I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Chapter 167 Tribute

After dinner that evening, Mrs. McNeil again gathered everyone around the long table.

She took a leather roll-up bag out of her handbag, untied the drawstring, and laid out the contents one by one on the table.

"These are the 'offerings' left over from the underground seal."

She explained the origin of the items:

"From that brutal medieval sealing to the present, those who create seals only maintain the outer layer of the seal."

"The artifacts sacrificed during the reinforcement of the seal over the past few centuries can be used as compensation for our team, according to the rules."

Several items were placed on the table.

The first item is a ceremonial dagger with a silver handle.

The dagger has a narrow and thin blade, and the silver handle is decorated with vine patterns, with a dove with outstretched wings at the end of the vine.

The blade was not sharpened; this dagger was never intended for cutting anything from the moment it was forged.

"A 14th-century ceremonial dagger," Mrs. McNeill explained.

She flicked the blade lightly with her index finger, producing a clear hum.

"The handle is pure silver, and the blade is also a silver alloy. It has been in the sealing field for nearly six hundred years."

Unlike ordinary weapons, this dagger is used as a 'tether' in rituals.

The monks used it at the beginning of the sealing process to open the first pore in the etheric dimension, allowing subsequent incantations to be sent in.

She put the dagger back on the table.

"It's very brittle; it breaks easily when you try to chop something. But it's a good thing for ritual fuses, conductors for inscription, and etheric conductors for sealing repairs."

Then there were three silver coins.

The obverse of the silver coin features a profile of Saint Michael, while the reverse depicts a flaming sword.

Mrs. McNeill lined up the three silver coins.

"Middle-aged, bearing the emblem of Saint Michael, and remained in the sealing grounds for about four hundred years."

As she spoke, she ran her fingernail along the edge of one of the pieces.

"However, let me make it clear first that the amount of ether deposited in these three silver coins is very low."

Four hundred years sounds like a long time, but the silver coin is too small and too far from the sealed core; it's just scratching the surface at best.

She pushed the silver coin aside.

"Strictly speaking, it cannot be considered a standard rare item."

When you take it home and wear it on your body, it will slowly seep out a very small amount of ether, but the amount is so small as to be negligible.

Its greater value lies in its collectability; the Saint Michael Seal silver coin can fetch a decent price in the Beijing antique market.

The third item was a roll of parchment.

The parchment was rolled very tightly and tied with a dry leather cord.

"Suspected early Celtic incantation." Mrs. McNeil did not open it: "The specific content needs further analysis."

There is also a bronze piece.

The bronze piece is about the size of a palm, and its surface is engraved with dense symbols.

"It's from the pre-Roman period." She turned the bronze plate over. "It has inscriptions on both sides and is in excellent condition."

There were also some etheric condensates that looked like crystal fragments, neatly arranged on a piece of old flannel.

Richard recognized them at first glance.

"These are the children from last night..."

"Yes." Mrs. McNeil straightened the edges of the flannel.

"At the end of the ceremony, the twenty-five children were swallowed back under the Name Stone."

But in this hall, they were shattered by the hunter's enchanted weapons, pierced through the heart by silver bullets, and dismantled by the scholar's pronouncements... In these processes, the etheric structure within each child was repeatedly destroyed and repeatedly reconstructed.

"Some fragments of the last twenty-five children that were swallowed back were left in this hall."

She touched the darkest patch of color with her fingertip.

"These condensates are the precipitation of shadows, containing the remaining traces of ether from the children."

Ether from millers in 1881, from pre-Roman singers, from the repeated prayers of medieval monks… hundreds and thousands of years of ether mingled within the children, crystallizing out after the ceremony.

"High-concentration ether condensates have their own applications in three main areas."

"If a newcomer chooses their own Signature Curiosity, they can also use these condensates to nurture their Curiosity."

At this point, she glanced at the four newcomers.

"Alright, that's all the loot."

"The allocation rules," Mrs. McNeill said, placing her hands on the table. "Each person chooses according to their contribution and needs."

"Captain Field was the most seriously injured, so he'll go first."

The captain stood up from his high-backed chair and walked to the table.

His gaze swept over several items before he reached out and picked up the silver-handled dagger.

The dagger felt almost weightless in his large palm.

He turned the dagger over to look at the inscription on the spine, then flicked the blade.

Immediately afterwards, he turned around and handed the dagger to Richard.

"Take it."

Richard was somewhat puzzled.

"Captain?"

"Take it." Captain Field moved his hand forward half an inch.

The silver hilt of the dagger was pointing directly at Richard.

"I'm not a scholar, so I won't be able to use these ritual items if I take them back."

"I'd rather you have it... You're a scholar; the ritual dagger is far more useful to you than to me."

"Captain, this..."

Richard glanced at Mr. Hutton.

"Take it." The old man nodded.

Richard glanced at the dagger.

The vine pattern on the silver handle gleamed matte in the fireplace light, and the blade was narrow and thin. The 600-year-old sealing ground imbued the entire dagger with a heavy sense of history.

He took it.

The dagger felt slightly warm to the touch. The silver had an excellent conductivity for ether, and centuries of immersion had filled the entire dagger, from the hilt to the blade, with ether.

The panel for "Available Points" jumped up briefly, but he didn't look at the specific number.

"Thank you, Captain."

"Don't thank me, this is also an investment in you."

"Grow up quickly, so we can go on field missions together in the future."

Captain Field rubbed his temples and limped back to his chair.

"Captain," Mrs. McNeil said at this moment.

"You gave up the dagger, so I can't let you go on a mission and come back empty-handed."

She picked up two clumps of condensation from the flannel and handed them to the captain.

"These two etheric masses have the highest density. Although hunters do not need to feed the spirit vessel, they can use this high-concentration extract for body maintenance."

"By slowly nurturing these two clumps of congealed matter, we can at least recover some of the cost of burning blood."

"...How much can you find?" The captain raised an eyebrow.

"If you're lucky, it will take less than six months."

"Six months is enough." The captain reached out and took the condensate, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you, madam."

"You're welcome," Mrs. McNeil shook her head. "It's something you were entitled to."

She turned her head.

Sarah.

The huntress walked over, picked up a silver coin, and twirled it between her fingers.

That's enough.

"Just one?"

"One is enough." Sarah put the silver coin into her pocket. "I've already received your payment, madam. It wouldn't be right to take more."

Mrs. McNeil herself picked out most of the crystal shards and put them back in her leather case.

"I'll recycle these myself to replenish my spiritual vessel."

With three left, she glanced at the newcomers present.

"Edmund, Maggie, and Theodore, one each."

The three newcomers each received their own crystal shard.

Edmund held the fragment up to his eyes and examined it.

"How...how do we use this?"

"Keep it for now," Mrs. McNeil instructed.

"When you have your own signed artifact in the future, place the fragment next to the artifact, and it will slowly seep into it on its own."

What remains on the table are: a parchment scroll, a bronze piece, and two silver coins.

Richard walked to the table, his gaze lingering on three items for a few seconds.

Silver coins contain ether deposits, but the amount is the smallest of the three items.

Parchment scrolls and bronze tablets are both documents, and their value to scholars far outweighs their value to other fields.

He tried touching the parchment and the bronze plate and found that the bronze plate had a significantly higher ether content.

"I choose the bronze plate."

"Okay." Mrs. McNeil had no objection.

Richard picked up the bronze piece from the table.

The bronze plate felt cool to the touch, and the engravings on its surface were clearly visible under the fingertips.

Mr. Hutton's voice came from the side:

"Don't cover the bronze piece too tightly, or it will rust and the characters on it will become illegible."

"understood."

The old gentleman himself chose the parchment scroll.

The parchment roll was dry and brittle, and he carefully held it with both hands, afraid that uneven pressure would crush the edges.

The remaining two silver coins were put into a cloth bag.

"Team property." Mrs. McNeil put the bag away. "I'll take it back to the guild for follow-up registration and mission documentation."

Allocation complete.

Richard carefully wrapped the bronze pieces and the ceremonial dagger and put them into his backpack.

When the bronze piece was in his hand, the available points on the panel jumped.

This bronze artifact has been in the sealing field for at least a thousand years.

The amount of ether deposited should be considerable, but the seal itself suppresses the seepage rate to an extremely slow rate.

Once it's brought home and out of the sealed environment, the seepage rate should increase significantly.