I loaded the Mysticism panel.

"I just want to know more," Richard replied selectively.

"My aunt showed me some information, and I also learned some self-defense techniques, but they can only protect me for a short time."

"But last time I was in the western suburbs of Briston... If I hadn't had outside help, I wouldn't have made it home with just those few self-defense techniques."

"……Um."

Gerald put the teacup back on the low table.

"You're just like your aunt; you wear your heart on your sleeve."

After speaking, my grandfather got up, took a stack of manila documents from the bookcase, and moved them to the low table between them.

Richard glanced at it.

Introduction to Body Building

"The Practitioners: A Cycle of Exploitation"

"Minor Mastery: Bloodline Activation"

The Ashford Family Precepts: Physical Fitness Edition

Everything you want to see is here.

Gerrard pressed the stack of files.

"If you want to see it, I won't stop you."

"But before you turn to the first page..."

The old man pressed his etheric field towards Richard.

"Sit tight, I have a few words to say to you."

Richard, sit tight.

Gerald began to speak.

"Your circulation has been nurtured to this extent, producing clean ether."

"You use the same methods you use to feed it... ice water, hyperventilation, muscle spasms."

The ether you're keeping in this loop isn't the ether of a scholar; it's ether mixed with the stench of blood.

"The mixed ether will compromise the accuracy of future deciphering, the detail of reading, and the purity when nurturing artifacts."

The old man picked up the teacup.

"Ten years from now, you'll take that first step towards becoming a minor expert, that oath you've taken..."

"You'll then realize that your etheric structure has long been in disarray."

Richard remained silent for a moment.

"...I'll be careful."

"I'm not here to hear your promises."

Gerald pulled out the top file from the stack of files.

The Ashford Family Teachings: Physical Fitness Section

"Since you want to read, read this one first."

"This is a compilation of family precepts, with several generations of hunters including everything they could write during their introductory period."

"It's usually only shown to hunters who are direct members of the family."

"I'm showing it to you today because I know that just talking about it won't do any good."

"When it comes to things you scholars haven't read before, the hardest thing to resist is curiosity."

Gerald pushed the case file in front of Richard.

"You can see it."

"After you finish reading it, write down your thoughts for me later."

"...What should I write?"

"After you finish reading this, write me 'Why I can't practice like this'."

Gerald's gaze was fixed on Richard.

"It's written very clearly."

"I can't write it clearly... You won't get a share of the later books."

Richard reached out and took the "Collection of Admonitions: Physical Fitness" from the book.

"……yes."

Gerald's expression relaxed slightly as he watched his grandson put the files away.

"Have you heard about Vincent's childhood?"

"...I'm not sure."

He fractured his bone for the second time when he was eleven years old.

Gerrard's tone was flat:

"That time, he thought the introductory training was too slow, so he competed with a cousin in immersing himself in ice water."

"It lost temperature after being soaked in the eighth tub."

"The housekeeper took him to find a doctor, and he stayed in bed for two months after that."

"After your uncle came home, he dragged him out of bed and beat him for half an hour."

Richard frowned. He hadn't really grasped the concept of his grandfather's description of his cousin as hardworking before, but now he did.

"...Vincent trains like that because his natural circulatory system can hold up."

"He managed to hold on, but he also paid the price."

"His earliest wish in life was to take over your uncle's job and go to the New World."

Gerald fiddled with the tea stains around the rim of his cup.

"But Vincent's ceiling is almost visible now."

"The threshold of being a minor expert is something he can barely grasp at, at best."

Whether he can get his hands on it or not, he'll have to spend over a decade working in the industry.

"His daily training since he was thirteen years old was all for the purpose of mastering that door."

"We've only just gotten to the door so far."

"...Grandpa."

"I told you about Vincent so that you would know."

Grandfather waved his hand, interrupting him.

"In our Ashford branch, out of ten children, six make it through the initial training."

"Of the remaining four, two are injured and two have problems with their circuits; they won't survive if they train any longer."

"This is the price of a hunter."

"The cost is different for academics, and you know that yourself."

"Two paths, each with its own difficulties."

"You're currently on the path of a scholar."

"You need to solidify this path before thinking about anything else... Don't try to grasp both at once."

"Those who are arrested on both fronts..."

The old man stopped there.

"...I've met a few, but none of them lasted long."

Richard clutched the "Collection of Admonitions: Physical Fitness" to his chest and reiterated it once again.

"I will be careful, Grandpa."

"I don't believe your 'careful' talk."

Gerald gave him a disgruntled look.

"You came here for more than just to see how hunters train, didn't you?"

Richard's eyes lit up, and he followed up the conversation:

"Yes, I've been using the beginner breathing method for so long that I've become a practitioner... I'd like to know if I should switch to another one."

"It's time to change it."

Gerrard answered crisply.

"Your introductory breathing method is the fourfold breathing of the Golden Path, which is the crutch for practitioners at the threshold."

"You don't need a cane anymore."

Richard felt relieved; it seemed his grandfather didn't intend to set any barriers for him in this matter.

"I have an advanced breathing technique from the Golden Way called 'Tidal Breathing'."

"Getting trendy?"

"The quadruple breathing is a straight line," Gerald gestured.

"Inhale for four beats, hold your breath for four beats, exhale for four beats, hold your breath for four beats... these are all line segments."

"Tide-induced breathing is like waves."

My maternal grandfather wandered around the library a few times and then found another book.

This book is much thinner than the Compendium of Admonitions, and the cover is in classical Latin.

Richard took it and flipped through it.

The main text was also written in classical Latin, with handwritten Albian annotations under each paragraph, in my aunt's handwriting.

Why is it called "getting damp"?

Turn to page three.

Richard turned to the third page.

The third page has a wavy line drawn on it.

The crests of the waves, the troughs of the waves, the gaps between the waves... each one marks a different breathing rhythm.

"The rhythm of the fourfold breathing is fixed," Gerald explained.

"Inhale for four beats, exhale for four beats, it's always four beats."

"Adjust your breathing rhythm according to the state of your sun sign."

"Daytime activities, completed a spell, just finished a field mission..."

"The tree of light in the Sun's Seat has leaves that sway rapidly and roots that run deep."

"At this time, the rhythm speeds up, with short inhalations, short exhalations, and short breaths, to quickly replenish the ether reserves."

"At night, when I'm meditating, reading, or feeling tired..."

"The leaves of bare trees sway slowly, and the roots are loose."

"At this time, slow down the rhythm, take long breaths and short exhales, and let the ether slowly seep into the circulation for deep nourishment."

"Adjusting your own breathing rhythm is like the tides."

Richard mentally reviewed this passage.

"How do I know when to adjust my rhythm?" he asked.

"You probably wouldn't know if you were just practicing blindly."

Gerald then pointed to the book in his hand.

"Just keep breathing the way you're taught; the book will show you."

"For the first month or two, you'll feel like something's not right in all the ways."

"When inhaling, the lungs expand too much; when exhaling, the throat feels tight; when holding one's breath, there's a tightness in the chest..."

"Just hold on for a month, and then you'll get better and better at it."

Richard couldn't help but ask, "Does it significantly affect your physical condition?"

"No, that won't happen." Gerald said bluntly: "At most, you'll have trouble sleeping for a month, sweat while eating, and get a headache from reading."

"You can't do fieldwork for this month."

"You're on summer vacation right now, which is perfect."

Richard took over "Tide Breathing".

"Grandpa, this one..."

"This wasn't originally a family heirloom."

"Tidal breathing is one of the advanced breathing techniques in the Golden Way, and it is a universal method."

"The advantage is that it won't affect you if you switch to other advanced breathing techniques later."

"What are the downsides?"

"There's not much of a downside," Gerald said, stroking his chin. "The biggest downside is mediocrity."

"If you want to find something that suits you better in the future, you can ask your aunt."

"She's focused on academic research, so she can pick out a few books that are more relevant to your field, and then you can choose one."

Richard also embraced "Changing Breath" in his arms.

"...Thank you, Grandpa."

"Um."

Gerrard stood up.

The old man walked to the door of the library and said something.

"For the first month after you start using the breathing technique, you'll feel like something's wrong with your whole body."

"It's like wearing someone else's shoes."

Gerrard's statement was rather dry.

"Bear with it."

"It fit perfectly after a month."

………………

Richard took the two books back to his room and placed them on the table.

He sat in the chair, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing.

His shadow left the floor tiles beneath his feet and rose into the room.

Richard let it sink to the shallows behind the curtain.

He went to the library to look through the books, partly to see if there were any advanced breathing techniques.

On the other hand, we wanted to explore whether there were better methods for training shadows.

The shadow is already practicing.

But the methods he's been using to practice shadow puppetry these past few days have all involved "hyperactivity."

Let it run, walk, stand, and carry objects behind the curtain.

"Movement" can stabilize the outline of the shadow, preventing it from dissipating as soon as it sinks behind the curtain.

Staying stable does not equate to becoming stronger.

He needs to train his shadow to be able to fight in his place; mere stability is far from enough.

Richard opened the "Physical Training" section of the "Collection of Admonitions".

My maternal grandfather once said that this book was a beginner's method of physical training accumulated by generations of hunters in the Ashford family.

It describes how to train a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy into a hunter who can pass the professional threshold.

Richard translated very quickly.

Immersion in ice water, hyperventilation, beating with wooden stakes, muscle spasms.

He examined each item meticulously, and each item was accompanied by an explanation of the principles of mysticism:

The training for beginner hunters is all about "creating microscopic damage".

Immersion in ice water is an extreme temperature stress that forces the body and circulatory system to accelerate metabolism;

Over-ventilation is the overload of the etheric pathway, which forcibly expands the circulation.

The impact of being struck with a wooden stake is a cumulative physical shock that thickens the bone density.

Muscle spasms are the result of repeated microscopic damage, causing muscle fibers to be torn apart, repaired, and thickened one by one.

There is only one underlying logic:

Creating microscopic damage → Repairing → Enhancing.

Richard took out a pen and wrote this core message at the top of the draft paper.

Below he listed a table.

Can a shadow learn the training of a hunter?

Immersion in ice water is ineffective; shadows are insensitive to temperature.

Richard crossed out a line on the table.

Even hyperventilation won't help; a shadow doesn't breathe.

It is a shape formed from condensed ether, and it never "absorbs" air.

Hitting the stake won't work either; physical attacks will pass through the shadow.

Even muscle spasms won't work; a shadow has no flesh.

Richard pushed the draft paper aside.

Of the four training exercises, Shadow couldn't get a single one.

However, the logic of creating microscopic damage → repair → enhancement is universal.

Humans have their vulnerabilities, and so do shadows.

Richard picked up his pen again.

He began listing on the bottom half of the draft paper.

Behind the curtain, in the shallows, there were scattered large amounts of etheric fragments.

To the shadows, they are real objects.

In the past few days, he has been throwing his shadow into the shallows. As the shadow passes through the debris, the edges of its outline are noticeably frayed in several places.

The hair growth was minimal, and it subsided quickly after the treatment began.

But that is “microscopic damage”.

The risk is that if a large piece of debris gets on it, the tear in the shadow might be too big.

Another factor is the environment; the shallows behind the curtain have a higher ether concentration the further in you go.

A few steps further in from the edge of the shallows, the ether becomes much denser.

Between the "deep" and "shallow" parts of the shoal lies a middle ground.

The ether concentration in that area was enough to exert considerable pressure on the outline of the shadow.

The shadow stood there, pressed down from all sides by the high concentration of ether.

Over time, the outline of the shadow will begin to distort.

This could probably be considered a different kind of gravity environment training?

Richard put down his pen.

There was one last option, which he thought about for a long time.

Shadows are afraid of light.

In the material world, shadows are most afraid of strong light; light is their essential enemy.

The Sphinx Lamp's core ability is to "guard the gate between the two worlds, the boundary between light and shadow."

Light and shadow are the twin themes of this lamp.

Li realized that he could make the shadows actively touch the faint spots of light that were shining through from the material world from behind the curtain.

Light can burn shadows, leaving a small hole in the shadow's outline, which is then repaired through healing.

Over time, the shadow may learn to consume the light instead of being burned by it.

The light we consume becomes power.

This is the most counterintuitive and also the most dangerous.

Under normal logic, letting the shadow eat the light is no different from letting a wolf lick the soles of an elephant's feet.

If the light burns so intensely that you don't even have time to repair it, the shadow will simply dissipate.

But if you eat it...

Try the first two methods first.

"If the first two methods are reliable, then try the third one."

He carefully put away the draft paper.

Richard handed over the three steps he had just written down on the draft paper, one by one, to the other side of the shadow.

The shadow stopped at the edge of a cluster of floating ether fragments on the shallows.