The pale and hazy fog pervaded the area as if it had always been there. The deep red, illusory stars hung far or near. Klein sat in the grand palace that resembled a giant's abode, quietly gazing at the familiar surroundings before him.
After a few seconds, he lowered his gaze and saw a sheet of yellowish-brown parchment appear before him. Then he picked up a pen and wrote down the summoning ritual he had modified:
"Light a candle to symbolize myself;"
"Create a holy environment with the spiritual wall;"
"Drip the full moon essential oil, chamomile pure extract, and sleep powder (note: at this step, there's no need to be overly meticulous as it's a summoning of oneself);"
"Recite the following incantation:"
"I! (Ancient Hermes, Giant, Dragon, Elf languages, must be shouted loudly)"
"I summon (Hermes language):"
"The ignorant fool of this era, the mysterious master above the gray fog, the king of yellow and black who holds good fortune." ...
After carefully reviewing it three times, Klein wrote the divination sentence at the bottom:
"In conducting the above ritual outside, there is danger."
He let out a breath, put down the pen, unfastened the silver chain inside the cuff, and held it with his left hand.
When the yellow crystal pendant gently floated above the parchment, just a little bit away from the divination sentence, he focused his mind and entered a meditative state.
"In conducting the above ritual outside, there is danger."
"In conducting the above ritual outside, there is danger." ...
After repeating the incantation seven times, Klein opened his almost pitch-black eyes and saw the yellow crystal pendant rotating counterclockwise.
This meant negation, and there was no danger!
"Let's give it a try," Klein hurriedly made the item that appeared in front of him disappear, extended his spiritual aura to wrap around himself, and simulated the feeling of plummeting downwards.
After returning to the bedroom, since he had sealed the entire room with the spiritual wall earlier, Klein directly cleaned the desk and placed a candle with a minty scent in the center.
He placed his right hand on the wick of the candle and used the spiritual friction method to ignite the other party instantly.
In the flickering yellowish light, Klein dropped the corresponding essential oil, pure water, and herb powder into the flame.
The serene and peaceful fragrance instantly spread, and the room alternated between brightness and darkness.
Taking two steps back, Klein looked at the candle symbolizing himself, and shouted in the giant language:
"I!"
Immediately after, he switched to Hermes language:
"I summon in my name:"
"The ignorant fool not belonging to this era, the mysterious master above the mist, the yellow-black king in charge of good fortune."
As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately felt that the flickering yellowish candle flame and the serene fragrance around merged into a vortex, crazily absorbing his own spiritual energy.
"The deep sleep flower belonging to the red moon, please transfer the power to my incantation... " Klein endured the discomfort of his spiritual energy being drained and completed the subsequent incantation.
At this time, he saw that the candle flame stopped shaking, stood quietly there, and took on a grayish-white color, stretching out to the size of a palm towards the surroundings.
"No summoned anything... Ah, maybe I need to make a response on the mist above... Summoning oneself is really troublesome... " Klein pinched the numb and painful forehead and muttered silently.
He paused for about ten seconds, walked backward four steps, and returned to the mist above, seeing a circle of expanding light patterns at the top of the ancient long table.
This came from the strange symbol behind the high-backed chair - a strange symbol composed of the mysterious symbol of the concealed part "the eye without pupil" and the mysterious symbol of the changing part "the distorted line".
Klein only made the gesture of reaching out to touch, and immediately heard the incantations such as "I! I summon in my name", "The ignorant fool not belonging to this era", "The mysterious master above the mist" and so on, and saw the incoming spiritual energy mixed with the expanding light patterns, forming an illusory, unformed door.
This door was swaying, wanting to open, and Klein immediately had an idea and gave a strong intention to push it open.
Almost instantly, the boundless mist and the magnificent palace suddenly were pulled by the force, generating invisible ripples.
These ripples were one after another, flowing towards the illusory, unformed door.
However, no matter how much Klein pushed, the door could not be opened, and all the movements eventually returned to silence.
"Because the 'Summoning Door' has not fully formed?" Klein withdrew his intention, furrowing his eyebrows and analyzing the reason for the failure.
-- He casually named that illusory door "Summoning Door".
"Well, it's because my spiritual energy is insufficient, I can't build a complete 'Summoning Door'... Wait until I advance to sequence 8 and become 'The Clown', overcome the initial dangerous stage, I can try again, maybe then there won't be any problems... " Klein nodded slightly, roughly understanding what was going on.
This experiment gave him great confidence and strong encouragement because it was the first time he had caused a different reaction in the mysterious space above the mist!
"There will be a day when I will figure out all the secrets here!" Klein excitedly declared in his heart, falling into the boundless mist under the spiritual aura wrapping him. ......
Back in the bedroom, Klein quickly extinguished the candle, ending the ritual. Then he tidied up his desk and removed the spiritual barrier.
In the sudden gust of wind, he yawned, fell onto the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket, and fell asleep immediately.
In a hazy and fragmented dream, Klein suddenly woke up and found himself sitting in the living room of his home, holding a copy of the "Tingen City Honest People's Newspaper" in his hand. ... Will the captain be here again? He was momentarily stunned, then looked out of the bulging window with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.
With a creak, the door opened, and Dunn, wearing a black knee-length coat, walked in holding a cane and a pipe.
He still wore a half-tilted black hat and had deep, gray eyes.
Dunn entered the living room and sat on the single sofa, casually placing his right leg on top of his left.
He placed his cane down, took off his hat, leaned back slightly, and just like that, he quietly looked at Klein, as if in deep thought.
Captain, what do you want to do today... Klein was momentarily at a loss.
To avoid revealing that he knew this was a dream, he pretended not to be affected and continued reading the newspaper.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes, he looked at Dunn across the room and noticed that the captain was still quietly, as if in deep thought, looking at him.
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes. After flipping the newspaper several times, Klein, with his eyes scanning the room with the corner of his eye, saw Dunn quietly, as if in deep thought, looking at him.
Captain, you make me feel so uncomfortable... Klein became restless and folded up the newspaper, put it aside, smiled at Dunn, and then went to the kitchen to take out a rag and pretended to wipe the table and coffee table.
Captain, look, my dream is so simple, so ordinary, so boring. There's nothing worth observing. You'd better leave! Or transform into a ghost so that I can pretend to be frightened and let you complete the "Nightmare" achievement! He silently prayed, but when he looked up, he saw Dunn's deep, seemingly thinking, gray eyes.
Under this silent, unchanging gaze, Klein cleaned the furniture and the room, feeling exhausted in the dream.
And what wore him out the most was Dunn, the captain, who quietly, as if in deep thought, was looking at him. Smith.
After such a long time of busyness, he finally saw the captain lower his right leg, stand up, then take the cane, put on the hat, and walk towards the door.
Klein held his breath and watched Dunn leave his home all the way.
He couldn't help raising his right hand and making a goodbye gesture.
Huh... When everything returned to normal, Klein let out a long breath.
That was truly a nightmare! He thought with a tearful expression.
......
Bekland, West District, Philip Department Store.
This is the most upscale department store in the Kingdom of Ruan, accessible only to the nobility and wealthy individuals with membership privileges.
Outside, there are always rows of luxurious carriages parked, each with a different emblem. Besides being a shopping mecca, it has also become a well-known social venue due to the strict restrictions on personnel.
Audrey, accompanied by her maid Anne and her golden retriever Susie, stepped down from the carriage and entered the gate amid the attentive reception of the waiters.
Along the way, she could frequently see young ladies of the viscountess and countess classes, or those with prominent family status.
She maintained an elegant posture, greeting them with proper yet unforced etiquette, engaging in brief conversations with different nobles from various angles, such as complimenting the new dress of a certain countess on the fit, or greeting a certain baroness and praising her husband's performance in the House of Lords.
Previously, Audrey was not good at this part and was too impulsive and self-centered. But now, she can handle it perfectly without much effort.
In the eyes of the "spectators", the emotions and thoughts of most noblewomen were as if written on their faces.
On the second floor, Audrey turned to the clothing store.
The waitress in the store was a young, short girl, wearing a black and white patterned dress, with a stubborn shoulder-length blonde hair, exactly "Arbitrator" Hugh Diercha.
Audrey made a gesture to the big dog Susie without changing her expression. The dog immediately understood her meaning and happily ran to another counter.
Maid Anne had to hurry up and follow, trying to pull Susie back.
Well done! Audrey thought to herself and walked over to Hugh Diercha, pretending to be observing different styles of dresses. "... "Why did you arrange to meet me here?" Hugh said loudly while asking softly.
Her voice was very young, like that of a child.
"What about the original waiter?" Audrey asked without answering.
Hugh observed the surroundings and said, "I persuaded her, and she was very happy to have an entire morning off."
Audrey looked at different styles of dresses, took out a folded piece of paper from her small sheepskin handbag, and secretly handed it to Hugh:
"'Hurricane Hunter' Zilinger secretly entered Beckland. This is his portrait. I hope you can help me find him. Well, don't wake him up."
Hugh took the paper, quickly unfolded it and glanced at it. He found it was a lifelike sketch of a man in his thirties with a distinctive wide chin.
I also often receive praise from my teachers in the field of painting... Audrey glanced at Hugh and raised her head slightly.
She added:
"The reward offered by the kingdom for Zilinger is 10,000 pounds. If we really catch him, even just someone who provides clues will definitely receive at least several hundred pounds as a reward."
As soon as she finished speaking, she unsurprisingly saw Hugh's eyes light up.