I loaded the Mysticism panel.

At the most critical moment, Richard lost consciousness.

The swaying of the deck beneath my feet was gone.

The air was filled with the smell of old papyrus and aged lime.

Richard opened his eyes.

He stood in the center of a stone chamber with its four walls tightly closed.

A mummy is a piece torn from its original body; its destruction is equivalent to "mission failure".

But the seed mechanism is restarted.

Once the slate is wiped clean, you can start afresh.

The walls of the stone chamber are covered with inscriptions, densely packed, stretching from the ground all the way to the dome.

The style of the inscription's strokes is earlier and more primitive than any Black Soil River rubbing he had seen at the Imperial University.

In the very center of the stone chamber stood something.

Calling it a "person" is a bit of a stretch.

The figure was about eight feet tall, so thin that the outline of his ribs was clearly visible through his white robe.

That head is an ibis head.

It has a long, curved beak topped with a silver crescent-shaped crown.

He held a reed pen in one hand and a notepad in the other.

Thoth?

But Richard sensed something was wrong almost at the same instant.

The ibis head is a polished bronze mirror.

Richard's face was not reflected in the mirror.

He stood before Thoth, the mirror reflecting only the stone walls and inscriptions.

Thoth spoke, using Richard's own voice.

"This ship will sail from the darkness of the west to the light of the east."

"Twelve gates; those who cannot pass through them remain forever in darkness."

As he spoke, he handed over the scroll of papyrus in his hand:

"This book is a clue for you."

Thoth's ibis head tilted slightly toward Richard.

Richard took the papyrus.

Deciphering encrypted text is what he excels at now.

Papyrus is half a person's length, but when rolled up, it is only as thick as a thumb.

When unfolded, the ink on the paper was intermittent, and some characters were only half visible.

Richard started reading from the first line in the top left corner.

The script is in the Black Earth River priesthood style.

He had learned some of it in an elective course, so it wasn't too unfamiliar to him.

The first line contains seven complete letters, followed by a fragmented and worm-eaten annotation.

Richard examined them carefully and discovered that these characters explained the concept of "day name".

The people of the Black Soil River Basin firmly believe that the true name is the essence.

Whoever holds your real name holds your life in their hands.

They never write down their real names.

The names written on the tomb walls, coffins, and sacrificial documents were all written in the form of "daytime names".

This is a safe and public alternative name, meant for the living and for Gods to see.

The papyrus was covered with a string of daytime names.

Richard continued reading.

The second line was much more fragmented than the first, and it took him a long time to piece together all the characters.

This line records the port's defensive structure.

The coverage areas of the two experts were so precise that they could pinpoint which stake on the dock marked the boundary.

The third and fourth lines... are the names of the two experts.

The one of the sun's traditions is named "Helio Montagu";

The one who embodies the tradition of hearth fires is named "Christian Niefel".

Such a name has no power in itself, just like a name given in broad daylight.

If you read it aloud, that expert won't be able to control you.

But it is the label that experts leave in the material world.

Richard continued translating.

The fifth to seventh lines were even more severely damaged, and it took me several minutes to piece them together.

The content he pieced together made his brows first relax and then tighten.

The reason he was relaxed was because this passage explained the root cause of his first failure:

"The shadow resides in the human body; the golden light does not shine on the person inside the body, but on the shadow inside the body."

There's a gap between the shadow and the shell; the gap is a foreign object. It doesn't appear with the first scan, but it appears with the second.

He suffered this loss on his first attempt.

The first pass of the golden light is shallow, the second pass is to tighten the net.

The shadow membrane in the replacement body will instinctively shrink after being touched by light, and the shrinkage is the trace.

This is the sun's traditional practice: it doesn't shine through everything at once, but first forces the shadow to move, and then shines on the moved shadow.

The reason it's so tight is because the next paragraph explicitly states the solution:

"Golden light shines in the sky, but not in the water."

The sun shines above all things, but not below them.

The sea is black, and shadows can be hidden in its darkness.

Golden light does not shine on water.

The sun's traditional power shines on both the heavens and the earth.

Beneath the sea's surface, in that perpetually murky darkness, the golden light cannot penetrate.

The shadow moves beneath the water, but the golden light cannot be grasped.

But simply walking underwater only solves the problem of "how to send the shadow into the city".

But the previous failure has proven that the two experts working together have extremely high perception accuracy.

If you try to sneak in by using your shadow as a cover, it's only a matter of time before you get caught.

Richard needed something to distract those two experts.

Something so big that they have to distract themselves to deal with it.

The encryption method changed in the next three lines; it became an offset replacement.

A few minutes later, he pieced together the content.

"When the coffin is opened, an old song is played, and the song commands all the shadows to come to pay homage."

Read the inscription in the coffin seven times, and the power within the shell will be seventy percent complete.

Richard pondered silently.

Inscription in the coffin.

This passage likely refers to the priestly inscriptions carved into the mummy's body.

Inscriptions are certainly not for decoration.

They are offerings of "fuel" that have been deposited for thousands of years.

Under normal circumstances, the inscriptions are dormant, and the mummy can only draw upon a small portion of their power.

However, if the inscription is read seven times from beginning to end, following the chanting style of the ancient Black Earth River priests and in the order of the burial ritual...

The inscription will then be activated.

Once the dormant fuel is ignited, the container's power will surge from 10-20% to 70%.

Seventy percent, which is close to the maximum extent of this mummy's lifespan.

A clone of the Black Earth River Master, possessing 70% of its power, could hold out against the two defending masters for a considerable time.

They must deal with it.

If the Black Earth River expert, who possesses 70% of the power, were to unleash his secrets recklessly in the port, the port would be thrown into complete chaos.

Therefore, the mummy's disintegrations were the bait.

Its task was to keep the two experts' attention firmly on the port front.

Meanwhile, the shadow walked out of the water and into the city.

Replace the crew members of the neutral nation's fleet who have already entered the port and docked.

The golden light and the hearth fire were taken away by the mummy.

There is a gap in the city's sensing network.

The shadow completes its replacement during the off-season.

The only remaining clues are the last few lines of text.

The first paragraph is a list.

Mohammed Fahd, a third-class clerk at customs; Said, the night watchman at the western warehouse of the port; Joh, a barge sailor...

These hidden stakes were planted by experts from the Black Soil River region more than a decade in advance.

Some of them were unaware that they had become moles.

Richard looked down.

The encryption method for the second segment has changed again.

This time it wasn't an offset replacement, but a nested structure he had never seen before.

The outer layer is the priestly body of the ancient Black Soil River, and the inner layer is an even older, almost incomprehensible symbol.

He spent a long time working through it, chewing on each character one by one.

The content that was deciphered was the name of the Black Soil River expert.

First paragraph:

"He who walks in the land without light, and breathes with the shadow."

Second paragraph:

"He who once used a mirror to reflect the names of all things."

Third paragraph:

"The flesh is sealed, the bones are engraved, only the shadow remains forever in the world."

Richard stared at the three sentences, silently comparing them.

It has the exact same three-part solfège structure as other experts.

The first paragraph describes the origin, the second paragraph describes the great achievements, and the third paragraph describes the relics.

This expert has dismantled himself even more thoroughly than the one from the Gale.

The wind left a breath, but it left not even a breath, only a shadow.

Mr. Hutton had instructed him:

"The act of calling out names is itself a form of shouting."

When you utter that person's name, it's as if you're gently calling out in that direction from this side of the curtain.

But in this seed trial, the rules are different.

The priestly inscriptions on the mummy were fuel, and the chanting of the inscriptions was ignition.

However, the maximum number of times an inscription can be ignited is only 70%.

The remaining gap of more than 10% will have to be bridged by prestige.

It's probably no longer at the level of a "bait".

At the end of the papyrus, there is a very small note.

"The honorific name must be recited immediately after the inscription has been read seven times."

The interval must not exceed three breaths. If it exceeds this time, the inscription will fall back, and the honorific name will remain unread.

The time window is only three breaths.

After reading the inscription for the seventh time, taking advantage of the moment when the power had reached its peak and had not yet subsided, he smashed the name of honor into it.

Too early won't work, and too late won't work either.

Richard nodded; the next plan was clear.

The main storyline involves the mummy being activated at the port and then directly confronting the enemy.

The hidden plot is that shadows seep into the city from the bottom of the water, using the characteristics of replacement and hidden stakes to help infiltrate the museum.

Richard rolled up the papyrus and held it in his hand.

He looked up at Thoth, the man with the mirrored ibis head across from him.

"Can I go in again?"

It simply picked up the reed pen and wrote a line on the notepad.

After finishing writing, he turned the notepad over and showed it to Richard.

It reads on the board:

"maat merer rekh. (Truth favors those who know the answer.)"

The stone chamber began to darken.

Consciousness sank into darkness once more.

The deck shook again beneath my feet.

Everything reset.

The sailboat is still on that sea, the sun is still in the same place, and the sailors are still the same group of people.

Dozens of merchant ships were lined up in a loose queue on the sea, waiting for the tide to let them pass.

The two golden and red statues remain stationed at both ends of the breakwater.

Exactly the same as the first time.

Richard did not hesitate.

This time he took a two-step approach.

The first step is to develop the underlying storyline.

He separated a shadow from the mummy.

This single strand was thicker and more substantial than the three strands from the previous one.

This is a complete "shadow clone," carrying enough "mirror" and "substitute" essences, capable of acting independently.

The shadow slipped into the sea from under the boat.

It moves towards the port, following the section below the waterline of the keel.

The seawater swallowed the rough scan of the golden light.

A shadow is much more nimble underwater than on a deck.

The water is flowing, and the shadows find a familiar rhythm in the flowing water.

For thousands of years, the belief in the Black Soil River Basin has held that water is the medium through which shadows travel in the underworld.

Its movement was like a fish returning to a pond.

With the deployment map in hand, it deliberately took a detour when passing the breakwater, passing through the gap in the foundation.

The covert plot is in place.

The second step is to start with a clear line.

Richard began reading the inscription.

Begin with the oldest inscription in the center of the chest, using the chanting style of the ancient Black Earth River priests.

It is a low, guttural sound that is half-recited and half-sung.

First time.

The sound came from a dry throat, like sandpaper rubbing against dry bones.

The sailors on the ship all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

The tune from a funeral a thousand years ago made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end.

Second time.

The faded inscriptions on the linen lit up one by one, spreading from his chest to his limbs.

The shadow of the entire ship began to converge on him.

The third time.

Fourth time.

The mummy's joints no longer creaked.

He could feel his power increasing.

On the sixth time, the golden light in the distance suddenly brightened, confirming the direction.

The dark red fire in the furnace surged slightly.

They have been discovered.

To an expert, this noise is similar to someone setting off a string of firecrackers in front of your house.

But it was too late to stop it.

The entire deck of the ship was shaking, and the tattered flag on the mast was torn to shreds.

The sailors were terrified; some ran into the cabins, while others lay on the deck with their heads in their hands.

On the final pass, all the mummy's inscriptions lit up, its power reaching its peak.

Richard did not hesitate.

The last syllable of the inscription was still resonating in the mummy's chest when he spoke.

"He who walks in the land without light, and breathes with the shadow."

The moment the first sentence was uttered, all the light on the entire sea surface was sucked away.

The sun was still in the sky, but there was no reflection on the sea.

The seawater turned into a black mirror.

The inverted pyramid behind the curtain began to exert its power to stop the golden light from shining through.

"He who once used a mirror to reflect the names of all things."

As the second sentence was uttered, the reflection of the harbor appeared on the pure black sea.

Every boat, every stake, and every person in the reflection is illuminated with exquisite detail.

A mirror, reflecting one's image.

Richard, through the mummy's perception, clearly saw the "forms" of the two guardian masters reflected in the mirror.

Golden sun, crimson furnace.

When reflected in a mirror, their power appears slightly diminished.

The sun sank to the bottom of the water, and the furnace was overturned on the sea surface.

"The flesh is sealed, the bones are engraved, only the shadow remains forever in the world."

The last sentence says that the linen covering the mummy had completely torn apart.

The space in the chest cavity that should have been empty is now filled with a black light.

It was a contradictory statement, but Richard couldn't find any other words to describe it.

The mummy stands on the deck.

The entire ship groaned under its weight.

All the sailors on deck had fainted.

"Helio Montagu!"

Richard shouted the name of the Sun Tradition Master using the throat of a mummy.

"Christine Nieffer!"

Then he called out the name of the master of traditional stove fire.

A name in broad daylight has no power, but it has a claim to power.

Calling out the opponent's name is equivalent to formally challenging them to a duel.

I know who you are.

I am coming!