LOM: Lord of Mysticism

After eating lunch, Klein rested for half an hour before practicing his shooting at the Shooting Club and then taking the public carriage to a stop close to the house of his combat teacher, Gawain.

Arriving at the door, he changed into his knight training suit that had been left to dry in the sun. After running, skipping rope, lifting weights, squatting, and doing footwork and punching training, he was covered in sweat and felt exhausted.

"Take a break for fifteen minutes." Gawain said and took out his pocket watch.

Since they first began training, he had maintained his silence and only spoke to Klein when there was a need to switch training methods or to correct his mistakes.

Klein panted for air. The most evident change from his combat training was that he was now much tanner; his skin had turned bronze under the sun.

Gawain put away his pocket watch and stood next to the crude training field behind his house, watching Klein with crossed arms. 

"Teacher, besides fighting with fists, would you teach me how to use a straight sword, broadsword, rapier, and spear?" Klein asked.

He had seen such weapons in Gawain's collection room before. There was also chest armor and full body armor. He knew that Gawain wasn't only good at fighting hand-to-hand.

Bathed in sunlight, Gawain said to Klein. "It's useless for you to learn any of those. Those weapons have all fallen behind the times, and their only place is in museums or in private collections... You should focus on guns. Even combat is merely supplementary."

"I don't think so." Klein said.

"Every minister, every member of Parliament, every general, every one of them thinks so," Gawain said.

Klein responded like a true keyboard warrior with ease and fluency, "No, they have merely retreated from the front lines of a battlefield. They still have their uses elsewhere.

Why does combat have to be used against firearms? They could be used together. I believe a person who is more flexible, swifter in action, and quicker in response could use guns in a more effective manner."

Klein continued smugly, "The other weapons aren't eliminated either. They only need some enhancement to be more portable...

We could form a squad with high maneuverability. A group that's designed to circle the front lines and launch an attack from behind the enemy and fight right to their core. In such a small-scale surprise attack, a warrior who has outstanding hand-to-hand abilities and familiarity with various kinds of weapons could play an important role. You can imagine such a scene..."

Klein mixed and matched all the combat tactics the special forces on Earth had and described them to his teacher.

"Teacher, what do you think about my plan? Is there any possibility of realizing it?"

Gawain looked deeply into Klein's eyes and said, "Your break is doing you well. Repeat the whole set of exercises ten times."

Klein snapped back to reality and started running.

...

After nearly puking from exhaustion, Klein bade Gawain farewell and took the public carriage.

He didn't return home directly but headed to Evil Dragon Bar near the harbor to inquire about the price of Beyonder ingredients and buy items for making charms.

At that moment, the sun had already begun slipping below the horizon. After passing through the billiard room and numerous rooms, Klein finally entered the underground market.

He looked to the left and right, but he didn't see Monster Ademisaul, who was always around there.

"Didn't Old Neil say that Ademisaul only managed to survive because the boss of Evil Dragon Bar feeds him?"

As a Nighthawk, he remained vigilant to matters like that. He approached the brawny man guarding the door and asked, "Where's Ademisaul?"

The brawny man replied, "I have no idea where he's sleeping. He's been like that lately. He lies down in shivers and chants, 'Dead, dead, all corpses, everyone has to die.'"

Klein walked towards one of the two rooms at the end of the trading market.

According to Old Neil, the room on the left was for loans and repayment, while the room on the right was for the buying and selling of precious items, including Beyonder ingredients.

When he opened the door to enter the room on the right, Klein realized that there was a partition that separated it into two spaces: the inside and the outside. There were three more customers waiting on the outside.

Klein queued behind the three customers. Soon, the door of the partition opened, and a customer in a bluish-gray harbor worker uniform came.

After another ten-plus minutes, it was finally his turn. He opened the door and entered the room that was lit with a kerosene lamp.

After locking the door, he took the seat that belonged to the customer and looked towards the old man wearing a black felt hat opposite him.

"I'd like to know what Beyonder ingredients you have and at what prices they are being sold."

The elder didn't find Klein's request weird because many customers weren't willing to let another person know what they wanted to buy before they confirmed that the seller had it available. Generally, they wished to be introduced to all options.

The old man flipped to the newest pages of the notebook. "Water Ghost's brain tissue costs from three to fifteen pounds depending on how intact it is. Star Crystal, 150 pounds per 50 grams. 200 pounds for one Queen Bee Grass. 170 pounds for an adult black-spotted frog... 280 pounds for Human-faced Rose, but there's only one..."

Klein listened to the old man's introduction, surprised that an underground trading place like this had fewer than thirty Beyonder ingredients.

"Unfortunately, there is nothing I want." Without waiting for the elder to pose any further questions, he quickly turned around and left.

He returned to the underground market and thought. I'm probably the poorest boss among all the secret organizations…

That only steeled his resolve of getting ingredients internally from the Nighthawks or through exchanges with Justice or The Hanged Man.

After circling the underground market, Klein picked and purchased ingredients for making charms, such as a partially finished silver piece, herbal powders needed for rituals, and natural ores.

...

After leaving, he saw Old Neil entering and asking, "Got everything?"

"Yes,"

"You came really early."

"That's because I'm still hungry, but you've already had your dinner." Klein chatted with Old Neil.

After a while, the boss of Evil Dragon Bar, Swain, approached the two of them and said in a low voice. "I need your help. A member from the Mandated Punishers has lost control nearby. We have to finish him before he harms someone!"