925 Choosing "Clothes" (1/2)
Above the endless grayish-white fog, in the magnificent ancient hall.
Klein didn't rush to do a divination. He first answered The Hanged Man Alger's sacrificial ritual and got the cane made from the Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristics to appear in front of him.
Word of the Sea… This name, when transliterated to Chinese, does bring back memories. I'll just leave it at that… It's basically a weaker version of Sea God Scepter. It doesn't have demigod-level powers like Lightning Storm or Tsunami either… There are quite a number of negative effects… As Klein recalled The Hanged Man's descriptions, he stroked the silver inlaid black cane.
Perhaps the mysterious space above the gray fog had naturally suppressed it, causing this Beyonder cane to not express its living characteristic. It silently lay there like it was the most common and ordinary piece of wood.
Klein nodded slightly and muttered silently to himself, Mystical items with living characteristics are really rather troublesome. But from a different angle, it means that they can be communicated with. The Die of Probability back then was quite a nasty fellow, but didn't it also become obedient after getting schooled?
Besides, I can always have my servants hold it most of the time. Yes, Winner Enzo will be most suitable. Although he already has zero passive luck, he is still accumulating luck constantly to make preparations for that critical moment. Releasing a little bit of it wouldn't affect anything. This way, be it being tripped, thrown, or beaten, he would be able to smoothly avoid it and not garner the attention of others.
On careful thought, the cane's pranks aren't completely useless. If I were to meet other Marionettists, Spirit World Plunderers, or Bizarro Banes and lose my initiative and end up being initially controlled, my thoughts and actions would turn sluggish. It would be quite difficult to extricate myself from that state by myself. At this moment, if an uncontrollable cane were to suddenly hit me or trip me to the ground, wouldn't I be successfully escaping from my predicament?
Sigh, if a mystical item's negative effects are used well, they can be quite a boon…
Of course, in normal combat, such pranks can bring about unnecessary dangers. How it should be balanced or avoided will need repeated trial and error.
As for the negative effects of easily being struck by lightning on a stormy day, Klein didn't mind. Firstly, unless he was in a special region, stormy weather wasn't common to begin with. It wasn't something that needed to be taken into consideration most of the time. Secondly, as a Seer, divining the day's weather before heading out was a common act. Finally, if he couldn't avoid sudden flash storms, Klein could always give the cane to Enzo. This way, even if the lightning were to strike the Winner, it would even up being attracted by a nearby lightning rod.
Let's just hope I'm not that lightning rod… Klein gave a self-deprecating laugh as he considered the most worrisome negative effect.
It would belt out Beyonder singing every six hours!
This was indiscriminate, and it was basically a huge AOE attack!
After some thought, Klein decided to communicate with the Word of Sea cane to reduce the frequency at which it sang, or to give prior warning before it sang.
I had breakfast early today. It's almost time for Creeping Hunger to start its howling… In thought, Klein removed the human-skinned glove from his left palm and threw it at an empty spot in front of the junk pile.
Right on the heels of that, he lifted the silver inlaid black cane and threw it over. Then, he stirred some of the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, creating a barrier that isolated all sound and images. He made Creeping Hunger and Word of the Sea spend time alone.
After doing all of this, Klein rubbed his palms and conjured a pen and paper. He wrote down a divination statement: ”My scouting of Calderón City's periphery today is dangerous.”
After putting down the dark red fountain pen, Klein removed the spirit pendulum from his left wrist. He let the topaz hang down over the paper in close proximity with it.
After chanting seven times in his mind, he opened his eyes and saw the topaz standing still and not spinning.
This meant that the divination had failed.
Calderón City's actual situation is a secret to the entire spirit world, and divination lacks a starting point… Besides, that was once a divine kingdom of an ancient goddess. There's a mutated resurrection setup left over there. It can similarly interfere with divination… Klein rolled up his spirit pendulum and deliberated in thought. I can only trust what Red Light said. The danger around Calderón City's periphery isn't that great… Besides, I still have marionettes. I can let them go first and confirm if that place screens the gray fog. If it can, I'll give up. If it doesn't, I'll enter myself.
Klein quickly came to a decision. Without any hesitation, he waved his hand to remove the barrier he had previously created.
Then, he saw the Creeping Hunger which had retreated to the side of the junk pile. It was propping itself up with three fingers while its thumb and pinky were pressing backward on Groselle's Travels. It looked weak and could hardly stand.
At the same time, there was a mouth in the middle of the palm. It revealed two illusory, white, and eerie teeth that kept gasping for air.
On the other side of the barrier, the silver inlaid black cane was on the ground. It twitched from time to time as its tip kept oozing with blue transparent water bubbles.
”Very good, silence at last…” Upon seeing this scene, Klein muttered in gratification.
Just as he said that, the Word of the Sea suddenly stood up. And as though it was being held, it ”hopped” towards Klein, circling about The Fool's seat and dodged elsewhere. Creeping Hunger used all its five fingers as legs as it chased after the cane with great difficulty. Midway, it collapsed to the ground.
Klein watched speechless before letting out a sigh.