Christoph stood before a very particular dark wooden door, which was about 9 feet tall. He raised his gloved hand and knocked hard on the door.
Knock, knock.
It was obviously Jace who was controlling the marionette while hiding in a small reflection inside Christoph's coat.
Christoph pulled out an eye-shaped, clear glass orb and looked at it for a moment; it was the 'Scribe' Beyonder characteristic that Jace had gained by killing Harold—Christoph's disciple, who was used as bait for Christoph when Jace made him a marionette.
After looking at it for a moment, he put it back in his pocket.
It had been about four days now since Jace arrived in St. Millon, and so far his stay had been very quiet. He indulged himself in the new culture of Feysac, ate all kinds of food, and visited many places...
He also made a point to map out the whole city, which he could explore slowly, in order to understand the landscape better in case of or for when he would meet the 'Marionettist', so he would have a certain advantage.
Despite performing many divinations, Jace still hadn't felt or seen any sign of an oddity regarding the 'Marionettist' that would indicate his presence or their encounter, so he decided to do something else for a change.
It was an 'Artisan'.
Jace's marionette Christoph had but a handful of people he could call friends, and this particular Artisan was one of them. Coincidentally, he also lived in the Feysac Empire, though not in St. Millon where Jace was currently staying, so he had to travel to a different city altogether, but that was easy enough considering his marionette was a Traveler.
This was the same Artisan who had helped modify the 'Scarlet Lunar Corona' that Christoph had gotten after killing a wraith.
It was Jace's plan today to visit the Artisan, give him the 'Scribe' characteristic, and have it made into an artifact. There was also the 'Wraith' characteristic he had gotten from Christoph's vault in Trier, but he left that for another time.
Of course, it was his plan to do this all through his marionette Christoph, as that would help him digest his Marionettist potion.
Clack.
The large door opened in the middle, where stood a tall young man.
"How can I help you?" he asked, looking at Christoph curiously.
"Kazimir is expecting me," Christoph said casually, looking up at the young man.
Kazimir Valeryev was the name of the Artisan. From what Jace knew through Christoph's memories, the man was a Sequence 5 Astronomer.
About a day ago, Jace had already summoned the Astronomer's messenger through Christoph and asked if he could visit him; the Astronomer had replied fairly quickly and said it was fine.
The young man's eyes widened in realization. "Ah, yes! Teacher is expecting you, Mr. Holland. Please come in."
Holland was Christoph's surname. Christoph smiled and followed the young man in.
The young man was obviously a low-sequence Beyonder, likely of the 'Savant' pathway; he introduced himself as an apprentice of Kazimir.
After he took Christoph's coat, the apprentice led him into the living room and told him to wait for a few minutes while he called Kazimir.
Jace sat there looking around the room. The room was again really large, with a high ceiling and all kinds of antiques and proper furnishings; the chair he sat in was also on the larger side.
After a few minutes, a tall man in his sixties with a somewhat plump frame and receding hairline walked into the living room.
"Christoph! It has been a while, old friend!" Kazimir said loudly in his thick voice and gave Christoph a side hug.
"Indeed," Christoph said, as he greeted his 'old friend'.
But Jace was now on his toes; he had to 'act' really well if he wanted to sell his Christoph act to the Astronomer, and it was going to be hard.
Because Kazimir was a 'Savant', without a doubt he had an exceptional memory. If he felt something off about his old friend, he would use his Sequence 7 'Appraisal' power on Christoph, which might very well reveal the fact that he was a marionette, and Jace's act would fall apart.
So it was necessary for him to 'act' exactly as Christoph would have acted with Kazimir in order to not alert him in any way.
As they sat and started talking, Kazimir's apprentice walked into the room with large jugs of beer, kept them on the table, and walked away, leaving the elders to their conversation.
"Ah, I see you have met my disciple," Kazimir said, and bragged a little about how good the young man was.
"I remember you talking of your student. Is he faring well?"
Hearing Kazimir's question, the small smile on Christoph's face disappeared. Seeing this, Kazimir's eyes showed confusion.
Christoph removed the 'Scribe' characteristic from his pocket and set it on the table.
"He's dead."
Kazimir looked at the characteristic and asked gravely, "How?"
Christoph's eyes held a certain degree of loss. "It was a Sequence 5 Beyonder of the 'Seer' pathway. He somehow found the connection between my disciple and me and set up a trap for me using my own student."
Christoph then explained the details of what happened: how he barely escaped certain death by using one of the Sequence 4 level powers he had recorded, and that unfortunately, the 'Seer' ran away.
Of course, it was Jace who was fabricating the whole thing expertly and hoping it would sell, and by the reaction Kazimir was giving, he was buying it.
"Hm. Beyonders of the Seer pathway have always been mysterious to the Beyonder world, but I had heard somewhere that the power of Sequence 5 of the Seer pathway allowed them to control other people...
"It was unfortunate that your disciple caught the Seer's eye. It was likely that the Seer's goal was to get a Sequence 5 Traveler under his control, but fortunately you survived," said Kazimir after giving Christoph's explanation some thought.
"That is what I deduced as well..." Christoph agreed.
After talking about a few more things, Christoph got to the point.
"I want you to turn this characteristic into a fine artifact," he said, gesturing toward the 'Scribe' characteristic on the table between them.
"Hm." Kazimir picked up the characteristic. His eyes glowed, leading Jace to believe he was 'appraising' it. "How do you want it?" he asked as he continued inspecting it.
Christoph's expression remained plain. "I want the artifact's powers focused on... 'Door Opening' of Sequence 9 and the 'Recording' power of Sequence 6. The 'Recording' should be the main focus; it should be optimized so as to have a maximum chance and slots of recording and be optimum enough to preserve the effect of the recorded power as much as it can."
Hearing Christoph's demands, Kazimir raised his eyebrow. "And what form do you want it to have?"
Christoph smiled. "A book—or rather a diary, black if possible. Name it as you see fit."
Yes, it was Jace's plan to recreate the infamous Leymano's Travels.
He also stated the direction of how the side-effects should be, to keep it as similar to Leymano's Travels as possible.
—
After an hour or two, Christoph walked out of Kazimir's stone manor and disappeared into the Spirit World.
As Christoph materialized in a bedroom, Jace stepped out of the reflection of the metal card in Christoph's coat and walked into the room.
Jace was wearing his casual clothes; since he was a Marionettist who hid behind the scenes, he had no need to wear fancy clothes.
By now, Christoph had walked out of the room to prepare a meal for Jace.
Jace walked to his large-sized bed and jumped on it face first. Today had been a tiring yet productive day: tiring mentally as he had to act specifically for three hours, and productive because of his potion digestion.
Since he had just tricked a Sequence 5 Beyonder into believing that someone who was dead was alive, and he also moved him by making him feel for the dead man and his disciple—both of whom he had personally killed—and then commissioned him to make an artifact...
Haa... Jace sighed into his bedsheet.
He had digested a little more of his potion, but there was a long way to go nonetheless...