After observing it quietly for a few seconds, Klein stepped forward, stepped onto the stairs, and walked down carefully one step at a time.

The light around him gradually dimmed, and only a gray color enveloped this extremely quiet world. The further Klein went down, the more he felt like he was locked in a dark, silent room. He could slowly hear the sound of his blood flowing and his heart beating strongly.

The latter was getting faster and faster, and was gradually infected with uncontrollable anxiety and panic. Klein was busy concentrating his mind, visualizing the overlapping balls of light, and calming his emotions to restore his state.

To his side, the gray-white cliff representing Groselle's subconscious realm stood coldly and silently as if dead, but a point of light would flash from time to time in the surrounding grayness.

Klein stared and saw from one of the spots of light a giant tearing open a human and stuffing it into his mouth and a terrified Groselle. At that time, the latter was less than 3 meters tall and was obviously still in his infancy.

Points of light flashed by, and a motionless dusk appeared on the mountain peaks. Time seemed to slow down here.

Klein was about to look for more valuable information in Groselle's subconscious mind when he suddenly heard a sound like a beast's panting.

Suddenly, a huge hand stretched out from the surrounding gray mist. Its skin was gray-blue, covered with signs of decay, and had obvious yellow-green hair. It quickly grabbed Klein's ankle.

Amid the sound of ho ho ho, on the stairs below, the same hands reached up one after another, as if to forcibly drag Klein's spirit into the deepest and most unfathomable place in the spiritual world.

In an instant, these rotten palms were like a forest, densely packed together, constantly struggling to stretch upwards and making terrifying gasps that could make one's hair stand on end. Klein was so scared that he instinctively jumped up and jumped three steps.

However, these countless hands that looked like the corpses of giants did not stop. They supported themselves on the surface of the stairs and crawled upwards like a tide, flooding every inch of space below.

Klein was about to extend his right palm to take out the "Death Knell" to purify the bullets and use "Slaughter" to eliminate these countless "monsters" when two questions suddenly flashed through his mind:

Where did these "hands" come from? Why did they appear in Groselle's subconscious?

As soon as the problem arose, Klein suddenly gained inspiration and vaguely understood something. He immediately gave up using the Death Knell, calmed his breathing, and visualized the ball of light.

Those huge rotten hands took the opportunity to rush to his feet and grabbed his ankles and calves!

At this moment, they disappeared silently, as if they had never appeared.

"Sure enough, this is an illusion caused by Groselle's subconscious. Here, the minds not only face each other directly, but also blend with each other. If you don't have the corresponding extraordinary ability, the deeper you go, the easier it is to have an emotional breakdown. You will be eroded by the other party's subconscious little by little, and eventually your 'mental body' will be seriously polluted, and you will become a mentally ill patient who can't regain your sanity, which is likely to lead to loss of control... This is different from spiritual communication. You can't avoid being polluted by staying awake and rational, because you are already inside the target's 'mental body'..." Klein muttered to himself silently, and he understood something.

He hesitated for a few seconds, turned around, and climbed up the stairs, no longer delving into Groselle's spiritual world, because he lacked the extraordinary ability to soothe his own mind, and forcing himself to go down would be tantamount to suicide.

“After we collect some magical items in this area, we will consider continuing the exploration.” Klein confirmed his idea and walked faster and faster. Finally, he jumped back to Groselle’s dream and returned to the place where the guards of the Giant King’s Court lived.

He felt tired, so he left the dream immediately, walked through the wall and out of Groselle's blacksmith shop, and once again examined the strangeness of the world in the book.

"So far, I have met Groselle, Mobet, and Siatas. When I was chatting with people everywhere, I also heard about the devout priest Snowman and the 'philosopher' Longzel, but there is no Anderson Hood, no Edwina Edwards, no Danitz, and no Gehrman Sparrow... So, is it the dead who have new roles in the book, or is it the adventurers who have stayed here for a long time and fully demonstrated themselves in their daily lives that have a certain subconscious copy?" Klein walked on the edge of the street illuminated by the sunset, thinking about this crucial question for him.

If it was the former speculation, that the dead would be "reborn" and become new characters, then Klein would not have to worry about anything. But if it was the latter, he would have to reduce the frequency of exploring the world in the book and strictly control the duration of each stay.

“It’s impossible to tell at the moment. Let’s deal with it according to the latter situation first. It’s always better to be cautious…” Klein made a decision quickly and was about to return to the gray fog.

At this time, he saw a familiar figure again.

Longzel, with black hair and blue eyes, sat on a long wooden chair on the street, staring blankly at the sky that seemed to be burned by fire, as if he was in deep thought.

Thinking of the former Loen soldier's urn in his hands, ready to be sent back to the Storm Church Cemetery in Backlund, Klein sighed silently, walked over, sat next to Longzel, and asked casually:

"what's on your mind?"

"I'm wondering who I am, where I came from, and where I should go back to..." Long Ze'er said in a dreamy voice without looking away.

Without waiting for Klein to ask again, he shook his head and chuckled:

“I always feel like I don’t belong here, I’m not who I am now, and there’s a place waiting for me to return to.

"They laughed at me for always thinking about these useless questions, so they gave me the nickname 'philosopher'..."

As he spoke, he looked at the setting sun and fell silent again, lost in thought.

Klein didn't say anything. He sat there quietly, watching the sunset with Longzel for a while, and then disappeared without a sound.

Longzel didn't notice that the people around him had left. He was like a marble statue, staring into the distance, motionless for a long time.

…………

After the supply was completed, Alger Wilson commanded the "Blue Avenger" to leave the rebel private port without staying in the Rhodes Islands for too long.

He had to return to Pasu Island to report on his work within the specified time.

At this moment, in the captain's room, he was looking expectantly at the illusory door composed of spiritual things and expanding candlelight on the altar.

That is the door for sacrifice and also the door for receiving gifts!

With an illusory creaking sound, the mysterious door slowly opened, revealing the endless depth and darkness inside.

Light burst out from within, then quickly receded. When everything calmed down, two more items appeared on the altar, and the door covered with all kinds of strange symbols had disappeared.

Alger remained very patient. He thanked Mr. Fool earnestly and finished the ceremony according to the procedure before reaching out to pick up the two items on the altar.

One of them is a neatly folded paper, and the other is a transparent "jellyfish" wrapped in blue sea water.

Alger first examined the latter and found that sometimes there was wind blowing up whirlpools inside, sometimes there were flashes of silver-white lightning, and sometimes there were distant and beautiful songs coming out.

"This voice has a feminine feel... It seems that the owner of this characteristic is a lady." Alger couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, because this meant that it was not a quasi-high-ranking member of the Church of Storms who was murdered.

There are no female quasi-senior and senior leaders in the Church of the Storm!

Putting away the extraordinary characteristics of the Ocean Singer, Alger unfolded the paper, skipped the main material column, quickly glanced at the auxiliary materials, and finally stopped his gaze on the ceremony section.

For him, since he already had extraordinary characteristics, it didn't matter what the main material was. He could look at it later. The auxiliary materials were relatively easy to collect, so he didn't need to pay too much attention to them. Only the ceremony was the most important thing:

"Taking the potion into the stomach of an Obnis..." Alger read the contents of the ritual silently, and the corresponding information quickly emerged in his mind:

Obnis is an ancient sea monster that can swallow a sailing ship. With its huge, twisted body, up to three heads and tangled tentacles, it is the protagonist of many maritime legends.

Most of these sea monsters have been tamed by the Church of Storms and have fixed activity areas, but it is unknown whether they have intelligence close to that of humans.

“No wonder the church wants to control Obonis instead of other sea monsters… No wonder there are so many Beyonders in the Sailor Path among pirates, but only a few can reach Sequence 5. They are either directly inherited, or subordinates of the ‘King of the Five Seas’ and the ‘Mysterious Queen’… Then where should I go to find Obonis that does not belong to the church…” Alger frowned, thinking about how to bypass the Storm Church to get promoted.

His first reaction was to find the "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette through the "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya, and find out from her where the Obunis, who did not belong to the Church of Storms, was. His second reaction was that this would risk exposing himself, because the corresponding Obunis sea monster was likely a servant of the "Mysterious Queen" and would report everything it saw to its master.

"Well, this is the last resort." Alger's mind raced, and he quickly came up with another idea.

That is to pray to Mr. Fool!

This resurrected being secretly holds the original power of the "Sea God" Kalvetuwa, can command the creatures on the seabed, and may know where to find Obnis, who does not belong to any force!

“Don’t worry. If you get promoted now, your uncontrolled dissipated spirituality will not be able to be hidden from other people’s eyes. After you finish your job description and leave Pasu Island, you can try to pray again…” Alger calmed down, wrote down the formula of “Ocean Singer”, and then held the paper close to the flame at the top of the candle.

As Alger watched the flames devour the formula faster and faster, his gaze grew deeper.

After dealing with the remaining traces, his eyes fell on a sea chart and locked onto a location:

Bansi!

Alger had planned to stop by Bansi on his way back to Pasu Island to see the current condition of the port.

He had told the sailors about this idea, and no one objected, because they were also curious about why Bansy Harbor was suddenly destroyed and what it looked like now.

PS: Updates will be added at the usual time in the early morning.