I loaded the Mysticism panel.

The Golden Winged Twin Serpents gleamed with a bronze glow under the dim lights of the training room.

His shadow stood before him.

Previous experiments have shown that once the spirit is embedded, the shadow can wear a mask.

But the price of the mask—attracting the dead, the veil around the body becoming transparent, the restlessness of travelers—all still hang on it.

"The material world comes first."

He had the shadow take the mask and put it on his face.

The moment the mask was put on, the outline of the shadow changed.

The black mass became more solid, and the edges no longer had any scattered burrs.

Ether consumption began to surge.

Richard closed his eyes, sensing what was shared from the other side of the shadow.

The mask does provide a noticeable boost.

Speed, decoding efficiency, and verbal communication—all areas under Hermes' jurisdiction saw increases.

Because the wisp of spirit that left the body acts as a bridge in the shadow, the sharing effect is almost completely lost.

The potential for additional benefits is quite limited.

As for the cost... the sealing inscriptions on the four walls of the training room keep out the possibility of attracting the dead.

The curtain around him became transparent, and he could not feel anything in the material world.

In the material world, shadows are inherently separated from the curtain by a layer, and are not very transparent.

The traveler, however, was restless; after putting on the mask, Shadow clearly had an urge to rush out the door.

Richard suppressed the thought.

But the moment he pressed down, his ether dropped another bit.

He concluded: The material world is safe but weak when wearing a mask, while the ether burns fiercely.

Richard made the shadow remove the mask.

"Go behind the curtain."

The shadow sank down, glided across the training room floor, and disappeared behind the curtain.

Richard sat on the floor tiles of the training room, following his shadow with his inspiration.

On the shallows, the shadows rose again.

He offered a suggestion—wear a mask.

The moment the mask is put on, the change is overwhelming.

The solidity of the shadow increased several times over.

The black mass transformed into a human figure with a clear human shape, surrounded by a deep, dark light.

The most important thing—ether consumption—is also zero!

The shadow behind the curtain does not consume Richard's ether.

The mask doesn't consume anything behind the curtain; two zeros added together are still zero.

Richard recalled an encrypted inscription that had been assigned as homework in class.

The bonus transmitted through the shadow is two to three times faster than when not wearing a mask.

Hermes' "Boundary Crosser" bonus was maximized behind the scenes.

The shadow's range of movement was at least ten times larger than usual.

But the cost also increased.

Less than half a minute after Shadow put on the mask, Richard's inspiration alert went off.

Something was looking in their direction from the depths of the shallows.

The mask made the veil around the shadow extremely transparent, like turning on a full-powered spotlight in a pitch-black sea.

Those creatures that roamed in the depths, those that were usually out of sight of the shallows, all saw that lamp.

Richard made Shadow immediately remove the mask.

Once the mask was removed, the feeling of being "watched" subsided considerably.

He waited several more seconds before the inspiration alert completely disappeared.

The entire campus of Imperial Capital University is built on an etheric active zone, and over the centuries, the sealing array laid down by the great masters has extended from the material world to the shallows behind the veil.

The things attracted by the searchlights stopped when they reached the boundary of the Imperial University's seal, and dared not go any further.

Richard breathed a sigh of relief, which was also the reason why he experimented with masks on campus.

If this had been done near a weak point... he dared not speculate any further.

Richard leaned against the wall of the training room, the back of his head pressed against the cool stone surface inlaid with inscriptions.

Two models are presented to us.

The material world wears a mask, safe but weak, burning ether.

Behind the curtain, wearing a mask, they are terrifyingly powerful, but the price they pay is also terrifying.

If you can only choose one of the two, then this mask becomes a useless item that you can only use in the safe zone.

Once outside the safe zone, the material world is too weak and uninteresting, and the veil is too dangerous to use.

But he still has one more ability at his disposal—naming.

Richard gathered his thoughts and stood up from the ground.

He sent the shadow back to the material world, where it stood once more in the center of the training room, its mask covering it.

Ethereum consumption continues to soar.

Richard thought about the name carefully, and then pushed it forward.

"messenger."

Messenger, Hermes' most essential function.

With the name and mask intertwined, Richard could sense a change in the flow of ether within the shadow's body.

When the mask was imbuing the concept of the divine name into the shadow, the path was winding and the losses were enormous.

Once the name "Messenger" was applied, the channel was cleared, the power flowed smoothly, and the loss was reduced.

Ethereum consumption has decreased by about 30%.

The bonus is also significantly stronger than when it's unnamed, with a noticeable increase in both decoding speed and verbal transmission.

Richard memorized this.

The solution for the material world has been decided: "Masks plus naming."

The name and the mask are aligned, amplifying each other.

Then there's that fatal problem behind the curtain—it's all too transparent.

Richard sent the shadow back behind the curtain and made it put on a mask.

The Imperial University's seal is still blocking the outside, giving him a short window of opportunity.

In that window, he handed a name to the shadow.

"The Silent Ones".

The name fits the essence of the shadow itself, which is "without sound and without substance".

A shadow is simply a silent, invisible mass of black.

Giving it a silent name is like adding another layer to its most authentic characteristics.

After the name was written, the translucency surrounding the shadow, which had been stretched open by the mask, subsided.

Richard had his shadow, wearing a mask, move about on the shallows.

One minute passed without warning.

Three minutes passed without warning.

Five minutes later, my inspiration started to wane.

After eight minutes, the stuffiness turned into a vague discomfort.

Ten minutes later, the discomfort turned into a clear warning.

Richard quickly had Shadow remove his mask, and the warning dissipated.

The time has increased from less than half a minute to eight to ten minutes.

Although there is still an upper limit, it is completely unusable, and there is a huge gap between it and being usable in the short term.

Richard lay on his side on the training room floor, pressing his forehead against the cool stone tiles to cool down.

The loop is constantly consuming ether and is getting hot.

He turned over and looked at the inscriptions embedded in the cracks in the stone on the ceiling.

"Mask plus naming, material world correction bonus, veil behind the curtain correction cost."

Now, the shadow possesses the dual-form functionality by using the mask.

On the other hand, he had the shadow infiltrate behind the curtain to exert its power, and the material world itself lost the shadow.

A person standing under the blazing sun with nothing beneath their feet... that's incredibly eye-catching.

It's fine in the editing group or in class; everyone is busy with their own things and may not notice what's under his feet.

Even ordinary people can immediately spot the problem when working in the field or in public places.

Richard extended his inspiration behind the curtain.

The shadow stood on the shallows, and the wisp of spirit swirled peacefully within it.

He stared at that wisp of spirit for a while.

Previously, the shadow was hollow, and all its movements were directed by Richard, much like a marionette; it would collapse if Richard loosened his grip.

After the spirit was embedded, the shadow had its own core that could operate independently.

Richard tentatively offered a suggestion.

He didn't use specific instructions, but only conveyed a very vague intention.

"Could you spare a little bit to shield me on the material side?"

Without hesitation, the shadow revealed the thinnest part of its edge.

The scraps floated on the shallows for a while, seemingly not quite used to the environment behind the curtain, then turned and drifted back towards the material world.

Richard opened his eyes and looked down at the soles of his feet.

A shadow fell back onto the training room floor.

It stretched out in the direction of its own body, crookedly clinging to the gaps between the stone bricks.

Its head was facing the light, its tail towards the base of the wall, and its shadow was no different from that of every object in the training room.

He moved his foot, and his shadow moved with it.

He took a step to the left, and his shadow moved one space to the left as well.

But when he switched to his spiritual vision and looked over, the gray shadow was extremely thin.

The ether content is almost zero; it is completely empty.

To the average person, it's impossible to find any fault with it.

The sun shines on you, so it's only natural that you'll cast a shadow.

But if someone of a higher rank were to sweep their inspiration over the soles of his feet, they would find that the shadow was so thin it contained nothing.

However, who would normally scrutinize the shadow under someone else's feet?

Even using spiritual vision to see people is offensive, let alone scanning their shadows.

Richard felt relieved; his biggest problem had been solved in one fell swoop, and from now on, Shadow could truly stay behind the curtain 24/7.

This disguised shadow is enough. Even if someone insists on digging deeper, I can simply say that I'm practicing a spell related to shadows.

This is the true value of the spirit.

It acts as the core within the shadow, transforming the shadow from a puppet on a string into a semi-independent entity.

Without the spirit embedded inside as a framework, I can't accomplish anything I want to do.

Richard performed a set of breaths to change the humidity.

With each breath, the initial excitement gradually subsided.

The mask is useful, and its name can also make up for its shortcomings.

But this thing... was ultimately given to us by Hecate.

Richard recalled his own "Shadow Reversal".

The prompt at the time was:

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

The premise of the reversal of the shadow is that he has thoroughly understood and mastered the technique.

He doesn't actually need to take the mask apart to see what's inside; he just needs to use it skillfully.

Whether or not the Hecate Lock is locked at the deepest level does not affect the reversal.

The reverse condition is that as long as he can run the program skillfully, he does not need to restore and build the program himself.

I just don't know what a plot twist is...

The experiments are all done; it's time to go back.

He stood up from the training room floor, his knees snapping.

Richard dusted off his trousers and turned off the light.

When the training room door opened from the inside, he saw a somewhat unexpected person in the corridor.

Montagu leaned against the opposite wall.

The blond youth had a lecture note tucked between his fingers and his jacket draped over his arm.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up to mid-forearm, revealing a patch of sweat that hadn't completely dried.

This was not a chance encounter.

"It's out." Montagu switched the handbook to his other hand.

Richard closed the door, took off the name tag, and turned to look at him.

Montagu's hair was messier than it was during the day when he was in class.

The neatly combed look of her hair, which was usually so sleek, was gone; a few strands of light blonde hair were stuck to her forehead with sweat.

"Were you waiting for me?" Richard asked.

Montagu propped himself up against the wall.

"I finished earlier than you, and when I came out I saw that your light was still on."

"I'll wait for you for a bit, so I can catch my breath."

"What are you practicing?" The blond youth glanced at him. "You're covered in sweat."

Richard pulled up his shirt collar to cover the sweat stains on the back of his neck.

"The armor covered by the refined stone".

Montagu's grey-blue eyes lingered on him for two seconds.

He noticed the flush on the other person's face, a flush that hadn't completely faded from excitement.

It's a bit unusual for someone to practice defensive techniques until their face turns completely red.

"Let's go." Montagu tucked the lecture notes under his arm. "The dorms are about to close."

The two people walked down the underground passage to the surface.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, one after the other, their rhythms slightly off; Montagu's strides were longer than his.

After walking a few steps, he yawned.

"Today's inscription class was so boring it made me sleepy; I dozed off twice in the back row."

"Nobody noticed?" This was the first time Richard had seen this side of the guy that wasn't so composed.

"I noticed, my neighbor nudged my arm twice."

"What classes did you have scheduled today?"

"Two theoretical subjects, and one field preparation subject," Richard casually remarked.

"The field preparation course did cover some useful points, such as how to determine the tide direction at the boundary of a shoal."

"What's the use of determining the direction of the tide? Shallows aren't really the sea."

"The lecturer said it was an analogy, that the surging of tides is the same as the change in the density of ether."

Once you figure it out, you'll know when and where to hide.

Montagu nodded but didn't reply, as if he was thinking about something else.

After walking a few more steps, he suddenly spoke up: "My brother wrote back this week."

Richard turned to look at him: "The front lines?"

"Well, the letter didn't say exactly where it was, so it's probably been approved."

"Is he alright?"

"The letter was mailed at the beginning of the month, and I was fine when I wrote it."

Montagu's voice lowered slightly: "Whether things are good or not, nobody can say for sure."

Richard slowed his pace, unsure how to respond.

"I'd like to switch places with him," Montagu suddenly chuckled.

"He's lying in the trench over there, while I'm here reciting inscriptions. It's hard to say who's having a better time."

Are you telling the truth or just being stubborn?

"Half and half." Montagu shrugged.

"My family is watching me closely, hoping I'll quickly become the face of this branch of the family."

My brother wasn't born with that talent, so he could only go to the front lines and carry a gun.

The two walked a little further down the corridor, their footsteps blending together, making it impossible to tell who was first and who was last.

"Do you come to the training room every day?" Richard asked.

"I come whenever I don't have classes in the afternoon."

"What are you practicing?"

The blond youth wasn't lying: "It's a family heirloom technique."

Richard wisely refrained from pressing the matter further.

This must be referring to the secret of that solar tradition expert.

According to the lineage, the other party's family-inherited technique should be much stronger than Maggie's "Azure Ring".

To the rest of the class, Montagu was the kind of person who was born to stand by the finish line.

He doesn't need to run; he starts much ahead of everyone else.

But Montagu himself dared not relax in the slightest.

As a direct descendant of a noble family, his elders are watching whether he can cross the threshold of mastery and uphold the family's prestige in his generation, not to mention his older brother who is still in the moat...

The combined pressure is already immense.

When under a lot of pressure, you naturally want to chat with acquaintances when you see them.

The two walked out of the underpass exit, and the cold autumn wind dried the sweat on their faces.

The streetlights are much dimmer than before.

The new rule is supposedly to prevent airships from seeing them from the sky at night.