Lord of the Mysteries

“What?” Old Kohler asked, not hearing him clearly.

Klein looked at the potholed road in front of him and said in a self-deprecating manner, “Nothing.

“I hope Liv’s family can get out of this situation and live in better conditions.”

He had indeed voiced out his thoughts. Being one of the inheritors of the Foodaholic Empire’s new era, it was perfectly normal for him to think of a revolution, to mobilize the masses, and to change the world. However, when he thought about the details, he felt that he couldn’t save himself just by relying on the poor. This was because Beyonder forces existed in this world. Furthermore, they were relatively supernatural and couldn’t be resolved simply by firearms. For instance, Sequence 5 of the Mutant pathway.

That was just one aspect of things. Another aspect of things was due to the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation. Due to the limited access to ingredients, Beyonder forces couldn’t become commonplace, making it difficult to convert the advantage of numbers into effective combat power. And even if it could be spread, as long as the problem of losing control wasn’t resolved, then it would still bring about disaster.

If there weren’t any High-Sequence Beyonders, then there would actually be ways to deal with all of this to a certain extent. However, in the real world, not only were there demigods, but there were also Sealed Artifacts that could kill people without them even knowing how they died. Besides, deities were real and they stood high and lofty.

In this way, the poor would use strikes and street protests to fight back. However, once they took up weapons and established an army, they would be met with an unstoppable counterattack. It wasn’t impossible for a large-scale natural disaster to occur, one that would affect people psychologically.

The only ones that were on par with the official Beyonder organizations were mostly secret organizations. Typically, they were related to evil forces, so by joining hands with them, death might not even be the most tragic ending. Therefore, to embark on the path of revolution, the most hopeful road to success was to get the support of one or more Churches.

How many concessions could be obtained through simple strikes and street protests while still meeting the vested interests of those involved? Bribery would be much easier… However, the incident regarding the True Creator, who almost made use of the miserable situations of the poor to descend upon Backlund, has seemed to stir the Church of the Evernight Goddess and the nobles who were aware of the situation. I can see that from the investigation mission that Mike had accepted and the information provided by Miss Justice… Klein’s thoughts lingered on East Borough, the dock area, and the factory district.

In the end, he couldn’t help but let out a laugh and sigh in his heart.

After all the ideas that come to me, it seems that only through the threat of an evil god’s descent can the poor’s situation be improved.

However, the evil gods are also the ones who can’t wait to draw on their flesh and blood, existences that devour their souls; they’re the ones most likely to bring a disaster that no one can escape from.

What wonderful irony.

…

In Empress Borough, the opulent villa of Count Hall.

As Dr. Escalante had upcoming matters she had to attend to, Audrey had brought forward her second psychology lesson for the week.

Susie, more excited than she was, had long rushed into the study, even leaving the ball game she usually loved the most aside.

Audrey purposely displayed her curiosity during this lesson, occasionally asking Escalante about psychology related to mysticism.

At the end of the lesson, Escalante finally spoke after some deliberation, “Miss Audrey, we’ve organized a seminar on this subject. Many members have specialized in the intersecting field of psychology and mysticism. Are you interested in joining?”

“Of course!” Audrey nodded and answered without the slightest sign of hesitation. It perfectly matched her predetermined innocent and curious personality that she had set for herself.

Escalante smiled.

“Remember to keep this a secret. You know that your elders have a strong prejudice against the study of mysticism. I’ll bring you there for the next lesson.”

“No problem.” Audrey gave her consent with a hint of excitement.

After sending off Escalante, whose hair reached her waist, out the study, she closed the door behind her, faced the mirror by the bookcase, and remained silent for two seconds.

Following that, she lifted up her skirt and took a step and did a swirl from a court dance. Then, looking at herself in the mirror, she sweetly smiled and said, “Audrey, you’re great!”

Audrey knew that she had taken the first step in entering the Psychology Alchemists. Although the seminar was most likely an outer circle, and there would definitely be a lot of tests to follow, this really made her open the door to the Psychology Alchemists.

In the process, she didn’t borrow strength from the outside world, but instead, she relied solely on her observation and performance to perfectly hide it from Psychiatrist Dr. Escalante. Therefore, she was very proud of herself.

“That seminar sounds interesting.” Susie leaned over and wagged her tail. “Audrey, can I join?”

Join? Looking at this golden retriever with its wicked round eyes, Audrey immediately sank into deep thought.

She dragged out a terse acknowledgment.

“I can’t do it at the moment, Susie. Y-you’re too conspicuous…”

At this point, she changed the topic of their conversation and said with a slight smile, “But I can bring you along.”

…

On Saturday night, taking his Master Key and his black cane, Klein walked out of 15 Minsk Street. Without the latter, he didn’t think that he would be able to return today.

He was going to “find” Dr. Aaron, enter his dream, and find out how the nightmare regarding Will Auceptin came about.

As for where Dr. Aaron lived, he had already found out yesterday—3 Burningham Road, Hillston Borough.

By the time Klein arrived, it was past eleven o’clock and the neighborhood was dark and silent.

After tossing a coin and performing a divination, Klein passed through the outer bars, walked around to the side, and used the Master Key to open up an invisible passage through the wall into the dark corridor.

With his agile steps, he quietly went up to the second floor and hid in an empty guest room.

When it was clear that Dr. Aaron and his wife were asleep, Klein entered their bedroom through the wall.

The first thing he did was take out a Slumber Charm and mutter the incantation, making Dr. Aaron’s wife really fall asleep, preventing her from suddenly waking up and disturb what he would subsequently do to her husband.

Then, Klein sat down on a chair in front of the dresser, held the Dream Charm in his hand, and whispered a word in ancient Hermes, “Crimson!”

As soon as he finished saying that, he felt the charm in his palm become light, as though it had become a weightless illusion.

As his spirituality poured in, a transparent flame wrapped around the charm, burning a deep and serene black.

Driven by Klein’s will, the blackness spread out, enveloping both Dr. Aaron and himself.

Klein quickly entered a Cogitation state and saw the endless darkness and the single oval-shaped light.

His spirituality extended out and touched that illusory and hazy object.

The world around him suddenly turned upside down and twisted, and Klein found himself on a barren plain, with pitch-black stones at his feet and not even a blade of grass.

In the center of the plain stood a black steeple with a huge silver snake coiled around it. It had its head reared up, and its red eyes stared coldly in their direction.

Unlike what Dr. Aaron had described, the silver serpent had no physical scales, and its body was covered in dense patterns and symbols. They were all connected to each other into what seemed like wheels, and there were different symbols around each wheel.

The giant snake’s tail and head’s wheels were each halved, looking incongruous, as though they could kill a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder, but Klein imagined that if the giant silver snake could bite its own tail with its mouth, the wheel would be complete. It wouldn’t be disconnected, and there wouldn’t be any more changes.

Next to Klein, Dr. Aaron stared blankly ahead, moving closer and closer to the dark steeple.

I can now confirm that no one is guiding Dr. Aaron… That excludes Nightmare Beyonder powers… Klein quickly made a judgment.

He didn’t stop Dr. Aaron, but he followed him towards the black steeple and the silver snake.

The two of them had only taken a few steps when their target had already appeared before them. The giant silver snake had its upper body bent down, as though it was considering how to enjoy the dessert that was delivered to its mouth.

Its mouth opened wide, but there was no putrid smell coming from it. Its red eyes were cold and merciless, looking at everything like they were nothing more than prey; yet, it didn’t have the slightest hint of bloodlust or cruelty.

In front of it, everything seemed puny and equal because of their insignificance.

In the end, the serpent didn’t launch an attack. Klein followed Dr. Aaron through an old, rotting wooden door and into the darkness of the tower.

As Aaron had told him, the layout was abnormally confusing and chaotic. The stairs spiraled up and down, and the halls, libraries, and rooms were normal, inverted, and some were embedded in other parts. It was a building that couldn’t possibly exist in the real world.

After passing through the doors and walls, Klein had no idea where he was in the black tower. Perhaps he had reached the top or perhaps the basement.

In the rich darkness, he suddenly noticed a figure curled up in the corner in front of him.

The figure, sensing Dr. Aaron’s approach, scrambled to its feet, hopping over on one leg.

It was only when the figure was very close did Klein clearly see him. He looked dignified and strong, in his early teens, and had an expression of obvious fear.

The figure was about 1.4 meters tall, and his left calf was missing. It was obvious that he was the child who had undergone surgery, Will Auceptin.

In his hand was a deck of tarot cards. His pitch-black eyes were filled with surprise and joy, as well as fear and horror.

“Dr. Aaron, a snake wants to eat me!”

Suddenly, he let out a blood-curdling scream as the image of a huge, mysterious silver snake was reflected in his eyes.

Whoosh!

The tarot cards in his hand fell to the ground, leaving only one card tightly gripped in his palm.

Klein focused his gaze over it and saw that there was, similarly, a wheel on the card.

It was the Wheel of Fortune card.

Whoosh!

The dream shattered instantly, and Klein found himself still sitting in a chair in front of the dresser.