I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Chapter 139 Needle

Richard looked at the six bullets in the metal box.

He had inquired about the market price of enchanted bullets.

A single ring bullet costs at least two shillings, and it's practically impossible to buy through official channels.

If you buy from the black market, the price can double.

"How much?"

"Friendly price." Old Big's round face broke into a smile: "One shilling for one shilling, six for six shillings."

Richard was taken aback for a moment.

"Old Big, this price..."

"That's already a friendly price!" Old Big immediately waved his hand.

"Stop trying to lower the price! I have to pay for my own supplies too!"

"It's not that I'm trying to lower the price," Richard smiled. "It's just that I think it's too cheap."

"...Too cheap?" Old Big's expression switched from "pretending to be taken advantage of" to "Hey, why are you so honest?"

"You little rascal." He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

Everyone else thinks I'm too expensive, but you think I'm too cheap.

"The market price is two shillings per coin."

"Market price is market price, this is my 'insider price'." Old Big pushed the tin box towards him again.

"My teacher once said that enchanted bullets are only worth money when sold to strangers; when sold to family members, it's just the cost of materials and labor."

"so……"

"So one shilling is for materials." Old Big stroked his chin. "I won't charge you for the labor."

Richard counted out six shillings from his purse and placed them on the table.

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me." Old Big waved his hand: "Next time you come, remember to bring me chestnuts again."

"it is good."

"A large bag for two pence."

"certainly."

Old Big brewed himself a pot of fresh tea and filled his cup to the brim.

Richard waited until he finished his drink and then asked another question.

"Old Bigger."

"Um?"

"Regarding divination and clairvoyance..."

"You'll have to practice on your own for the next while."

Old Big touched the rim of his cup: "That's all I can teach you."

Richard was taken aback for a moment.

Old Big put the cup down.

"I've already taught you how to read wax and stone. You've already grasped the basics of spiritual vision. Your fixed gaze can last for more than fifteen seconds, which is a sign that you've entered the field."

"What's above that..."

Old Big scratched his head: "That's about it for me."

"Astrology charts, crystal balls, tarot—things I can't learn, I can't teach you."

"In your sect..."

"In my sect, only my teacher and my senior sister can teach these things," Old Big shook his head.

"My teacher has her own rules for teaching apprentices. When I was learning, I had to wait in line until she was available."

"My senior sister has been extremely busy for the past two years."

"The work of the local guilds has no fixed working hours; you have to go out whenever there's a problem."

"After she completed her apprenticeship, her clients gradually expanded from the northern part of the city to the central part of Beijing, and she never lacked work."

Richard nodded.

Gerrard's words on the phone came to mind:

"Mrs. Mary's students were widely distributed and deeply rooted in the local guilds, and had many local connections. Our people have received help from her students more than once."

Mrs. McNeil was one of them, and probably the busiest one.

"If we can meet once after spring, let's just say we've gotten to know each other a little," Old Big said.

"It depends on whether you and she get along. If you do, she might be willing to take you along for a while."

If you don't get along, just consider it making another friend.

"Anything is fine," Richard readily replied. "Just seeing it is a bonus."

"Speaking of which..." Old Big's tone softened:

"What you're practicing now should be enough to solidify your skills for a while."

He took a sip of tea and continued:

"You've been looking at things differently this past week."

"How are they different?"

"When you were doing the wax reading, it used to take you a long time to get into the zone."

Old Big counted on his fingers: "You can get in this week just by sitting down."

"When you're reading stones, you used to hesitate about how to interpret the positions of the symbols."

This week, after you picked up the pebbles and scattered them, you could almost instantly tell me what they meant just by looking at them.

"You might not feel the change yourself, but it's quite obvious to me as I watch from the sidelines."

Richard was somewhat surprised.

Old Big's observational skills were far more refined than he usually appeared.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

Richard thought about it.

That's all for now.

Old Big nodded and stood up from his chair.

"That's settled then."

"Get home before dark, and drive carefully."

Richard slung his backpack over his shoulder and secured the small metal box containing six enchanted bullets to the side pocket of his body.

He carried the gun case in his bag; it was heavy, but he felt at ease.

This week, Richard visited the fighting club's activity room several more times, just like before.

I would go there after school each time, stay for about an hour, and then jog home.

I changed the dumbbells from seven pounds to eight pounds, without increasing the number of sets, but the weight went up a little bit.

The initial curiosity of the fighting club members about him gradually turned into something else entirely.

That was the taste that Richard had only been able to appreciate after several days.

On Tuesday afternoon, he had just finished his second set of dumbbell presses and put the dumbbells back on the ground.

Two older students sat on the other side of the mat, one named Henry and the other named Parker.

Henry was a big guy; his arms were thicker than Richard's legs.

Parker was thinner, with stubble on his chin that hadn't fully grown.

"...I heard he came in second in the Cicero Cup."

Parker spoke to Henry in a low voice, but not low enough.

"Latin, huh?" Henry snorted. "What's the use of Latin? Can you use it to fight?"

"The principal praised him at the last morning meeting."

"Just a school principal," Henry snorted again.

Richard picked up the water bottle, took a sip, and didn't look in the direction of the two men.

Frazier was busy bandaging a new student's hand and didn't have time to pay attention to what was happening here.

Richard put down the kettle and picked up the dumbbells.

Parker suddenly chuckled: "Hey, Williams."

"Um?"

"How heavy are those dumbbells?"

Richard didn't reply, and went straight to the corner to pick out dumbbells.

"Hey Frazier, when did this place start accepting celebrities?"

"He comes to use the equipment, not to brag," Frazier replied while hitting the sandbag.

"But this isn't a place for students like us, is it?"

Richard finished the press, put the dumbbells back on the ground, and stood up from the edge of the mat.

For a group of boys who have long been academically suppressed, the thrill of being able to outperform top students in a certain field is obvious.

Richard didn't care; he came here to borrow equipment, not to make friends.

After Fraser finished bandaging the new student, he turned around and glanced over.

Henry's laughter immediately subsided.

"Are you going to participate in the last sparring session?" Frazier shouted at Henry.

"Go!" Henry immediately straightened his back.

"Did you hit the punching bag 500 times today?"

"...almost there."

"Go finish the fight."

Henry got up from the mat and walked toward the sandbag, covered in dust.

Parker, sensing the situation, stood up and moved to the corner to lift dumbbells.

Frazier walked over and squatted down on the mat opposite Richard.

He didn't say anything to comfort him, he just tapped the dumbbell with his thumb.

"Eight pounds is enough?"

"Um."

"Change to ten pounds tomorrow."

Richard paused for a moment: "That's quite a leap."

"You recover much faster than the average person." Frazier's gaze swept over his arm:

"You trained to exhaustion yesterday, but you were able to do three full sets today. Your recovery period is abnormally short."

"I eat a lot," Richard mumbled in response.

"It's not just about food." Fraser draped a towel over his shoulder. "Ten pounds, I bet you can eat that too."

He stood up to leave: "Don't take what Henry and the others said to heart."

"fine."

"That's just how they are; they treat newcomers the same way all the time."

Frazier rubbed his chin:

"I can't control their mouths, but I can control their hands."

If you don't intend to use it, just listen to it and forget about it.

"I see."

Frazier nodded, then turned and left.

………………

On Wednesday afternoon, Richard switched the dumbbells to ten pounds.

My arms were already shaking when I got to the eighth rep in the first set.

He put the dumbbells down, rested for a minute, and then restarted the quadruple breathing technique.

In this new round of breathing, healing works quietly within the body.

The tiny tears that had just started to appear on my arm were gradually smoothed out.

The trembling lessened when the second group picked up the dumbbells.

Parker did not speak again today.

The boy who transferred from the military academy has arrived.

Richard looked at him properly for the first time.

He was slightly taller than Richard and had broad shoulders, but not as ridiculously broad as Frazier's.

His entire body was covered by a thin layer of lean muscle, and he was wearing a gray vest. Several faint old scars could be seen on his arms.

Unlike the messy bruises from a fight, this scar looks like it's been repeatedly whipped, but the person whipping it was very careful, hitting roughly the same spot each time.

Richard's gaze lingered on those scars for a second longer.

Vincent had similar marks on his arm.

The boy didn't talk much to anyone and went to a corner to start warming up.

The warm-up exercises included some details that Richard hadn't seen before, such as scapular rotation, hip opening and closing, and ankle warm-up.

Each movement is broken down into precise repetitions and angles, a training framework that these wild kids in the fighting club could never figure out.

This is the product of systematic training.

Richard finished his three sets of dumbbell exercises for the day, and then did one set of push-ups.

As he packed his things to leave, he brushed past the military academy student at the door.

The boy nodded, and Richard nodded back.

While the fighting club was training, moon nail practice was also progressing simultaneously.

Nemesis specifically noted in the booklet that beginners should use old needles that have been used for many years.

The metal structure of the new needle still retains the stress and distortion from the forging process, which can cause the ether to easily get tangled at certain points when pushed along the needle body.

Tying a knot will cause ether to flow back, and the backflow will cause the needle to explode.

Richard arrived at Clement's Antique Shop and, after explaining the situation to the old man, found a bundle of twelve old silver needles under the cabinet.

This is a piece of stock left behind by a tailor before his death. It is of high purity, and the needles have been worn down over the years, so the internal stress of the metal is much more even than that of new needles.

The tip of each needle was ground down to a rounded edge that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Of course it couldn't be pure silver. Things made from pure silver are usually quite soft. He tested this silver needle, and the silver content was enough to conduct ether.

Because it's an older needle, it's two pence cheaper than a new needle.

Upon returning home, Richard began his first procedure by following the steps outlined in the monthly booklet.

The first step is to attach the needle.

He pinched the needle's end between his thumb and forefinger, with the needle tip pointing outwards.

The booklet mentions that the correct grip for beginners is "three fingers together".

Pinch the needle with your thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and use the muscles in your palm to help with the trembling as you breathe to push the ether.

After becoming proficient, one can transition to "two fingers together", and later to "one finger holding".

The highest level is where you don't need to hold the needle; you can launch the needle using only ether.

Richard is currently using the most reliable "three-finger combination".

The second step is to draw in the breath.

He closed his eyes, initiated a fourfold breathing technique, and used his heartbeat as the unit of time.

During the exhalation phase of the third complete cycle, the microcirculation of the Sun Constellation begins to push ether towards the right arm.

The next step is the most crucial one in the Moon Nail: threading the needle.

Let the ether enter the needle body from the tail and push it along the central axis of the needle all the way to the tip.

A sliver of light condensed at the tip of the needle.

It's very small, only the size of a grain of rice, white with a bluish tinge.

Richard opened his eyes.

He originally thought that the first time he inserted the needle, it would only produce a blurry mist, but he didn't expect it to take shape directly.

After [Perception] was activated, his accuracy in grasping the flow of ether improved significantly.

The actual spellcasting will begin next.

He aimed the needle at the target he had set up beforehand—the textbook hanging on the wall.

With a flick of his wrist, the silver needle slipped from his hand and pierced the spine of the book in a short, sharp arc.

puff!

Richard went over to take a look.

The silver needle pierced the spine of the book about half an inch, and the red thread at the end of the needle dangled twice outside before stopping.

He went to the wall and pulled out the silver needle.

Richard touched the hole he had made with his fingertip; the paper fibers around the edge of the hole showed signs of burning.

The manual states that if the target has an ethereal target, the damage will be greatly increased.

The first time the procedure was performed, every single statistic looked terrible.

From a purely physical destructive power perspective, it would be better to just throw a kitchen knife around.

But then again, he has a gun now.

I'm not a hunter, so throwing anything is no match for shooting directly.

But he still needed to keep practicing Moon Nail and master it as soon as possible. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of Shadow Technique Moon Nail would bring after its reversal.

………………

Early in the morning, Richard jogged from the slag heap to school.

I glanced at my watch when I got to the school gate; it was twenty-six minutes.

I was covered in a thin layer of sweat, but my breathing rhythm remained normal.

The fourfold breathing automatically integrated into his footstep frequency as he ran.

Inhale for three beats, exhale for three beats, and each step is aligned with a beat.

He stood on the steps at the school gate for a while, his consciousness sinking into the panel.

[Walking Lv.2] Progress: 0%

Sure enough, it was another silent upgrade.

He has already gone through four upgrades from Lv.1 to Lv.2.

This is the fourth time.

The changes brought about by walking to Lv.2 are somewhat different.

Richard walked to the classroom door and climbed a long staircase.

Climbing stairs was always one of the most tiring things for him; his calves would start to ache after climbing just two floors.

But today he stopped and took a moment to reflect.

The four breathing techniques automatically adjusted the rhythm during the climb up the stairs.

A long exhale reduces the burden on the body while delivering more oxygen to the lower limb muscle groups.

He didn't actively adjust his breathing; his body did it for him.

【Walking Lv.2】Automatically links breathing techniques and walking rhythm together.

The frequency will automatically change during normal walking, jogging, climbing stairs, and sprinting.

The body selects the most suitable breathing rhythm based on the load requirements.

Hmm... I switched from manual to automatic.

After linking breathing techniques with gait, the ether will automatically circulate slightly within his body during his daily exercise.

The amplitude is very small, but it is continuous.

After the last class, Richard went back to the classroom first.

He took out several heavy textbooks from his schoolbag and stuffed them into his storage compartment.

You don't need to bring these to the fighting club.

Students streamed down the corridor toward the school gate.

As I passed the classroom of the lower grades, a little boy was holding up a piece of paper and asking around the corridor: "Is the Latin word 'rosa' the same as 'rose'?"

When asked, the child looked up and paused for a moment.

"You're that..."

"it's me."

"Is Rosa a rose?"

"Yes."

The little boy turned and ran towards the other end of the corridor, shouting as he ran, "I told you so! You lost! It's your treat!"

Richard stood there, hearing a protest and commotion coming from the other end of the corridor.

He smiled and continued walking towards the stadium.