, cabinets, etc., were no different from before Klein activated his "spiritual vision," and they did not emit any light.

"Does an inanimate object lack spirit?" Klein muttered to himself, his gaze sweeping over the small silver box on the table.

Suddenly, he saw a radiance appear inside, sometimes as blue as the sky, sometimes as bright as the stars, and sometimes as red as fire!

"Materials derived from extraordinary species also contain some kind of life, uh, vitality? Even if the original owner is already dead?" Klein carefully chose his words, asking Old Neil with great curiosity.

"The accurate description is that their spirituality remains, which is one of the keys to the successful formulation of potions, and also one of the root causes of the extraordinary ones going out of control. Dunn should have told you that," Old Neil explained frankly.

He seemed to remember something, and suddenly burst into laughter:

"I remember that the recipe for 'The Corpse Collector' contains dried adult black-spotted frogs. It takes a lot of courage to take this potion."

Klein imagined it for a moment, felt a little disgusted, and did not agree with Old Neil. He turned his gaze to the dim surroundings where there was insufficient light. However, there were no spirits or ghosts that he had expected.

"Isn't it said that the spirit world is everywhere?" he asked, puzzled.

Old Neil chuckled and said:

"Little one, repeat after me:"

"This is the headquarters of the Night Watchers, located beneath the Church of the Goddess of Night. Many extraordinary individuals reside here!"

"Do you think we would let spirits and souls roam freely here? Besides, the world of spirits and spirits are two different concepts."

Klein was a little embarrassed and turned his head away, pretending to look at the faint gaslight glow at the entrance of the hidden door:

"I see."

As he spoke, his brow suddenly began to twitch uncontrollably, as if in a spasm.

What's going on? Klein was about to turn around and ask when he suddenly saw a nearly transparent figure standing quietly at the edge of the bright yellow light near the inner part of the hidden door. It was humanoid, and its aura and color blended perfectly with the dim environment, making it difficult to distinguish.

hiss!

Klein felt a sudden throbbing pain between his brows, and his vision became blurry. When he tried to focus again, he couldn't see any "invisible" figure!

Strange… He turned around and said:

"Mr. Neil, I have a twitching sensation between my eyebrows, and it hurts a little."

"Haha, that's perfectly normal. You've just been promoted to an Extraordinary, and psychic vision will put a lot of strain on your 'spiritual body' and constantly deplete it. This manifests outwardly as symptoms such as twitching between your eyebrows, stabbing headaches, hypersensitivity, and slight hallucinations. Moreover, in the state of psychic vision, you are easily uncomfortable in unfamiliar environments and are easily influenced by the emotions of others. These are all things to be aware of and must be adapted to and overcome through repeated practice. In addition, use it in moderation and stop it in time," Old Neil replied with a smile.

Why do I sense a hint of delight in your expression...? Klein quickly inquired:

"How do I exit the state of spiritual vision?"

He had intended to mention the "invisible" figure he had just seen, but after hearing that the symptoms included "a few hallucinations," he changed his mind.

Based on the twitching and tingling in his brow, Old Neil's answer was entirely predictable!

"Just like before, visualize the object, focus your attention, then switch to a meditative state, close your eyes, control your spirit, and repeatedly tell it to stop. After that, open your eyes and you will find that the clairvoyance has ended."

Old Neil described it leisurely, only adding at the end, "Of course, this is the most tedious and clumsy method. We can practice by repeatedly suggesting to ourselves in meditation, repeatedly influencing our spirituality, and leaving simple 'switch actions.' For example, I can easily turn on spiritual vision by tapping my forehead twice, and easily turn it off by tapping it twice more. How to set it up depends on your own habits and preferences."

"I understand." Klein thought for a moment and decided to imitate Old Neil, using the action of lightly tapping his forehead twice as a "switch" for his spiritual vision.

"One tap" is easily confused with the instinctive tapping of the head, while "three taps" may waste precious time in a crisis situation. As for actions such as snapping fingers, they are too individualistic and attract attention.

He focused his attention, visualized the gathering of orbs of light, and re-entered a meditative state.

Under Neil's guidance, and after repeated hints and practice, he finally "set up" the "switch action".

He lightly clenched his fist and tapped his brow twice with the knuckle of his index finger. Suddenly, Klein saw auras of varying thickness and color before his eyes.

After knocking twice more, everything returned to normal, with nothing unusual about it.

"Finally, I've got it..." he exclaimed with joy.

It was only at this moment that he realized he was so tired that he felt like he could fall asleep at any moment, and his head felt empty and throbbing as if he had stayed up for three nights in a row.

Old Neil smiled and said:

"We are not 'sleepless'. After each excessive practice or overuse of clairvoyance, we need a period of sleep to recover. You can go home now and get some rest. This afternoon, take a stroll on the road from Welch's residence to Iron Cross Street and try to find clues to the Antigonus family notes as soon as possible. Tomorrow, we will continue the teaching of occult knowledge. Of course, you must not forget to read those historical documents."

"Okay." Klein wholeheartedly agreed with Old Neil's arrangement.

Grabbing his cane, Klein left the alchemy room and watched as the secret door closed. Old Neil returned to the armory. Klein rubbed his temples and, holding onto the handrail, climbed the stairs step by step.

At that moment, Dunn Smith came up from behind, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said with a deep, enigmatic gaze:

"According to Old Neil, you're very comfortable with both meditation and clairvoyance."

"Perhaps it's just a peculiarity of 'fortune tellers'," Klein replied modestly.

He guessed that Dunn had just been guarding the armory for Old Neil.

Dunn slowed his pace, trailing Klein by only a small margin. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke without turning around:

"Remember, curiosity killed the cat, and it also killed the extraordinary. Don't try to investigate whispers you shouldn't hear or things you shouldn't see."

"Okay." Klein knew this was yet another reminder about the extraordinary individuals going out of control.

Upon entering Blackthorn Security Company, he greeted Rosanne, who was clearly unaware that she had become an Extraordinary, and leisurely walked out of the gate onto the street. He then took a trackless public carriage back to Narcissus Street, almost falling asleep along the way.

It was still morning, and the temperature was only around 26 or 27 degrees Celsius. Klein took the brass key from his belt and opened his front door.

Inside the house, many items were still missing, and the living room and dining room were empty. Benson and Melissa, one at work and the other at school, had already left early.

Klein ignored everything else, slammed the door shut, and hurried upstairs to his own bedroom with its bookshelves.

After taking off his tuxedo and hanging it on the coat rack, he couldn't wait to lie down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Klein was awakened by the bright sunshine. He turned his head, slowly opened his eyes, and found that the sun was shining brightly outside.

"What time is it? I won't miss the 'Tarot Gathering' this afternoon, will I?" He struggled to get out of bed and walked to the coat rack, because his pocket watch was still in the inside pocket of his tuxedo.

He not only forgot about the incident, but also forgot to close the bedroom door and draw the curtains of the bay window.

Snapped!

Klein took out his pocket watch, turned it on, and immediately felt relieved.

It's only a little past twelve o'clock, and there's still plenty of time before the agreed-upon 3 pm.

Today is Monday, the day he meets with "The Hanged Man" and "Justice".

Klein pretended to think, tapped his brow twice, and his vision changed again as he saw his aura regain its bright color.

He knocked twice more, then withdrew from his spiritual vision. He easily went downstairs, boiled some water, added some cheap tea leaves, and ate a rye bread with it and a little butter.

Afterwards, Klein pulled out his history textbook and the original owner's notes, and leisurely began to "review" and consolidate his knowledge.

…………

At 2:57 p.m., Klein closed the books, capped his pen, and swiftly drew the curtains shut.

He then locked the bedroom door from the inside, making the room unusually dark.

He tapped his brow twice to activate his spiritual vision and looked around.

After confirming that there were no invisible spirits in the room, Klein ended his spiritual vision, took out his pocket watch, and checked the time.

Tick, tick.

At one minute to three, he took four steps counterclockwise, just like before, forming a square, and silently recited the corresponding incantation in Chinese with each step.

However, he didn't prepare any staple food this time.

Klein closed his eyes and felt a slight itch on the back of his hand, as if the four black dots that formed the small square were becoming more prominent and emerging.

Frenzied screams and seductive whispers began to echo, but Klein found that his headache wasn't as bad as last time.

It's not that he's unaffected, but rather that he manages to control himself from actively listening.

Having become an "extraordinary person," he gained more self-control in this environment.

Soon, his "body" became lighter and floated upwards. He saw the pervasive, grayish-white, boundless, and hazy mist, and he saw the deep red "stars". Two of them seemed to have a subtle connection with him and felt strangely familiar.

Klein looked at his blurry reflection and muttered in confusion:

"The celestial beings that Old Neil was talking about?"

He calmed himself for a few seconds, and once again conjured up the magnificent temple above the gray mist, the long bronze table located directly beneath the wide dome, and the twenty-two high-backed chairs with different constellation symbols.

Klein quietly walked to the head of the table and sat down, letting his body and face be shrouded in an even thicker gray mist. Then he stretched out his right hand and pointed at the two familiar "crimson" stars, establishing a strange connection.

P.S.: Requesting votes on Monday!

PS2: The occult knowledge involved in this book has been heavily modified; do not imitate it.

PS3: I've noticed that my explanation isn't clear enough, so many people can't find it. To find the 22 starting professions in the sequence, follow these steps: 1. Follow my official WeChat account. 2. Don't type any text to ask questions. Just click on the icon to open a menu. Look at the leftmost option, "Squid Works," then select the "Master of Mysteries" submenu. You can then see information about new books, including the second, third, and fourth waves of new books.

(End of this chapter)