Mermaids?
Klein felt a stir of delight, a rush of excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time welling up within him.
After leaving Backlund for nearly four months and experiencing many things, he had finally arrived at the destination of this “journey,” fulfilling the last condition needed for his advancement to Sequence 5, Marionettist!
The anxiety and irritability caused by the waiting had been growing ever since he entered these waters. The various seemingly absurd and laughable events on the *Future* that were actually terrifying upon reflection, combined with the dangers and unknowns of the three states—Night, Noon, and Dream—within this God’s War Graveyard, had kept his nerves taut, making every hour and every minute agonizing.
Now, these emotions and this pressure finally had a chance to be released!
Phew… Klein slowly exhaled. He returned directly to his cabin and entered his room.
Without panic, without losing his composure, he followed the predetermined procedure, taking out Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane to interfere with any possible prying by the “Mysterious Queen.”
He took out the residual spirituality of the ancient wraith, the eyeball of a six-winged gargoyle, the bark of a dragon‑patterned tree, and the metal bottle of Sunia Golden Spring water from his suitcase. After spreading them on the desk, he entered the bathroom, locked the door, and skillfully set up a ritual to request a boon.
After setting up this ritual, he didn’t rush to respond on the gray fog. Instead, he set up an additional ritual—a ritual to summon himself!
He took four steps counter‑clockwise, chanted the incantation in a low voice, arrived above the gray fog, and responded to the summoning ritual. Through this, he descended to the real world in spirit form and brought the Blazing Gloves back to that mysterious space.
After completing the preparatory work, Klein didn’t relax. He went to the seat of The Fool, materialized a pen and paper, and quickly wrote a divination statement:
“The one singing ahead is a mermaid.”
He took off the citrine pendant and used divination to confirm the situation:
It was indeed a mermaid singing ahead of the *Future*!
Calming his mind, Klein beckoned with his hand. The iron cigarette case flew out from the pile of odds and ends and landed on the mottled, ancient bronze long table.
With a click, he opened the lid and saw that the pupil‑less “All‑Black Eye” was still lying quietly inside. The extreme madness and danger could be faintly sensed, yet it seemed to be slumbering.
Silently staring for two seconds, Klein picked up the Blazing Gloves and slowly put them on his right hand.
Once he had finished all this, Klein hesitated no longer. He extended his right hand forward and spread his fingers wide.
The scene before his eyes was suddenly flooded with various clumps of light. Grayish‑white, verdigris, deep red, and pitch black formed the main tones of this mysterious space.
Inside the “All‑Black Eye,” a billowing, claw‑like iron‑black light was entwining all the remaining colors.
Without needing to rely on his own spiritual intuition, just from his own understanding of things, Klein could clearly recognize that this iron‑black light represented the spiritual pollution of the “True Creator”!
On high alert, he closed his fingers, grabbed the target, and twisted his wrist.
The iron‑black light was instantly drawn out, merging into the Blazing Gloves. In Klein’s ears, a phantom, evil, terrifying, eerily familiar, indescribable roar immediately rang out.
It ravaged his thoughts, eroded his spirit, bringing the agony of a head about to explode, but it was quickly suppressed by the power of the gray fog and completely calmed down.
Klein couldn’t think much. Following the predetermined plan and the actions he had practiced many times, he grabbed the Blazing Gloves with his left hand, pulled them off, and threw them onto the stone floor of the magnificent palace.
Next, Klein, somewhat numbly, grabbed the now problem‑free “All‑Black Eye” and quickly responded to the ritual requesting a boon. Through a phantom gate, he transmitted the Beyond Characteristic left by the Marionettist to the altar in the bathroom.
He dared not delay for a single moment. He only glanced at the Blazing Gloves, which had been dyed iron‑black, with twisted fingers and torn palm, exuding an eerie sense, before wrapping himself in spirituality, simulating the sensation of a rapid plummet, and returning to the real world.
If *Creeping Hunger* had witnessed the entire fate of the Blazing Gloves, I wonder what it would think… Klein opened his eyes. While grabbing the “All‑Black Eye” from the altar and rushing to the outer room, this thought flashed through his mind.
Stopping at the desk, Klein took out a steel milk pot from the side, originally belonging to the *Future*’s kitchen, and poured 80 milliliters of Sunia Golden Spring water into it.
The pale‑golden liquid gently rippled, clear and transparent, instinctively making one’s mouth feel dry, wanting to take a refreshing drink to quench the thirst.
One by one, Klein put the bark of the dragon‑patterned tree, the eyeball of the six‑winged gargoyle, and the residual spirituality of the ancient wraith into the pot. Different reactions were provoked. In the end, the color of the base solution turned a dark gold, but it looked light and airy, weightless.
At this critical juncture, Klein became unusually calm instead. Steadily, he picked up the pupil‑less black eye and immersed it into the base solution.
He could already confirm that the spiritual pollution of the “True Creator” could not penetrate the gray fog and return to the “All‑Black Eye”!
And this was to be expected.
The “All‑Black Eye” was instantly submerged by the dark‑gold liquid. Immediately, bubble after bubble rose from the surface.
With each bubble that popped, the potion darkened a shade. After a dozen seconds, all changes ceased.
In the milk pot, the potion had taken shape, pitch black. Inside it, countless tiny worms, barely visible to the naked eye, seemed to be swimming swiftly.
Klein took out a gold coin and quickly used divination to confirm.
Receiving a successful revelation, he sighed in relief, poured this Marionettist potion into a pre‑prepared metal bottle, and stuffed it into his pocket.
He wasn’t flustered or in a rush. Following the predetermined procedure, he quickly dealt with the altar in the bathroom and retrieved Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane.
Only then did he leave the cabin, walking a little faster, and arrive on the deck.
At this moment, the symbols, magic identifiers, and strange patterns on the *Future* were layered and gleaming brightly, forming a brilliant sea of stars, weakening the mermaid’s song to the greatest extent.
—It was said that the song of a mermaid would cause humans to lose their reasoning, go mad, and jump off their ship, becoming food for the mermaids.
Klein instinctively looked up, gazing at the window corresponding to the captain’s quarters.
The “Admiral of Stars” stood there, surrounded by specks of starlight. The look she returned was quite complex.
Remembering the things she said in her dream and the attitude she showed? Klein grumbled inwardly, his expression indifferent as he said: