"Cheap?!"
Hearing that word, Klein's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had already prepared to spend three hundred gold pounds or even more to repurchase the Sun Charms, only for the other party to say there was a cheaper option.
However, he quickly regained his composure. As the saying goes, cheap goods were rarely quality goods. Could this cheap solution truly achieve the same effects as the Sun Charms?
Seeing Klein's suspicious gaze, Snow gave a faint grin, revealing a smile that belonged to a proficient businessman. He turned toward a safe on the side of the reception room, undoing the spiritual wall while speaking, "This is Backlund. If you truly used the Sun pathway's charms, it wouldn't matter if your enemy died; you'd certainly be finished. After all, those things are too conspicuous."
'That's true.' Klein nodded inwardly. The Sun pathway had no concept of "subtlety." Once a Sun Charm was used, it could be seen from several blocks away, and it might even cause significant losses to nearby civilians.
But that wasn't enough for Klein to give up on Sun Charms. After all, compared to his own life, a persona could always be replaced, and the damage to civilians could be compensated for later.
'Mr. Devil is truly a cunning businessman. I can't be misled by his rhetoric; I need to properly judge the value of his goods.' Klein grumbled to himself. But before he could say anything else, the spiritual wall on the safe was dismantled. Immediately, layers upon layers of whispers began to manifest in Klein's ears. The voices were filled with filth and depravity. For a Beyonder who had just advanced and hadn't yet learned to restrain their spirituality, just hearing these voices would be enough to cause them to lose control.
"This is the degraded blood of the True Creator. It contains pollution and mutterings at least at the demigod level, along with a tiny trace of divinity. With the power of that existence, it shouldn't be difficult for you to convert it into charms. Moreover, this kind of attack deals mental damage with a limited area of effect, and it even has a certain effect on demigods who are not of the Secret Supplicant pathway. As long as your enemy isn't the Aurora Order or some other faction that worships the True Creator, this is absolutely more useful than a Sun Charm. Most importantly, it leaves almost no residue. Even if you use it, it won't attract official Beyonders. The only downside is that Beyonders killed by this will likely be polluted. But don't worry, I can purchase polluted Beyonder characteristics at market price."
As he introduced the item, Snow reapplied the spiritual wall, once again containing the layered mutterings before continuing, "Of course, if it's inconvenient for you to pray to that existence for help, I can help you process it into Blasphemous Word charms for an additional hundred pounds in labor fees."
As the test tube was resealed, Klein also snapped out of his trance. He looked at the test tube containing the "god's blood" with lingering fear, swallowing hard. Just as Mr. Devil had said, this item truly seemed more suitable for his current circumstances.
But considering the hundred-pound labor fee, Klein sighed, "I'll take this, but I'll handle the processing myself."
"No problem. Is there anything else you want?" Snow carefully placed the god's blood on the table, signaling Klein to pick it up himself, displaying his professionalism by not letting the goods pass directly from hand to hand.
Klein cautiously picked up the test tube and tucked it into his iron cigarette case. He added another layer of a spiritual wall before tucking it into his pocket. Although he shared a strong desire to ask for intelligence regarding Ambassador Bakerland, he remembered that the Tarot Club was tomorrow. He could get that information for free, so he suppressed his urge to spend more money and shook his head, "Nothing else for now."
"Alright. Removing the hundred pounds for the degraded god's blood, there's a three-hundred-pound surplus. Keep it safe." Snow pulled out his wallet and easily counted thirty ten-pound notes, handing them over. Klein's eyes went straight. If he wasn't mistaken, in Snow's wallet...
'Don't think about it! Don't think about it!'
...
Carrying the huge sum of three hundred pounds, Klein made his way back to 15 Minsk Street with extreme caution. He changed out of the "expensive" formal suit he had worn for the West District, sealed the room, initiated a self-summoning ritual, and sent the degraded god's blood and the two hundred and ninety pounds up to the grey fog.
Only then, as he undid the seal and looked at the blackish-red god's blood, did he realize he no longer heard the hallucinations and ravings. The boundless grey fog seemed to isolate all external sounds. Seeing this, Klein finally breathed a sigh of relief. With his safety guaranteed, his curiosity began to surface.
'Although Mr. Devil is a member of the Aurora Order, how did he get the True Creator's blood? Even if it's just degraded blood...'
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but recall his previous attempt to spy on the Eternal Blazing Sun. Back then, with the help of god's blood, he had obtained the Sun Charms and the Sun pathway formulas. This blood was a degraded version, so it shouldn't be as dangerous as the last time.
With that in mind, Klein wrote down his divination statement with certainty, "The source of this item."
He took a deep breath, gripped the test tube containing the black-red blood, leaned back, and silently recited the statement. After seven repetitions, his eyes turned deep black as he drifted into sleep.
Blurred, fragmented, in a world cloaked in thick fog, Klein saw a man. He was standing in a bathroom, using his fingernails to slash his wrist, letting drops of blood infused with madness drip into a sink. The scene shifted. The man appeared again, but this time, he slashed his elbow.
Then, the scenes changed rapidly. The positions from which the man let blood moved higher and higher, and the color of the blood grew darker.
Finally, the man suddenly threw open his shirt, reaching toward an inverted cross-like pattern on his chest. It appeared to have no skin, composed of dark red muscle and blood vessels. In that instant, an incredibly evil and filthy voice erupted from the man's chest.
The voice was incredibly piercing, as if it possessed a will of its own, stabbing directly into Klein's brain. He covered his ears, blocking out the rest, but the voice continued to echo in his mind. His blood vessels and veins bulged, throbbing uncontrollably.
Bang!
His blood vessels burst open, and his veins tore free from his body, forming slippery, distorted tentacles covered in various evil patterns across his skin. The grey fog rippled gently, and even the giant-sized palace began to show signs of corrosion.
Klein struggled to hold on, enduring until, after a few seconds, the grey fog slowly returned to calm, and the voice echoing in his mind faded. Individual tentacles fell away, representing the madness and loss of control stripped from his body.
Klein organized his gains, but his expression grew exceptionally heavy. It wasn't because he hadn't gained the knowledge he sought, but because he had discovered something.
'That man... he looked like Lanevus?'
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]