I loaded the Mysticism panel.

It was nearly noon when I left the Phillips house and returned to my mansion.

The old butler stood under the porch to greet people and asked if they wanted to have dinner in the main hall.

Richard replied that it wasn't necessary and went straight upstairs to the second floor.

I had a simple lunch at the small table in my room.

A few slices of ham, toasted bread and fried eggs, a pot of hot tea... These past two days, his mind has been completely elsewhere.

After finishing his meal, he neatly pushed the plate and silver spoon to the corner of the table, then got up and locked the bedroom door from the inside.

In Beijing in July, the afternoon sun shines through half of the window.

Richard drew the curtains halfway, letting only a corner of the desk catch the light.

He sat down on the edge of the bed.

The panel floated up.

Available points: 3.81

Perception level 3, progress 0.6%

Spirit Countenance 10/10

[Perception] has just crossed the threshold of level 3.

Richard hasn't quite figured out the "contemplation" he obtained in the museum's storeroom yet.

New traits require time to develop and become familiar with.

He wanted to see what the threshold for the next level was beforehand.

He sent a thought into the [Perception] section and began to preview it.

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

Level 4 completed;

Available points: 2;

In a situation where one is actively targeted/explored by someone of a higher rank, one escapes the target independently without relying on outside help or concealing any unusual items.

"Unlockable Effect Preview - Perception & Reflection: "

When stationary, not only is it more difficult to detect itself from the opposite direction, but it also reflects the probes directed at it by others.

Richard stared at the words "reflection" for a long time.

【Quiet observation】is like closing a window inwards, preventing people outside from seeing in.

【反照】means to turn a closed window upside down and use it as a mirror.

The hunter is the knife, the hermit is the net, and the scholar is the lamp behind the curtain.

He was told this clearly when he first came into contact with knowledge in the three major areas.

For someone carrying a lamp to live a few more years, the most important thing is to know which eyes are watching them in the darkness.

[Reflection] Directly facing this ability.

The unlocking conditions are also much harsher than those for "Observe".

The condition of "not relying on outsiders for help or concealing rare items" effectively shut down all the cards he could play.

The hunter guards don't count; Mr. Hutton and Professor Mortimer don't count; and Mrs. Mary's side doesn't count either.

The silver ring hanging on his chest and the eagle hook in his pocket were also unusable... These two items were precisely the "hidden treasures".

Either he trains to that level, mastering the art of concealment to the point where he can suppress someone a level above him, making them look like a candlestick with its light extinguished in the corner of a room.

He would either encounter a trapped minor master enemy, or a trapped mid-level evil entity.

Richard considered the two options in his mind.

First, he asked himself that he was still a long way from reaching that level.

【Perception and Contemplation】It's just that "still water cannot reflect the bottom," not that "still water cannot reflect even half a person's image."

The two sound similar, but are very different in practice.

As for the second point, he chuckled to himself.

Mid-level evil spirits are everywhere, trapped there, quietly waiting for him to test his courage...

Such a coincidence is harder to achieve than winning the lottery twice in a row.

Moreover, what if the seal on that thing loosens even a little?

For this newcomer to the profession, what he was trying to escape was not just a matter of being "locked down"; whether he could even save his life was another matter entirely.

Richard removed the panel and breathed a sigh of relief.

[Reflection] Put it aside for now.

The current approach is to thoroughly understand the concept of "quiet observation" and move forward with the tasks at hand.

As for the conditions...

The right conditions are often something you can't just create; the path just happens to you when you're on it.

With that thought in mind, he began his usual routine of nurturing his rare objects.

But as I kept handling it, I suddenly felt that something was off about it.

There is an extra very shallow engraving on the forehead of the Sphinx relief.

The engravings are extremely fine and shallow, and can only be clearly seen when illuminated at a certain angle.

Richard held the lamp in his hands and brought it close to the beam of light that was leaking through the gap in the curtains.

Once the spiritual vision is activated, the texture of the engraving becomes clear.

That stroke was newly engraved.

Under spiritual vision, there was a very faint line of ether deposited in the engraving, which was slightly cleaner than the ether deposits elsewhere on the lamp body.

It was newly deposited, probably from the night before last, when he read the title of the fragment about the load-bearing beam and shifted his shadow between the two worlds.

Richard's lips slowly curled up.

This is the strange transformation described in the old book my grandfather gave me.

"The artifact itself will change each time the owner's skills improve."

"This transformation is slow, but it is real and visible."

Today, his own lamp bears an additional mark on his forehead.

Tomorrow it may be the scales of a lion, the day after tomorrow it may be the eyebrows and eyes of a human.

It grows along with itself.

Richard held the lamp in his palm for a moment, then gently placed it back on the table.

My grandfather once said: The transformation of extraordinary things is the yardstick by which practitioners measure their own progress.

It moved today, which means that it accepted the reading it did at the museum last night.

Richard pondered for a moment.

Transformation itself cannot be rushed.

But now that this lamp has recognized him as its master, will the power it grant him also increase along with this mark?

He ran his fingertips over the lamp.

Close your eyes and call your shadow to rise.

The shadow on the wall immediately left the wall and fell onto the floor tiles, forming a black outline as tall as a person.

I can control it myself now, and it's much more flexible than it was at the beginning.

These past few days, I've been working tirelessly behind the scenes, and my shadow walks much more steadily than before.

The strange object subtly hinted at the transformation of his abilities.

He followed the clue and tried to get the shadow to open the drawer.

The shadow stretched out two dark arms and pulled the drawer halfway.

At the deepest part of the table was a notebook filled with his proofreading notes, written on ordinary paper and ink.

Richard told Shadow to carry the notebook behind the curtain.

The shadow reached out and picked it up, but as soon as it submerged into the shallows behind the curtain, the notebook fell to the ground.

Richard was not surprised.

At the very back of the drawer was a velvet bag containing several empty, strange objects.

Richard told Shadow to fetch it.

The shadow sank, along with the eagle badge in its palm.

Under the power of spiritual vision, behind the curtain on the shallows, a dark human figure stood, holding a badge in its palm.

The eagle's beak was pointed in Richard's direction, as if waiting for him to nod.

Richard had another idea.

The shadow, carrying the badge, floated back into the material world.

As the shadow pressed back against the wall, the eagle badge slammed onto the floor with a thud.

Richard scratched his head and sighed.

This dark, indistinct group was completely clumsy from head to toe, unable to even make a proper handover.

He bent down and picked up the badge.

The badge's temperature and weight remained unchanged.

It truly went from one realm to another, and then returned.

Richard sat down on the edge of the bed and flipped the eagle badge in his palm.

Ordinary objects cannot be moved by shadows.

What can be a physical object is a "real object" to a shadow.

Anything that has come into contact with ether: artifacts, spellcasting mediums, enchanted trinkets... can be carried by the shadow between the two worlds.

The first thing we can do is steal rare items, but let's put that aside for now.

Hiding things behind a curtain is also a good idea.

But the most effective way to provide immediate results is to equip the shadow with an ether weapon during combat.

Devices made from the scales of the Shadow Eater, needles forged from the teeth of the Soul-Eating Beast, that "Ebony" revolver and its enchanted bullets...

All of these things can be used with shadows.

Richard put the eagle badge back into the velvet bag and placed it back in the drawer.

The shadow retreated to its feet.

………………

Richard came down from the second floor and, as usual, took the servants' passage.

Ashford House has been managed over generations, with the main hall, banquet hall, and family living quarters each occupying their own floor.

The library is located at the west end of the wing, occupying half of each of the second and third floors.

The second floor contains ordinary books.

Ancient Greek and Roman classics, modern literary collections, and excerpts from some notes written by my maternal grandfather in his early years.

The third floor was locked.

Richard was staying there for a month, and the housekeeper gave him a universal key to the second floor.

My grandfather always carried the key to the third floor on his waist.

However, the information he was looking for wasn't on the third floor.

Although the Ashford house is described as a "declining lighthouse," there are still many training manuals, field notes, and loop maintenance records accumulated by generations of hunters on the second floor.

It was just placed in a corner, and no one usually bothered to look at it.

Richard entered the library from the west wing staircase.

The library was quiet at 2:30 pm.

The glass window with lead wire cut the sunlight into square shadows, which were laid out on the floor tiles like a chessboard.

Richard walked along the bookshelf to the very back.

In the innermost part of the second-floor library, against the north wall, stands a single low cabinet.

There was no lock on the cabinet door, only a cloth curtain hanging on it.

That was the plane he was looking for.

He lifted the curtain, revealing that the oldest volumes had yellowed pages and curled corners; the newest volumes were still white.

Richard reached out and pulled out the thinnest one.

The small, gold-embossed lettering on the cover reads: "The Ashford Family Twelfth Generation Bloodline Maintenance Manual".

He opened it.

The first page is a hand-drawn loop map.

The hunter's main etheric pathways branch off from the tree of light directly behind his sternum, extending to his limbs, spine, and cranial cavity.

The second page covers common treatments for circuit damage.

The third page lists the frequency, depth, and initial duration of cold water immersion, among other things, in detail.

Richard read a few lines and had a better understanding of the situation.

He was about to close the book and pick up the next one...

"Young Master Richard."

Richard turned around.

The butler stood at the end of the bookshelf, about six or seven steps away from him.

Are you looking for something?

Richard hadn't had time to put the dossier back on the shelf yet.

"...I'll look through the training materials at home."

The old butler grunted in agreement.

He glanced at the row of bookshelves.

"Young Master, you are a scholar."

"Yes."

"The scholar's path," the butler turned his gaze back to Richard, "is a different approach from the hunter's path."

Richard's heart skipped a beat.

It seems that the steward knows more about the mystical world than he originally estimated.

"You know about these things too?" Richard asked tentatively.

"I've worked for the Ashford family for almost forty years," the butler said, bowing slightly.

"When your maternal grandfather was injured while on duty, I was the one who brought him the medicine basin."

The night your uncle first went through ice water, I was the one tending the stove.

When Vincent was a child, he broke his bones twice, and I was the one who took him to the doctor.

The old butler suddenly changed the subject.

"If you'd like to see the breathing techniques, I'll speak to the master and have him explain them to you personally."

The butler did not stop him directly.

But the real meaning is quite clear: this bookshelf shouldn't be something that anyone can just rummage through.

If you try different breathing techniques haphazardly, you'll ruin your breathing cycle.

Richard put the dossier back where it was.

"...Thank you for your help."

The butler bowed slightly.

"Please have a seat here, I'll go and fetch the master."

In less than a quarter of an hour, hurried footsteps could be heard outside the library.

Grandfather Gerald strode into the room.

Richard stood up.

"Maternal grandfather".

"sit."

Gerrard waved his hand and sat down in the high-backed armchair in the corner.

The butler poured tea for the two of them and then stepped outside, gently closing the door from the outside.

There were only two people left in the library.

Gerrard picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"What, you think scholars are too weak and want to secretly practice some hunter's skills?"