LOM: Lord of Mysticism

After the crimson light dissipated, Derrick Berg saw his room once again.

Crack!

The crystal ball in his hands shattered from the inside. Some of it turned into pieces of illusory beams of light that flew into the void around him, while the other crystalline fragments fell noisily to the ground.

Derrick could see the traces of blood on his face reflected in the bronze mirror and noticed a crimson light spiraling on the back of his right palm, forming a circle with lines extending out from the edge.

The strange symbol then vanished.

Derrick walked out of his bedroom, returned to the living room, and opened the door to look up at the sky above the City of Silver.

An arc of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the city with a silver sheen. Right on the heels of that was rumbling thunder. The world belonged to the dark. Without any speck of light, the heavy darkness only left people in despair.

Derrick clenched his fists. There was no joy in his eyes, for they were still filled with the remnant grief and pain.

But he was no longer lost.

...

Phew, looks like I've managed to trick another person into becoming a member. No, I've managed to recruit another member... Klein mocked the present strength of his Tarot Club.

The leader, The Fool, was only a Sequence 9, one who had just fully digested the Seer potion. And there were at least three High-Sequence Beyonders at Sequence 4 in the hopeless City of Silver that The Sun spoke of.

"After mentioning the acting method one more time, I can start telling the Captain the specifics and hand in my special application. At the very least, I'll stop being in charge of support once I become a Clown." Klein extended his spirituality, wrapping it around himself, and initiated a descent.

Tearing through the gray fog and passing through the ravings, he returned to his room before dispelling the wall of spirituality.

Then, Klein picked up the key and headed out of the room. He first went to the two rooms booked by Dunn to confirm that he and Frye hadn't returned yet and then headed to the first level and handed the key back to the boss.

The boss looked at the wall clock and gave a thumbs up. "Well done!"

Hey, are you mistaken about why I booked an hourly room?

Feeling wronged, he tried to console himself. Yes, this way, he won't mention that I rented another room in front of the Captain!

After heading out, Klein did a quick divination and returned to the inn based on the results. He headed straight to the second floor to find Dunn and Frye discussing their investigations in one of the rooms.

"We can confirm that the wraith appeared within the last three months," Dunn summarized to Klein as he came through the door.

"My investigations also confirmed it..." Klein highlighted the main points of his questioning and concluded, "Heh, there's a townsfolk named Scoundrel Gray who claimed that he had the portrait of the first Baron Lamud. He said that it was an antique oil painting more than a thousand years old."

"Don't tell me you bought it?" Dunn asked.

"No, I didn't. Even though I'm a history student, I have attended some lessons on archaeology and have some degree of experience in this area. I can more or less determine if something is fake. Heh, the person in the portrait looked a little like my history teacher, Mr. Azik."

He casually mentioned the important piece of information, and indeed, Dunn didn't pay too much attention to it and said, "This is a small town near a historical site. There will always be a myriad of 'antiques' here. I just saw a vendor selling the silver wine glasses of Baron Lamud."

"Someone tried to sell me the insignia of the Lamud Family, claiming that it had been dug out of the castle," Frye added.

"The next mission is for you or Frye to take Sealed Artifact 3-0782 out of town to somewhere uninhabited. Otherwise, a good half of the people in this inn will become idiots blathering praises of the Sun. Are you going first, or Frye?" Dunn asked.

"Me." Klein raised his hand slightly. "It's still quite early, so I can come back and have a nice sleep later. We're doing two-hour shifts, right?"

"Yes. Frye, go over with Klein and confirm where you'll exchange the Sealed Artifact." Dunn had already found an opportunity to hand Sealed Artifact 3-0782 over to Frye when they split up to conduct their investigations. Otherwise, he would have been purified and started praising the Sun. Frye hadn't had enough time to recover and could only hold the item for another three hours.

"Alright." Frye took out the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem from the inner pocket of his black windbreaker and handed it over to Klein.

Klein curiously took the item. The metal was warm to the touch, as if hot water was flowing within it.

The warm, gentle glow was like a ripple, spreading outward in waves and bringing with it a pure smell. Klein also felt that the dark golden Sacred Emblem carved with the symbol of the Sun was cleansing and purifying his spirituality, removing the impurities.

Of course, all Sealed Artifacts have their dangers. Death or a fate worse might occur if one isn't careful enough.

He placed the Sealed Artifact 3-0782 into his inner pocket, and after inspecting his revolver, charms, and cane, he walked out of the room and left the inn together with Frye, heading straight for the outskirts of Lamud Town.

The two circled an area beside a sparse and deserted forest and confirmed that there was no one within dozens of meters of them.

"Chase away anyone who approaches you," Frye reminded, "I'll come to take your place in two hours."

"Sounds good," Klein replied.

After seeing Frye enter the town, he found a tall boulder. Klein put on his black windbreaker and sat down under the light of the crimson moon.

After looking at the dark and quiet forest. After some time he stood up, taking out several metal bottles from his hidden pockets and scattering their contents—herb powder and essential oils—around the boulder.

Klein recited an incantation in Hermes, and with the help of the materials, he created a barrier of spirituality, sealing the area he was in.

He did this simple ritual for two reasons. First, he didn't want to rely too much on his premonition for danger as a Seer to defend against corpses and spirits launching a sneak attack against him. The second reason was to—was to keep the bugs away...

This is a hundred times better than insect repellent! Klein sat back down and took out Sealed Artifact 3-0782, carefully inspecting it.

I wonder if I could use divination to find out its origins and how it became special... He took out the pen and paper he always carried with him and wrote a statement: "The origin of the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem in my hands."

As a qualified and true Seer, Klein had made the preparations needed to divine anywhere.

After reciting the statement seven times, he closed his eyes and entered a state of Cogitation, using that to propel himself into his dreams.

All he saw were fragmented pieces of light in his dreams. Other than that, he didn't learn anything else.

Yes, the Church must have gotten other Seers to attempt the same thing in the past. The fact that there is no mention of its origins must mean that there was no result from divinations, just like what happened just now... Klein sighed. I wonder what would happen if I eliminated the interferences.

After hesitating for some time, he stood up and took four steps counterclockwise inside his wall of spirituality before entering the world above the fog once again.

Klein sat at the seat of honor of the ancient table in the magnificent palace. He conjured a few sheets of yellowish-brown goatskin and a black fountain pen, as well as the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem.

"It feels rather real..." He rubbed Sealed Artifact 3-0782 in his hands, finding it identical to the one he had felt in the outside world.

Klein wrote down the statement from before: "The origin of the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem in my hands."

After reciting the statement seven times, he held the piece of goatskin and Sealed Artifact 3-0782 in his hands and leaned back, entering his dream.

In the blurry dreamworld, Klein saw a drop of glowing gold liquid. It was warm and bright, suspended above an altar, before a man dressed in a classic white robe.

The man, who had his back facing Klein, had lost all signs of life as he fell slowly towards the sacrificial altar.

At that moment, the Sun Sacred Emblem he was holding had come into contact with the golden liquid that quickly seeped into it.

The dream quickly dissipated after Klein saw this, waking him up.

So it was because of the golden liquid that this Sacred Emblem has been so effective and uncontrollable to this day. Hmm, decades have passed since the discovery of this emblem, but its cleansing powers haven't declined. I wonder what that golden liquid was. Some advanced Beyonder ingredient? Klein toyed with the Sealed Artifact 3-0782 in his hand.

He then tried to emulate the feeling he had in the dream, wanting to separate the golden liquid from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem he had conjured.

As the thought came to him, he accomplished it almost immediately. Klein looked in shock at the emblem which was no longer warm or pure and the drops of golden liquid in that silently suspended themselves in the air.

Even if the separation and instantiation here aren't real, this is practically a miracle! He penned down a new statement: "The origins of this drop of golden liquid."