Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

When Ebner finally woke up, it was already past midnight. Although he'd been "asleep" for more than six hours, his head was still throbbing painfully. Evidently, his drained spirituality hadn't yet recovered.

"What on earth did you encounter to drain your spirituality so thoroughly? Do you know, when the officers brought you back, I almost thought you'd transform into a monster on the spot from losing control! I've never seen anyone's spirituality drop so low… no, not even corpses have absolutely no spirituality left!" Detective Isengard, who had been keeping watch by his bedside, could no longer hold back his astonishment and barrage of questions once he saw Ebner awaken.

In this world, everything is imbued with a touch of spirituality, originating from the True Creator's transformations, so even lifeless objects possess some measure of spirituality. Extraordinary beings, in turn, risk losing control when their spirituality dips below a certain threshold.

Ebner now understood all of this, and he knew that his own condition had certainly been unusual. He pondered internally, "Did the Pure White Eye shield me from losing control? Or was I perhaps under the Knowledge Deity's protection? That doesn't seem likely… The spiritual body is different from the physical body, and a loss of control due to spiritual depletion is hard to counter from an external source… Unless… all madness and corruption trace back to the Creator, but my soul does not… My soul originates from another universe, maybe even a higher dimension. So, does my soul lack the foundation to lose control? But that doesn't fully add up… if that's true, then where does my spirituality even come from? Hmm, this is worth investigating further in the future."

He kept his musings to himself and instead put on a nervous expression, saying, "I was using an extraordinary item to inspect something when I was suddenly backlashed. Whatever that thing was, it may be tied to a higher-level entity."

"And you thought that was safe to look at? You're lucky you didn't turn into a monster right then and there," Detective Isengard scolded, clearly exasperated by his student's recklessness.

It's not like I meant to analyze something so dangerous… Ebner felt equally exasperated but kept silent, assuming that his body had avoided harm thanks to the Pure White Eye's protection, as his body, unlike his soul, was fully native to this world.

Detecting that Ebner was still visibly fatigued, Isengard left him to rest after a few more chiding words.

He's definitely aware I have my secrets… but since he didn't ask, it's probably best to just keep my head down, Ebner thought, sighing inwardly as he lay back down.

However, his throbbing headache kept him from falling asleep. After a while of tossing and turning, he eventually sat up, recalling the Gray Fog he'd glimpsed before passing out.

"The essence of that doll is somehow tied to the Gray Fog… what a nightmare! And right now, the Great Sovereign of the Gray Fog isn't the compassionate Klein yet. Just what was I analyzing before? The Sefirah Castle? Or even the Celestial Lor?" Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. As his mentor had pointed out, it was sheer providence he hadn't perished on the spot.

In the novel, Miss Justice's mirror, Mr. Hanged Man's bottle, and Miss Hermit's astrolabe were all items linked to the Origin Castle, symbolizing the red stars twinkling in the Gray Fog… That doll must be similar. Hmm, though my reckless analysis wasn't entirely fruitless. At least I now understand the essence of such connections. Ouch… Ebner's thoughts were interrupted by another painful throb, but he could feel his spirituality slowly recovering.

Now that I understand the nature of these connections, I can eventually create rituals to impart similar properties to certain items, letting them link to the Gray Fog as 'red stars.' Of course, these links would be one-sided and would still require the Fool's response to truly establish a connection. It's similar to reciting his honorific name in Ancient Hermes.

Which means… this knowledge isn't really useful? Hmm… but it might open a future path to joining the Tarot Club. Directly contacting Klein in reality would be the worst option. His proximity to so many great beings invites far too much attention and even exchanging information would need to be through the Origin Castle. Just reciting his name probably wouldn't work either, given Klein's cautious nature—he wouldn't dare respond to an unfamiliar summons, suspecting the True Creator or Amon's trap. Instead, it would be more effective to attract his interest with something he values, using an item with a link to the Gray Fog, like Miss Hermit or Little Sun did…"

Lost in thought, he finally dozed off, the urge to sleep overpowering the pain.

...

Meanwhile, in a shadowy East Borough alley, Xio crouched behind a low wall, clad in a dark cloak. She peered out at a pale-faced man loading a vagrant's body into a cart near a trash heap. The cart already held two other scrawny, ragged corpses.

"Is he… collecting the bodies of the starved and frozen vagrants in the East Borough? I remember this man owns a clothing store—why would he be doing something so thankless?" Her bright eyes narrowed in confusion, but then she recalled what Ebner had mentioned about "acting." After experimenting on her own over the past week, she was beginning to believe in its effectiveness. "Could he be acting… as a corpse collector?"

"I heard that the Corpse Collector pathway is in the hands of the Church of the Evernight and the Spirit Order… And Ebner mentioned that lower-level Church extraordinaires don't even know about acting. So, is he a member of the Spirit Order? I'll have to remind Ebner to be cautious in his investigation."

As she was forming this thought, the man suddenly turned and looked her way, clearly aware of her hiding place.

Shocked, Xio wondered how she'd been exposed, but her sharp instincts took over immediately. She raised her triple-edged stiletto with its toxic barbs and held out the brass talisman Ebner had given her.

To her surprise, the man across from her also pulled out a brass charm identical to hers.

A slightly awkward silence filled the air between them.

After a few seconds of tense standoff, the man spoke first in a hushed tone. "Who are you? Why are you spying on me?"

Xio wasn't about to implicate Ebner, so after a brief pause, she replied, "I'm an East Borough bounty hunter, the 'Arbiter.' Someone hired me to investigate why you're transporting bodies." Xio wasn't skilled at lying, but her words contained no deception.

"You're an official beyonder?" the man asked warily.

"Hah, you must not come to the East Borough often if you don't know the 'Arbiter,'" she said, lips tightening slightly as she noted that her reputation hadn't made an impression.

Though Xio hadn't answered directly, the man seemed to gather that she, like himself, was a wild extraordinary and thus eased up somewhat, explaining, "I'm not transporting bodies illegally. I just want to collect them for a proper burial."

"You're not a mortuary attendant, so why would you do that?" Xio pressed.

"Forgive me, I have my reasons… But I swear, I'm not stealing bodies or doing anything nefarious!" After a pause, the man added, "In fact, I'll be conducting a requiem ritual soon. You can observe if you like."

This guy is so trusting around others beyonder… the typical rookie! Just like I was at first… If it hadn't been for Fors... Xio sighed inwardly, realizing he was probably mixing up the habits of an ordinary person with those of an extraordinary. Rituals can be deadly dangerous—normally, only those you trust implicitly are allowed to observe. Otherwise, if they interfere, the consequences could be catastrophic.

"Fine, lead the way," Xio said, feeling a rare pang of pity and deciding to keep watch over him tonight, giving him some pointers once the ritual ended.

...

The next morning, Ebner finally opened his eyes at eight o'clock. After a brief meditation, he found that his spirituality was completely restored, letting him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good, no lingering effects."

With that reassuring thought, he left his room and, after hearing from a servant that Detective Isengard had already gone out on an investigation, recalled the eleven missing persons case from the Sivellaus Yard.

"Looks like I won't have time to visit the public library today. I need to check in at the Cherwood Borough station after meeting with Xio. I've only solved one of the cases assigned to me."

Having organized his plans, he set off for the East Borough and soon arrived at their usual meeting spot, the small café where Xio was already waiting.

"You don't look too well. Are you ill?" Xio asked, noticing that Ebner seemed tired.

"Just a backlash from an extraordinary item…" Ebner said, unwilling to elaborate further, then quickly changed the topic. "Did you find anything?"

Xio thought for a moment, seeming hesitant, before finally asking, "Is your classmate's father… a little dense?"

Ebner blinked in surprise, thinking back to how Mr. Grant had always carried himself with dignity, and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"His knowledge of the mysticism is adequate, but he's so naive in other areas!" Xio then recounted in detail her experience from the previous night with Grant.

"He has one of my brass charms?" Ebner was momentarily confused by the revelation, but then he remembered that the "newcomer" who'd bought his last talisman at the gathering two nights ago was a stranger to him.

"That person must have been Mr. Grant! No wonder I felt like his figure was so familiar when I was following him…"