I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Richard waited until the gray-robed messenger left, then laid out the proceeds one by one on the table.

The spores of that silent fern, and a palm-sized piece of flag material.

Hercules' cursed objects: the bronze bell, the broken sword, and the cracked clay figurine.

He then took out the divination tools.

Tarot cards, copper plates, talismans, and a small bottle of star sand.

He had to claim every single thing he acquired tonight.

Three cursed items, one piece of banner material, and Silent Fern spores...

Most of them are of dubious origin and have been tainted by resentment.

He first placed the piece of flag material in the center of the table.

Richard shuffled the tarot cards. The still water, reflecting the perception of tranquility, allowed him to feel the edges of each card even with his eyes closed.

He kept the question in his mind: was there any risk involved in acquiring this piece of material?

After washing, I took out three sheets and placed them next to the flag material.

Turn to the first page.

Eight of Swords (Reversed)

A person bound by ropes and blindfolded, surrounded by swords.

Reversed, the rope has loosened.

Richard silently interprets the situation.

The binding symbolizes something that is trapped.

Reversed signifies loosening and breaking free.

The lingering resentments sealed within this flag are still trapped, but they want to break free, so I have to add another seal to suppress them.

Turn to the second page.

[The Moon Reversed]

Reversed, the water has receded, revealing what was hidden.

Richard stared at this picture for a while.

What is hidden will be revealed.

The reversed Moon signifies the dissipation of deception, but also the emergence of hidden dangers.

This piece of material looks peaceful right now, but it might reveal something else later.

Turn to the third page.

Temperance - Upright

The angel poured water back and forth between the two cups, pouring just the right amount.

Richard breathed a sigh of relief; he now preferred the Temperance card to the Star card.

As long as you handle the situation well and seal the flag properly, there won't be any major problems.

Richard packed the flag material separately and engraved a reinforced seal on the box.

He then performed divination on the remaining items one by one.

That layer of still water was perfectly calm, without any ripples coming from the opposite direction.

If you survive to the end, there's no real danger.

Richard raised his hand, conjuring up the bronze Hermes mask.

Golden wings, twin snakes, cast with exquisite craftsmanship.

The mask, in essence, is a structured etheric construct, or a spell.

Since it's a technique, it has its own steps.

He kept his inspiration to himself, reading deeper into the etheric layer on the surface of the mask.

The first layer is easy to read; the two pieces of gold wing correspond to the transmission of messages.

Hermes ran errands for the gods, and this thread represents the transmission of words between two places.

The next layer inside is the contract.

Further in, the two intertwined snakes represent a two-way extradition.

Richard read intently.

As I read the fourth level, that familiar dull pain in the back of my head returned.

He pulled his inspiration back and calmed the throbbing in the back of his head.

Reading is useless; Richard placed the mask in his palm.

He mentally reduced the dosage to the minimum, allowing only a tiny fraction of the power within the mask to circulate.

Try to understand how the concept of the divine name comes to him.

When it came in, the changes were very subtle.

The tip of my tongue felt it first.

I want to talk more, to persuade someone, and to explain the reasons clearly to others.

This is the god of words.

Then came his feet, and he began to feel a strong restlessness, a desire not to stay in one place.

He wanted to go somewhere else, to cross the threshold, to hit the road.

This is the god of travelers, the one who crosses borders.

Both impulses were faint, but they could easily lead him astray without him noticing.

Richard quickly removed the mask from his palm, and the force dissipated.

He tried putting the mask into the [Shadow Reversal] selection box.

The panel provided the judgment:

[This item does not meet the reversal criteria because the technique has not been mastered.]

He looked at the words and roughly understood.

[Shadow Reversal] What is reversed is the technique he has already mastered.

He had mastered the Stone Armor and the Moon Nails, so he could flip them over.

But he had never even worn that mask.

Strictly speaking, he has to wear it and use it thoroughly before he can be said to have mastered it.

The logic was clear, and Richard wasn't disappointed.

He could not wear it, and he had personally experienced both the consequences.

Richard's gaze fell on the shadow at his feet.

An idea popped into my head.

The shadow is a part of him, and the ability he gained after signing his name was to ferry this shadow across.

Should we let the shadow wear this mask?

If he puts on the shadow, and then studies it through the shadow, can he avoid the cost?

Richard had a sudden thought. He moved the shadow away from the wall and placed it in front of the table, then handed over the bronze mask.

The shadow stretched out two dark arms, caught the mask, and covered its own featureless face with it.

Richard felt a chill as soon as the mask was on.

The outline of the shadow began to tremble violently.

The edges spread outwards in streaks, as if someone were pulling them from the inside out.

Richard was startled and quickly helped Shadow remove the mask from his face.

Once the mask was removed, the outline of the shadow slowly stabilized, but it was still somewhat faint.

Fortunately, it was only put on tentatively, and the shadow didn't actually bear the power of the mask.

He felt a wave of fear. If he had delayed by two more seconds, the shadow would have dissipated on the spot, and his physical body would have been weak for at least several days.

Richard used "Breathing Healing" to cover the shadow with warm breath.

The jagged edges of the shadow were smoothed out one by one by ironing.

He sat back on the edge of the bed and rested for a while.

Richard realized something.

The shadow couldn't support the mask, perhaps it had nothing to do with the amount of strength.

The shadow has no "core".

For the name of Hermes to be contained within something, there must be a core that can hold it.

The shadow is a profile of oneself cast on the other side of the curtain.

It can move, stand, support objects, and be trained behind a curtain, but it is empty inside.

An empty shadow could not withstand the power of the divine name pouring into it.

The path of masks has gone in circles and ended up back stuck in traffic.

Richard was not giving up.

Wearing it is not an option, reversing it is not an option, and having the shadow wear it for you is not an option either.

Why don't we just take it apart?

He then delved into his inspiration.

But the deeper he read, the more he felt like he was groping in the dark.

The etheric structure of the mask is so complex that it has no boundaries.

One layer leads to another, one turn after another. After he finishes reading one layer, the next layer is a completely new loop.

As you read on, the entire mask remains an impenetrable black box.

He had deciphered so many coded messages, but no matter how difficult they were, they all had their own style, school, and the word he was most reluctant to decipher.

Once you grasp the basics, you can follow the clues to find the root cause.

This mask is different; it's not meant to be read by people at all.

Richard snapped out of his reverie and thought of Professor Mortimer.

But the thought was quickly suppressed.

He didn't have much trust in Professor Mortimer; the two had only met a few times in total.

More importantly, he didn't know if Hecate had left any hidden tricks on the mask.

Hecate handed the mask to him and Prometheus, saying, "Do with it as you please."

But who knows if there's a thread buried deep within the etheric structure of this mask that only she can move?

Richard took out the set of runes and mentally reviewed the question.

What would happen if I took this mask and let someone else take it apart?

The talisman stone was placed.

The wheat ears (harvest) rolled off the plate;

The two circles (relationship) rolled outside the plate;

Inside the disc, there is a skull.

Richard stared at the skull in the center of the plate for a long time.

The meaning couldn't be clearer.

Taking the mask to someone else to remove it will lead to a horrific death.

He took the talisman back.

Leaning against the headboard, I thought of the "core" thing about the shadow again.

The shadow cannot support the mask because it is empty and has no core.

What if the shadow had its own nucleus?

If this path proves successful, it would truly be a win-win situation.

But how can a shadow have a core?

The question was too detailed, and the feedback from the talisman wasn't enough, so Richard took out a tarot deck.

He shuffled the cards and drew a few to cover himself.

Turn it over.

The first image is the World (upright).

The second card is the Star (upright).

The third card is the Fool (upright).

Richard looked at the three cards and his brows slowly furrowed.

The world is a complete cycle and a closed loop; a full cycle has come to an end.

Stars represent hope and guidance, leading us forward.

Fools are new beginnings, leaping into the unknown.

Each of the three cards is good on its own.

They were gathered together, but their directions were very vague.

But there was one thing he noticed.

This is not something that can be done right now.

It points to a goal, and only after achieving that goal can the core of the shadow find its place.

As for what the target was, the card didn't say.

Once his "Critical Thinking" skill reaches level three, he will unlock a new trait.

Once that seed is planted, and once the [Spirit] section unlocks new functions.

By then, these problems that are currently holding him back may be easily resolved.

The mask was put down, and there were still things piled on the table.

Richard first took out the Saint-Bronze Paperweight and the Small Bronze Balance Scales and placed them on the table.

To purify these two strange objects, he had to get them back to their original function.

The sage keeps accounts, and the scales weigh.

With each weighing and swearing, the resentment subsides.

He took out the "bullish horn" that Coleman had given him before leaving from his inner pocket.

The thumb-sized, dark gray metal plaque features the profile of a bull with distinctively curved horns.

Let's try it out first.

Richard placed the bull horn on one side of the scale, then picked up the sacred paperweight and led it to look at it.

Saint Axe's long beak tilted towards the metal plaque.

The weighing results appeared in the form of an account book the next moment.

The inscription on this card by Saint Azir is about drawing out ether and triggering an explosion.

The items issued in batches by the military academy were poorly made and the alloy ratios were uneven.

After the accounts were recorded, the scales were weighed.

The weighing revealed that the bull horn was produced in a single, induced process.

It pushed the ether burst to its limit all at once, which was incredibly powerful, but the effect was very short-lived.

When Richard saw the results, he felt that this didn't quite fit his academic approach.

In terms of burst damage, he has the more useful [Spirit Form].

But it's not entirely useless; perhaps it can be used to complement a shadow.

After trying this one, Richard felt confident.

Using a paperweight and a balance scale to weigh things is a win-win situation.

It not only purified the two strange objects, but also allowed them to use the act of "weighing" to find out the details of the other things.

He took the pile of Hercules's cursed artifacts out of his shoulder bag.

The easiest thing to deal with was the copper bell; Richard used a scepter and a balance scale to weigh it twice and it was almost completely purified.

Available points: 2.09...2.23.

Let's talk about that broken sword again.

The knife is placed on the scale pan, according to the Holy Scripture, the balance scale is used.

Why was this knife disassembled? Where did the items taken go? It wasn't recorded in the accounts.

Available points: 2.23...2.43.

It was slightly better than the copper bell, but only slightly better. Richard put the broken knife aside.

And that cracked clay figurine—the seal had been broken, and the ether inside had completely dissipated, making it a true piece of junk.

Richard laid out the concept of "quiet observation".

The ancient Celts valued parallelism, with one part representing the heavens and the other the earth, their directions opposite yet their meanings complementary.

Heituhe relies on his real name and weight, as well as that set of "negative confessions".

The seal on this clay figurine was a method he had never seen before.

As for the broken corner of the flag belonging to the higher-ranking evil entity, Richard couldn't handle it himself and planned to take it from his aunt when she returned.

By the way, could you ask Clara if her skilled craftsman uncle could process it into a usable alchemical item?

I'll take the pottery figurines with me and ask about them later.

After finishing with the harvest, the candle was almost burned out.

Richard finished the last set of hygroscopic breathing exercises.