The moment he touched the ancient and intricate object, he felt his spirituality expanding and freezing.
His illusory eyes turned into dark, burning flames.
It feels like I have gotten a little more powerful. My form is like a wraith's but without the strong sense of vengeance... Klein projected his current appearance by calming his mind.
This was one of the abilities of a Clown.
"Mr. Azik's copper whistle is truly fascinating." He nodded, noticing that he could now pick up pieces of paper with certain weights. He could also pick up his Slumber Charms.
How unfortunate. I can carry the silver ritual dagger, but the revolver is too heavy...Klein concluded his experiments and turned to see if he could use any spells in this state.
After serious tests, he concluded that he could conjure two spells, the first being a formless howl could shake the souls of his target and the second was inducing a state akin to freezing via contact with a target.
Klein came to a satisfied stop. He looked out the oriel window, towards the sunlight, and street covered by the curtain.
I wonder if I can move about during the day in this state... He muttered as he floated towards the window.
He then carefully lifted the curtain, creating a slit and allowing a small amount of sunlight to pass through the wall of spirituality and into the room.
Under the radiant sunlight, Klein felt his soul boil with a black fog. His powers were also being drained away, bit by bit.
He quickly released his grip, allowing the curtain to block the light.
I can't... Klein thought for a moment, then placed his gaze on the Flaring Sun Charm on the bed.
I wonder if the effect would be the same if I'm augmented with the divine blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun? He floated toward the bed and tried to grab the thin piece of gold.
But just as he touched the charm, the warm pure feeling formed a stark contrast with his burgeoning cold spirituality. It was like an existential conflict between fire and water.
Sizzle!
He tossed the piece of gold away as if he had been burned.
The power of Mr. Azik's copper whistle cannot inhabit my soul at the same time as the Flaring Sun Charm. Klein understood as he set the copper whistle down. He felt his spirituality shrink, and the black flames in his eyes extinguished.
In this state, both the spells I can use have been weakened... After another round of experimentation, Klein grabbed the Flaring Sun Charm, once again feeling the stabilizing and warm purifying effects the charm had on his Spirit Body.
He returned to the window and cautiously moved through the curtain.
The sunlight only felt warm on his body, but it didn't inflict any harm.
Not bad... Klein let out a mixed smile. He made his way past the wall of spirituality and cautiously flew out of the house with the intention of conducting more experiments.
When he arrived outside the weather in Tingen turned from refreshing cool to a bitingly chill in early September. However, the sunlight at three or four in the afternoon was still warm and soothing.
Klein went through the wall of spirituality and the oriel window. He floated in the air outside of his bedroom as he overlooked the people and carriages shuttling to and from Daffodil Street.
I wonder how's Selina is doing... On the verge of excite, he suddenly thought of checking into the guest room.
But wouldn't that be intruding? He thought. But afterwards flew right on the window, the gap between the curtains was wide and saw that Selina was sleeping.
Phew... he sighed and quickly left.
Just then, there was a man in a gray labor uniform who suddenly lifted his head and looked over.
Klein panicked and wanted to hide, but he couldn't find any suitable cover.
When he didn't see anything to hide behind, he started to sneak back into his house. However, from the corner of his eye, he saw the man earlier merely glanced over the window. Then, his gaze followed a flying sparrow, but unfortunately, he lost sight of it.
In Tingen, birds could occasionally be seen.
Phew... I forgot that an ordinary person wouldn't be able to see me... Klein let out a breath of relief and felt that he had yet to get used to the situation.
As he grew more confident, he flew lower and went to a nearby spacious street where he floated above people's heads.
As he drew closer, Klein immediately realized that his "vision" was the same as his Spirit Vision. There was no need for him to activate it, but there was a restriction to its range.
Also, besides the aura and emotional colors, he could faintly feel the existence of everyone's soul. They were blurry, illusory, and transparent.
In this state, I think I could bypass a person's body and directly attack their soul...Klein nodded thoughtfully.
He circled around and prepared to test his fastest speed. Hence, he flew towards Iron Cross Street with all his strength.
It didn't take long before he came to a halt and arrived outside the apartment he used to stay in.
It should be about the speed of a car on the highway... It's a pity that I still can't go in and out of the spirit world; otherwise, it'd be perfect... But if I were to be lost in the spirit world, it's said that the consequences are very severe. Just as Klein finished his self-evaluation, he felt low-spirited and gloomy. There was an unspoken pressure.
He looked around and felt that Iron Cross Street was engulfed with gloominess that ordinary people could see, a darkness that the sunlight couldn't dispel. There were layers of numbness, despair, pain, and other emotions overlapping, as though they were corporeal.
It feels just like what I experienced when using spiritual perception on this street when I first became a Seer. Iron Cross Street's Middle Street and Lower Street hasn't changed to this day... I wonder how many years it took to accumulate such oppression and gloominess... Klein recalled the past and sighed as he flew up to the third floor of the surrounding buildings.
He finally felt sunlight and shook off his depression.
Klein flew along Lower Street and, from time to time, he would see residents who were dressed in tattered clothes, looking expressionless and malnourished. He even ran into two bodies that had died of natural causes—prolonged starvation and malnutrition with a sudden infliction of an illness.
There were countless people who died in agony every month. However, the bankrupt farmers and slaves that surged in from the Southern Continent replaced them very quickly... Klein sighed in silence and changed direction and flew south.
That was the industrial area of Tingen. The steelworks, lead factories, ceramic factories, printing factories, metalworks factories, machine construction factories, and other factories all built right next to one another.
As he flew, Klein saw towering chimneys. He saw dust filling the air and a thick gloominess that was only slightly better than the that of Lower Street.
It was crowded with emotions of exhaustion, pain, pessimism, and numbness. Laborers who were in their thirties were considered the minority.
Just as Klein wanted to fly lower to look at the area more closely, he suddenly felt weak. It was a weakness that came from inside him.
My spirituality can't withstand the duress... Klein became alarmed. He was in a hurry to return home, but he suddenly thought of a better possibility.
I was "summoned" out. If I were to end the summon, I would return naturally! He calmed down and carefully felt the surrounding environment and his status. Unsurprisingly, he discovered something that was connected to him from infinitely far away but also infinitely close to him. It formed an intricate tether to him.
Through this connection, Klein clenched the Flaring Sun Charm tightly and willed the strong desire to end the "summoning."
A massive and terrifying suction force overwhelmed him as his figure went from transparent to nearly invisible, and in a flash, he vanished from the corporeal world.
...
Wednesday arrived peacefully.
Aroma of blended coffee course through the air in Blackthron Security Company. On his way, Klein shared to Selina about his discoveries with Lanevus, Daly's letter, and Dunn's plan on sneaking into the asylum.
"Be careful alright?" Selina tugged the tie of Klein's suit. Klein nodded in response while noticing that Rozanne was looking at him with animosity.
Ahaha... Klein simply looked away and replied, "Yes."
At that moment, Selina noticed Dunn walking toward them. She notified Klein to turn around.
Dunn sized the gentleman up and smiled, "Listen to her."
Klein was stunned, he felt the surface was for his safety, but deeper in the iceberg was that the advise carried more than just "listen to her."
"I will." But due to lack of evidence, he simply answered.
"Ah right." Dunn approached them and spoke to Selina, "Archbishop Crestet Cesimir has returned. He received your special application letter and is now waiting for you at the alchemy room."
So soon? Ah I mean so soon! Selina was perplexed at first but later sparked in joy. She looked at Klein with anticipation.
"I can't be there. I have a mission." Klein clenched his hands and thought of something. Immediately, he thought of handing her his handkerchief.
"I'll return very soon. Advance safely." he said, while leaving the handkerchief on Selina's hand.
Seeing this, Dunn sighed at the bottom of his heart and left their side for the receptionist desk. Selina chuckled inwardly, Captain, just ask Madam Daly out already...
"Alright. Take care."
Klein nodded with a smile and held his top hat and cane to approach Dunn on the counter. The duo soon left the partition.
Seeing their outlines fade from the closing of the door. Selina firmed her emotions, tucked her together down her waist and turned for the basement.
The cold air seeped into the fabric of her coat. Allowing her to endear the emotions eluding her mind, each of her steps.
The dim light soon overlapped at distinct secret door after advancing through the junction. Selina raised her palm, pressed it on the cold doorknob and twisted it open.
"Good morning Your Grace." Selina greeted shortly upon entering.
"Good morning." Crestet, his mouth masked behind a collar, stood with his violin case.
Selina anxiously took around. She could recall a faint gentle laugh and outline a hazy memory of Old Neil telling her not to burn the whole place, or else Dunn's expense would skyrocket.
A faint smile tugged at her lips before fading away at the nostalgia.
"You Grace, do I have to take another test?" she asked respectfully.
"Of course. The only difference now will be that it will be short." Cesimir nodded slightly and took the seat next to him, crossing his leg. "You may take a seat."
Selina heeded his offered and quietly prepared. When Cesimir inspected the time, the usual test was conducted, in each of them resulted positively.
At that moment, he stood up and he added with a smile discernible in his expression.
"Nighthawk Selina I announce in the name of the Goddess that you have passed the examination of the Holy Cathedral.
"Congratulations. With your contributions, you can immediately advance to become a Sequence 8 Beyonder!"