Lord of Mysteries: The Color of the Stars

In fact, Julian originally planned to find a "craftsman" to help him make an appraisal, but after the historical mystery incident, Julian decided to temporarily refrain from harming others.

For safety's sake, Julian deliberately set up a series of ritual magic to reduce the risk. Once everything was ready, he used "Chris Jacob's Ring" in combination with the "Four-Colored Awakener's" four-color vision and the "Star Color" to neutralize the pollution and began to "decipher" the two items in a rather borderline way.

"Hmm... It's certain that both of these items contain contamination, and judging from the resonance reaction of the 'Ring of Chris Jacob,' this contamination is most likely related to Antigonus."

After a while, Julian finished his "deciphering" and began summarizing in his notebook:

"The 'Magician' extraordinary item left behind by Lena Powell is the most heavily contaminated. It needs to be cleaned before it can be used to concoct potions, and it's best to do so even if it's to be made into an extraordinary item."

"The half of the painted mask was relatively less contaminated... This is probably because it is a supernatural object, rather than an extraordinary property possessed by Lena Powell herself."

"Currently, it seems to possess the ability of the 'Faceless Man' to change appearance and physique, but it appears to be able to erode the holder's astral body after a period of time, thereby affecting the mental and spiritual body, thus confusing the holder's self-awareness and making it impossible for them to return to their original state."

"On the other hand, this thing can also originate from a celestial being and, after a period of time, turn the holder into a mystic... and this is most likely an effect of contamination."

Julian pondered for a moment and concluded that if this thing primarily eroded the astral bodies, he did have a way to counteract its negative effects.

Because the "Color of the Stars" is attached to his own astral body, Julian might be able to use this extraordinary item at a very low cost if he were to exercise his initiative.

After all, it is an item from the "Diviner" pathway. When faced with this power that is competing with him for the astral body, "Star's Color" will most likely fight back to offset the effects on Julian himself.

To give a somewhat vivid analogy, it's like someone is peacefully at home when their most hated person shows up uninvited and even picks their nose—any normal person would find that unbearable.

After determining the strategic direction, Julian temporarily left the room containing the box with the power of "secrecy" and "sleep" and went to the storage room in the basement.

This is Julian's main location for conducting experiments on hazardous materials, including flammable, explosive, and toxic substances.

Once they were out of the box's influence, the buzzing of "Starry Night" became noticeable again.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm going to use you as an experiment, so cooperate."

Julian said in a low voice.

"Buzzing..."

Whether it was sensing Julian's ill intentions or not, the buzzing sound of "Starry Night" became even louder.

Julian endured the noise, frowning as he began to draw a series of patterns on the ground and write down many ancient Hermes words. Once everything was ready, he began to whisper the name of "Star of Colors".

"The illusory colors of the illusory sky, the invisible shadows of the silent star tides, the withered creatures, and the ancient sovereigns who distort reality!"

"With the radiant light as my witness, and through your presence as the conduit, I humbly beseech you to amplify your power and bestow your protection upon me..."

After speaking, Julian put the half of the mask on his right cheek.

"Buzzing!!!"

As Julian had expected, "Starry Night" immediately erupted in fierce dissatisfaction, with an emotion that even contained a clear intent to kill.

But it could not kill Julian; it could only fight against the pollution that was trying to erode Julian's spirit.

And so, the two sides began a fierce tug-of-war.

Julian remained vigilant throughout, silently reciting the goddess's name while observing the power struggle between the two sides.

Fortunately, the power of "Starry Sky" was clearly superior, and thus they quickly won the battle in this tug-of-war.

Although the doubling ritual played a significant role in this, after this observation, Julian judged that the increase was likely excessive.

Even simply repeating the name of "Starry Night" has a significant chance of directly counteracting the mask's corrosive effects and minimizing its harm.

Of course, all of this is thanks to the fact that the mask was only slightly contaminated, and that the "Starry Night" was deeply embedded in Julian's body, giving him a "home advantage".

If the power of this mask to transform into a puppet can be equated with that of a true "Puppet Master," even if "Starlight" can withstand the multiplication ritual, Julian's celestial body, spiritual body, and mental body would probably be completely torn apart.

In comparison, becoming a secret puppet seems like a good ending.

Once the mask's corrosive influence was completely suppressed, Julian began to sketch a familiar image in his mind.

His height dropped rapidly, and his appearance also changed significantly.

Once everything was changed, Julian looked at the face in the mirror that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.

That's Klein Moretti!

Julian nodded in satisfaction, and then he tried to transform into Dunn and Leonard, which he also succeeded in doing.

But soon, he also began to feel tired—the feeling that his spirituality was about to be exhausted.

"It seems that I can only transform into two people at most in a short period of time, otherwise my spirituality will not be able to support it and there is a risk of losing control."

"As for usage time, as long as I don't change my appearance, I should be able to last for ten to twenty minutes... Although it is indeed very short, this time should be able to be extended further after I advance to Sequence 8."

In any case, the fact that Julian, at a Sequence 9 level, could barely use a Sequence 6 extraordinary item without losing control or dying is already a occult miracle.

Julian suppressed the increasingly noisy buzzing of "Starry Night" by silently chanting the name of "Goddess of the Night" while restoring his own appearance.

Then, he took off the half of the mask and looked at it.

"Another extraordinary item whose name I don't know... I'll call you 'Lina's Pain Mask'."

It must be said that the name perfectly captures the scene when Julian first saw it.

After putting away "Lina's Pain Mask," Julian canceled the power-boosting ritual of "Star Colors" and returned to his bedroom.

The continuous mental and spiritual exhaustion left him feeling physically and mentally drained, and all Julian wanted to do was take a nap.

With the faint soothing effect emanating from the black box, he quickly fell asleep.

On the other side, on Pennsylvania Street in the North District.

Klein, Benson, and Melissa, dressed in formal attire, stood outside a row of townhouses.

After a short wait, Melissa gently rang the doorbell.

She was a young girl with long, wine-red hair, and she immediately showed a surprised expression when she saw the three of them appear.

After hugging her, Melissa said:

Happy birthday, Selena, you look beautiful today.

This young woman is none other than Selena Wood, the star of today's birthday dinner.

She was the daughter of Mr. Wood, a senior employee at the Tingen branch of Backlund Bank, and was considered the wealthiest among Melissa's friends.

Of course, she also has a hidden identity that no one knows, not even Klein, who is a "Night Watcher".

That was the occult disciple of Haynes Vancent, a member of the Aurora Society!