I loaded the Mysticism panel.

The reflected courtroom receded from the dome inch by inch, like the tide going out.

The scales in the black water, the mouthless Amit, and the bird-headed god with a pen all faded into faint shadows and dispersed into a few wisps of drifting ether.

The stone wall is back, the stone pillar is back.

One by one, the masks in the glass case that had turned their heads away turned back to face their labels and fell asleep again.

The noise that filled the room suddenly subsided.

The students were either slumped over or sitting, and some of them couldn't even sit still, holding onto the glass cabinet and panting.

Richard ignored everyone else, focusing solely on the information displayed on the panel in front of him:

Seeds have been extracted.

[Planting Requirements: All three intelligence skills (knowledge, reasoning, and perception) must reach level 3.]

The first seed was taken from the Sphinx lamp.

The planting condition is that the "Spirit" item is unlocked, which means that all four items of the Body are lit up.

Now, for this second one, all three aspects of wisdom must be fully achieved.

One presses down on the body, the other on the mind, they are perfectly aligned.

The [Shadow Reversal] on the Sphinx Lamp flips the Stone Armor over, creating the Shadow Armor;

Turn the moon nail over, and you'll see the moon nail reflection that refreshes its own microcirculation.

Once a turning point is opened, tangible benefits will follow.

Now, another seed has fallen into the panel.

Name, mirror, substitute.

Richard began to speculate.

A mirror is a reflection of another person;

A name is the key to controlling the other party's lifeline;

Substitution means putting yourself in the other person's position.

Suddenly, an old idea he had buried at the very bottom of his notebook resurfaced in Richard's mind—a double.

At that time, he was just thinking about it.

What about now?

Name, mirror, substitute.

But this can't be rushed.

[Knowledge] is well past level 3;

[Perception], I just crossed the threshold of level 3 in this warehouse.

It's just missing one element: critical thinking.

The skill of critical thinking is nourished by "thinking".

Sitting in the room in a daze won't cultivate any health.

But once he entered the preparatory class of the Department of Classics at Imperial University in the fall, he was bound to be tasked with deciphering and proofreading, and with picking out the load-bearing beams from a stack of old papers.

Especially when there is an aunt in the department who can give you special tutoring.

By then, the experience of critical thinking may increase as rapidly as perception.

He removed the panel.

The Shadow Reversal allows him to reverse spells. What will this seed of name, mirror, and substitute bring him in the future?

As Richard pondered this, the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up.

No, you can't laugh yet.

The warehouse was full of people who had just emerged from a sealing ceremony involving fragments of a Black Soil River master.

Some people collapsed on the ground, panting, while others leaned against the glass cabinet and vomited.

It wouldn't be appropriate for him to laugh out loud right now.

In the storeroom, Curator Weatherby's long white beard hung limply down his chest, and his face was ashen.

The weighing of all the ether reserves overnight, with everything staked on that one reading, made him, the person presiding over the ceremony, the most exhausted person there.

He leaned against the central stone platform, speechless for a long time.

"It's over." His voice was hoarse, and his throat felt mostly empty.

"Everyone, take a rest. I need to sit for a while too."

Mr. Pritchard slid down the stone pillar and sat down on the cool floor tiles.

Mr. Hammond tucked the knife back to his side and leaned against the entrance of the storeroom, closing his eyes to rest.

The trainees were scattered throughout the warehouse.

Wade Byrne leaned against the coffin, his face pale.

His reflection chased him for nearly ten minutes, and he still hasn't recovered.

Montagu stood beside the low table, tidying up the rubbings with the same meticulous movements as usual.

Only the section of his wrist peeking out from under his sleeve trembled slightly, which was the only part of his behavior that was out of control tonight.

Catherine sat cross-legged on the floor, her head resting against the glass cabinet, her red hair half-loose, and her face still covered in a thin layer of sweat.

Edith remained squatting in place, her knees pressed against her chest, her face buried in the back of her knees.

Both groups remained silent.

Richard, however, was in surprisingly good spirits.

While others were exhausted and collapsed, he still had plenty of energy.

The smoke had brought all the strange objects in the room to life, but now that it's gone, they're sinking and being collected one by one.

But the more they tried to recycle, the more the objects whose seals had been loosened leaked out, leaving behind the last bit of ether.

Richard stood in front of a canopy jar and stared for a while at the jackal's head on the lid.

He then strolled over to the stone tablet engraved with birds and beasts, bringing his face close to the inscriptions, stroke by stroke.

The available points have started moving again.

"Williams".

Bourne looked up from the wooden crate and at the only person in the storeroom who still had the strength to walk around.

"You...you can still see?"

"Take another look." Richard didn't turn his head, his gaze lingering on the eagle pattern on the stone tablet.

"The Black Soil River exhibition will have to close tomorrow. Who knows when we'll see these genuine artifacts again?"

Byrne opened his mouth, then lowered his head again, too exhausted to speak.

Fisher, adjusting his round glasses, watched Richard's extremely focused figure as he moved from cabinet to cabinet, muttering something under his breath.

"After a whole day of entertaining guests, I spent the entire night reading fragments of memories..."

He shook his head.

"This person has truly absorbed the knowledge to their very core."

Catherine sat half-sitting on the ground, her expression unreadable beneath her red hair.

She glanced in that direction, then looked away.

Richard stood in front of a small object that resembled a brass incense burner.

It calmly scooped the last bit of ether that had seeped out of its body into the panel.

The numbers on the panel are still climbing.

From the destruction of the fragments to the complete cessation of the mystery, Richard used this window of opportunity to squeeze out the last bit of profit.

Available points: 3.21...3.44...3.62...3.81.

The strange object began to recede, and the remaining amount that had seeped out became less and less.

The numbers stopped at 3.81.

With the previous 0.73, minus the one point invested in perception advancement, he gained a total of slightly over four points this time.

3.81 remaining. Walk increases level 3 by one point, and critical thinking increases level 3 by one point.

There's an extra 1.81.

You can use a little to expand the capacity of your spirit statue from ten to twenty.

Just enough, with even some left over.

Richard closed his notebook, put his pen back in his pocket, and straightened up.

His legs went numb from squatting, so he moved around a couple of times to get the blood flowing back in.

Richard quietly retreated to a corner.

He needed to know whether his actions tonight had alerted anyone.

Richard squatted down behind the row of wooden frames covered with dust cloths at the very back.

Behind him was a stone wall, and in front of him was a wooden frame, which completely sheltered him.

The adults in the warehouse were exhausted and listless, and the students were all slumped over. No one paid any attention to the boy who had hidden in a corner.

He took out the divination tools from his inner pocket.

The space is cramped, and candle divination involves using candle sticks and dripping wax, which would be too noisy.

Reading the stone and scattering pebbles, yet afraid of making a sound from the impact.

He thought for a moment and then took out the tarot cards.

Richard closed his eyes and carefully considered the question in his mind, word by word.

Tonight's harvest was bountiful, and I even stole that wisp of mysterious embers. Am I being targeted by something?

With the help of the still water that the [Perception and Contemplation] technique creates, he can feel the edge of each card even with his eyes closed.

After washing, he took out three sheets and placed them on the lid of the wooden box in front of him.

Turn to the first page:

The Hermit (Upright)

An old man wearing a cloak stood alone in the wilderness, hiding a lit lamp under his cloak.

Richard relaxed a little.

A hidden lamp, a solitary figure, standing unseen in the wilderness.

...It seems he did a pretty good job.

Tonight, the more than twenty people in the warehouse were all stirred and teased by that cloud of smoke.

He stood there alone, and even the fragments couldn't find him.

The hermit's picture perfectly captures the whole story.

Turn to the second page:

Wheel of Fortune - Upright

A huge wheel, with all sorts of living creatures crawling on its rim.

Some go up as the wheels turn, while others go down.

Richard looked at this card and silently deciphered it.

The wheel is turning.

Tonight's drama unfolded from the initial burst of smoke, the curtain flipping, the chaos erupting, to the curator's approval, and the scattering of fragments...

The entire cycle has reached its peak and is now sliding down.

All the pressure that had been pressing down on us that night, along with this rotation, went down.

...The gaze that had been fixed on him had already passed its peak and was receding.

The Wheel of Fortune is all about "passing".

Things have changed, and the wheel has turned.

Turn to the third page:

[Strength - Upright]

A young girl in plain clothes reached out her hands and gently pressed down on the lion's open mouth.

The girl showed no sign of exertion, and the lion lay obediently at rest.

Richard stared at this one for a long time.

The girl pressed down on the lion's mouth not with brute force, but with a gentle control.

He understood. Tonight, he would siphon off some of the oddities from the room, skimming off only the top layer of oil from each item.

He kept the two disguised ornaments clutched in his hand, never letting them slip.

He suppressed his hunger, his desire to grab more and get closer to take a closer look.

He subdued the lion and pinned it beneath him... It was this control that protected him.

Richard's control was his own power.

Three cards are laid out on the lid of the wooden box.

The Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, Power.

It's well hidden; even if it's over the top, it can be held down.

Richard let out a slow sigh of relief.

He didn't carry the Stardust with him, but the layer of stillness spread out by [Perception·Quiet Observation] was perfectly calm, without the slightest ripple probing in the opposite direction.

He was about to put the cards away.

"Young Master."

A voice came from the other side of the wooden frame.

Richard raised his head.

Mr. Pritchard, having recovered somewhat at some point, wandered around to this corner.

The young hermit's face was still pale, but his eyes were fixed on the three cards on the lid of the wooden box.

"You put in a lot of effort in that last match, I saw it all."

Pritchard's eyes swept over the three cards:

"We finally got a break, and the first thing we did was set up a mahjong table."

He half-squatted down opposite Richard.

"The Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, Power." He examined each card one by one: "Scholars also study divination?"

Richard's mind raced.

Those who are secretive have a far greater sensitivity to divination and veiled clues than others.

Pritchard might not be able to decipher exactly what he had just divinationd.

But if you investigate further, you might find something out.

"Let's just go with the flow," Richard said calmly, pushing the three cards forward so Pritchard could see them more clearly.

"Since Mr. Pritchard has seen it, I will speak frankly." His tone was steady.

"Even though the fragments have scattered, I still feel a little uneasy."

I was just thinking of asking... if there were any remaining dangers in this warehouse.

He took the same hand of cards and the same spread, but changed the question entirely.

"Is that what you're asking?" Pritchard's interest grew even stronger.

"So, what did you glean from these three?"

Richard put his mind to work and re-analyzed the meaning of those three cards from beginning to end.

"Please take a look, sir." He pointed to the first one.

"The Hermit, upright, I occupy the remaining danger."

The hermit walks alone in the wilderness, all by himself.

The fragment, which had been a solitary shadow, retreated into the shadows after the curator's assessment and dissipated on its own.

His finger moved to the second one.

"The Wheel of Fortune, upright. The cycle of reincarnation has come to an end, completing a full circle from beginning to end."

Tonight's ceremony, from the curtain's reversal to the disintegration of fragments, has a beginning and an end, completing a full cycle.

The fragments spun to their end, with no turning back.

His finger landed on the third one.

"Power - Upright, the girl pressed down on the lion's mouth and tamed the beast."

This can be interpreted as the seal having completely subdued the remaining dangers.

Although the lion's mouth was open, it had been subdued, and there was nothing more restless in the warehouse.

Richard finished speaking in one breath, neatly breaking down the meaning of the three cards from "How well am I hiding?" to "Is this place still ominous?"

Pritchard stared at the three cards and slowly nodded.

"You read very fluently. May I ask who your teacher was?"

"Is divination still being taught in a small place like Bristol?"

Richard thought about it and realized there was nothing he couldn't say.

"I suppose I'm a student of Lady Mary; I learned some basics from one of her students who was a coroner."

Later, while on a mission with Mrs. McNeil, I learned more advanced divination and clairvoyance.

"Mrs. Mary... I received guidance from her."

Pritchard's tone suddenly warmed up.

"Mrs. McNeil, although I have never worked with her on a mission, I have heard of her reputation."