...the goddess truly responded... When克莱恩first saw the words formed by the powder, his initial reaction had nothing to do with the substance of the message itself, but rather was filled with astonishment that such an apparently absurd event had actually come to pass. Though he had anticipated this outcome and believed the chances of success to be high, he still found himself overwhelmed by complex emotions, unable to shake off that sense of disbelief for several dozen seconds. After a while,克莱恩slowly exhaled, raised his right hand, and gently tapped it four times in a clockwise motion over his chest: "Praise the goddess!" He then concluded the ritual, forcing himself to refocus on the "divine oracle" itself: "A spirit affliction requiring expulsion? Could it be that Ins. Zangwei himself is being afflicted by spirits? He ascended from Sequence 9 to Sequence 5 in the Path of Death, and during the pivotal phase where he gained divine status, he transitioned into the Path of Night, specifically the Sequence 4 'Night Watchman,' a specialist in combating spiritual entities. Only spectral spirits and wraiths were known to fear him—how could he, then, be afflicted by undead spirits?" "Unless that malevolent spirit is of an exceptionally high rank or possesses an extraordinarily unique essence. Unfortunately, I've only encountered one true embodiment of a malevolent spirit—the ancient one sealed within the underground ruins of Alistar Tord—so my understanding of such beings remains limited, and I'm still missing many nuanced details. Hmm, I can write to Miss Sharon for further information, or send the little 'Sun' to inquire. The 'Shepherd' elder, Lovira, actually tends to a malevolent spirit herself. That explains why Ins. Zanggwei sought a meeting with a half-divine member of the Spiritual Order. In terms of combating malevolent spirits, aside from the Church of Night and the Church of Eternal Radiance, the Spiritual Order stands out—though, I should probably add the War God's Church as well, since similar paths often share commonalities. Moreover, it's clear that Ins. Zanggwei doesn't wish his own affliction by a malevolent spirit to be known by any particular faction within the royal house or the sorceress order; otherwise, he would have no need to personally come to the Southern Continent!" Both of these powers trace back to before the Fifth Age, with deep and enduring traditions—so it's unlikely they'd fail to locate even a single seal artifact capable of expelling or purifying malevolent spirits. Even if they couldn't find one, coordinating directly through the Mage Order's connection to the Spiritual Monastic Order would surely be more discreet and secure than having Lord Inz. Zangweil make the journey himself... As thoughts flowed, Caine laid out a sheet of paper on the table and began to write: "The intelligence you've provided has instantly connected the dots in the clues I've previously gathered. Thanks to the assistance of a great being, this clearly points to one conclusion: Lord Inz. Zangweil has been possessed by a malevolent spirit and is now actively seeking assistance from the Spiritual Monastic Order." "Merely from this fact, we can already draw several useful conclusions: Ins. Zangwei frequently exhibits inconsistencies in his language and actions; he occasionally veers off course, doing things we would never expect him to, or making errors that remain difficult to comprehend; his interactions with the Spiritual Order will not cease, and in fact will grow more frequent even before this matter is resolved... By tracing these observations, we may perhaps catch Ins. Zangwei off guard, but I believe we still cannot pin him down—those seemingly coincidental occurrences stemming from the 'Level 0' seal are simply too normal to be overcome." As he wrote this, Crane found himself recalling their direct confrontation with Ins. Zangweil: although his own investigation had not directly implicated them, it had nearly uncovered their conspiracy. Consequently, Ins. Zangweil had taken decisive action—sending down a meteor to attempt the death of Sherlock Moriati and erasing the trail of evidence. In the end, with the help of Mr. Azk, he had escaped the brink of despair, forcing Ins. Zangweil to step out from the shadows and onto the stage, where he was exposed to the spotlight. At that time, if Mr. Azkay had regained his previous level of performance, perhaps Ins. Zangwei might have already been dead... But to recreate a similar situation—where he was compelled to personally appear before us—would still have been extremely difficult. After all, the previous incident involved not only Mr. Azkay, the "Deceased Magistrate," and myself, who could disrupt coincidences with the gray mist, but also the presence of "Trisichk" and her ring, which appeared to be a seal of "Level Zero." Without that lady's sudden departure, Ins. Zangwei would never have been forced to step in personally. Klein paused, thoughtfully, and then wrote again: "If we can uncover the origin and primary objective of that malevolent spirit, things might yet turn around..." As he finished writing about Ins. Zangwei, a thought struck him, and he intended to mention another matter at the same time. However, after sketching out the first few letters, he paused once more, lifted his left hand, and gently pressed on both cheeks, clearly hesitating, as though he were reluctant to bring it up. Muttered a few words under his breath, Caine eventually composed himself and wrote out the rest smoothly: "Even without the assistance of that 'Level 0' seal object, Inz. Zangwei remains an enemy we cannot directly confront—our preparations must be more thorough. If you can provide some 'Chrono-Beetles,' I can craft advanced incantations capable of countering demi-gods. These are called 'Stewards of Fate,' and they temporarily exchange the fates of the caster and the target over a short period." He set down his pen, glanced at the paper only briefly, then swiftly folded it and placed it carefully into an envelope. He then produced the adventurer's flute and a gold coin, summoned the courier lady, and instructed her to take the reply letter to Leonard Mitchell—this time, not to 7 Prestwick Street, but directly to his current residence. Since Leonard had written the letter only recently, Caine believed he had not yet moved outside the range of Rennette Tynecole's detection. After completing all this, Caine took a shallow breath and gently shook his head, saying, "Making requests to others is truly difficult—especially for someone with a thin skin." He quickly redirected his focus, once again refining the secret doubles of "The Winner" Enzo and "The General of Hell" Ludewell, since they had been observed by "The Angel of Fate" Ulolius during their exploration of Caldrón. In this process, Caine suddenly had an idea—he planned to send them up to the Gray Mists, using the genuine bodies of the Spirit Plunderers as a disguise! The Spirit Plunderers could transform their fragment souls into the appearance of true bodies and even mimic other spirits of the spirit realm. Their remaining extraordinary materials must also possess such abilities, though they were difficult to use, yielding only modest results with significant drawbacks. Yet for Caine, who possessed the enigmatic realm above the gray mist, these were no obstacles—after all, he had no intention of putting the extraordinary material to practical use in battle. Routine adjustments to the spectral figures required only a moderate level of dexterity and effectiveness, and could be refined gradually. As for the negative effects stemming from divine influences, they were entirely negligible—after all, who among the cluttered surroundings didn’t simply settle in peace? When such a two-way connection was established between the two, Crane suddenly felt as though the secret figure and himself had become one whole. Through the "spiritual thread," he could now channel all of his extraordinary abilities to the other—encompassing even the "technique" of the "Faceless Man" to alter appearance and physique! As he slowly and laboriously manipulated the connection, Crane felt dizziness, emotional turbulence, and a growing sense of losing control. This was an inevitable consequence of direct contact between spirit and divinity. He quickly diverted a small amount of power from the mysterious space above the gray mist, restoring his state to its original calm. After a series of trials, Caine completed his efforts. Enzo, the "winner," now resembled a native of the Southern Continent, clearly someone from a plantation. Ludewil, the "General of Hell," had a mixed heritage—his once gaunt, startling face had gained a fuller, slightly overweight appearance. As for the silver-white mask that exerted a soothing effect, Caine couldn't remove it at present. He had only managed to have Ludewil wear it against his chest, pressed firmly against his skin—this provided some relief, though it was far less effective than wearing it directly on the face. "Unfortunately, we can't transform this mask into another type of accessory; otherwise, things would have been much simpler," Caine said, busily returning the genuine souls of the Spirit-Plunderers to their pile while rubbing his temples, letting his thoughts drift. "By the way, I still have another extraordinary trait of a 'Soul-Healer' that could be crafted into a magical item to replace the mask… No, I've always intended to return it to the Church. I'll send it once I receive a reply from Leonard." After the discomfort gradually subsided, Caine produced his gold-shell pocket watch, opened it, and checked the time. Then he summoned a paper figure and, by subtly drawing upon the mysterious forces above the gray mist, simultaneously guided both into a specially marked luminous point. That point belonged to Daniz, the sole devotee of the Fool currently. In Caine's assessment, Gardeleia behind the "Star Above" was affiliated with the Mois Monastic Order, Edwenna the "Ice Mountain Commander" was from the Church of Wisdom and Knowledge, and Anderson Hood knew little about Germán Sparro, being particularly adept at assessing the situation and never hesitating to show strength—thus, they were likely to remain safe during the "Investigation" by the Aurora Society. Only Daniz remained a genuine concern: stationed in Xibayan, he couldn't return to the "Golden Dream" in the near term, lacked strong capabilities, and frequently wore the "do-it-later" mindset, which made him truly worrisome. Based on these facts, Mr. The Fool had no choice but to endure a bit of effort himself, offering a timely "paper angel" embrace to Daniz each day to disrupt the divinations and prophecies made about him. ………… Leonard hadn't expected Klein Moretti to reply so promptly; with a touch of disbelief, he carefully opened the envelope and began reading: "Was the 'Fool' referring to a great being who had assisted us? Indeed, Klein's investigation into Inz. Zangewell had progressed significantly—he had already uncovered the truth upon my mention of the spiritual order. Could it be that spirits were possessing him? How could spirits be possessing him? How should we leverage this? The Time Worm… well…." Leonard swiftly scanned to the end of the letter, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat complex. In his mind, Palis Soloyasde remained silent, saying nothing.