On the rocks outside the keeper's cottage.
Jack spread the Moon Bay nautical chart out completely, weighing down its four corners with a few small stones.
He placed the supply manifest in the center of the chart.
The moment the yellowed paper touched the map, the stamp on it flashed with an almost imperceptible spiritual glimmer.
The whale oil lamp was placed on the left.
The spiritual compass was positioned at the eye of the array.
Jack adjusted it back and forth several times, ensuring that nothing in the ritual was out of place.
On the other side, Elias wasn't idling either.
His elemental revolver was tucked into the holster on his right.
He held the Roaring Cane in his hand.
The Gluttonous Stomach was tied securely to his waist.
The Spy's Derby Hat was already on, altering his face into a completely unfamiliar guise.
With this gear, he wouldn't exactly blend in at Hastings Port.
To put it bluntly, he looked like a respectable gentleman about to blow up a bank.
To be safe, the two of them had also found a thick rope.
Jack wrapped the rope around Elias's waist and tied several knots in succession.
He tied the other end to a protrusion on the rock and yanked it hard a few times.
The knots didn't budge.
Elias looked down at the rope around his waist.
“Why do I feel like we're using live bait to fish?”
“You can also think of it as a safety rope.”
Jack gave it some serious thought, then checked the knots once more.
“If something goes wrong on the other side, tug it three times.”
“And then?”
“Use 【Arcane Step】 to get back immediately.”
Jack patted the rope.
“I'll close the 【Moon Gate】 right away.”
“What if I don't have time to tug it?”
“Then I'll wait for you to scream.”
Elias let out a frustrated laugh.
“You're getting better at talking by the day, kid.”
He couldn't keep teaching this apprentice.
If he kept at it, one day Jack would stand before his grave and say, “The gentleman went peacefully.”
But he quickly noticed another issue.
“Isn't 【Arcane Step】 a Scale Three spell for a mystic?”
“Yes.”
Jack's answer was direct. He then turned and opened the Secret Chest he had brought, rummaging through it.
He pushed aside layer after layer of scrolls.
Just looking at them made Elias's eyes ache.
Dazzled by the sheer wealth.
Soon, Jack pulled out three scrolls and stuffed them directly into Elias's hands.
“Take these.”
“Whoa!”
Elias unrolled a corner to look.
Two Scale Three 【Arcane Step】 scrolls.
One Scale Four 【Spell Reversal】 scroll.
The arcane patterns on the scrolls were perfectly intact, with not a trace of spirituality leaking out.
Taking any of them to the black market would be enough to make an ordinary rogue transcendent instantly feel the class divide.
Not to mention that Scale Four scroll.
When Jack handed them over, his expression was as calm as if he were giving him three pieces of scrap paper.
“Didn't you say your ancestral belongings rank above me?”
“Scrolls are consumables. They don't count as ancestral.”
Jack answered seriously.
“Besides, only when you return can my ancestral belongings return, right?”
With that, he offered a slightly flattering smile.
“Good.”
Elias stowed the three scrolls into his Gluttonous Stomach.
“You've learned to apply what you know quite well.”
“It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, sir.”
“You can skip learning that phrase.”
Elias patted his stomach bag and was about to walk to the edge of the ritual when he suddenly paused. “Wait,” he said, turning his head. “If this succeeds, how do I get back afterward?”
Earlier, they had been so focused on figuring out how to get there.
They had almost forgotten about the return journey.
Jack pointed to the Waning Moon Key on his chest.
“The spirituality currently stored in it can probably maintain the 【Moon Gate】 for about six hours.”
“You must return to the same exit within that time limit.”
Elias narrowed his eyes.
“And if it exceeds six hours?”
“You'll have to find a ship on your own.”
“I'd rather not.”
Elias refused without a hint of hesitation.
Finding a boat back to the island from Hastings Port would not only waste time, but he'd also have to make up an excuse.
Hiring a boat with an unfamiliar face and specifically requesting to go to a remote lighthouse where a keeper had just died in the papers...
No matter how you looked at it, he wouldn't seem like a normal traveler.
Anyone who didn't know better would think he was going to the island to dispose of a body.
Elias immediately opened his Gluttonous Stomach.
Soon, a heavy cardboard box dropped out of thin air onto the rock.
Thud!
The bottom of the box collided with the stone surface, producing a series of clinking sounds from glass bottles inside.
It was one of the “relics” John had left behind for him.
An entire box of spirit restoration potions.
Jack looked down.
Row after row of medicine bottles were neatly arranged in the box, the liquid inside emitting a pure spiritual luster.
He was speechless for a moment.
Elias pointed at the Waning Moon Key. “Chug the potions and top this thing off again. I definitely don't want to find a boat back on my own!”
Jack picked up a bottle from the box, sensing the spirituality inside. He picked up another; it was also a high-purity potion. He looked further down. They were all the same.
Jack's expression gradually grew strange.
“Anyway, if you feel off, just drink,” Elias emphasized. “Don't try to save them for me!”
“Sir,” Jack said, looking at the large box of potions. “This is enough to drink myself to death.”
Spirit restoration potions weren't water.
Taking too much in a short period would also overwhelm the Rational Circuit.
If he chugged a whole box like this, never mind opening the 【Moon Gate】.
He himself would probably open the door to the Mother Goddess's divine kingdom first.
Elias waved his hand. “I didn't tell you to drink it all at once. Take it as needed, in small, frequent doses. Replenish however much you feel you're lacking. And whatever you do, don't make me stay in Hastings Port for extra days just to save a bottle of potion.”
Staring at the box full of potions, Jack was no less shocked than Elias had been when he first opened his Secret Chest.
Where on earth did Mr. Rockland get so many spirit restoration potions?
This quantity didn't look like a personal stash.
It was more like he had looted the warehouse of some potion workshop.
Could it be that he also knew how to manufacture this stuff?
“You can't die right now,” Elias said, as he was in no mood to explain. “The door is still in your hands. At least wait until I get back before considering such things.”
“...”
Jack silently put the potion back into the box.
Though it didn't sound like concern.
It was, at the very least, somewhat human.
Elias rechecked his gear, the relaxed expression on his face fading slightly.
He wasn't just being lazy.
The current Hastings Port was not safe for him.
The Soul Pendulum was still in his Gluttonous Stomach.
The fact that the pendulum had reacted near the priest of the Mist Veil Society was enough to prove that those cultists were not without means to draw out its power.
The priest on the lighthouse had been dealt with.
But heaven only knew how many more priests like him the Mist Veil Society had.
The longer he stayed near Hastings Port, the greater the likelihood of exposing the pendulum and his own identity.
It would be best to return immediately after completing the commission from the Society of Freemen.
Leaving behind the new name of “John Constantine” in the supernatural world.
And, along with it, a legend of a mysterious figure who came and went without a trace.
While others were still investigating where he lived, he would already be back on the island, beachcombing.
He could get things done.
And keep his cover.
What was there to lose?
“Stop dawdling,” Elias urged. “If we delay any longer, it'll be dawn.”
Jack took a deep breath and knelt before the spiritual compass.
The copy of 《Identification of Spiritual Routes in the Western Outer Ocean》 was spread open beside the nautical chart.
At the very bottom of the ritual diagram was an ancient holy emblem composed of surging waves and storms.
This 【Mist Navigation Port-Return Ritual】 originally originated from the belief system of the Lord of the Raging Sea.
According to the steps in the book, before channeling spirituality, the navigator needed to pray to the Lord of the Raging Sea for a heading.
But what neither of them was sure of was whether the Lord of the Raging Sea would respond to two heretics like them.
Jack lowered his eyes and softly chanted the ancient prayer.
“Ruler of the tides, master of storms and thunder, lord of the Court of Judgment, Lord of the Raging Sea...”
“I pray here for the guidance of the route, the protection of the raging waves, and the judgment of thunder; by the vow I made to the sea, I seek your gaze and your consent.”
After the last syllable fell, he paused for a moment.
A margin note in the book stated that at this point in the ritual, one would hear the sound of tides echoing from the depths of the spirit world.
This would represent that the prayer had been heard by the ruler of the ocean.
However, nothing happened.
The prayer seemed to travel across endless seas, only to sink into an excessively vast silence.
It wasn't rejected.
But it wasn't answered either.
“What does that mean?” Elias frowned.
Jack didn't open his eyes.
He simply assumed there was an error in this ancient record and continued to drive the ritual according to the subsequent steps.
A moment later, what woke was not a response from on high.
Instead, it was the rules already etched into the structure of the ritual, still operating along their old trajectories.
He first hung the Waning Moon Key back around his neck.
Then, he reached out his right hand, pressing his palm firmly against the compass casing.
His Rational Circuit began to operate.
The 【Mist Navigation Port-Return Ritual】 was activated.
Spirituality flowed along Jack's arm into the compass.
The flame in the lamp suddenly flickered.
Even though the sea breeze was still blowing.
The flame did not drift with the wind; instead, it was drawn into a straight, thin line by an invisible force.
The flame pointed toward the distant sea.
On the nautical chart, faint spiritual trails lit up one after another.
They converged from different locations in Moon Bay toward the center, finally connecting entirely to the supply manifest.
The spiritual stamp of Hastings Port glowed slightly.
Immediately after, the spiritual compass began to spin violently.
The needle spun so fast it almost blurred into a solid ring.
The veins on the back of Jack's hand bulged.
Fine sweat quickly broke out on his brow.
A few seconds later.
The rapidly spinning needle came to a sudden halt.
Click!
It pointed directly toward Hastings Port.
At the same time, the Waning Moon Key on Jack's chest rose on its own.
The silver chain hovered in the air.
The missing portion in the center of the pendant was quickly filled in by moonlight.
The moment the full moon appeared, the sound of the surrounding waves suddenly receded.
It was as if this reef had been briefly isolated from reality.
A silver trace of light fell from mid-air.
Directly after, a second one followed.
The two beams of light stretched upward and downward, outlining a narrow doorframe without a door.
The interior of the doorframe did not reveal the streets of Hastings Port.
There was only a deep, silver light screen, gently undulating like the surface of water.
Fluctuations in spatial dimensions rippled outward from it.
Elias finally let out a breath. As long as nothing went wrong with this ritual, it was fine.
The 【Moon Gate】 had arrived.
He gripped the Roaring Cane tightly, his other hand resting on the grip of his elemental revolver.
The original ease on his face had vanished.
No one could guarantee whether Hastings Port was actually behind the door.
Theory was just theory.
Risking one's life to verify it was another matter entirely.
Elias looked back, giving Jack a look of defiant resolve.
Then, he raised his foot, preparing to step into the silver light screen.
Just then, Jack looked down once more at the box of spirit restoration potions in front of him.
Then he looked at Elias, fully armed and wearing an unfamiliar face.
In the end, he couldn't help but offer one last piece of advice.
“Sir, I still have to remind you.”
Elias froze. “What?”
“Whatever you do, don't turn to a life of crime!”
The two locked eyes. In that moment, Elias understood a great deal.
“Get lost!”
Rate on N.U.
