As Klein waited for the diviner's interpretation, the tightly closed tent flap was suddenly lifted. A figure entered, accompanied by a burst of bright sunlight that made him instinctively squint.
"Damn it, Freya! Why are you impersonating me again? Divination is my job! If you do this again, I'll tell the troupe leader and make sure you don't get a single penny!"
A sharp female voice came from the tent's entrance, full of fury toward the diviner in front of Klein.
"You're just an animal trainer! You don't understand anything about mysticism!"
"...An animal trainer?"
Klein was stunned for a moment. Following the voice, he turned his head and saw the newcomer.
It was a tall woman wearing a pointed hat, a black dress, and red and yellow face paint—just like the diviner who had been sitting before him. However, this woman was thinner.
As the real diviner entered the tent, the one sitting across from Klein quickly stood up, offering a sheepish smile.
"Don't mind it, miss. I know I was wrong. I just enjoy doing this."
"I have to admit, sometimes my divinations and interpretations are quite accurate… really!"
She lifted her skirt, quickly sidestepped the table and Klein, then dashed out of the tent.
Seeing this, the real diviner snorted coldly before sitting down in her rightful seat. Smiling at Klein, she asked:
"Apologies, sir. That woman is always like this. Now, do you still want me to interpret your reading?"
"...Was this some sort of workplace dispute? But they're not even in the same field."
Klein twitched his lips, then sincerely asked:
"Does the interpretation cost money?"
"Uh… no, it does. Just four pence," the real diviner replied, looking slightly dazed as if she hadn't expected that question.
"Then forget it."
Klein didn't hesitate. He immediately abandoned his divination attempt, stuffed his hands back into his pockets, pressing against his revolver and his money, then bent down to pick up his paper bag before leaving the tent.
Once outside, he quickly put the incident behind him. At the "Lettuce and Meat" market, he spent 7 pence on a pound of lower-quality lamb.
He also bought fresh peas, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and other items. Including the bread he had purchased earlier, the total cost was 25 copper pence—2 sou and 1 pence.
"Money disappears so fast… Poor Benson."
Klein sighed. Not only had he spent the two banknotes he brought, but he also used up the penny in his pocket.
After confirming that he hadn't forgotten anything, he stopped thinking about it and hurried home.
Now that he had staple food, he could perform the luck-bestowing ritual and enter the Gray Fog space.
Locking his door and ensuring he was alone, Klein took four pieces of black rye bread from the paper bag.
He placed one in the corner where the coal stove used to be, one at the base of the dressing mirror, one at the top of the cupboard in the corner where two walls met, and one in the pile of miscellaneous items to the right of his desk.
Taking a deep breath, he moved to the center of the room, calmed himself for a few minutes, and then solemnly began pacing counterclockwise in a square formation.
With each step, he recited:
The first step, chant "The Immortal Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
The second step, "The Sky Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
The third step, "The Exalted Thearch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
At the fourth step, "The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
After the four steps were taken, return back to the original spot, close the eyes and wait five minutes. Only then would the ritual be considered complete.
After finishing his steps and returning to his starting position, Klein closed his eyes and waited for the results. At this moment, he felt a mix of anticipation, unease, hope, and fear.
Would something unexpected happen?
Just as the thought surfaced, he noticed that the air around him had stopped flowing, becoming thick and eerie.
Next, whispers filled his ears—sometimes dense, sometimes sharp, sometimes illusory, sometimes seductive, sometimes manic, sometimes insane.
Though he couldn't understand what the whispers were saying, he couldn't help but listen, trying to decipher them.
A sharp pain shot through his head, worse than the stabbing pain from last night. It felt like a steel drill was piercing his skull, relentlessly churning his brain.
"Ahh… hss…!"
Klein groaned in pain. His head felt like it was going to explode, and his thoughts became hazy and surreal.
"Hermes never said the ritual would be like this. Is this a built-in side effect? Why didn't he warn me…?"
At this moment, Klein's mind was racing. He struggled to open his eyes, to stop the ritual, but he couldn't complete even this simple action.
Wave after wave of pain struck him. Just as his sanity was about to collapse, he suddenly felt the pain in his mind subside. The countless overlapping whispers in his ears vanished abruptly, leaving behind an eerie silence.
Rubbing his head and adjusting his mental state, Klein finally opened his eyes.
A vast sea of gray mist filled his vision, boundless and obscure.
"So this is the Gray Fog space… the remnant of the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings?"
Klein scanned his surroundings and realized that he was floating at the edge of an infinite expanse of mist.
The gray fog flowed like water, dotted with deep red "stars" of various sizes—some large, some small, some hidden deep within, others floating near the surface.
Instinctively, he reached out with his right hand and touched a deep red "star" floating nearby.
As soon as his fingertips made contact, ripples spread from his body, causing the "star" to flare up like a burst of dreamy fireworks, dazzling and radiant.
Startled by the sudden change, Klein jerked his hand back, accidentally brushing against another "star."
That star also erupted with intense deep red light.
As the two stars shone brightly, Klein felt his mind go blank, his thoughts scattered.
—
Loen Kingdom, Beckland, Queen District, Hall Manor.
Audrey Hall sat before her dressing table, stroking an old brass mirror with intricate engravings and a cracked surface.
"Magic mirror, magic mirror, wake up…"
"I command you to awaken in the name of the Hall family!"
…
She tried different phrases, but the mirror remained unresponsive.
After more than ten minutes, she finally gave up. Pouting in frustration, she muttered,
"Father must have been lying to me. He always tells me this mirror is a treasure of the Black Emperor from the Solomon Empire, a true mystical artifact…"
Before she could finish speaking, the brass mirror on the table suddenly emitted a deep red glow, engulfing her in light.
—
Sunia Sea. A three-masted sailing ship, outdated by modern standards, was braving a storm.
Alger Wilson stood on the deck, his body swaying with the ship's violent rocking, yet maintaining perfect balance with ease.
He wore a robe embroidered with lightning patterns and held a strangely shaped glass bottle in his hands. Inside, bubbles rolled one moment, frost condensed into snow the next, and winds swirled unpredictably.
"Only missing a ghost shark's blood…" Alger muttered.
At that moment, the bottle in his hands suddenly flared with deep red light, instantly consuming the surroundings.
—
Above the misty gray fog, Audrey Hall regained her vision. Shocked and bewildered, she scanned her surroundings, seeing a blurry, indistinct man in front of her doing the same.
Then, they both noticed another figure, shrouded in mist.
"Not Hermes? What did I just do? How did these two appear here?"
Klein, dumbfounded by his own mistake, didn't know what to say.
"Sir, where is this place?"
"What do you want?"
Audrey and Alger were stunned, then spoke in unison.