I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Richard stared at that section.

"What else did the accompanying scholar write?"

"The accompanying scholars didn't write much," Greer shook his head.

"He just noted...that a much bigger battle was fought along that road hundreds of years ago, and there are more dead people buried underground than this time."

Richard understood what the accompanying scholar hadn't dared to write down.

The road in Mons is an extremely old and weak point.

The curtain was already thin, and this time, the expeditionary force and the pursuing army, one in front and one behind, trampled the area into a deathly stillness.

Things buried in the ground hundreds of years ago have been abruptly awakened.

As for that "angel" that stood between the two armies.

Did the dead rise from the ground, or did something actually bend down to protect them...?

The accompanying scholars dared not write, and Richard had never been to the scene, so he naturally had no way of knowing the specifics of the situation.

The other battle report came from the allies.

"In the eastern border of our allies, there is a river."

Greer drew a line on the report.

There is a ferry crossing on the river, and a fortress surrounds both sides of the ferry crossing.

"A dozen or so concrete structures, originally intended to stand for a hundred or two hundred years."

"As a result, the other side brought over several cannons."

He turned to a page with illustrations.

The cannon was ridiculously large, with a barrel so thick that a person could fit inside it; it had to be dragged along by railcar section by section.

"This is a siege mortar."

"With one shot, the concrete roof was smashed right through."

"One by one, more than a dozen fortresses fell silent, and the soldiers guarding them were buried alive in the collapsed concrete along with their cannons."

Richard looked at that page.

The fortress, built over decades, was smashed into a grave in just a few days.

"These are matters for the military, they have nothing to do with us."

"But something went wrong."

Greer's finger touched the latter half of the report.

"When that fortress was chosen decades ago, there were far more dead people buried underneath than the fortress garrison."

Richard understood.

"Those siege mortars came crashing down one after another..."

"We destroyed the fortress." Greer nodded. "And we also activated the weak points underneath."

Richard recalled his empirical paper.

At that time, there were two groups of scholars arguing about "insufficient data".

There's no need to argue anymore.

The report specifically mentioned the need to "recast" seals, piecing together old seals that had been shattered by artillery fire from the ruins.

Croft also came over at some point.

He remained silent, sipping his tea, which was so bitter it made one question the meaning of life.

Now it's time to add more:

"Greer was talking about things on the local battlefield; I'll add some more details."

He started by talking about iron wire and electrical wire.

The trenches were filled with barbed wire and telephone lines.

One battle line stretched for dozens of miles, with power lines as dense as a spider web.

The report included a factual account submitted by a communications soldier.

He said that while he was on night duty, a voice came through the hand-cranked telephone; it was his deceased squad leader.

The squad leader called his name on the phone and asked him to report the position.

The communications soldier knew a thing or two; he tried the same wire again, and the sound was still there.

The words I used were different from the last time.

When Richard saw this passage, he thought of the intelligence discussed at the last gathering.

The power grid, stretching for dozens of miles, was transformed into a ready-made "memorial altar".

Richard wrote this down.

Croft added his own assessment:

"With telephone lines as the medium, the demand for 'disconnection' services should increase dramatically."

Another one is the searchlight.

Those searchlights used for nighttime air defense were originally intended to illuminate enemy airships.

However, several hunter squads discovered that when the beam of light swept across the ground...

The semi-physical and spiritual evils on the ground froze in place when exposed to the light.

The notification is followed by the corresponding requirements:

The front lines need an engraved searchlight that can actually burn the evil, not just freeze it stiff.

After several pieces of information were shared, the other students who were quietly doing their own things all perked up their ears.

Greer rolled it up again.

"Alright." He clapped his hands. "Everyone who needs to know, knows."

"From now on, everyone will be able to keep track of these demand orders."

The students nodded in agreement.

Richard looked down at the neatly categorized demand lists, sorted by type: dormancy, blockade, disconnection, reforging, and so on.

Behind every battle lies a battlefront and a mass of dead bodies.

The slumber in the south is the agonizing sound of tens of thousands of bodies dying.

The blockade in the middle section consisted of things that emerged from under the trenches;

The broken line is a retrospective look following the shouts of names at the end of a retreating column;

Recasting is the old seal that was cracked by the siege mortars decades ago.

However, this "Battlefield Quick Seal Manual" is a quick and crude emergency seal manual that is used and then discarded.

Won't such a seal cause even bigger problems?

Richard didn't think too much about it; this wasn't a problem for someone of his rank to worry about.

What attracted his attention even more was something else.

Catherine has changed.

Richard was originally the fastest at picking out the key parts and removing redundancies.

Montague was steady, Fisher was finesse, but neither could match his speed.

But in the past few days, Catherine's progress has been gradually catching up.

Later on, she dismantled things even faster than Richard.

Richard took note and watched her break several seals.

To identify the key parts, you need to first determine which strokes are supporting the structure.

In this step, Richard relied on his "deductive reasoning" to understand the position of each stroke within the entire seal, and then deduced which strokes would bear the weight.

Catherine did the opposite.

She went to find "which few strokes were redundant".

A seal was laid out in front of her, and she could pick out the extras with a glance.

Delete them, and what's left is naturally the key part.

She was unusually perceptive of "redundancy" and "imbalance".

Which stroke is redundant, and which stroke shouldn't be there?

She could tell at a glance which inscription was "heavier" or "lighter" than the others, and she was incredibly fast.

It's not just about breaking the seal.

During this period of classes, whenever the topics of "imbalance," "excess," or "asymmetry" were discussed, Catherine seemed to have gained extraordinary insight.

In the course on dating inscriptions, the lecturer brought out a rubbing that mixed multiple writing systems from different eras and asked students to point out which parts of the brushstrokes were out of place or were added by later generations.

The entire class meticulously examined the checklist, word by word.

Catherine glanced at the area and pointed out every single extra stroke.

In the field of textual criticism, when two copies are placed together, one must judge which comes first by examining the subtle differences.

This is one of Fisher's specialties.

But those subtle "inequalities" were as obvious to Catherine as a tilted scale.

Fisher is no match for him, nor is Montagu.

When it comes to "nitpicking," Richard's "deliberation" involves examining each bone carefully, one by one.

Catherine was born knowing which bone was crooked.

Richard slowly began to savor the flavor.

This mask of Nemesis was lent to Catherine.

The ability to perceive "excess" and "imbalance" is probably the least important of these.

........................

During the routine editing that day, Hollis brought over an unusually thick seal diagram.

This is a large batch of old drafts that need to be re-checked.

He gave some to Catherine.

"You have the best eyesight, so you'll be in charge of verifying this stack."

That stack of manuscripts was piled up really high; it would take an entire afternoon to finish it.

Catherine didn't refuse and took the task, getting right to work.

Just then, Croft came in to call for someone.

"Catherine, Professor McFee wants to speak with you."

Catherine glanced at the still-high stack of manuscripts in front of her and frowned.

Professor McFee told her she couldn't refuse.

Hollis instructed that this stack of manuscripts must be verified by today.

She got up to leave, but glanced at the stack of manuscripts again, feeling a little awkward.

Richard didn't receive many sealing maps.

He dismantled the structures quickly and is almost finished now. He's just about to have some free time to look through the demand list.

Richard noticed Catherine's embarrassment and also harbored some thoughts of testing her.

"Go ahead," he said casually, getting up and dividing the stack of manuscripts among himself.

"The professor's situation is more important; don't keep people waiting."

Catherine stopped in her tracks.

"Need not."

"I'm just idling around anyway."

Richard had already returned to his seat and spread out the stack of manuscripts.

"Go quickly."

Catherine looked at him for a while, said nothing more, and turned to leave with Croft.

The work was tedious, but for him, it was simply a matter of picking out the key parts of each old seal again.

Moreover, watching the progress bar of "Critical Thinking" slowly increase as the work progresses is really addictive.

He hummed a song and quickly finished all the tasks amidst the horrified stares of his classmates.

He put the manuscript on Catherine's stack and got up to pour himself a glass of water.

He originally wanted to see the red-haired girl's reaction.

But after finishing that day, Montague and Fischer both invited him to a small study session.

He got so busy that he forgot about it.

But Catherine didn't forget.

The next day during lunch break, Richard lined up for lunch at the cafeteria near the department office.

He's known for his huge appetite; he can order several portions at a time.

This caused the undergraduates in front of him to glance back at him every now and then, before quickly looking away.

He overheard some whispers, and it seemed that people thought he was eating too much because he was using his brain too much.

Halfway through the line, a hand suddenly reached out from the side.

The hand placed a meat pie on his tray.

Richard turned his head.

It's Catherine.

She somehow ended up next to him in line, expressionless, and placed the meat pie on his plate before leaving.

"...What's this?" Richard stared at the meat pie on the plate, a little confused.

"Here you go." Catherine said without turning her head.

Why?

Catherine paused for a moment.

"Don't you have a big appetite?"

"Here... can I put this on for you?"

Richard: "..."

He looked down at the lone meat pie, then at his tray piled high with three large portions.

"...Thanks?"

Catherine nodded, then turned and left.

Richard went to his seat and ate while thinking.

Is a meat pie enough to pay off a debt?

Is the price of the Nemesis mask really that easy?