I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Chapter 171 [Quiet Observation]

Before dinner, Richard went upstairs and took a hot shower.

When the tap is turned on, hot water flows out of the lead pipe, and steam climbs up the tiles, turning the mirror white.

[Breathing Healing] is most effective when skin pores are open.

The bare leaves unfurled in my chest, and with each exhale, I pushed away the lingering soreness in my muscles.

As he dried his hair with a towel, he could feel the dull pain under his temples receding into the distance.

Dinner consisted of stew with mashed potatoes, plus bread that my mother had baked that morning.

Evelyn sat opposite Richard the whole time, stealing glances at her brother's face while eating.

His mother was also observing him, much more discreetly than his sister, using the act of handing him the salt shaker and the butter dish to subtly glance at him.

Richard pretended not to see it, dipped the bread in the stew broth, and put it in his mouth.

The lamb belly in the stew at home is marbled with fat and lean meat, and the carrots are stewed until tender.

"Eat slowly." His mother added another spoonful of soup to his bowl. "You've been away for ten days. You must not have eaten well on the way."

"I'm done eating." Richard finished chewing the potato in his spoon. "The lamb leg made by the owner of Whitcomb Hostel, she changes the dish every day."

"real?"

"Really, I've tried roasted, stewed, braised, and soup-based dishes."

Evelyn put down her fork: "Then why have you lost weight?"

"Run a lot."

"Why are you running?"

"Following the seniors to do odd jobs." This statement is half true and half false.

My sister said "oh" and picked up her fork to deal with the last piece of potato on the plate.

After dinner, my father brewed a pot of tea and took it to the study to look at the newly acquired tobacco tin.

Evelyn was washing dishes in the kitchen when her mother tried to help, but she was kicked out.

Richard went upstairs to his room.

Back in his bedroom, he locked the door from the inside.

He had already placed the suitcase at the foot of the bed, and the items inside were taken out one by one and arranged neatly.

The innermost layer is a Sphinx lamp, covered with three layers of old flannel.

When the lamp was taken out, the lamp body was noticeably warmer than the day it was taken out.

The middle layer contains a bag of runes, a copper dish, gray wax sticks, a long box of silver needles, and a small cloth bag containing a maple whistle.

The outermost layer contains the "trophies" from this winter break internship: bronze plates and a ceremonial dagger.

After he sat down, he placed his hand on the silver hilt of the dagger.

The available points on the panel start from 0.13 and increase upwards.

It climbed much faster than the copper coin on Flower Moon Street.

The ritual dagger had been soaked in a medieval sealing field for nearly six hundred years, and it was made of pure silver. Once the seal was broken, the remaining ether seeped out like water from a burst dam.

Richard leaned back in his chair, his eyelids half-closed.

After about twenty minutes, the available points stopped at 0.89.

As usual, 95% of the ether in the dagger's main body was absorbed.

He raised his hand, moved the dagger aside, placed it back on the left side of the table, and replaced it with a bronze plate.

The bronze piece felt cold to the touch; it had been in the Whitcomb Sealing Grounds for quite some time.

Once the seal is broken, the rate of seepage is even more ferocious than that of a dagger.

[Available Points] Start climbing from 0.89 and continue upwards.

1.4...1.6...1.68...

Available points: 1.75.

It's almost two o'clock.

He knew the advancement requirements for Lv.3 by heart: Level Lv.2 progress 100%, available points 1, and deciphering a duplicate encrypted text himself.

Regarding the double copy issue, I'll have to wait for my aunt to come over and ask her again. I hope she won't stand me up.

Additionally, unlocking the [Critical Thinking] skill requires 1 point.

If there is any surplus, expanding the capacity of [Spirit Form] from 10 to 20 will also require 1 point.

The [Shadow Armor] technique that saved the captain during the sealing ceremony was very convenient, as the pure ether that Ling Rong automatically extracted was very easy to use.

Moreover, it has few side effects, a quick recovery, and the stagnation is eliminated in just two days.

If one day we're really pushed to the limit, we'll use Prometheus's bottle of deep etheric condensate.

The side effects of such a potent catalytic agent cannot be overcome simply by taking a couple of naps.

Richard reorganized the plan:

Even if Clement and his aunt don't bring in any new or unusual items in the short term, he already has enough knowledge to advance his current skills.

If you can get a few more items on both sides, level up [Spiritual Insight] first, and then expand [Spiritual Appearance] to twenty.

The conditions for unlocking the items "Eating" and "Sleeping" have been met.

However, the progress bar for level Lv.2 is still far from 100%, and it will take some time to accumulate daily progress.

The same applies to walking and perception; it takes time to develop these skills.

Speaking of which, he hadn't yet seen the advancement requirements for the next level of [Perception].

As with the previous skills, previewing itself does not consume points.

Richard had a sudden thought, and a new line of text appeared on the edge of the panel.

This feature is now available. To advance to the next level, you must meet the following requirements:

Level up to Lv.2, progress 100%;

Available points: 1;

"Actively observe hostile targets beyond one's own rank from behind a curtain for fifteen minutes, without being detected throughout."

"Unlockable Effect Preview - Perception & Contemplation: "

When the body remains stationary, the range and precision of inspiration increase simultaneously, and it becomes less susceptible to reverse detection.

This unlock condition is starting to get a bit more difficult.

Compared to the four unlock conditions for the [Body] category, which are basically free, the two currently displayed unlock conditions for the [Intelligence] category are somewhat difficult.

The "Perception" option primarily restricts the location to behind a curtain.

The target must also be hostile; otherwise, he could have accomplished it simply by staring at Mr. Hutton for fifteen minutes during class...

Actively observing hostile targets of a higher rank in shallow waters for a quarter of an hour seems suicidal no matter how you look at it.

However, on the other hand, this time the unlocking conditions also do not require a single person to complete it independently.

If I can find hunters and hermits to team up for field missions later, I should have a chance to complete it.

After gathering his thoughts, Richard moved the notebook and the stack of rubbings to the center of the desk.

The stack of twelve sheets of paper at the border stone was neatly tied together by Maggie with thin string.

In addition to the rubbing, he also made a separate, clear copy.

The charcoal characters he copied were easily smudged, so he wrote the clear version with a fountain pen on cardboard, leaving three lines of blank space under each symbol in preparation for annotations.

The bronze piece was made later.

With nothing else to do on the train, he used a sharpened pencil to trace every symbol on both sides of the bronze plate.

Richard first laid the two copies out on the table and compared them.

At first glance, the strokes of the boundary stone are predominantly curved, clearly showing the characteristics of ancient Celtic script.

However, there are a few scattered angular lines in the middle, which are traces left over from the Romanization period.

The Romans didn't like curves; their engravers were used to straightening out curves first.

The bronze pieces were even more varied.

The front has a Celtic base, but someone has overlaid a different style of symbols on top.

The other side was even more of a headache for him, as he didn't recognize any of the symbols on it.

It is neither Celtic nor a product of Romanization, nor does it have much to do with medieval ritual Latin.

Richard tried to fixate on his vision using his spiritual vision.

But as soon as he activated his spiritual vision, several strokes trembled slightly at their turns, as if something had swum past them.

He immediately withdrew his spiritual vision and stopped staring down.

Old Bige's "window theory" still resonates.

The first rule for survival at a low level is to keep a low profile and avoid looking at things you shouldn't be looking at.

He covered the bronze plate with the reverse side, not touching it for now, and planned to ask his aunt and Mr. Hutton about it later when he had the chance.

The next morning, as soon as Richard got up, he continued to annotate all the legible parts of the boundary pillars.

That's the most authentic part of the Celtic culture.

The first two lines of the first group: "This stone stands with blood and salt," "He who stands here may speak his name."

The first two lines of the second group: "Singers who offer songs to the night", "Silent ones who greet the light".

The first two lines of the fifth group: "The water beneath the stone is still awake", "The name on the stone is temporarily silent".

He couldn't match the rest; there were no such comparisons in the two documents Mr. Hutton left him.

Maggie was a native of the Gaelic Highlands, and she could barely read a few lines from the Celtic section.

Richard couldn't even recognize all the basic Gaelic alphabet.

He needs basic Gaelic information, and not just Gaelic.

The border stone formations were stacked in layers, with Romanization traces on top of the Celtic base, and then Latin annotations of rituals left by medieval monks.

He had a foundation in ritual Latin, thanks to Mr. Holland's book, "From the Temple to the Pulpit".

However, the specialized ritual terminology used by the medieval church is not the same as Cicero's speeches or Tacitus's Chronicles.

The church has its own vocabulary.

Edmund said at Whitcomb:

"You speak of 'sealing,' we speak of 'sacred protection'; you speak of 'rituals,' we speak of 'sacraments.'"

He had no reference words for that entire vocabulary that had been translated into terms related to liturgical rituals.

Richard leaned back in his chair; he couldn't go to the school library right now.

During the winter break, Greenwood's gates remained locked.

Then go check out the Bristol City Library.

It's located north of Central Avenue, next to the City Hall.

He wasn't sure if he could find Gaelic and church ritual terminology there.

Bristol is a city with little history; coal, iron, and textiles are what sustain the city, and factory chimneys are what make it a part of it.

But it's better than nothing.

And... Richard's fingers stopped on the edge of the table.

A thought suddenly popped into my head.

Could the municipal library also contain steganographic text?

Mr. Hutton said that there are thousands of seal inscriptions, tomb inscriptions, and ritual fragments existing within the empire.

A large portion of academic papers are hidden in open journals that look like they are in physiology, geology, or anthropology.

If this rule applies nationwide, then theoretically, municipal libraries should also have a few books on their shelves that "look boring but actually have other content."

Briston doesn't have much history, but "not much history" doesn't mean "nothing at all".

This land has always been inhabited. Before the factory was built, this was farmland, and before that, it was wilderness.

Even if we can only find one or two fragments of steganography with local characteristics, deciphering them can be used as information to share at the next Theogony Salon.

The value may not be great, but exclusivity itself is valuable.

After making up his mind, Richard went downstairs to have breakfast.

After working hard all day, both my brain and stomach are exhausted.

After going downstairs, he found that his mother and sister were already up.

Richard took a tea canister from the cupboard and started boiling water.

He scooped three spoonfuls of tea leaves into the teapot, and while rinsing the pot, he spoke casually.

"mom."

"What's wrong?"

"Your aunt said she recently came to Briston. Did you ask her the exact date of her arrival?"

"We haven't decided on a specific day yet." The mother took the bread out of the baking pan.

"Her academic research had a specific order; she first went to several northern towns to conduct fieldwork, and then came here as her last stop."

"How many days will she probably stay?"

"One or two days, three days at most."

Richard put the lid on the teapot.

"What if she changes her plans at the last minute..."

"She won't," the mother said confidently. "Isabella never breaks her promises."

At the breakfast table, Richard spread butter on the bread while explaining the day's plans.

I need to go to the library this morning.

"The city library?" Mother put down the teapot.

"Hmm, I need to look up some information."

Evelyn, who had been engrossed in studying her Yorkshire pastry booklet, slowly raised her head when she heard Richard was about to leave.

She didn't speak, her gaze fixed on the other person's face.

Richard took a bite of bread and pretended not to see.

Evelyn continued to stare at him: "Brother, you tricked me yesterday."

"I apologize."

"An apology is one thing," Evelyn said, tilting her head. "Whether or not you forgive me is another matter."

She slowly and deliberately poked at a piece of potato.

"If it's on your way... heh heh, you know what I mean!"

The mother covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

Richard finished his bread.

"Alright."

"Hmm." Evelyn nodded in satisfaction, then buried her head in her pastry booklet again.

"Brother, you're smart enough to know how to show your sincerity."

………………

Richard emerged from the slag alley and walked north along Central Avenue.

In winter, the streets of Bristol are gray.

Gray flagstone path, gray brick walls, gray sky.

The factory chimneys spewed grayish-white smoke into the sky, and the smell of coal smoke lingered on the ground.

After walking for about twenty-five minutes, we arrived at the library.

Richard pushed open the door and went in.

It's a little warmer inside than outside, but only slightly.

Bookshelves lined both sides of the hall, extending inwards row by row.

Richard stood at the entrance and glanced around, mentally comparing it to the Greenwood campus library.

Although Greenwood is just a secondary school, the board of directors is willing to spend money, and many of the teachers are highly educated graduates from Beijing who are hired from outside the school.

Since they work here, they will naturally bring over cutting-edge information from the capital.

Mr. Hutton's private office contained a stack of academic journals that would be considered rare even outside.

And the City Library... Bristol is a city built on factories; its money comes from coal, iron, and textile machines.

The library is merely a facade for the city hall; its collection is small and its variety is limited.

The bookshelves are mostly filled with "Steam Engine Maintenance Manual", "Illustrated Textile Machinery", "Fundamentals of Metallurgy", as well as a large number of practical books, such as bookkeeping, gardening, and home medicine.

Richard was not discouraged.

Even a proper library, no matter how shabby, will always have basic reference books.

In the language category, he first looked for Gaelic.

The collection of books is indeed small, but small does not mean nonexistent.

A proper municipal library will always have a full range of basic reference books.

He spent half a day browsing and found a book titled "Elementary Gaelic Grammar" and a "Gael-Albion Dictionary".

There is, of course, no specific information available here regarding Celtic ancient script itself.

However, the underlying grammar of the ancient script is consistent with that of modern Gaelic.

With these two Gaelic basic books, he was able to at least figure out most of the Celtic foundations of the first layer of the Boundary Stone.

While wandering around aimlessly, he almost bumped into someone as he turned a corner past a bookshelf.