On the third floor, Jace stood before a closed apartment door.
Looking that no one was around, he pulled out small paper pins, and with his nimble hands, he unlocked the door.
'Clack.'
After opening the door, Jace stepped in and looked behind the door first.
He saw a small strip of paper, which was slightly creased, fall on the floor.
It was a piece of paper that was kept near the door hinges before closing it; when he opened the door, the paper fell out.
To Jace, seeing it fall right then indicated that no one had entered since the owner left.
If the paper had already been on the floor, it would mean someone had already been inside.
It was a clever and cautious mechanism; Jace had done it himself many times.
Smiling, he started looking around.
The apartment was small and didn't seem too well furnished, with only a few tables around and empty spots left to fill.
This meant the Clown had just moved or really didn't care about furniture; Jace believed it was the former.
He went near a table and started opening the drawers to find something related to an identity.
And he immediately found some papers of identification. He read them; there were many details, but Jace confirmed one thing.
His name was Aron Bleak, Age 22.
Like he had thought before, he had just moved here, because his address on the papers was different. But this was normal.
Jace wanted to find something related to mysticism, and a few moments later, he found something.
It was a bottle: 'Spinal Fluid of a Black-Patterned Panther'!!
That was one of the main ingredients of the magical potion!
'Does this man, this 'Aron' guy, had already digested the Clown potion and was collecting ingredients for the Sequence 7 potion? Does this mean this guy knows the Acting Method?'
Things just kept getting interesting, and with it, Jace's curiosity increased as well.
He kept looking around and eventually found oil extracts and herbs related to performing rituals.
Jace too could perform rituals, but he never felt the need to.
He did, however, once try to create a spirituality wall with a silver knife—it was cool.
Other than that, the reason he never performed rituals was because most useful rituals involved praying to gods, especially Evernight Godess.
Jace did everything he could in order to not come under 'Her' eyes. Even like never going near the Church of Evernight...
He then went into the bedroom and started looking around.
Under the mattress of the bed, he found something he was looking for: the source!
At first glance, it seemed like a slim rectangular thing wrapped up in a black cloth. After removing the cloth, it revealed a black, leather-bound book.
Holding the book, he sat on the floor.
Jace immediately pulled out his pendant and divined if it was alright to read the book. The result was positive, so he opened the book.
Flipping the pages, he started reading. It was written in Ancient Hermes, and a few minutes in, he was totally immersed. It was a quick-start guide into the world of Mysticism!!
It included types of Beyonder pathways, about their powers, many types of rituals, all kinds of divination techniques, what to do—and what not to do.
It was interesting, to say the least. Jace learned quite a few things, even though he knew most of the things written in the book.
The most interesting thing he found in the book was in the last few pages; they were the potion formulas of the 'Seer Pathway.'
Only up to Sequence 5 were written.
Written things included: potion name, potion formulas, the powers it gave, and the extent of their improvement after potion digestion.
This was also where the Acting Method was introduced in the book.
It was truly bizarre.
After reading the book, Jace immediately had a thought about dream divining the book's origin, but just as the thought appeared in his mind, it brought with it a bad feeling.
Feelings, good or bad, were important for a Seer to note, as they weren't just normal feelings but a kind of premonitions.
The book had certainly been written by a person of Sequence 5 level or higher, and if Jace divined about the person through the book, the divination would certainly fail, and that person would definitely know.
So Jace decided to follow his intuition. Such was the nature of the Seer pathway.
Looking at the book for one last time, he wrapped it in the black cloth and put it under the bed exactly how he found it.
His work here was done; he adjusted all the things to how they were.
Other than that, he also searched for some of Aron the Clown's hair and kept them in a folder of paper—it would be useful for Jace to dream divine or track the guy if the need arises in the future.
He picked up the small strip of the paper and placed it near the door hinges as it was and closed the door behind him.
Getting out of the building, Jace decided it was time to go home. He hired a carriage and sat in it.
While the carriage was moving, Jace was in deep thought.
He wondered what he should do with Aron the Clown, who would soon turn into Aron the Magician.
Of course, Jace first thought about killing him, but Jace didn't have anything against the guy, and killing him just because he was from the same pathway was an inadequate and illogical reason, so he crossed out the killing part.
Other than that, he also thought about the origin of the book. For now, he had two possibilities.
One: the person who sent Aron Bleak the black book is a relative (perhaps a father) of his, and he sent the book as some kind of inheritance.
Second: well, he is an experiment of some kind, or they were grooming him for something.
Anyway, to get a proper story, he needs to investigate more, but he couldn't do that until he became a Sequence 5 Marionettist.
It was the sequence he anticipated most, and it was also the reason he chose this pathway.