The Lord Of Mysteries
Chapter 9: Notebook

After half an hour of rest, Zhou Mingrui, who now viewed himself as Klein, finally recovered. Meanwhile, he discovered that there were now four black dots on the back of his hand, which happened to form a small box.

These four black spots faded and disappeared quickly, but Klein knew that they were still hiding in his body, waiting to be awakened.

“Four places form a square; does it fit four pieces of staple food in four corners of the room? Does this mean in the future, I don't need to prepare food and can perform rituals and live chants?" Klein made a guess.

It may seem nice, but the appearance of the spots is unpleasant, and poorly understood "things" are always frightening.

The fact that the inexplicable Chinese Divination from Earth can produce effects here, the strange transmigration in his sleep, the mysterious mutterings that almost drove him crazy during the ritual, and a mysterious and trippy grey world of unknown significance left Klein shivering in the hot weather of June.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is fear of the unknown." He recalled this saying as he experienced an acute fear of the unknown.

There is in him an unprecedented and irresistible urge to make contact with mysterious domains, to learn more, and to explore the unknown. There was also a conflicted escape mentality within him that forced him to pretend nothing had happened.

Intense sunlight shone through the window onto the table. It was as if there were gold grains sprinkled on the table. Klein stared at the table, feeling as if he had come into contact with warmth and hope.

He relaxed a little, and a strong sense of tiredness engulfed him.

His eyelids were as heavy as lead as they continued to close themselves. It was definitely the combined effect of a sleepless night and a tiring encounter.

Klein shook his head and pushed himself with the help of the table. He staggered towards the terraced bed, completely ignoring the wheat bread placed in the four corners of the room. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

Groan! Groan!

Klein was awakened by hunger. When he opened his eyes, he felt refreshed.

"There's still a little headache." He rubbed his temple and sat down. He was so hungry that he could eat a horse!

He returned to the table while tidying up his clothes. He took a pocket watch of silver wine leaves.

Pa!

Close the pocket watch open and the second hand continues to tick.

"Half of twelve. I slept for three hours." Klein put the pocket watch back in his linen shirt pocket while swallowing.

In the Northern Continent, there are 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. Whether every second passed at the same speed here compared to Earth was unknown to Klein.

At this moment, he could not even think of terms like mysticism, ritual, or the grayish world. His mind was filled with one thing—food!

He would leave that thought after eating! Only then can he work!

Klein took the wheat bread from the four corners and wiped the small dust on it without hesitation. He planned to make one of them his lunch.

He decided to dig the offering because he only brought five pence and there was a tradition of eating the offering in his hometown. After all, there were no visible changes to the bread. Better to skimp.

Of course, the memories and habits left behind by the original Klein also played a role.

It was a huge waste to use expensive gas just to light up a room. So, Klein took out a furnace and boiled water with it after adding some coal. He was pacing around while waiting.

Anyone would choke on that rye bread without water.

Gosh darn. Living with meat just for dinner would be terrible. Melissa only allowed our food to eat meat twice a week if not for my upcoming interview, Klein thought, looking around, hungry. He has nothing better to do.

His eyes seemed to turn greedy as he stared at the one pound of mutton in the closet.

No, I have to wait for Melissa to eat it together, Klein thought as he shook his head and rejected the idea of cooking half of it now.

Even though he often ate out, he still developed some basic culinary skills, as he lived in the big city alone. The food is not good, but at least it can be eaten.

Klein turned his body so that the mutton would not "woo" him. Then, he suddenly realized that he also bought peas and potatoes in the morning.

Potatoes! Klein immediately had an idea. He quickly turned to the cupboard and took out two potatoes from their small pile.

He first cleaned the potatoes in a public bathroom and then added them into a pot so that they were boiled along with water.

After a while, he sprinkled a little yellow coarse salt into the water from the condiment container he found in the cupboard.

He waited patiently for a few minutes before lifting the pot and pouring the "soup" into a few cups and bowls. He took out a potato with a fork and placed it on the table at the end.

Fffff!

He blew the potatoes as he peeled them little by little. The smell of boiled potatoes spread in the air. The smell is very appetizing.

He drooled crazily; the heat could not block him anymore. Klein bit him even though his potatoes were only half peeled.

How fragrant! The texture is like flour and tastes sweet when chewed. He was instantly filled with emotions and he devoured two potatoes. He even ate some of his skin.

Then, he lifted the bowl and enjoyed his 'soup'. A pinch of salt in water has been shown to quench thirst.

I really enjoyed eating potatoes this way when I was young . Klein who was full of exclaims in his head. Meanwhile, he tore off a small piece of bread and dipped it in 'soup' to eat it to soften it.

Perhaps the ritual was too tiring; klein ate two slices of bread that weighed a pound.

Klein felt he was finally rejuvenated. She enjoyed the joy of life after she drank the 'soup' before making things right. Then, he enjoyed the gleaming sunlight happily.

"i can't escape.I have to think of a way to get in touch with mysticism and become a Beyonder as mentioned by Justice and The Hanged Man.

"i need to overcome the fear of the unknown.

"The only way now is to wait for the next 'meeting'. I need to try listening to the formula of the potion of 'Awlookers' or other things related to mysticism."

"There are still four days left before Monday. Before that, I have to find out first the problem with Klein. Why did he kill himself? What happened to her?"

Unable to move back and wash his hands of everything, Klein picked up the notebook lying on the table. He wanted to find a clue that could help him regain the fragments of his lost memories.

The original Klein clearly had a habit of taking notes. He also likes to keep a diary.

Klein was fully aware that the cupboard that supported the table on the right kept a stack of finished notebooks.

The book he started on May 10. Things about his school, and his mentor, as well as knowledge-related content were at the beginning.

"May 12. Lord Azik mentioned that the language commonly used by the Balam Empire in the Southern Continent also evolved from Ancient Feysac, a branch of Jotun. Why so? Does this mean that every living thing ever speaks the same language? ? No, there must be some mistake. According to 'The Revelation of Evernight' and 'The Book of Storms', giants were not the only hegemon of the world in antiquity. There were also elves, mutants, and dragons. Anyway, this is just a myth and a fantasy."

…

"May 16. Senior Professors Cohen and Mr. Azik discuss the inevitability of the Steam Age. Lord Azik argued that it was just a coincidence because if not for Emperor Roselle, the Northern Continent would still hold a sword like the Southern Continent. Mentors argued that Mr. Azik put too much emphasis on individual contributions. He believed that with progress, even if there was no Emperor Roselle, there would be Emperor Robert. Therefore, the Steam Age may come too late, but eventually it comes. I find little meaning in their discussion.I prefer to discover new things and uncover the hidden past. Maybe I'm better suited to studying archaeology than history."

…

"May 29. Welch found me and told me that he had obtained a notebook from the Fourth Age. Yes Goddess! A notebook from the Fourth Age! He didn't want to ask the archaeology department's students for help so he came to Naya and I to help him decode the contents. How can I refuse? Of course, I could only do so after my graduation defense.I was unable to distract myself at this stage."

This caught Klein's attention. Compared to accounts of history and different points of view, the emergence of notebooks from the Fourth Age may have led to Klein's suicide.

The Fourth Age was the epoch before the current "Iron Age. Its history is mysterious and incomplete. Due to the fact that very few tombs, ancient cities, and records were found, the, archaeologists and historians can only refer to the ambiguous accounts given by the seven major Churches that centered on their religious teachings to roughly form an 'original' picture'. They knew the existence of the Solomon Empire, the Tudor Dynasty, and the Trunsoest Empire.

After setting his sights on solving mysteries and restoring history, Klein was not particularly interested in the first three eras, whose roots were closer to legend. He was more interested in the Fourth Age, also known as the Age of the Gods.

"Hmm, so Klein was worried about his future career and thus focused on the interview. But it was all in vain .." Klein could not help but exclaim.

Colleges are still very rare and the majority of students come from noble or wealthy families. As long as he doesn't have an extreme mindset, ordinary people admitted to university will be able to build valuable social connections through group discussions and networking events despite the deep-rooted prejudices and exclusion of social circles.

A very generous Welch McGovern is an example. He was the son of a banker from Constant City, Midseashire, Loen Kingdom. He was used to asking Naya and Klein for help because they were always in the same group to work with.

Without thinking any further, Klein continued reading the notebook.

"June 18th, I graduated. Goodbye, Khoy University!"

"June 19th, I've seen that notebook. By comparing the sentence structure and the base word, I found that it was a modified form of the ancient Feysac. More precisely, over the millennia of its history, the Feysac language has changed constantly, little by little."

"20 June. We have outlined the contents of the first page. The author is a member of a family called Antigonus."

"21 June. He called the Dark Emperor. This is out of date with respect to the time this notebook was concluded to be written. Was the professor wrong? Was 'Emperor of Darkness' a common title for every emperor in the Solomon Empire?"

"22 June. The Antigonus family seemed to have a very high standing in the Solomon Empire. The author mentions that he made a secret transaction with someone named Tudor. The tudor? Is it related to the Tudor Dynasty?"

"June 23. I tried to refrain from thinking about the notebook and went to Welch's place. I have to prepare for an interview! This is very important!"

"June 24th. Naya told me that they had found something new. I think I need to check on him."

"june 25. From the new content outlined, the author has received a mission to visit the 'Nation of the Evernight' located at the top of the highest peak of the Hornacis mountains. Yes Goddess! How can a nation exist at the top of a peak that is more than 6000 meters above sea level? How did they survive?"

"june 26. Are these strange things real?"

The record ends at this point. Zhou Mingrui moved in the early hours of the 28th.

"That means to say that there is indeed an entry for June 27th, that line ... Everyone will die, including me.." Klein flipped to the page he first saw when he arrived, feeling goosebumps as he makes deductions .

To solve Klein's original suicide mystery, he thinks that he should visit Welch and look at the ancient notebook. However, with a lot of experience from novels, movies, and TV drama series, she is suspicious if they are really related, this visit will be very dangerous — those who go investigate the castle despite knowing that they are haunted serve as a warning!

However, he had to leave because running away would never solve the problem. It would only make matters worse, until it overflowed and completely drowned him!

Maybe call the police? Admitting suicide is ridiculous…

Knock it!

Tap, knock!

There are a series of fast and powerful beats.

Klein sat up straight and listened.

Knock it!

Tap, knock!

The knock echoed in the empty hallway.