Klein looked at the dark blue, viscous liquid that was hard to tell whether it was a cup or a piece of something, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, saying:
"Drink it like this?"
"Is there any need for additional preparations? Such as rituals, incantations or prayer words?"
Old Neil "uh"ed and said:
"Preparations? Yes, first have a cup of Inthis' Ormil wine, then smoke a Diess cigar, then hum a melodious tune, dance a light court dance, you can do the tap dance if you like, and finally play a game of Quent cards..."
Seeing that Klein's expression became increasingly blank, Old Neil smiled and gave the summary of the previous description:
"If you feel nervous." ... You're quite the comedian, aren't you... Klein's lips twitched twice, suppressing the urge to draw his gun.
He placed his walking stick down and extended his right hand, as if holding a heavy object, picking up the opaque cup. The smell of the potion was faint and ethereal, as if it didn't exist.
"Young man, don't hesitate. The more you hesitate, the more nervous you'll be, the more scared you'll be, and the more it will affect the absorption that follows," Old Neil said, turning his back to Klein, seemingly casually.
He didn't know when he had walked over to the nearby sink, turned on the faucet, and started washing his hands.
Klein nodded silently, took a deep breath, just like when he used to hold his nose to take medicine, and brought the opaque cup to his lips, raising his head and gulping it down.
The cool and slippery sensation rushed into his mouth, then slid down his esophagus and into his stomach.
The thick and dark liquid seemed to sprout long and thin tentacles, and the coldness and stimulation instantly penetrated every cell of Klein's body.
He involuntarily twitched, his vision quickly becoming blurry, and all the colors intensified, red became redder, blue became bluer, black became darker, the color blocks were rich and jumbled, like an impressionist master's painting splashed out.
Such a scene, Klein had experienced before, during the time when "the seer" Dahlia asked questions.
At this moment, his vision was blurry, his thoughts were scattered but clear, as if he were a survivor floating on the sea.
Gradually, he saw the surrounding scene clearly, all the colors overlapping each other distinctly, the gray and illusory fog diffused faintly.
Around him, were various things that were difficult to describe in terms of shape, even transparent enough to seem to not exist. Deep down, there were layers of different colored clear light, these light seemed to have life or contained endless knowledge.
This was somewhat similar to what was seen during the "transmutation ritual"... Klein instinctively looked down, realizing that "he" was still standing in the same place, his body twitching.
Suddenly, he had an epiphany, his consciousness plummeted deeply, merging with his body.
Boom!
The fog quickly dispersed, the color blocks returned to normal, the clear light and the non-existent objects vanished in an instant.
The scene in the alchemy room returned to normal, but Klein felt his head swelling, with a tendency to be ruptured, seeing countless double images of everything, and in his ears, he heard a faint whispering of unknown origin:
"Hornaxis... Fregral... Hornaxis... Fregral... Hornaxis... Fregral..."
A sharp pain shot across Klein's forehead, his heart quickly filled with the urge to vent and destroy.
He frowned and shook his head repeatedly.
"Is the vision not normal? And did I hear sounds that I couldn't hear before?" The old Neil asked with a smile from beside.
"Yes, Mr. Neil, what should I do?" Klein managed to suppress his intense mania and asked.
Old Neil chuckled:
"It's because the power of the potion has overflowed, and you lack the means to control it. Alright, do as I say, imagine an object in your mind, common, simple, and easy."
Klein focused his attention, sketching out his half-high black silk hat in his mind, thinking about the feeling of stroking it, thinking about its specific shape.
"Concentrate all your attention on it, repeat, sketch it over and over again, doesn't it feel better?" Old Neil's voice penetrated, as if it were a lullaby for the soul.
Klein gradually shifted his attention to the imagined silk hat, and the whispers in his ears gradually decreased until they disappeared, while the double images in his eyes slowly merged, no longer blurry.
"Much better." Klein calmed the chaotic emotions in his heart, exhaled, and said.
He looked down at his body, not noticing any abnormal situation.
He moved his hands and feet again, and Klein, half-expecting and half-confused, asked:
"Did I succeed? Am I now a 'diviner'?" Old Neil pulled out a silver-coated mirror from beside him and held it in front of him, saying:
"Look at your eyes."
Klein fixed his gaze and saw in the mirror that he was wearing a black hat, with a darker outline and ordinary features. Apart from the sweat all over his face, there seemed to be no difference from before.
He followed Old Neil's instructions and looked at the eye area carefully. Then he realized that his originally brown eyes had deepened significantly, so deep that it seemed like a pitch-black night without any light, and so deep that it could absorb other people's souls.
Normally, dark brown eyes are easily mistaken for black, and Klein himself found it hard to notice it without careful observation.
"This is the manifestation of the magic power. When you learn meditation and know how to control it, your eyes will return to normal." Old Neil smiled and extended his right hand. "Congratulations, you, the new extraordinary person, our seer."
"Thank you." Klein reached out and shook the other person's hand. "Mr. Neil, when can I learn meditation?"
"You can do it now. The initial meditation is quite simple, and it's even simpler for extraordinary people." Old Neil smiled and said, "Just now, you were sketching objects in your mind to divert your attention and control the overflowing power. This is actually the first step of meditation. Please do it again."
Klein closed his eyes and depicted the half-height black silk hat in his mind once more.
His attention seemed to be able to concentrate more easily than before. Soon, some distractions emerged and fell away, leaving only the depicted hat.
"Let your mind be slightly empty, then replace the depicted object with one that doesn't exist in this world and is imagined out of thin air."
"You must follow this rule. Only then can you enter meditation and gradually merge with the transcendent 'I', the infinite 'I', and the cosmic 'I', gaining insights and inspirations about truth and obtaining knowledge that only you can understand. In the field of mysticism, this is called 'secret experience'." Old Neil said in a soothing tone. "The following description is for you to listen to for now. The most important thing is to enter meditation."
This one doesn't exist in this world and is imagined out of thin air... Are they on Earth? Klein tried to replace the half-height black hat with an earthbound, greenish, long and thick intercontinental ballistic missile as he saw on TV.
However, no matter how he sketched or imagined, he could only make his attention more concentrated.
It seems it won't work... Klein had to use his imagination to sketch a light sphere and then many similar things, and bring them together.
The light spheres overlapped, filled with a sense of fantasy, and Klein's thoughts gradually became empty, as if drifting.
His body and mind became calm, and the illusion of nonexistent objects and bright, clear light colors, mixed colors, that filled the previous void and floated in the sky, were re-presented, reaching out of reach.
The spirituality gradually extended, inch by inch, and Klein quietly looked down at it, felt it, and controlled it.
"Very good. You truly are a 'seer'. Entering meditation went smoothly, only a little bit behind what I was at the beginning. Just a little bit." Old Neil chuckled. "Since that's the case, I'll start teaching you the most commonly used, easiest to master, and most promising ability in the mystical field, clairvoyance!"
He turned off the gas lamps one by one, but opened the hidden door of the alchemy room, making the place extremely dim but not so dim that the outlines of objects couldn't be seen.
"Okay, continue in this state. Raise your hands and place them in front of you, with your index fingers touching each other, but don't touch."
"Open your eyes until you adapt to the darkness."
Klein followed Old Neil's description step by step and saw the outline of his opposite fingers and the surrounding objects.
"Originally, you were supposed to lie down and completely relax your body, but since your meditation effect is good, let's continue." Old Neil chuckled, "Focus your gaze on the back of your hand. It must be the back. Then slowly move your fingers, maintaining a relative position without touching, and don't let them leave your line of sight."
Klein listened calmly and focused his gaze on the empty space behind his palm, allowing the two index fingers that were relatively positioned but not touching to move slowly within the line of sight.
Once, twice, three times... Suddenly, Klein saw a little red color between his fingers.
"Ah..." he uttered.
"Did you see the color? Good, this is the initial clairvoyance. The color you see is your own aura." Old Neil chuckled, "Don't rush. Do it a few more times to stabilize it. Then look at other places. I'll also take this opportunity to explain to you the meanings of different colors."
"Okay." Klein moved his fingers back and forth, concentrating on that little red spot.
Old Neil thought for a moment and said:
"Basically, the mainstream field of mysticism divides each person's non-physical part into four layers. The core part is called the 'spirit body', which is the most fundamental spirituality of each person. The animistic school believes that all living beings have spirituality and a spirit body."
"Other things I don't know, but for the seer, the purpose of meditation and the way to enhance power all point to the 'spirit body'."
"The 'spirit body' is followed by the 'stellar spirit body', which is the way for the former to communicate with the spirit realm and the stars. It is the external manifestation of the former and is directly related to your own will and current emotions... The scene you saw after taking the magic potion was the picture of the 'stellar spirit body' wandering in the spirit realm, where the rules of the material world do not apply and involves the transcendent 'I', the infinite 'I', the 'I' of the universe, and the past, present, and future can overlap. This is the root of divination."
"In the spirit realm, what you see are just images and symbols. They must be interpreted to understand the specific meaning."
"Divination and many other magic spells are performed through the 'stellar spirit body'."
"The relationship and difference between the 'spirit body' and the 'stellar spirit body' must not be confused."
One is the essence, and the other is the use... Klein continued to look at the aura at the tip of his fingers, making a concise summary.
"Further out, there is the 'mental body', starting from here, it has combined with the flesh... It involves the brain and is a comprehensive manifestation of your reasoning ability, thinking ability, insight ability, and ability to understand things. Some magic potions mainly enhance this, and many magic spells target it as well."
Old Neil explained in detail, "The outermost layer is the 'ether body', which is the manifestation of your life energy and physical state."
"The color of the aura you see is the external symbol of the 'ether body', that is, with clairvoyance, in addition to being able to directly see some spiritual beings, ghosts, and evil spirits, haha, perhaps including certain things that shouldn't be seen, you can also see others' 'ether body', or aura, and thereby judge their health and emotional state by the different thickness, brightness, and color of it."
"When your clairvoyance improves and you have a better grasp of mysticism knowledge, you can discover more details and be able to use it to judge the lifespan of others."
"Yes, I just mentioned the emotional state because the 'stellar spirit body' also has some external manifestations. When your sequence increases and your clairvoyance reaches a very strong stage, you can even see the 'stellar spirit body' of the other person, and then you can know more things. This is a level that extraordinary individuals like 'diviners' and 'seers' can reach."
"Some guys even claim that the strongest state of clairvoyance can see anything in any place, including the past and the future. However, I'm not too convinced."
It sounds very impressive... Klein almost felt a longing for it.
Old Neil coughed and continued, "Let's talk about the colors of the 'etheric body' or aura again. The parts of your body that involve movement, such as your hands and feet, will appear red. The surface of your head and brain will appear purple, the location for excretion and detoxification will appear orange, the corresponding part of the digestive system will appear yellow, the area outside the heart and regulatory system will appear green, the throat and part of the nervous system will appear blue, and the overall balance will make the body enveloped in white... These are the symbols of health."
"Once they become dim or thinner and the color changes, it indicates that there is a problem in the corresponding part, such as being tired or ill."
"Also, the color of the inner astral body corresponding to the current emotion represents the current state of mind. Red is passionate and excited, orange is warm and content, yellow is happy and outgoing, green is calm and peaceful, blue is calm, thinking, white is bright and positive, dark is melancholic, sad, silent, and purple indicates that spirituality takes the lead, cold and aloof..."
Klein silently took notes and stabilized his initial astral vision.
"Alright, you can look at other things now," Old Neil didn't say much more and nodded.
Klein slowly turned his head and looked at Old Neil. Indeed, he found that his body had different colored auras, either thick or thin, with the purple color on the head being the brightest, the red on the hands and feet being relatively dim, and the overall white being somewhat shallow.
Was he really getting older... Klein silently muttered to himself.
It wasn't until this moment that he truly felt that he had become an "extraordinary person"!
"I'm an 'extraordinary person'!"
He moved his gaze and carefully examined Old Neil, but suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes without eyelashes, cold and indifferent, approaching transparency in the void behind him!
These nearly illusory eyes were quietly gazing at Old Neil and at himself!
This... Klein shivered, opened his mouth, and blurted out:
"You have eyes behind you!"
Old Neil was stunned for a moment and then forced a smile and said:
"Don't worry about it."