"You can address me as, The Fool."
The voice of the short answer quickly dissipated in the magnificent hall and the ambiguous grey fogs. However, it reverberated in the hearts of Audrey and Algar, stirring a ripple after another.
[It is unexpected and yet gives the correct feeling. This is a title that perfectly embodies mystery, power, and bizarreness.]
After a few seconds of silence, Audrey stood up. She held her shirt, bent her knees and performed a salutation for Zhou.
"Dear Mister 'Fool', please allow me to formally request, would you be willing to witness our exchange?”
“Not a problem.” Thoughts quickly ran through Zhou's mind as he tried to reply in a way to match his identity.
“This is our honor, Mister ‘Fool’.” Alger followed Audrey's lead and stood up. With his right hand to his chest, he bent down and salute.
Zhou Mingrui stretched his right hand and smiled.
“Please continue the discussion.”
Alger nodded and sat down again, he looked at Audrey and spoke.
“If you can obtain the blood of a ghost shark, get someone to send it to the 'Warriors and the Sea' bar which is located at the Pelican Street, White Rose District of the Port of Pritz. Tell the owner William Moss that this is something that the 'Captain' wants."
“After I confirm the receipt of the item, would you prefer me to send the potion formula to an address or share it with you right here?”
Audrey thought for a few seconds and revealed her smile.
“I would prefer the more confidential option, which is to disclose it right here, although it will be a test of my memory.”
[Since “The Fool” has agreed to witness the exchange, there will be another similar "meeting" in the future.]
With these thoughts in mind, she suddenly turned and looked at Zhou Mingrui expectantly. With a tone of interest, she inquired.
"Mister Fool, would you mind having a few more 'attempts' like this?"
Alger had been listening calmly until he was also tempted by the suggestion and he quickly followed up.
“Mister ‘Fool’, don’t you find such ‘meetings’ very interesting? Although your strength exceeds our imagination, there will always fields in the world that you don’t understand or don’t excel in. While the lady sitting opposite me is obviously someone of noble origin, I do have my own experiences, insights, channels, and resources. In the future, it might be possible for us to help you accomplish insignificant things that may be inconvenient for you."
From his point of view, since he could not resist being pulled into the world of grey fogs. It indicated that the initiative lied in the hands of the mysterious "Fool". He couldn't simply refuse to attend any future meetings. Instead, it will be more beneficial for him to take advantage of the encounter for further gains.
The three parties at the long table had different backgrounds, different resources, different channels of information, and different areas of specialties in the realms of the supernatural. If they could communicate with each other and agree to a certain level of cooperation, it would produce wonderful results with immeasurable gains.
An example would be the exchange of resource that had just taken place. Alternatively, if one of them intended to kill someone, he or she could rely on an unrelated meeting member. That could misguide others into a wrong direction.
[A lady of noble origin… are my actions and accent so obvious?] Audrey's mouth was half open and she froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered and nodded without hesitation.
“Mister ‘Fool’, I believe that this is a great proposal. If the 'meetings' becomes regular, even if there are inconvenient things for you, you can simply pass them to us. Of course, they will need to be within our capabilities."
Since the beginning, Zhou Mingrui had been weighing the pros and cons of the suggestion. More "meetings" would indeed give him more opportunities to understand the secrets of the extraordinary and the supernatural. It might even help him crossing back in the future. For instance, he would probably obtain the potion formula of the “Audience” in the next meeting. Similarly, he could receive news that might help him in the real life.
On the other hand, the more “meetings” he organized, the easier it would be for him to be exposed!
[ Sure enough, no matter which worlds it is, nothing comes with only benefits … ] Zhou Mingrui stretched out his right hand again and tapped the edge of the long table with his fingers.
As the initiation and dissolution of the meetings were within his control, even if any problems were exposed, they could be contained quickly. Taking into account that the benefits clearly outweighed the disadvantages, Zhou Mingrui made the call swiftly.
His tapping motion ceased and he smiled at the two pairs of expectant and envious eyes.
“I’m a person who appreciates fair exchanges.”
“I will not ask you to help unconditionally.”
“Every Monday, try to be alone at 3 pm. Let me attempt a few more times to figure things out. After that, maybe it will be possible for you to take leaves in advance so that you don’t have to worry about being stranded in a wrong place at a wrong time.”
Basically, he had agreed with Alger and Audrey's proposal.
Audrey was a girl who had just turned seventeen years old and she had been well taken care of since young. Therefore, she had a youthful spirit. When she heard Mr. Fool’s answers, she could not help but clenched her hand into a fist and swung it in front of her chest in excitement.
“So should we get titles for ourselves too? After all, we do not want to communicate with our real names.” Not waiting for Alger to speak, her eyes sparkled and she asked with great enthusiasm.
[Although I may not be able to deceive “The Fool” about my situation, the guy sitting opposite appears to be dangerous, I cannot let him know my real identity!]
“Good idea.” Zhou Mingrui answered briefly.
Audrey immediately started thinking and continued.
“You are ‘The Fool’, from Tarot. As a regular, long-term, and mysterious group, we should keep our titles as consistent as possible. Um, I'll take it from the Tarot too."
Then, her tone became cheerful.
“I've decided, my title shall be ‘Justice’!”
It was also one of the 22 main cards of Tarot.
“What about you, Mister?" Audrey smiled and looked at her “companion” standing at the opposite side.
Alger frowned as he became absorbed in thoughts but he quickly made his decision.
"The Hanged Man."
It was another main card.
“Okay, so we are now the founding members of the Tarot Group!” Audrey happily blurted and glanced at Zhou Mingrui with a little embarrassment. “Is it fine, Mr ‘Fool’?”
Zhou Mingrui laughed and shook his head.
“For this kind of trivial matters, you can make your own decisions.”
“Thank you!” Audrey was obviously delighted.
Then, she looked to Alger again.
“Mr Hanged Man, can you repeat the address that you have mentioned just now? I am afraid that it has not been impressed deeply in my memory yet.”
“No problem.” Alger was quite satisfied with Audrey’s sincerity and repeated the address.
After repeating it in her mind three times, Audrey continued with her questions.
“I heard that the Tarot was only a game invented by Russell the Great. Therefore, it does not have the capabilities of divination?”
“No, in most cases, the results of divination actually derives from oneself. Everyone has spirituality. They can connect to the spiritual realm and link to related information at a higher level. However, ordinary people cannot notice this, let alone interpreting the 'prompts'. When they use divination tools, this information will be presented with the help of the tools. One of the simplest examples is the dreams and their interpretations." Alger took a glance at Zhou. Noticing that he did not want to say anything, he continued to explain to Audrey, "Tarot belongs to such types of tools. It just uses more symbols and more reasonable elements to help us understand the ‘prompts’ easily and accurately."
Zhou Mingrui appeared to be unconcerned, but in fact, he listened very attentively, until he felt that his mental energy began to deplete and waves of pain were coming into his brain.
“I see.” Audrey nodded, and then she emphasized, “That's not what I meant. I’m not questioning the Tarot. In fact, I have heard that Russell the Great had actually created another set of cards in secret. There were the twenty-two cards that symbolized some unknown powers. He referred to those cards before inventing the twenty-two main cards of the Tarot as a game. Is that accurate?"
She looked at Zhou as if she would like to get the answer from the mysterious “Fool”. Zhou Mingrui could only smile and he did not respond. Instead, he turned his gaze to the "Hanged-Man" as if signaling a test for him.
Alger subconsciously straightened his back and replied in a deep voice.
“Yes, it was said that Russell the Great had read the "Slate of Descretion" and the mysterious deck of cards contained twenty-two paths to divinity.”
“Twenty-two paths to divinity…” Audrey repeated in a tone full of anticipation.
At this time, Zhou Mingrui's headaches intensified and he felt that his invisible connection with the crimson stars and gray fogs had become unstable.
“Well, today’s meeting shall end here.” He immediately decided.
“As you wish.” Alger bowed his head.
“As you wish.” Audrey imitated the “Hanged Man.”
She still had many questions in her head and was really reluctant to end the meeting.
Zhou Mingrui cut off the connection while smiling.
“Let us look forward to the next meeting.”
The “stars” lit up again and the dark red shrank like water. Audrey and Alger had just heard the last sentence from “The Fool” and their figures immediately became blurred and illusionary.
In less than a second, the “projections” shattered and silence was restored above the fogs.
Zhou Mingrui felt that he was getting heavy and the whimsical feeling disappeared. His sight was dark at first and then the lights of the day appeared before his eyes.
He was still in the apartment, standing in the middle of the room.
“It’s almost like a dream… What kind of world it is in the fogs? Who or rather what kind of powers created it…” Zhou Mingrui muttered in a low voice and doubts rose in his mind. He stumbled towards the desk as if his legs were filled with lead.
He picked up the pocket watch that he had left on the table to check how much time had passed.
“One to one ratio in the speed of time.” Zhou Mingrui vaguely estimated.
Putting down the pocket watch, he could no longer hold back his headache. He sat down on a chair, lowered his head and massaged his temples with his left thumb and middle finger.
After a long time, he suddenly sighed and spoke reluctantly.
“It seems that I will not be able to go back, at least in the near future…”
Only the ignorant could be fearless. After such an incredible encounter, and learning about the Extraordinaries and the mysterious world, Zhou Mingrui could no longer dare to recklessly try the "Luck Conversion Ritual" in the ancient Fusaq language or the Ruenese language!
Who would know what he might encounter? Perhaps it would be more incredible, or it could be horrible and deadly.
“At least, I should develop a deeper understanding of the supernatural before trying.” Zhou Mingrui thought helplessly.
Fortunately, the so-called “meetings” could help him and provide opportunities.
After another moment of silence, he muttered with the emotions of frustration, loss, pain, and nostalgia.
“From now on, I’m Klein.”
Klein tried to switch his mind back to his plans and methodologies to alleviate his negative feelings.
[Next week, I will be able to hear about the formula for the “Audience”…
The "meeting" just now was really amazing. People from different parts of the world could cross the distances and communicate directly with each other. Well, this is a little familiar…]
Klein blinked for a few times and suddenly chuckled.
[An online social platform?]
TN:
Slight adjustments to earlier terminologies.
Old: “the Fifth Era”, “the Era of Black Iron”
New: “the Fifth Epoch”, “the Epoch of Black Iron”.