The Master of the Strange Realm

Chapter 212 Chapter 208 Card Divination

Due to last week's [Cat Elegance], he has already been "cat-watching". This week, he can no longer tell his father that he is star-gazing, so he can only ask unrelated people about his abilities.

"People who are blessed by the stars usually have good luck."

The woman sighed softly, rinsed the cards in her hand skillfully, and then gently picked up one from it. Only then did Jenkins notice that the cards she was using were not made of traditional cardboard. Judging from the texture, they looked more like plastic cards.

But there is no such technology in this world, is it ability?

Jenkins and Chocolate held by him stretched out their heads at the same time, looking over there curiously.

The playing card was slowly turned over, and the pattern on the front was a somewhat distorted red flower. This is a pencil sketch drawn directly on a blank card. Because of the superb light and shadow effects, Jenkins even thought it was a real flower.

"What does this mean?"

Jenkins asked in awe.

The woman did not answer, but shook her head slightly, and tossed the cards casually, spinning and burning in the air.

"Is this divination or a trick?"

It was just a thought to be so rude, he was not stupid enough to ask. Miss Audrey is a high-level benefactor, and she is also a woman. It is very necessary to maintain respect.

A soothsayer may have a different view of destiny than an ordinary person, and Jenkins remembers the odd remarks made by Miss Audrey during her last visit. He intentionally talked about some topics related to [Destiny], and Miss Audrey also shared with him several rituals that could temporarily transport people, but the materials they required were very expensive.

This amiable woman seemed to genuinely want to help Jenkins, and she knew all the occult questions she could ask. Her understanding of linguistics is even more unexpectedly profound. In addition to the traditional cognitive language that itself has extraordinary power, she believes that time will also give extraordinary things to ordinary things. Language itself, which has multiple meanings, is even easier to understand. Empowered by time.

When the two were talking passionately, Jenkins felt a faint warmth in his chest. I originally suspected that Chocolate had wet the bed in his sleep, but then I remembered that the nut was hanging there.

He was stunned for a moment, and without caring about the lady in front of him, he unbuttoned his collar, loosened his tie and took out the nuts. Miss Audrey raised her eyebrows and picked up her own one on the table.

The two of them walked to the window in tacit agreement, leaning against the wall. They saw a man carrying a patched, dirty black coat walking past on the street outside the house, holding a cigarette in his mouth.

This neighborhood is inhabited by wealthy families with small fortunes, and men are obviously not residents here.

Perhaps because his senses were very sensitive, the man who was being watched by the two men seemed to be aware of it and looked here, but he only saw an irritable cat lying dissatisfied on the windowsill.

"I'm going to report to the church!"

As soon as the man left the range of the window, Jenkins immediately raised his right hand to express his opinion.

"Don't you want to see what he's doing?"

Miss Audrey asked strangely.

"No, no, no. What if he is the source of gear bacteria infection? For the safety of citizens, we should report this matter to the church immediately. [Starry Sky and Equilibrium] The church is the closest to here, so without further ado, we will set off immediately !”

The righteous Mr. Writer made the most correct judgment at the moment. He was just a civil servant, and Miss Audrey was not a local law enforcer. The two of them had no reason to follow him.

"Mr. Willamt, fate sometimes hides its gifts in little things, so we can't jump to conclusions about anything. Let's see where fate leads."

As she spoke, she picked up the stack of cards again, waved her hand, and the decorative candlestick originally placed in the center of the coffee table immediately lit up.

The curtains in the room were not drawn, but the sunlight seemed unable to illuminate the area. Only the dim flame of the candle covered everyone, casting long shadows on the ground.

Count to the seventh card from top to bottom, then take this card out and place it in the center of the coffee table cloth, just above the candlestick.

Put the counted cards aside and no longer use them, then count the remaining cards again, take out the seventh card, and place it in the lower left corner of the candlestick.

Do the same as above and put the counted cards aside. Count the remaining cards again and place the seventh card in the lower right corner of the candlestick, forming a right triangle with the two cards just now. At this time, Miss Audrey still had some cards in her hand, so she put them in the pile she had counted.

She looked up at Jenkins and made a gesture of invitation:

"This is a very common card divination method. Even ordinary citizens have heard of it. First, think about what you want to divination in your mind, and then look at the cards you need. They represent the past, present and The future. If it’s just whether it should be tracked, it should be now.”

Jenkins nodded politely, wondering if he really wanted to perform divination. He looked at Chocolate squatting obediently on the sofa, and felt in his heart that he shouldn't let his pet look down on him.

There was a small golden spindle painted on the back of the card, which had no meaning. After confirming that the card was an ordinary item, he opened the one in the lower left corner of the candlestick.

On the front, there is a gold coin printed on it.

There are no tarot cards in this world, and the cards used for ordinary divination are local cards that are extremely similar to tarot cards. A complete set of cards has 78 cards, each of which can interpret completely unrelated results, and there are also divination tools for summoners, which are only rich ladies or daughters of nobles who have the financial resources to play.

For general divination, only 23 main cards are needed.

"Gold coins? Does this represent greed?"

Jenkins asked, the connection between divination and mysticism has been inseparable since ancient times. Although Dad's course has not yet reached this step, he also understands some.

"This is just an interpretation, it also represents wealth within reach, or extreme luck."

"It's definitely not luck, I don't think this has anything to do with me."

He thought about it and felt that being too cautious was not a good idea, and if he thought about it for a while, the man would be gone.

"Then let's chase him. His expression just now was a little wrong. I also want to know what he is doing. If it's not safe, I think we'd better..."

Miss Audrey put on the white mask for disguise, and Jenkins took out the triangular metal piece from the inner pocket of his coat.

PS: The bounty is over, a total of 9 chapters... It seems that I overestimated myself, so I'll make it 10 chapters. Thank you to all the big guys who threw blades to reward, I won't thank them one by one here.

Chapter 213 Chapter 209 Signs of the Past and the Future

Chocolate naturally couldn't go with them, and Miss Audrey asked the maids to take care of the cat. After watching his master and the bold woman leave, Chocolate still lazily lay on the sofa.

Raising his amber eyes, seeing that the maids were not here for the time being, he lazily climbed up, jumped onto the table, and turned over the two cards that had not been turned over.

Representing the past is a blank card. This card is like the King in poker or the Fool in Tarot. Its meaning in mysticism is more inclined to the concept of beginning, unknown and mystery. It is the most special card in the main card.

Representing the future is a blue cross symbol with a ring on the top. This symbol is a letter of a lost language, which is pronounced similar to "Ankh", so it is often called "Ankh Cross", which means eternal life or resurrection.

The cat narrowed its eyes, put the cards back in place with its claws, and then wagged its tail waiting for the servant to bring food up. Even if its owner is not a person who cares about the quality of life, the cat is still a noble cat.

Although the gifter can use rituals to create many time-limited supernatural items, such as spells, the cost of these things is in units of "ten pounds". Moreover, the gifters have a strong perception ability. Using ordinary spells just tells others "this is not my true face", and the gifters who pay a little attention can see that it is fake at a glance.

The more advanced spells, such as the "Elegant Lady's Makeup Spell" from Hathaway, are more advantageous in hiding and more expensive. This is why she only disguised herself without using spells when attending Mr. Hood's party.

Although the spell was free, Jenkins was also distressed.

He and Miss Audrey were like ordinary men and women, talking while falling far behind the man. Just when he was considering whether to end the pursuit and change the road to avoid suspicion, the man turned into an alley.

Without chasing him immediately, Jenkins pulled Miss Audrey to stop outside a store. The two talked about the clothes and accessories on the mannequins in the window, and then walked to the entrance of the alley.

It was a dead end. Less than 20 meters away from the entrance of the alley was an unpainted brick wall, and the corners were messy garbage and suspicious excrement. On both sides were two-story buildings with no climbing points except windows. On the left wall, there was a tightly closed iron door.

The iron door was already rusty, but judging from the scratches on the ground and the cleanliness of that area, it was still in use recently.

"I have just confirmed that it was an ordinary person, so he couldn't fly away."

The only way the man could disappear was through that wall or that door.

Fortunately, the person who was acting with Jenkins this time was Miss Audrey, who was good at divination. She asked Jenkins to stand at the entrance of the alley to block the view of others, and then pulled out a line from Jenkins' collar and took out a white crystal stone from her pocket and tied it to the line.

Jenkins noticed that one of Miss Audrey's ability points was shining brightly. After a moment, the hanging crystal stone defied gravity and deviated to the position of the door.

"Here."

"My clothes..."

He said with some complaints. This set of clothes was bought for him by Mary when he didn't move out of the house. It was the time when he participated in the reading salon.

The woman did not apologize, but handed over the line: "Give it back to you."

Jenkins took it immediately, thinking whether to throw it away or sew it back after returning home.

Miss Audrey certainly didn't expect him to do this. She was stunned for a moment, then laughed nonchalantly.

Jenkins turned around, reached into his pocket and took out two coins. Seeing a dark and thin boy kicking stones while walking towards this side, he threw a copper coin worth 1 penny at his feet.

The boy was frightened by the money that suddenly rolled over. He subconsciously picked it up, then looked up and saw the scary young man standing at the entrance of the dark alley, and his face turned pale.

"First, sir, I'm sorry, is this you, yours?"

He stammered and put the money in his hand. He had moved a few steps but never had the courage to approach the alley.

Jenkins tried to smile kindly, but who knew the boy's body was shaking even more.

"Am I that terrible?"

He thought to himself, and then looked around. There were very few pedestrians on this street, and no one paid attention to this side.

"Answer me a question, this silver coin is yours too."

He waved the shilling in his hand, and the boy looked at him in horror, nodding like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Are you from around here?"

"Yes, yes sir."

Jenkins suspected he might faint from fear at any moment.

"Then do you know where this door leads to?"

He pointed to the door behind him. The boy looked into the darkness and backed away in fear again: "Sorry sir, I don't know. I never take the initiative to enter such remote alleys. But I know that the house here belongs to the Bronte Club."

Club culture is a unique and pathological cultural trend of this era. In this era, steam trains and horse-drawn carriages kept pace with each other, gentlemen wore high collars that could accidentally cut their throats, and ladies were wrapped in layers of lace restraints.

Wherever there is oppression, there must be release. The more severe the pressure is on the surface, the more rampant the undercurrent will be underneath. Although the original owner hangs around the streets all day long, he only does some unflattering pranks with a group of young people of the same age in his neighborhood. According to Jenkins, after coming to this world, he came into contact with the looming dark side: the extremely prosperous underground love scene. /Sex culture, male prostitutes and prostitutes in slums, aristocratic women addicted to spiritualism, and gentlemen's clubs that are actually sex clubs, this is no different from the steam era in memory.

The almost fanatical fascination with gentlemen's clubs is a cultural phenomenon of this era, and it is also a vulgar phenomenon that people like Jenkins are extremely disgusted and cannot understand. Due to the club's own strict privacy rules and demanding membership system, gentlemen's clubs exist in every corner of the city as a semi-open and semi-closed social institution. It is worth noting that the club is not a purely geographical building or institution, but a pivotal social element in the male social sphere that is also unfamiliar to Jenkins. It represents a social style and survival routine based on a certain consensus. At the same time, in Jenkin's world, it is also regarded as one of the iconic symbols of British culture in the nineteenth century.

All of the above is just to illustrate that it would be difficult for Jenkins and Miss Audrey to enter this club called "Bronte" without someone introducing them.

PS: Additional updates will be added on the 9th, 11th update at 6:30 (one update is normal), and 1st update at 6:00 pm.

Chapter 214 Chapter 210 Secrets of the Past: Natural Disaster of the Undead

"Do you have any idea?"

Jenkins and Miss Audrey went to the dessert shop on the corner of the street together. Jenkins treated them to a meal, and they sat in a place conducive to observation while eating and chatting. Chocolate likes desserts very much, and milk also likes sweet things. Jenkins looked at the small piece of cream cake in front of him that cost 7 shillings, and the figure of Chocolate sneaking into the kitchen appeared in front of his eyes.

"Divination can only provide guidance and cannot fulfill people's wishes like a wishing tree."

She was not anxious at all, but seemed to be interested in the cake. Although Jenkins offered to treat her, she only asked for a small, relatively reasonably priced piece and a cup of black tea.

"Should we go back, or should we wait here? I think it's impossible for that man not to come out."

Now that he had made up his mind to follow the man, Jenkins was not going to give up so quickly.

"Since the divination just now has good results..."

Seeing Jenkins raise her eyebrows, she added: "Or if the outcome is bad, then things will not end so easily. I have a hunch that the turning point will come soon."

Even while engaging in activities like stalking, she maintained a calm smile and looked more like she was out for a walk.

Since she wasn't in a hurry, neither was Jenkins. Although the air outside is terrible, the smell in the sweet shop is very good. Coupled with the obviously deceptive prices, the men and women dining here are all polite gentlemen and ladies.

"Do you know Father Oliver, who is my current guide?"

He brought up a topic casually.

"I know him. I met him when I was a kid."

As expected, Dad has a wide range of friends, and it seems that people from some backgrounds are related to him.

"In that case, did you know that Dad had an apprentice before? I heard some things, but Dad refused to elaborate."

He casually stirred the sugar cubes in the cup with a spoon. Generally speaking, he didn't drink coffee. The original owner lived here and had such a habit, but poor guy Jenkin didn't. I chose coffee this time purely because the price was the most reasonable.

"Apprentice? Yes, it is appropriate to call him apprentice."

The woman gently picked up the cup and looked at the tea leaves at the bottom of the clear black tea. "Since dad refuses to tell me, it is definitely inappropriate for me, an outsider, to tell you."

"So how are they doing now? Are they working in the church? Or do they still have some unspeakable tasks?"

Jenkins asked again.

"Well, I am not a follower of the Sage, and I am not very clear about the deployment within your church."

The woman opened her mouth and pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"But I know one thing. Mr. Oliver's second student, or apprentice, died in the Undead Scourge thirty years ago. He was a hero, just like all the victims of the Orthodox Church of that era, a great hero."

"Undead Scourge?"