Tarot Club 1st meeting

It was still June 28th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

As morning arrived and Klein had cleaned up his room, he was sent on a mission to purchase bread by his sister, Melissa, who made sure to lecture him about getting the proper bread and not getting too much as though she was his mother.

After a while of contemplating while walking, Max found the bread and returned after purchasing enough of it for a price cheaper than usual due to some political safeguards built for common folk like them. However, on the way, he decided to get his past, present and future divined, so went into a divination room for it.

Using the Tarot Cards invented by Emperor Roselle Gustave, the fortune teller opened the present card which was the Fool. The other two cards about the past and future were left unturned as it turned out that the fortune teller was actually the animal trainer impersonating the real fortune teller.

As it turned out, the 'free' service he was getting was fake, and the real service took the money, so Klein left and returned to his home, where he placed the Bread in four locations in a circle around him and began to chant in a low whisper while taking four steps in a counter-clockwise square.

"Blessings stem from the Immortal Lord of heaven and earth."

"Blessings stem from the Sky Lord of heaven and earth."

"Blessings stem from the Exalted Thearch of heaven and earth."

"Blessings stem from the Celestial Worthy of heaven and earth."

[AN: This is also translated differently by different people. Many remove the 'Blessings stem from the' and just throw in a 'for blessings' at the end. Personally, the first time I read it, it was the latter, but the version I am currently reading has it like this, so sorry for that.]

As Klein returned nothing happened for a while, before he heard a low whisper nest to his ears. This slowly turned into maddening ravings from all around him causing a new mind-splitting headache. He felt his entire body become tighter and tighter, and just as he could not bear it any longer, the murmurings faded away and his surroundings became quiet.

Opening his eyes, he noticed that he was in an area filled with grey fog. The fog flowed like water and was dotted with lots of crimson 'stars'. Some were enormous, while others were tiny. Unconsciously he moved to reach out to one of the stars.

…

While things were playing out exactly as they were supposed to, Max calmly sat at a wooden bend in the middle of a park. He held an ancient-looking pen, and glancing at the time, injected an incredibly small amount of his Spirituality into it. 

Once this was done, and it did not explode like the other objects which contained a trace of the Sefirah castle, Max grinned. He had tried this experiment with multiple items, but the only one that did not explode upon contact with his Spirituality was this pen. And thankfully it acted in just the same way as before.

With this done, Max could not thoroughly feel the inside of the pen as though it was his own body, and with that, he pulled a faint trace of the Amalgamation of All from his mind and threw it into the pen, giving him some control of it.

But this was only for a very limited period of time, so he quickly closed his eyes and commanded the red star signifying this pen, to move rapidly towards Klein, who was currently stumbling backwards after touching a star and causing an adverse reaction.

His control was squashed out by the power of the Sefirah castle in but an instant. Still, he had accomplished his goal as his star was already moving incredibly fast and was just about to touch Klein.

Looking down, Max noticed that the pen suddenly glowed with a crimson light that shrouded his vision completely.

…

Back in Backlund, the capital of the Leon kingdom, a similar scene occurred with a young girl whom Max was quite familiar with; the young Ms. Audrey Hall.

…

In the Sonia Sea, on a three-masted sailboat that looked like a relic of the past, a similar scene occurred with Alger Wilson, the Beyonder from the Church of Storms.

…

In the fog of the grey mist, Audrey Hall regained her sight. She started recognising the situation in a state of horror and confusion when she noticed the blurry image of a man on the opposite side of her, doing the same as well. To her left, there was another man, much younger than the first, just calmly staring at everything without much of a reaction.

Immediately, after, the three of them discovered another mysterious person, standing not far from them, was shrouded in a grey mist.

The mysterious person was none other than Klein. He was simply dumbfounded at the unfolding situation that had cascaded out of control.

"Sir, where is this?"

"What are you planning on doing?"

Audrey and Alger asked in unison after collecting themselves.

'Where am I? What do I plan to do? I would like to know that as well…' Klein thought to himself while calming down. 

Max calmly observed the situation and knew exactly why Klein was silent. He recalled the meetings of the Tarot club incredibly vividly compared to the rest of the novel. He found the Tarot Club to be almost half the fun of the novel, which was saying a lot for a novel that had such an exciting, mysterious and downright horror-inducing plot.

The interactions between the members of the Tarot Club were what he often looked forward to not just during the slightly monotonous chapters, but even the most thrill-inducing ones. It was just too good!

A few seconds of agonizing silence later, Klein chuckled, causing the two rather tense individuals to focus on his words.

With a low but now heavy tone, he calmly spoke as though he was replying to the polite greetings from the visitors.

"An attempt."

Although neither Audrey nor Alger showed too much emotion, Max knew almost exactly what they were feeling. Of all the characters in the novel, Max felt like he knew Alger, Audrey, Mr. Azik Eggars, Klein, and Derrick Berg the best. There were also others, but these were the people whom he recalled the most. After all, it was not like he obsessively reread the novel multiple times over and recalled every single detail of it.

Taking in a deep breath to calm her emotions, Audrey put on an impeccably courteous smile.

"Sir, is the attempt over? Might you permit our return?"

Max observed Klein looking at Ms. Audrey, before turning to him, and then finally to Alger. It was as though he was seeing them down to their core, but Max knew that Klein was just trying to understand the situation himself and come up with an answer that matched the persona he had decided to impersonate.

"Of course, if you make a formal request, you can return right this very moment."

Hearing this, Audrey sighed in relief but still asked in an anxious, anticipative and tempted manner.

"This is a wonderful experience… yes, I have always been hoping that something like this would happen. I mean- I like mysteries and supernatural miracles. No, my point is- what I mean is that, so, what can I do to become a Beyonder?"

With just a few words from Klein, Max observed that young Ms. Audrey had already forgotten all her fears and horrors. Max also saw that Klein remained silent, and he knew that he must be celebrating at the pertinent question that Ms. Audrey had asked since it was likely something he also wanted to know.

A moment later, the grey mist began churning, shocking two of the three visitors. Max remained unmoved, but still lifted an eyebrow to act surprised.

In an instant, towering pillars appeared around them, with a dome forming above which encapsulated all four people present. Directly under the dome, a long bronze table appeared with ten high-backed chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement.

Audrey and Alger sat face to face right next to the seat of honour, while Max was seated beside Ms. Audrey, 1 seat further from Klein.

Klein extended his right hand to caress the edge of the bronze table while maintaining his unperturbed expression.

Alger examined the surroundings, and after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly opened his mouth and answered Audrey's question in place of Klein.

"Are you in Leon?"

"If you want to become a Beyonder, join the churches of either the ever night, Goddess, the Lord of Storms, or the God of steam and machinery."

"The vast majority of us will not meet a Beyonder our entire lives. This has caused churches, and even some clergies within some of the biggest churches to suspect the same. While this is the case, I am certain to tell you that Beyonders still exist in courts, tribunals, and execution agencies. They are still fighting against the dangers that grow in the dark, only that the numbers are much fewer as compared to before, and during the early days of the Iron Age."

"Not necessarily, but they are indeed the safest routes." Max nodded to Alger, who instead gave a sceptical look towards Max.

'Well, I do not want to hear anything from you Mr. Batman of this world.' Max mocked in his mind but did not react and instead only nodded to Alger.

Audrey silently let Alger finish and heard Max's opinion before sighing.

"Misters, I know all about what you just said; even no more than that, including the Nighthawks, the Mandated punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind, but I do not wish to lose my freedom."

Alger gave a low-sounding laugh and said vaguely.

"You can't become a Beyonder without sacrifices. If you don't consider joining the churches and accepting their given challenges, you can only seek the royal families at the funeral bills with family histories of more than 1000 years. If not, you can rely on your luck to search for clandestine evil organisations."

Audrey visibly puffed her cheeks but quickly collected herself after looking around and noticing no one had noticed her behaviour.

"Are there no other solutions?"

Max waited for around 20 seconds before speaking in a soothing voice.

"Well, since we are all here, I am sure someone has some Beyonder Potion formulae. Especially this mister who already belongs to a Church. And based on his way of speaking, he is either from the Church of Storms or from a church where he does not belong," Max said with a slight smirk directed at Alger.

"Hmph! I have 2 sequence 9 position formulae."

"Really? Which two?"

"As you know, humanity can only depend on potions to become real Beyonders, while the names of portions come from the blast furnace late. After constant translation into Jotun, Elvish, Ancient and modern Hermes, and Ancient Feysac, they have undergone changes to match the day and age of that era. The essence is not in their names, but whether they portray the core characteristics of the portions."

"I have a Sequence 9 potion named 'Sailor'. It enables you to have excellent balancing capabilities. Even if you were on a boat in a rain storm, you would be able to walk about freely as to your own land. You will also gain immense strength and illusory skills under your skin. They will enable you to swim like a fish and be difficult to catch. You will move agilely underwater just like marine animals. Even without any equipment, you will be able to easily submerge underwater for at least 10 minutes. just like marine animals. Even without any equipment, you will be able to easily submerge underwater for at least 10 minutes."

"The second Sequence 9 potion formula I have is called 'Spectator,' although I'm not sure what it was called in the past. Dispersion enables you to have an exceptionally sharp mind with acute observational abilities. I believe you can understand what 'spectator' means from watching operas and plays. Just like an audience, spectators, judge, the actors in the secular world, catching a glimpse of the real thoughts, they have through their emotions, conduct, and mantras."

Audrey's eyes shone bright as she heard the description of the latter potion, and Max sighed in relief that his intervention had not caused such a major change to the plot. Still, he spoke up once again just to be sure.

"Personally, I would suggest the latter, since you would effectively be either bound to the Church of the Storms or the mister here that is from the church in order to advance to Mid Sequence or higher," Max suggested while facing Audrey, and turning his eyes to glance at Alger.

Audrey nodded as she spoke with a slightly excited voice.

"I- I think I have fallen in love with the feeling of being a 'spectator.' How can I get the potion's formula? What can I use to trade with you for it?"

"The blood of ghost Sharks, at least 100 ml of it," Alger said as though he had prepared for this question before she could even ask it.

"If… and I say if I can get it, how do I give it to you? How can you promise me that you can give the potion formula to me in return for the ghost sharks, as well as the authenticity of the formula?"

"I will give you an address. I will mail the formula to you or tell you directly here, once I receive the blood of the ghost shark." Alger nodded calmly.

"As for promises, I think that both you and I can feel assured under the witness of the mysterious sir."

As he said that, he turned his gaze to Klein who was sitting straight at the seat of honour.

"Sir, the fact that you have brought us here shows that you have tremendous strength; something unimaginable to us. Neither of us would dare violate a promise you have witnessed."

"That's right!" Audrey said with her eyes sparkling and agreed with genuine excitement.

"Sir! Please be the witness of our trade!" But after a moment Audrey realised she did not know what to call him. "Uhm~ How do we address you, sir?"

Alger nodded, and Max just looked over at Klein, waiting for him to say it.

"You can call me…" Klein paused for some added effect.

"The Fool."

[AN: Chapters where there is a lot from the original text, like this one, might be a little longer than my normal chapters because Cuttlefish writes very, very descriptively and hence his work is so good. I simply do not have that much patience or brainpower so I tend to write a lot more concisely and to the point. Thus, to convey the same plot progression, as what I had hoped, it will take me significantly longer. I will say this in advance, yet, I have copied a considerable portion of this chapter from the original while changing some bits here and there. But I am not earning anything from this so I think it is not against any laws… Anyway, there was no way for me to recreate the Tarot Club meetings from scratch without losing that spark that lay within Cuttlefish's work. I hope you guys don't mind that the Tarot Club chapters, at least the first few of them until Max begins to heavily influence things, will be rather similar if not downright copied from the original text, since I admit I am not as good of a writer as cuttlefish, and cannot make these chapters as great as he made them. Anyways, for those who have read this note, thank you for reading! Don't worry, I will exclude this from the word count below. Bye!]