Ariehogg, in his human form, had his light golden eyes turn into vertical pupils, reflecting a deep, dark ocean from which the echoes of minds clearly reverberated in everyone's ears.
He could now easily control the Sea of Collective Subconscious, thereby dominating the minds of every living creature.
This state lasted less than two seconds before Ariehogg effortlessly reined in his abnormality, allowing his Beyonder characteristic to become dormant once more.
This returning Ancient God from the second epoch had taken another step closer to his former divine seat, becoming a Sequence 1 Author.
Noticing Klein's puzzled gaze, Ariehogg chuckled, "Although Ariehogg is only a Sequence 2 Ancient God, Ankewelt is not. I had already awakened my true self, and these characteristics inherently belonged to me, so there was no need for a ritual or to concoct them into a potion. I was merely reclaiming the power that was already mine."
"Unfortunately, this is pretty much my limit. I have no way to retrieve more characteristics from the True Creator."
So that was it. That quill pen was indeed a Sequence 1 characteristic of the Spectator Pathway. It was just unexpected that it originated from the former Dragon of Imagination. As thoughts flickered, Klein looked at Ariehogg and said, "To be able to return from death, you have already surpassed other Ancient Gods. As long as you are alive, there will always be an opportunity."
Ariehogg nodded slightly, noncommittally. He bowed to Klein and Leyton in farewell, then walked into the Spirit World, disappearing from everyone's sight.
After watching Ariehogg leave, Leyton turned to Leonard and said, "Amon has left. There should be no more of his avatars on the entire Southern Continent. However, he should have already discovered you. Once he repairs his monocle, he will likely come looking for you."
Leonard's face paled slightly, and he swallowed, remaining silent. Pallez, who was parasitic within him, also maintained silence, unsure if he didn't want to expose his existence in front of others or simply didn't want to speak.
Leyton tilted his head to look at Klein, whose face was excessively pale and whose skin seemed to have countless tendrils wriggling beneath it. He said calmly, "Your potion digestion is insufficient. The advancement was a bit forced. Ariehogg's treatment wasn't perfect. Next, you need to focus on role-playing for a period and also make up for the deficiencies from the Marionettist stage."
Klein twitched his mouth, revealing an exaggerated but emotionless smile, "Heh, actually, I feel quite good. In this state, I can more clearly recognize my inner self and confront my evasions and confusions."
"You look like a Lunatic right now." Leonard looked at Klein with a complicated expression, paused for two seconds, then asked, "Why did you insist on advancing then? You could have waited a bit longer, waited until you had digested the potion, waited until..."
"Killing Ince Zangwill just happened to fulfill the ritual for a Bizzaro Sorcerer, and I had already completed my revenge. Why couldn't I take another gamble?"
Klein's voice was extremely restrained, yet tinged with a hint of madness.
Leyton patted Leonard's shoulder, interrupting his unfinished sentence, and said, "Persuasion is useless. At this time, he needs a Psychiatrist more."
With that, he turned to Anderson, Danitz, and the others, saying, "The Northern State is currently in chaos. If you plan to rest, you can come with me to Paz River Valley."
Then, he looked at Klein again and said, "By the way, you need a Psychiatrist."
Klein nodded, chuckling, "No problem. I'm not averse to treatment."
Anderson scrutinized Klein for a long moment, then suddenly blurted out, "I always feel like Gehrman Sparrow has become much more normal after his mental state went awry."
So, it's like, 'ever since I got a mental illness, my overall mental state has improved a lot,' right? Leyton glanced at Anderson, not refuting his words, and placed his hands on Klein's and Anderson's shoulders respectively.
Leonard hesitated for a moment, looked at Danitz, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Danitz averted her gaze, not looking at Leonard. She said to herself, "I'll temporarily conceal your whereabouts for you. You can go find someone to do something to relax your mind and body. Of course, remember to take safety precautions."
"Or, if you plan to leave the Church... don't tell me about these things. I also need to adjust my own state, and I'm not your caring big sister either."
As her words fell, Danitz raised her hand to brush aside the stray hairs on her forehead, then turned and walked towards Berens Port.
"Wait a moment, a little sense of ritual is still needed here."
Klein broke free from Leyton's hand, walked to Ince Zangwill's tattered body, and pulled out a deck of Tarot cards from the inner pocket of his coat, scattering them.
A Star card, face up, just covered the location of his shattered skull.
Having done all this, he turned and walked back to Leyton's side, chuckling, "Let's go. I need to find a quiet place to get a good night's sleep, and then find a qualified Psychiatrist to give me psychological treatment."
Leyton nodded, placing his hand back on Klein's shoulder. On the other side, Leonard also placed his hand on Klein's shoulder. The figures of the few quickly faded until they disappeared.
In the manor outside Inpace, several figures quickly materialized in the hall.
Leyton raised his hand and grasped in mid-air, and specks of starlight spilled from between his fingers, outlining an illusory Door.
He easily pulled Bugs Bunny from the other side of the Door.
Bugs Bunny, wearing a white shirt, a black vest, a semi-tall silk top hat, and with a miniature revolver tucked into his waistband, squeaked and kicked his legs in mid-air.
"Damn fat cats, put me down!"
Leyton twitched his mouth, raised his hand to pat Bugs Bunny's head, and set him down, saying, "Help me greet the guests. I still have something to leave for."
As his words fell, Leyton's body instantly dematerialized, dissolving into pure, complex streams of information, and merged into the Spirit World.
Realizing it wasn't a prank by the two Artisan cats, Bugs Bunny rubbed his head, then awkwardly turned, took off his semi-tall silk top hat, pressed it to his chest, and bowed, saying, "Alright, boss."
Anderson's expression was strange as he looked between Bugs Bunny and Klein. Was this rabbit imitate Gehrman Sparrow? Or was he imitate in front of Gehrman Sparrow himself, not afraid of being instantly killed and roasted by him?
Klein looked at the somewhat clumsy imitate of Bugs Bunny, twitched his mouth, and revealed what he thought was a gentle smile, "Heh, not bad imitate. I think perhaps Seer suits you better than Planter."
"It's a pity these two Pathways cannot be interchanged."
"Your smile is so creepy—no, so rabbit-creepy. Your skin is crawling with worms, the kind that even crows would peck at you."
As he spoke, Bugs Bunny took two steps back, then felt that it was impolite and quickly stopped. He rummaged through a small pocket inside his black vest and pulled out a glass test tube containing a pale yellow potion, handing it to Klein while saying, "This is a sedative potion. It can help you control your emotions and become desireless for a short time, calming your state."
"Hmm, should I say thank you?"
Klein bared his teeth, forcing out an insincere smile. He took the potion from Bugs Bunny's hand, pulled out the stopper, and poured it directly into his mouth.
Klein smacked his lips, savoring the taste of the potion, and said, "It tastes a bit bitter."
Bugs Bunny scratched his head and explained softly, "This is a potion I use for Beyonder animals. Their sense of taste isn't exactly the same as humans'."
"I take back what I said before. Compared to a Seer, you are more suited to be a Hunter."
Klein lamented in an uninflected tone. If the Marionettist process wasn't irreversible, he would have already controlled Bugs Bunny to bang his head on the ground.
The potion he drank quickly took effect. Klein shook his head, then casually found a chair to sit on before lying down on the spot. His eyes stared blankly ahead, and his entire being became exceptionally calm and unperturbed. The transparent insects wriggling under his skin gradually disappeared, and some color returned to his face.
Anderson looked at Bugs Bunny in surprise, not expecting the potion it gave to be so effective. He clicked his tongue twice and chuckled at Bugs Bunny, "Uh, Mr. Rabbit, could you arrange a room for me? I just went through a battle, and I need a good rest."
Bugs Bunny looked Anderson up and down for a moment, then patted the ground, summoning a translucent figure with only half a head, and said, "Just follow it. If you have anything, you can directly call the undead or Natural Spirit in the manor. They are all trained and are qualified servants."
"Your body is very healthy, with some minor corruption residue. Just sleep it off and have a nightmare, and you'll be fine."
"Alright, if there's nothing else, don't disturb me. You can move freely anywhere in this manor that you can enter."
With that, Bugs Bunny hopped and skipped away towards the back of the hall, moving so fast that he left afterimages.
Anderson tutted twice, looking at Bugs Bunny's back: "Is this the advantage of animals consuming potions? This speed, ordinary Planter Pathway Beyonders can't achieve it."
Leonard didn't reply. He tilted his head to look at the crystal chandelier above him, and said calmly, "Please help me move my companion into the room."
With that, he looked uncertainly at the Natural Spirit attached to the chandelier. Although a Soul Assurer could already see spiritual beings, they couldn't directly communicate with them. One had to become a Spirit Warlock to overcome the language barrier.
However, this Natural Spirit attached to the chandelier seemed to understand his words. Its translucent body floated out from the chandelier. Its upper body resembled a young infant, while its lower body was that of a sika deer.
After detaching from the chandelier, it directly attached itself to the chair Klein was sitting on, moving both the person and the chair.