Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Chapter 442: Kaleidoscope

"How should we confirm which traces are left by your sister and which are ordinary stones?"

How can you find those unique and key [story props] in the vast sea of ​​rocks?

Klein looked at Leonard with empty eyes. Under his gaze, he suddenly grinned, his eyes reflecting the neon lights in the sky.

"Do not.

"We don't need to search, let alone identify.

“As long as I believe, it is the [Story Prop], the key we are looking for, and the real miracle of tonight!

"Ha ha……"

The laughter stopped abruptly. Klein, who had been distracted, suddenly straightened his expression and stared at Leonard's eyes seriously and solemnly.

"Leonard, do you believe me?"

The detective was silent for a moment, then finally sighed.

"……I trust you."

Melodious bells rang out in the square, ringing twelve blessings. The echoes lingered among the neon lights of the city, and as brilliant fireworks climbed over the skyscrapers, they soared into the sky.

The hands passed twelve o'clock, and the Winter Eve of 1325 officially arrived.

The sound of fireworks and bells interrupted their thoughts, causing everyone to look up and admire the beautiful scenery for a moment. The flames and neon lights licked Klein's face.

The crowd in the square counted down loudly along with the countdown on the big screen, and burst into excited cheers at the last moment. The huge sound waves gushed out endless joy, celebrating the arrival of the New Year.

The three of them were speechlessly overwhelmed by the joy of the New Year. No matter what divinations about the future or what pains in the past, they were all paused at this moment. Any suffering or deep hatred disappeared in the melodious bells. The New Year's blessings allowed any miserable person to get a breath of fresh air at this moment.

The fireworks finally stopped for a moment. Leonard patted Klein's shoulder and turned to greet Audrey.

"Where's the nearest crystal shop? Not one that sells jewelry, but wholesale."

Amidst the fireworks display on Winter Festival Eve, the three continued their journey. With the help of online searches and navigation, they finally found a crystal wholesaler that was still open.

Before arriving at the store, Audrey had already thoroughly communicated with the owner of the crystal shop online. By the time they arrived, the owner had already collected the materials and polished several large, smooth obsidian slices, handing them over to Klein.

"Well? Let me tell you, among all the crystal processing shops around here, if you want to make something this large, you have to look no further than ours. Our machines are the most precise..."

The boss's chattering advertising slogans turned into a vague background sound in Klein's world, gradually fading away. He stared intently at the obsidian in his hand.

The quality and processing of these large slices were unparalleled. The outer edges hadn't been cut away from the stone's original texture and surface, preserving its ruggedness and vitality. The dark, smooth surface had achieved the smoothness of a mirror, faithfully reflecting Klein's features.

A mirror made of obsidian.

It seemed like this was the correct answer, containing all the elements, including the [Obsidian] pointing to Melissa, and the [Mirror] pointing to divination and Hermes.

But after thinking it over carefully, Klein felt that it was not enough. This answer was not perfect and still lacked the necessary elements.

"Boss, can you give me some of the scraps you polished off?"

"Uh... you're a little late. The grinder only produces powder. We keep the larger ones for grinding beads."

"Then... Boss, do you have any doilies and toilet paper?"

Klein wordlessly placed several obsidian mirrors on the mat. Then, amid the crowd's exclamations, he smashed all the obsidian into pieces with one palm!

“!!!!!”

"Are you crazy!"

Seeing his painstaking work destroyed for no apparent reason, Crystal Boss rolled up his sleeves in anger, ready to have a fight with Klein. Leonard immediately restrained Crystal Boss's agitation, leaving Klein alone to face the table full of debris.

"...In this way, I possess both the [Mirror] and the [Crack]...

"The only thing left is..."

Klein cleared away all the large pieces of obsidian mirror, smashed the remaining small fragments again, and scattered them along with the fine residue on a rough pad. Finally, he took out the core of the toilet paper tube, rolled up the pad, and stuffed it inside.

Amidst the noise, Klein placed the crude device before his eyes, closed one eye, and then fell silent, like a speechless statue.

"This is……"

The commotion in the store gradually died down, and everyone's attention was drawn to Klein's confusing behavior.

Especially the Crystal boss, he pushed away Leonard's entanglement, walked over under Leonard's supervision, and looked at the other end of the paper tube.

"What are you doing?"

"Kaleidoscope." Klein replied softly.

"?"

The Crystal Boss's curiosity was piqued. He reached out and gently pulled the paper tube out of Klein's hand, revealing a pair of dull, empty eyes.

Klein didn't object to Crystal Boss's playing with it. On the contrary, his reaction was very calm. He waited quietly and watched Crystal Boss look it up and down, frowning and pondering it hard. Finally, with a puzzled look on his face, he put the paper tube filled with obsidian back into Klein's hand.

"What are you looking at? Isn't there nothing here?"

Boss Crystal muttered as he walked a few steps away to settle the payment with Audrey, occasionally moving further away from the lunatic Klein.

Leonard pulled out the paper tube with some doubt and took a look. The obsidian, which was pitch black, absorbed most of the light, so there was no reflection or refraction. No matter what light was turned on, the gems in the paper tube were all black, without any kaleidoscope-like pattern changes.

"Okay, if you say yes, then yes."

Leonard shoved the paper tube back in his pocket.

"What did you see in here?"

Klein placed the paper tube in front of his eyes again.

The pitch-black inner tube suddenly became very bright as Klein's gaze came towards it. Glowing and colorful patterns swam across the inner wall of the gem, colliding and blending with each other, then splitting apart and moving away.

Those brilliant rays of light flow out from the surface of the crystal, entangle and float around in the space inside the tube, changing shape, and finally fall into the crystal surface, turning into floating patterns.

Klein's own illusion transformed the dull obsidian into a colorful kaleidoscope.

"...I saw...moving patterns, changing colors..."

"I see. So the so-called [Kaleidoscope] is still pointing to your own illusion, right?"

"probably."

Klein didn't think much of it and put away the obsidian kaleidoscope. His attention finally returned to the obsidian fragments in front of him.

“Next, we have to distribute these [story props] to the actors.

"According to the behavior pattern of the Ferris Cult, if they want to make a big move, they will definitely look back at the places where they have been active.

“Regardless of whether they were successful before, the places of past disasters have scars left behind by them, and they can provide them with strength.

"We have to hurry and get these stone fragments into other people's hands.

"It's their turn to be the protagonists of the next scene."