Chapter 824 The Approaching Shadow

A tide of crimson light appeared and disappeared, and in the grand and majestic palace, the figures of the Tarot Club members appeared on the high-backed chairs.

This wasn't Angel's first time attending a Tarot Club on a moving ship, but it was also his first time to leave his body and enter this foggy space alone without Klein by his side.

Although she had her own room on the "Redhead Girl" and had set up a spiritual wall in advance, using mirror magic to create a "mirror maze" that would confuse and trap ordinary people, she still inevitably felt a little anxious and worried.

Fortunately, the friendly and warm gaze and crisp greeting from Audrey, the Justice, beside her, as well as the inquiring gaze from Klein, the World, at the end of the long table, quickly calmed her mind and greeted Mr. Fool and the other members one by one.

At the Tarot Club before the battle with Amon's clone, the honest "Star" Leonard Mitchell had already submitted the other five pages of his diary to the Fool. Now, empty-handed, he looked at the other members uneasily. Fortunately, none of them offered their diaries, which made him secretly relieved and his upright sitting posture relaxed a little.

Upon hearing that there would be no new "Roselle Observations" to read this week, Klein the Fool did not express disappointment. After a new member joined, there would usually be a few meetings where they could harvest a lot of diaries, but then they would fall into this state of no harvest. He had long been accustomed to this, so he gently knocked on the long bronze table and said:

"Well, let's get started."

This marks the beginning of transactions between members.

Angel immediately looked at the tall, somewhat absent-minded Emlyn the Moon and said loudly:

"I need the blood of nine centenarians, each over 10 milliliters, for a total of 500 pounds."

This strange transaction request immediately made everyone look at her.

"Do you need living people?" Miss Magician's questioning voice came from her side, and then the member added, "I mean, are those who just died okay?"

After graduating from Backlund Medical School and before switching careers to become a full-time novelist, she worked as a doctor for a while and knew many of her colleagues. If she tried hard enough, she could find some recently deceased centenarians and use the various tricks of her "apprentice" to get some blood.

But first of all, this would be disrespectful to the deceased, and secondly, she was not short of money at the moment, so she had no intention of accepting the commission and was simply asking out of curiosity.

But the potion recipe didn't specify whether it needed a living person or a dead person... Angel muttered to himself, and after a moment, he replied:

"The person needs to be alive when the extraction is done."

Her answer was based on her knowledge of the occult. After an ordinary person dies, the spiritual energy in their body will quickly dissipate into the surroundings. Even for an Extraordinary Person, if they do not possess divinity, after their Extraordinary characteristics are released and their spirit dissipates, the spiritual energy in their body will also quickly disappear, leaving them as an ordinary corpse - unless they combine their Extraordinary characteristics with their own, or are influenced by the power of the occult and become a living corpse.

"I can help you get the blood, but it will take about a week. I should be able to tell you the results at next week's Tarot Club."

Emlyn spoke, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair with a slight smugness.

I knew that, as a vampire... no, a member of the vampire clan, and with parents who are renowned doctors, he would definitely be able to find many long-lived elders and obtain their blood without harming their health... Angel nodded in satisfaction, but then reminded him:

"It can only be the blood of an ordinary person."

She was worried that the other party would find a few of their kind who had lived for hundreds of years and easily make a profit of the 500 pounds, while she would use the blood containing extra spirituality or even a small amount of extraordinary properties to prepare the potion, and then lose control and die.

"I'm talking about ordinary people. The blood of noble vampires is not worth this price... No, it won't be sold at all!"

Mr. Moon replied in a serious tone.

I heard that just last week you cooperated with other Tarot Club members to send a vampire viscount to the Church of Mother Earth and made him do hard labor in your place. Why didn't you respect your own people at that time... Angel complained in his heart and stopped talking.

Seeing that the two had reached an agreement on the deal, Mr. Sun also asked:

"I'd like to buy some powerful spells, mainly for offensive purposes... Also, do you have any idea how to create 'pure darkness'?"

The former was his preparation for his next expedition outside the City of Silver. He had received a hint from the "Chief" that he could use some of the extraordinary materials the City of Silver possessed in exchange. The latter was his preparation for promotion to the "Priest of Light," which required taking a potion in pure darkness, surrounded by unmelting ice. Darkness, in the God-Forsaken Land, was equivalent to disappearance and death.

"Darkness can be created using the spell of the 'Night' realm. I'm not sure if this is pure darkness, but if there is such darkness in the world, it must be the realm of the Night Goddess."

"Star," Leonard replied in a pious tone, attracting the attention of "The Hanged Man" and "The Hermit".

There's no doubt that in the eyes of these people, you've already been labeled a "Nighthawk," Mr. Poet... Angel chuckled and took over the conversation:

"I can craft powerful talismans, but they require something like the 'Time Worm,' the translucent worm left behind by the Amon clone that possessed you. If you have any extra, or a replacement of the same rank, I can craft the corresponding talismans. They can inflict fatal damage on Demigod-level Beyonders or Beyonder creatures... Each one will only cost 3,000 pounds."

The price is roughly equivalent to the weaker ones among the "2" level seals, but it sounds stronger than the "1" level seals. Is this the talisman that Angel used to kill Amon's clone?

Leonard looked at the "Queen" Angel in surprise. He wanted to use the few "Time Worms" that belonged to him to make corresponding talismans as his own trump card. He could even cooperate with the "Luck Stealer" to directly attack himself with the talisman, and then exchange the fate of being hit with the enemy, achieving an almost unavoidable and fatal attack.

Go back and ask the old man… He muttered to himself and found that Mr. "Sun" had already agreed and was going to go to his chief after the Tarot meeting to find out if there were any alternative materials. The "Hermit" also expressed some interest in this talisman, but due to the lack of corresponding materials, no deal was reached.

After the two female members stopped talking, "The Hanged Man" Alger looked around, locked his sight on "Star" Leonard, and asked:

"Last time you said you wanted to acquire a powerful 'sealed object'... I mean, a magical item. Do you still need it now?"

He completed the church's mission again and returned to Bayam. He had the opportunity to participate in several secret underground gatherings, and his desire to help buy and sell items as a "broker" became active again.

"Mr. World has sold me that cane."

Leonard politely declined, and mentally calculated his savings, realizing he only had less than 1,000 pounds left. He couldn't even afford rare extraordinary materials, let alone magical items.

Otherwise, how about selling two "Time Worms"... He looked at the "Hermit" and "Sun" who were interested in Angel's spell just now, and suddenly an idea popped up in his mind.

Before the thoughts in his mind could solidify into substance and turn into words, the gathering, which no longer had any new transaction requests, entered the next stage.

"The situation at sea has changed significantly recently. After the 'Pirate Conference,' the pirates who had previously avoided important shipping lanes and had almost entered the Misty Sea and the Sonia Sea have become active again. On several occasions, they have gathered multiple ships and forced their way into the waterway between Pritz Harbor and Bayam, intending to make a fortune. However, they were repelled by the Loen Navy with a more forceful stance, resulting in heavy losses on both sides."

Alger, the "Hanged Man," spoke first, sharing his experiences at sea.

At the same time, he secretly glanced at the "Golden Queen" across from him and the "Admiral of the Stars" a little further away. Seeing that the two had no intention of responding, he continued:

"This is very unusual. Normally, during the summer, the number of tourists decreases, and the shipment of island specialties to the northern continent increases. Pirates also reduce their looting, as most cargo isn't as profitable as passengers... Similarly, the navy's response was unexpected. They seem intent on completely driving the pirates out of the entire sea area and expanding their control..."

"Isn't this normal? They are regular soldiers, and it is their duty to wipe out all pirates."

Hugh Dilchar, who was listening to the "trial," asked back. She hadn't dared to participate in the previous transactions that often involved thousands of pounds, which exceeded her life savings. However, as a half-member of "MI9", she was still interested in Alger's words.

Cattleya, the Hermit, chuckled softly and answered Quinn's question on behalf of Alger, who was about to speak.

"It's not just Loen's ships that sail the sea. Feysac, Feynaport, Intis, and even those small countries are also harassed by pirates. Maintaining a moderate pirate presence is actually beneficial to the Loen Kingdom. What's more..." She glanced at Angel, "...many pirates are actually agents of various countries."

"So they shouldn't be, uh, leaving no room for maneuver?"

Xio frowned and asked back.

Alger nodded and replied:

"That's right. The regular army's current movements don't seem like they want to eliminate all the pirates. Instead, they want to launch a comprehensive attack, leave a safe period for a while, and then make repairs. Otherwise, they should send out all the ironclad ships instead of relying solely on old warships to fight the pirates.

"This makes me suspect that Loen is preparing for some major events in the second half of the year... I remember a year ago, Miss Justice mentioned that the Prime Minister and his staff had persuaded the King not to launch a war of retaliation against Feysac within a year. Now that the one-year period has expired, I think there's a high possibility of a local war breaking out this year..."

Listening to the Hanged Man's analysis, the several Loen people present, including Klein the Fool, who was hiding in the gray fog at the head of the long table and listening carefully, fell silent.

Is the shadow of war about to cover the world again?