I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Chapter 256 Empirical Defense (Bonus Chapter 33 for Monthly Tickets)

The training program is now in its final week.

Those who failed the test all packed their bags and left.

The remaining people prepared to carry out one last practice.

The practice was held at a museum.

Before the practical training began, the course was quite relaxed, without the usual tension.

The mentors finished their work, submitting the rosters, comments, and recommendations one by one.

Richard was happy to have some free time and took a break, no longer forcing himself to work as hard as before.

That morning, he brought up the control panel.

[Perception] lv.2, progress 97%

Progress is rapid.

This was thanks to the three collapsed formations that crushed each other behind the curtain that night.

Although Richard didn't dare to look closely, he left a clue for himself to explore.

But even that seemingly insignificant opportunity benefited him greatly.

Secondly, there was the incident at the main gate of No. 17 Huayue Street.

For more than an hour, he sat in front of the coffee table, his eyes fed by images translated through layers of text, as well as some of the things Mrs. Mary had taught him.

If this trend continues, it shouldn't be a problem to reach 100% completion before the summer training program ends.

However, the slow progress has brought another problem.

Points.

Richard did the math.

[Walking] I've reached 86% of level 2. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll fill the progress bar in the near future and need a point to advance it.

[Perception] Reaching level 3 also requires a...

[Spiritual Appearance] has been expanded from ten to twenty, and one is still required.

All of these require points.

But Richard currently only has 0.73 points left after using them for [Sleep] and [Eat].

wrong.

There is another way.

Richard thought about his summer internship at a museum.

The museum houses a collection of artifacts transported from the Black Soil River basin.

Those inscribed with sacrificial texts are all rare objects.

However, what is displayed in the museum and what people can see are just some facades.

It can hardly be called a rare item.

The truly valuable items were all locked away in the innermost part of the sealed warehouse.

It is said that the most precious item is the well-preserved sacrificial scepter.

These kinds of high-end rare items are managed very strictly, with layers upon layers of seals.

The college and the seminary are still in litigation, fighting for the right to study the strange object.

With so many eyes fixed on those things, it's likely that all the seals have been applied in turn, making it very unlikely that the ether will leak out.

However, there's always a chance of something going wrong.

What if?

The back room of Donald at No. 7 Flower Moon Street couldn't be sealed even with the fragments of a pillar from a fire temple.

This resulted in a significant amount of ether being exposed.

If Richard hadn't been so fragile and unable to withstand the immense pressure of that frenzied ethereal field, he could have accumulated a considerable number of points back then.

The Sphinx lamp was also sealed very tightly before it was pried open.

But there was still a slight spillover, which Richard managed to get for free.

As long as a strange object contains ether, no matter how tightly it is sealed, even if it is sealed to the absolute limit, there will always be a trace or two that will escape from the cracks.

The museum's storage room is filled with curiosities.

Show just a tiny bit of each piece, not much, just a tiny bit.

Richard gathered them together, and that became another sum of money.

Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, and his eyes were already filled with anticipation.

……

That day, Isabella called Richard to the department office again.

In the department office meeting room, besides Isabella, there was a middle-aged man whom Richard had never seen before.

The man nodded to Richard: "Mr. Williams, my name is Clayton, and I am the representative of the Academic Review Committee's branch."

Richard bowed: "Mr. Clayton."

"Don't stand, sit down," Isabella said, pointing to an empty chair.

Clayton cut to the chase: "Your empirical report has been approved."

but."

Richard had just breathed a sigh of relief when those words made his heart leap into his throat again.

Clayton opened the file in his hand: "There's a 'caution' mark on your manuscript."

Richard: "What do you mean?"

Clayton explained, "There's a problem with one of the core inferences in your manuscript."

As he spoke, he pointed to the document: "The veil is thinning, and the terms of the old seal's return are loosening."

This inference itself is sound; the logic is sound, and the evidence has been presented.

Richard: "So why are you paying attention to this?"

Isabella began to explain: "The academic community in the capital has been arguing about the 'annual decay rate of the curtain' for more than three years."

Some people say the curtain is thinning; someone should have spoken out seriously about this long ago.

Another group of people believes that this is alarmist.

Because once the annual decay rate becomes dynamic, the maintenance cycle of every seal within the empire will have to be recalibrated.

Therefore, they believed that once such words spread, they would shake the entire system and cause widespread panic.

The two factions have been talking back and forth for thirty years, but neither can prevail over the other.

As time went on, the matter became an old grievance that no one wanted to bring up.

You were recommended by Professor Mortimer, who himself is a proponent of the "thinning veil" theory. He even wrote an article about this decades ago.

Now, as his student, you are also writing about this matter, and you have brought up this old issue again from the evidence of a boundary stone and two field missions.

Both sides probably want to use your article as an opportunity to reignite this debate.

Richard understood.

Both sides were eager to argue, but they just lacked a pretext.

His manuscript gave them this opportunity.

However, Richard's current concern is still about his manuscript: "So, is mine approved or not?"

Clayton: "You've passed. You just need to defend your thesis once more."

You need to give a brief oral response, so that both sides can hear it.

Richard: "What time is it?"

Clayton: "It's fine tomorrow, it won't affect your museum practice this weekend."

…………

The next day, at 2 PM.

Richard arrived at the location for his oral defense and went inside.

As soon as he entered, he felt all eyes on him.

Looking around, there was a long table in the room, with six auditors sitting on each side.

The space above their heads is empty; that's reserved for the host.

Richard stood opposite the host, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the people on either side.

These people are of different ranks and positions.

Several of them were very strong; Richard could feel their overwhelming presence even before he had passed on his inspiration.

At that moment, the host pushed open the door and walked in.

It's Professor Mortimer.

The old man slowly walked to the opposite side of Richard.

This time, he didn't pretend not to know Richard; instead, he nodded in greeting before sitting down.

"Let's begin, Mr. Williams."

Please restate the core arguments of your manuscript for everyone.

Richard stood up. This time he hadn't prepared a script; all the content was already organized in his head.

"My interpretation of this symbol is based on the discussion of 'dual structure and return clause' in Chapter 3 of Associate Professor Ashford's doctoral dissertation."

It also quotes Professor McFee's discussion of the "completeness of the three-part seal pairing" in Chapter 7 of his book *The Structure and Evolution of Gaelic Script*.

As for the data for the "thinning curtain" category.

The basis is the statistics in Section 3 of Chapter 7 of Mr. Haldane's "Introduction to Curtain Dynamics".

In addition, I conducted localized empirical verifications myself during two field trips to Whitcomb and a weak point in the western suburbs of Briston.

The empirical data from the two field operations are detailed on pages sixteen through nineteen of my manuscript.

Richard finished speaking.

The room was quiet for a while.

The committee member on the left spoke first.

The old man had a thin face and his brows were always furrowed.

"Mr. Williams, what year is that border stone you mentioned from?"

Richard: "Pre-Roman Celtic, Romanized, and Medieval Latin layers overlap."

The span is approximately 2,500 years.

The man continued, "Did you do both field missions independently?"

Richard: "I did it with the mentor and several senior colleagues."

However, the empirical data was collected and compiled by myself.

The man didn't say anything more, but raised his hand and wrote something on the roster.

A committee member on the right then spoke up and asked about the details of the data sampling.

Richard answered them one by one.

These questions aren't particularly tricky.

It seems that this group of people just wanted to get a clear picture of the background of his manuscript.

Once the basics are clear, the rest is no longer his concern.

The facts and Richard's guess were correct.

After Richard answered the last question, the thin old man in the first seat on the left stopped looking at Richard and turned to the others:

"Everyone."

The theoretical and data foundation of this article is solid, in my opinion.

A solid foundation doesn't guarantee that a conclusion can be published.

The concept of annual decay rate, once it becomes dynamic.

We would have to completely recalculate the maintenance cycle for every registered seal within the empire.

This is not something a student manuscript can handle.

A border stone, two field missions... these are all isolated cases.

On the right, a woman with gray hair spoke:

Associate Professor Claytenrose.

You've been saying "insufficient data" for thirty years now.

Does the 'data' only count as 'sufficient' when the seals within the empire break down one by one on their own?

The two of them talked non-stop, one sentence after another.

Richard listened silently.

This defense actually had little to do with him.

He was at best a catalyst.

Now that the fuse has been lit, all that's left is to let the gunpowder burn.

As the argument progressed, neither side could come up with anything new.

That's true. If it could be resolved, this issue would have been resolved thirty years ago.

The meeting room fell silent.

Professor Mortimer remained silent throughout, only occasionally taking a sip of tea.

Now that both sides had finished, he slowly asked:

"Are you done arguing?"

No one spoke.

Mortimer glanced around:

"Watching you two argue is like watching kids fight over candy."

One said the candy was mine, and the other said the candy was yours.

They argued until they were red in the face and their necks were thick.

But that piece of candy had long since melted on the table.

What you're arguing about today is whether or not this article can be published.

Whether the curtain is thin or not is not determined by the presence of you at this table.

Not looking at it doesn't mean it's not there.

These words clearly favored the change faction, and Claytenrose, who advocated the no-change faction, changed his expression.

"alright."

Professor Mortimer did not continue:

"What I mean is, this manuscript is approved for publication."

How about both sides take a step back?

No one answered.

The two sides argued all afternoon, but Mortimer calmed things down with just a few words.

Mortimer: "Just how thin is the curtain?"

Someone knows much more than any of us at this table.

Those people aren't here, and they wouldn't bother arguing with us here.

That's all.

He glanced at Richard and said, "Mr. Williams, please go outside and wait for a moment."

Richard pushed open the door and went to wait in the hallway outside.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Clayton came out, still holding the dossier in his hand.

He handed the case file to Richard:

"Mr. Williams, it's settled. Your manuscript is approved for publication, but the 'note' mark must be retained."

With Professor Mortimer speaking, there was nothing more for the two factions to argue about.

Richard took the file and was walking away when he saw another person.

It was Claytenrose, the leader of the opposition.

The thin old man paused for a moment as he passed by him:

Mr. Williams.

Richard: "Associate Professor Claytenrose."

Claytenrose: "I still have reservations about the points raised in your paper."

Richard: "Understood."

"but."

Claytenrose changed the subject: "Your manuscript is indeed well written, but there's one problem."

Richard: "Please correct me."

Clayten Ross: "You didn't shout any slogans."

Moreover, throughout the entire document you only presented the evidence, without saying a single sentence about "what we should do" or "what we must do."

We academics love presenting data and drawing conclusions, and we hate it when we're unsure about anything and just talking in generalities.

I hope you can do this in your future papers.

…………

After Richard returned to Ashford House, the butler handed him a letter.

The mailing address is Briston.

The handwriting on the envelope was crooked and the letters were written in a rounded shape.

Richard glanced at it and recognized the handwriting.

She is my own younger sister.

He opened the letter, and the handwriting inside was the same as on the cover:

"elder brother:

You've been away for almost a month, and the house is so quiet and empty; there's not even anyone to bicker with.

Last week I roasted a whole litter of rabbits, but unfortunately they all died.

This might be because I increased the oven temperature by 20 degrees Celsius, wanting to give the rabbits' skins multiple layers of golden brown.

As a result, they all turned into charred knights~

My mother said I was wasting honey and made me eat burnt rabbit for three days to atone for it.

However, I've discovered that as long as I open an extra vent in the oven, the temperature won't suddenly spike.

Are you eating well in Beijing?

When you finish your training and come back, I'd like to eat the Madagascar Vanilla Bean Caramel Pudding from the Royal Hotel, the one you mentioned last time.

Don't say you have no money. You're a college student now, if you keep complaining about being poor, you're lying.

I've written down every dish I want to eat. When you make a lot of money in the future, you can treat me to them all.

Dad has been working overtime again recently, and Mom asked me to tell you to take care of yourself.

—EW

Richard carefully put the letter away and placed it in the drawer.

After reading the letter, he felt a warm glow in his heart.

I feel that even the files of the academic review committee are not as important as this letter from my sister.

Richard walked to the window and felt the breeze blowing in from outside.

Summers in the capital are hotter than in Briston.

He stared at the sycamore leaves swaying in the evening breeze and thought of his family in Briston.

Are they sitting by the window now?

Richard suppressed his thoughts and decided he should tell his aunt and the others about it tomorrow.

I can start signing my name now.