Faceless… Klein snapped awake from his dream, opening his eyes to see the thick darkness of the night.
"It's not noon yet, it's still dangerous…" he muttered, about to go back to sleep.
At that moment, he finally remembered that he had already left that dangerous sea area, and that not sleeping after dark wouldn't cause him to completely vanish or disappear.
"Phew, it's so good to be in such a stable environment! Gotta say, the fact that you mysteriously vanish if you don't sleep after dark is perfect for scaring kids into going to bed early. Heh, I was scared with that a lot when I was a kid." Klein turned over and sat up, walked over to the desk, and poured himself a glass of water.
He calmed down for a moment, took a gulp of water, and gradually regained his ability to think:
"Zaratul has really gone mad… What exactly did he experience, or what went wrong…
"'Faceless'… Sequence 4 is 'Faceless'. Are the keywords of the 'Seer' pathway focused on 'trickery', 'cunning', 'pranks', and 'strangeness'? Or is it simply summarized as 'weird'?
"Hmm, 'Clown', 'Magician', 'Faceless Man', and 'Puppet Master' all really give me this feeling. 'Seer' seems to be an exception, but in the eyes of others, the fortune-teller style can be pretty eerie and terrifying at times… So, is this why Zaratul said that fate is not the main domain of this Pathway?
"Also, it can be clearly seen that Beyonders on this Pathway will lean more towards spellcasters.
"According to Will Auceptin, there are only three ways to obtain the potion formula for 'Faceless'. One is to find the Secret Order and find the insane Zaratul. Two is to go to the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains to seek the treasure left by the Antigonus family. Three is to obtain it from within a Church, for example, that Antigonus family notebook might record the corresponding formula.
"But these three paths are each more dangerous than the last. According to Emperor Roselle's description, Zaratul has long been a Sequence 2 'Miracle Invoker', a true Angel, and likely advanced to Sequence 1 later, placing him on par with or slightly below the Angel Kings. The insane him, no, Him, despite losing his reason, is probably more troublesome. At least there's no possibility of persuasion or deception. With pure strength alone, even if I asked Mr. Azik and the others for help, I wouldn't be a match for Zaratul.
"Heh, unless I wait for Will Auceptin to be born, but if He gets involved in something like this, it's highly likely to attract the attention of the 'Angel of Fate', Uroboros.
"As for the treasure at the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains, the echoing whispers, the arrangements of the Antigonus family, and the legends of the Night Country buried deep in history all make me feel that things are not so simple. I suspect it might be a trap.
"The Church of the Goddess is even less of an option. Putting aside the Sanctuary with its guarding Angels and piles of Grade 0 Sealed Artefacts, just the Backlund diocese, where the Antigonus family notebook is located, has a terrifying demigod…"
Klein couldn't help recalling Mr. A, who had been erased like a pencil drawing back then, and the one who orchestrated all of this was highly likely a high-ranking member of the Church of the Goddess of the Night!
A beautiful woman whose eyes lacked spirituality… She even smiled at me, I don't know what it meant… Klein shook his head helplessly, feeling that there was only one truly feasible method at present.
That is to find a somewhat sane demigod from the Secret Order!
Compared to the insane Zaratul, this one could at least be communicated with, and even dealt with—Klein definitely couldn't do it alone, but he could ask Mr. Azik for help, and could pay a certain price to ask the 'Mysterious Queen' Bernadette to make a move.
"Let's just consider this for now…" Klein quickly turned his thoughts to how to help Anderson Hood break the curse of bad luck:
"It's been over two months now, and I don't know if that 'Fortune Councilor' Richo has left Olavi Island. Ah, he never summoned my messenger to tell me clues for a suitable mystical item. But it's not a big problem. The Bell-ringer Cano definitely hasn't left his post, so I can contact Councilor Richo through him.
"That's fine too. The School of Life never fulfilled their requirement, which is equivalent to not paying the final balance. I'll have them help Anderson turn his luck around to offset it, and then I'll collect my reward from that guy.
"Heh, speaking of mystical items or sealed artefacts with powerful attack capabilities, isn't Anderson's short sword just that? Based on the characteristics displayed by the 'Reaper', the item formed after his own death would count too… Hey, I'm not a greedy demon. I'll definitely pay an extra severance fee."
Klein suppressed his teasing thoughts, took out the paper crane from his wallet, unfolded it, and carefully wiped the pencil marks on it.
"It's really about to fall apart, at most two more times…" he muttered disappointedly, then folded the paper crane, walked back to bed, and continued sleeping. As for contacting the 'Magic Mirror' Arrodes via the radio receiver, he planned to do it after leaving this pirate paradise in the east.
……
After dawn, Klein got up lazily, washed up slowly, and felt that this was what life should be like.
Knock, knock, knock! A knock on the door interrupted his reverie.
Without needing his danger premonition, his spiritual intuition told Klein that the visitor was Anderson Hood.
As expected from the Strongest Hunter, he really managed to survive until now… Klein clicked his tongue, controlled his expression, and opened the door.
Anderson, wearing a deerstalker hat he got from who knows where, grinned and handed over a Loen gold coin:
"Yesterday's debt."
Klein took the gold coin, weighed it casually in his hand, and said:
"I have an answer to your problem."
Anderson's eyes lit up as he said: