Varied fluctuations in emotions did Audrey saw on everyone's state excluding The Fool. She pivoted her gaze from The Lovers and onto the Hanged Man.
Does Mr. Fool want to figure out the truth behind the City of Silver's abandonment? Or does He want to determine if the Creator still exists? Alger suddenly felt a shock through his body and he quivered.
Not only was he afraid, but he was also excited too. This was because he felt he was being made privy to the secrets between deities!
That made him feel like he had been elevated to a whole new level!
I've been chasing after power, after strength. Didn't I do it to achieve this kind of feeling? Alger leaned back, lifted his chin, and got carried away with his thoughts.
Mr. Hanged Man's mental state doesn't seem to be normal... Audrey looked at him with pity.
She finally understood that there might be some sort of shocking secret behind the communication between Mr. Fool and The Sun, which led to The Hanged Man's loss of composure.
After the Qilangos commission is over, I'll pay the price to get information about what Mr. Hanged Man learned today... I wonder if he would be willing to... Audrey thought in anticipation, yet was still a little worried.
Derrick didn't notice the weight that was hanging on his answer as he replied frankly, "We build opulent altars covered in the Lord's symbol. Every time we receive a bumper Black-Faced Grass harvest, we hold a sacrificial ritual.
"We use the monsters we capture in the depths of the darkness to use as sacrificial offerings. After we recite God's honorable title and the necessary prayers, we dance for Him and then kill the monsters, to let their spirituality and tainted blood dye the entire altar. If we haven't caught any monsters, then we use a sinner on the lowest floor in the City of Silver prison instead.
"Then, we turn the very first batch of Black-Faced Grass into food and serve it before the Lord.
"In the end, we sing praises in unison and end the ritual."
At that moment, when Audrey glanced at The Lovers Selina. She saw her hands beneath the mottled bronze table caressing one another.
Selina finally understood. In the documents, it spoke of a special sacrificial and bestowment ritual for the Goddess, but it emphasized the irrelevance of something crucial.
Even in the normal offering ritual, it excluded it thus Selina gave Klein an incomplete ritual.
Back when Yesir first reached out, the only thing he requested was that, even then the door of summoning did not open under Selina's will.
That crucial error was the lack of a symbol!
Selina is also not the one who was exerting force to open the door of summoning!
Colors melted from her face. Selina experienced a nameless horror clinging in her heart.
This meant that throughout the time she was utilizing the world. She was not the one to exert the authorities when interacting with the world.
If she were, then her stay would've been short. The opening of the door should've used all her spirituality, but that was a mistake, alongside it blends the power inside the dreamworld!
It needed a seal... That's it! Symbols acts like seals that filter out powers, only letting its targeted entity through! That's why the dreamworld is leaking!
But wait... this could also mean that during those times, the dreamworld was helping me. Hinting its sentience...
Selina stayed silent, reigning her thoughts trying to dismiss it.
"What are the corresponding prayers? What language do you recite them in?" The Fool Klein added languidly.
Derrick was also looking forward to this, so as to gain hints from Mr. Fool on how to shake off the curse, so he recalled it carefully and answered, "We use Jotun, which is also our common language.
"The corresponding prayers are,
"'Your devoted believers pray for your attention.
"We pray for you to take their offerings.
"We pray for you to open the gates to your Kingdom.'"
...
Selina listened in silence and her hands gradually calmed down. She nodded as though deep in thought and remained silent.
The Fool is the same as well. As for what he learned from it, he obviously wouldn't share it...
Alger found it very normal. How could the secrets of a deity be revealed directly to a mortal? Derrick also steeled his resolve to quickly grow in power, so that he could obtain something that could garner Mr. Fool's interest in exchange for his guidance.
After some more communication, the gathering ended. Selina saw the same crimson light engulfed and shattered, returning back to her room.
She laid on the bed for a few moments, contemplating, before propping herself up and sanctifying the room with a silver dagger.
A wall of spirituality was formed through the candles she had lighted.
From there, she scoured her bag, not the luggage but the bag that contained the fertile soil she used before. It has all the flowers, but their wilt is very noticeable.
Nonetheless, the description didn't said anything about fresh flowers, thus without any formalities she wove a wreathe.
With her expertise, it didn't took her long to construct the ritual meant for the Child of God—a cross holding a wreathe that acted as a portal, upright standing on a mound of fertile soil.
Upon inspecting the altar, she withhold the ceremony and took out a paper from her drawer. For some time, she brainstormed for what could be used as her symbol. The symbol of an upside-down crescent moon with an orb is not in the option.
Not only because it appeared right when she was oblivious, it is also when she needed it most. The dreamworld might be leveraging her inexperience to try and breach reality.
Hence, her mind filter out the advances in the dreamworld until she stumbled upon something that came into existence as a result of her deliberation—the willow tree!
With that in mind. She drew a rather rigid symbol—an upright crescent around a white moon intertwined with vines.
Finally, after placing it on the altar, she lighted the three candles again in front of it and chanted in Jotun;
"The White Maiden from a distant time...
"The Reborn Daughter of a mysterious dreamworld...
"The Beginning and The End of the extending vines...
"I pray for your attention to notice my affection;
"I pray for you to open the gates of your kingdom...
"I pray for the bestowment of your grace...
...
Finishing the chants, she burned the note carrying her symbol and watched it smoldered into the altar.
Similarly from the last, she heard illusory stacked voices behind her ear and she felt a burning sensation between her glabella.
The burning sensation wasn't there before! She didn't felt anything from the previous offering prayers except for the voices!
Selina didn't waste her time and immediately simulated the feeling of longing. She recalled Earth.
Her body collapsed right then and in the dreamworld formed an exact replica of her figure.
The boundless horizon and tall grasses emerged from the grotesque environment. The same mural-like vines spiraled out of her lower half.
A vine segment connecting to hers started pulsing. When she extend her reach and this time used her spirituality, the scattered emerald light coalesced to form a door, about the size of a person.
This is it... Selina felt immense anticipation. She also noticed that a symbol was formed above the door—the symbol of a upright crescent holding a white moon as its crown intertwined with vines.
If this succeeds, she'll be able to allow a channel between herself, her allies, to exchange resources, magnify her reach and help Klein against the fate disharmony.
As she looked at the door, Selina forced her mind to will the door open.
After several attempts, the door wouldn't budge. Her best was when the door produces as illusory creak that shuts right after she let go.
"Sigh..." Selina felt defeated. "I'm still a Sequence 9. Of course Sequence 9 won't have enough spirituality of their own, and I couldn't use the dreamworld's power much more than what I'm capable of, less I truly become a monster...
"Well, at the very least I fixed it, this meant that after Sequence 8 maybe? I could safely transport items into the dreamworld!"
With that said, she left feeling slightly more grateful. Selina didn't want to overstay as that attempts already took a toll on her spirituality.
Returning to the guest room, she dispelled the wall of spirituality, tidied up her mess and laid back on the bed.
As she stared at the wall, her eyelids grew heavy until she casted off to sleep.
...
In the world above the gray fog.
The dizzying, maniacal roars gradually died down. Klein finally came to his senses after opening the door of summoning.
He saw a young man in front of him. The man was wearing an old shirt, had black hair, brown eyes, and average-looking facial features. The man had an average build, was a little skinny, but his frame seemed to hide considerable power. He also had the obvious demeanor of a scholar.
... Isn't that me? Klein wasn't a stranger to scenes like this. He encountered something like this every time he looked in the mirror.
He nodded indiscernibly and surveyed his surroundings. He saw his bed with a white bedsheet draped over it. He saw his half top hat, tuxedo, and black windbreaker hanging on his clothes rack. He saw a bookshelf with quite a number of books, his neat table that only had one candle on it. He saw the candle flame emitting a grayish-white glow.
And now, he was floating in front of the palm-sized circle of grayish-white fog.
So, have I really summoned myself? It feels a little like an out-of-body experience... but there's also something a little different. Klein looked at the physical body belonging to him, toward "his" blank, vacant eyes and slipped into deep thought.
But he could finally confirm one thing: it was only his soul, also known as his Spirit Body in mysticism, that headed to the world of fog. The exterior appearance was that of the Astral Projection.
It's no wonder that I can directly see the Astral Projection surface of Justice, The Hanged Man, and The Sun and confirm whether they were Beyonders or not when I was in the world above the fog. I could also guess their Sequence numbers... My physical body seems to be under some form of protection, perhaps from the power of the ritual, for me to stand with such stability and not lose my balance. It should be the same for Miss Justice and the others... Klein slowly got used to the current situation and started to analyze the conditions of both his physical body and soul.
He retracted his gaze and tried to move his soul, now fused with powers from the mysterious space.
Whoosh!
A cold wind started to blow, as it spiraled around the room. Klein savored the sensation of flying, joyfully making circles in the room.
I can also take on the role of a "messenger" in this city now... I wonder if I can carry physical items with me... He collected himself and stopped. He floated in the air and experimented with his other abilities.
He tried to grab a notebook from his bookshelf, but his hand passed through it.
It feels a little sticky, it's not like moving through air... I might be able to grab it after I become more powerful and able to better utilize the mysterious powers of the world above the gray fog. Klein once again tried grabbing a single piece of paper but to no avail.
After more than ten seconds of deliberation, he flew toward the clothes rack and extended his transparent hand into the pocket of his black windbreaker. He touched the Slumber Charms and the Requiem Charms that he replenished from a successful claim.
They were objects infused with his own spirituality, different from ordinary objects in supernatural terms. Thus, Klein wanted to see if he could carry them about.
His palm once again went through the charms, but he could clearly feel their existence. He felt the intertwining of spirituality, but he didn't have enough "strength" to pick them up. Of course, another explanation was that there wasn't enough spirituality within the charms to achieve a strong resonance with his current state.
The spirituality isn't strong enough... Klein thought as he moved towards the other pocket. That pocket stored the Flaring Sun Charms that he made with the stolen power of the divine blood and his own spirituality.
A warm sensation quickly spread all over his body, making his form turn more stable and his thoughts clearer.
He could take the thin gold piece out of his pocket. In the mirror in his room, the charm seemed to float out of the pocket on its own accord, similar to the descriptions in ghost stories.
I can move Flaring Sun Charm. I can also create sound using my spirituality... So I do have certain abilities in this state... Klein then looked at another charm next to it—the Blood-Curdling Charm.
But considering the implications that came from a divine item closely related to a True Deity. He rejected the idea, Of course I'm not truly invincible in this state, only in the gray fog could I have protection...
He then flew toward the mirror and stopped in front of it. He saw that only the thin gold piece was reflected. Other than that, it was only the furniture and darkness in the room caused by the drawn curtains.
After a few seconds of consideration, he placed the Flaring Sun Charm onto the bed before returning to the front of the mirror. He wanted to see if he could move through the mirror.
His vision turned dark. Klein's vantage point suddenly changed. He saw the room that was reflected in the mirror, the furniture that was accentuated by the weak sources of light. It made him feel as though he was hiding in an obscure corner, peeping into a tiny portion of the room.
I really can go through the mirror. But this is only an ordinary item which doesn't lead to some mysterious and strange world... Klein nodded and charged forward, once again returning to his room.
The success of carrying the Flaring Sun Charm gave him immense confidence. Hence, he attempted grabbing something else.
Mr. Azik's copper whistle!