Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

Chapter 909: The Origin of the Floating City

"Magnificent, isn’t it? Unfortunately, this ’city’ still had many problems left unsolved and could not truly ascend into the sky yet..." Since Gehrman was a friend of Ebner, Jane rarely spoke more than necessary, but she continued, "It’s precisely because it is only a ’showpiece’ right now that some visitors mocked it as ’Klaus’s foolish thing’..."But they all signed contracts and could not reveal what they saw here, so they could only give indirect evaluations. With word spreading around, the master gained that very unflattering title—’The Fool of Nas’...

"Luckily, Master Klaus didn’t care."

While introducing, Jane led Klein into the head carriage of a steam train. As the whistle sounded, the train head slowly started, growing faster and faster, spiraling upwards along the rails that had been built, heading toward the platform at the top of the "inverted mountain."he "broker" would never bring a client here. She would instead go to a villa outside Nas, where one of Klaus’s mechanical avatars resided—enough to handle most "craftsman" business.

But since Gehrman was a friend of Ebner and thus trustworthy, Jane directly brought him to the Floating City.

Still, she hadn’t asked what exactly Gehrman wanted made... Realizing this suddenly made Jane feel awkward.

Luckily, Klein at that moment took out the token Roy King had given him, the round ornament made of golden gears encased in transparent glass.

At the sight of it, Master Klaus’s expression grew solemn, and he asked, "This is the gift I gave Roy King... What happened to him?"

"He was captured earlier. I rescued him..." Klein briefly explained the origin of the ornament.

"I see... No wonder Miss Jane brought you directly here..." Klaus showed a look of realization, not noticing Jane’s confused face, and continued, "Yes, I once promised that whoever held this ornament could make a request of me... So, what do you want me to do?"

Klein thought for a moment, then asked Klaus and Jane to wait. After inquiring where the washroom was, he refused the golden-haired automaton’s guidance, carrying the case himself.

Neither Klaus nor Jane found this strange.

Such situations weren’t uncommon—usually meaning the client had items they could not let others see stored with the materials, so Gehrman Sparrow could not open his case in front of them.

A crazy adventurer always had some secrets!

A few minutes later, Klein returned to the reception room. He opened a metal box first, revealing black viscous gel radiating a sense of "corruption." Then he removed Creeping Hunger from his hand and placed it on the table. Only then did he speak:

"I’d like to ask you to use this Beyonder characteristic to enhance my gloves’ abilities."

Klaus didn’t reply immediately. He instead studied the two items with his powers for quite a while before saying thoughtfully:

"Using the Black Knight characteristic to enhance these gloves isn’t difficult...

"But if you wish to preserve the ’seal’ of angel-level power on them, that will be far more troublesome..."

As expected of an Alchemist—he could see through Mr. Azik’s methods right away! Klein nodded slightly. That was one of the reasons he dared trade with a stranger demigod.

Of course, more importantly, he had already performed a divination above the gray fog beforehand and knew it was safe.

After a while of thought, Klaus finally said carefully, "This request will take me a full day to complete... Come back tomorrow at this time for the finished product...

"During this period, you may stay in the Floating City. I’ll have automatons guide you on a tour...

"Of course, you may also choose to return to Nas and have Miss Jane bring you back tomorrow evening."

Klein hesitated, then once more asked for the washroom. After returning, he accepted Klaus’s proposal and decided to stay overnight in the Floating City.

With that, Klaus entered work mode. Klein originally wanted to ask if he could observe, but Jane dragged him away directly.

"When the master works, his brain needs stimulation to gain inspiration... That’s why he likes stimulating food..." Jane said meaningfully once they were outside.

Klein instantly understood. So the wolffish cans were for inspiration... But with that smell, wouldn’t the brain just shut down instead?

After a few complaints in his heart, Klein followed the golden-haired automaton toward the guestroom prepared for him in the tower.

During this, thanks to Jane’s reminder, Klein learned that the automaton had authorization to answer many questions. So as they walked, he probed:

"How did Master Klaus come up with the idea of building a Floating City?"

The golden-haired automaton replied without pause: "One hundred years ago, when the master was still very young, he once ventured into the nearly illusory dangerous seas at the far eastern edge of the Sunia Sea.

"In the dream of the Black Night there, he beheld a complete, flying Floating City. As he explored inside, he discovered the construction diagrams and at the top of the tower received teachings from a mysterious, knowledgeable figure...

"Afterward, the master renamed himself Klaus and devoted himself to bringing the Floating City back into the world!"

I once followed Ebner’s advice and used a paper crane to contact the ’Snake of Mercury’ in Backlund. He told me the Black Night in that sea links the dreams of all beings, creating many extremely dangerous places.

Will Auceptin even said there were dreams containing remnants left by certain gods... Exploration there is extremely dangerous.

So whose dream was the complete Floating City? More than a hundred years ago... The Calamity Seal? Why would it deliberately leave such a dream in the Black Night of that sea?

Forget it, that’s for Mr. Tower to worry about. I’ll give him a hint to come here too... After all, as a broker, Miss Jane likely won’t refuse Ebner.

With that thought, Klein asked about how this space had been excavated. The answer was:

"A high-sequence existence of the Seer pathway used ’Mystical Reappearance,’ narrating the story of a foolish old man moving mountains... and thus obtained this space."

’Mystical Reappearance’... Ebner explained before, it’s one of the core abilities of Seer-pathway demigods. But he never said the principle—why could it draw power from stories...

That story must be ’The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains.’

As he pondered, they reached the central point of the tower. There stood a tall altar, but its top seemed to be missing a piece, forming a groove.

Klein found the shape of the groove very familiar, but couldn’t recall where he had seen it. Only after arriving in his guestroom with the automaton and Jane, chatting with her about Ebner’s situation, and then sending her off did he block the room with spirituality, retrace four steps, and ascend above the gray fog. Using dream divination, he found the source of that familiarity:

The shape of that groove was identical to the "Gear Book" that the Sun helped the Tower find!

...

In Backlund, at the villa on 28 Kinster Street.

Ebner was holding a celebration banquet with Xio, Fors, Hazel, Benson, Melissa, and other friends who had contributed to the film company.

Suddenly, thick gray fog appeared before his eyes.

Moments later, the fog vanished completely, but after taking a bite of steak, Ebner was pondering inwardly:

"Klein suggests I take a trip to Nas and have Jane bring me to see an Alchemy Master?

"Also, he asks me what the Mystical Reappearance effect of ’The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains’ is?

"Hmm... If the ’Foolish Old Man’ truly existed in this world’s history, could he have been a Beyonder of the Fool pathway?

"If that assumption holds, then ’moving mountains’... should be a miracle!

"So if this Mystical Reappearance came from an angel-level Seer-pathway Beyonder, the effect should also be akin to a ’miracle’!"

(End of this Chapter)