I loaded the Mysticism panel.

It was past four in the afternoon when I returned from the canal, and there weren't many people walking on the main road of the college area.

Richard carried the canvas bag in his hand, walking at a leisurely pace.

The three gains from just now were still going through my mind.

The fragments of the maze gave him three correct but meaningless statements.

The statue of Saint Carolingian gave him a locked tooth.

Demeter's bowl gave him an old meal ticket from three thousand years ago, along with the bad news that "the mouth on the meal ticket has changed owners."

Each of the three things has its own use and its own troubles.

But right now, there's something else that's most important.

His hand reached into the canvas bag, his fingertips touching the bronze surface of the saint's statue.

Richard has refrained from touching the statue of Saint Carolingian ever since he got it.

Now that he has obtained the strange object, he is no longer as eager to count it as he was at the beginning, and he doesn't impatiently absorb it all.

When most of the ether of some artifacts is absorbed, their original functions become ineffective.

Back in his dorm room, Richard placed the saint's image in the center of his desk.

Richard first performed a complete set of tidal breathing exercises.

Once his breathing had stabilized, he placed his right hand on top of the bronze statue's head.

The ether flowed down his palm and came into contact with the extremely pure and thick layer of old ether on the bronze surface.

Absorption has begun.

The ether in the saint's image... is too clean.

When he absorbed it, it was like drinking a mouthful of fresh spring water, both icy and sweet, cooling him from the back of his tongue all the way to the Sun's Seat.

Available points: 1.43...1.61...1.84...

The number on the panel was steadily increasing.

Richard kept the speed at a pace he felt safe.

Although he cannot open the knot for the time being, the ether surrounding the knot is the external environment that maintains the knot's stability.

If it's loose, it's okay; if it breaks, you lose everything.

He stopped when he had pulled about 70% of the knot, because if he pulled any more, the knot would loosen.

Available points: 1.43 → 2.77.

Although only 70% was taken, the saint's image still gave him about 1.3%.

With its millennia-old quality and the double blessing of a clean ritual, ether is indeed substantial.

He then took out Demeter's earthenware bowl.

Don't let the bowl suck too much liquid.

The client asked him to conduct an appraisal, not to drain the funds.

During the identification process, the 3,000-year-old ether inside the bowl will always seep out...

Yes, this is reasonable loss, just like how there is always some "loss" of ingredients when a chef cooks.

Richard put the bowl on the table and re-painted it with inspiration.

He read it very slowly this time, from the rim of the bowl all the way to the bottom where the short prayer had been completely deciphered.

After reading it, he casually caught the few drops of "braised water" that had splashed out on the bowl.

Available points: 2.77...3.01.

He knew when to quit while he was ahead, believing that business should be done slowly and steadily, and one shouldn't be too greedy.

Richard resealed the bowl back into the earthenware jar and sealed the opening with coarse salt.

He sat at the table for a while, leaning back in his chair, and then pulled out the control panel.

[Body] Breathing lv.4 / Eating lv.3 / Sleeping lv.3 / Walking lv.3

[Intelligence] Knowledge lv.4 / Reasoning lv.3 / Perception lv.3

[Spirit] Spirit Appearance 20/20 / 1 strand of astral projection

With his points exceeding three again, he first previewed the advancement requirements for the three skills.

[Critical Thinking]

This feature is now enabled. To advance to the next level, you must meet the following requirements:

Level 4 completed;

Available points: 2;

It independently reconstructed the complete operational logic of a lost technique.

"Unlockable Effect Preview - Speculation and Restructuring: "

The original speculative effect is greatly enhanced; when it comes to the logical structure at the etheric level, the constructed object has a built-in "self-checking" function: it can detect which part will become unstable during the identification process.

Richard looked at the passage and pondered silently.

Ordinary scholars build a seal or a framework for a technique by relying on experience and time.

Layer by layer, after which it is built, it is repeatedly checked, and if any problems are found, it is dismantled and started over.

The chemical structure is essentially welding the quality inspection process directly into the construction process.

As he built, his hands would automatically tell him at certain points, "This beam is crooked by three degrees; if you add two more layers, it will collapse."

Moreover, it is applicable to all work related to scholars, whether it is building seals, identifying rare objects, deciphering cryptic texts, or improving spells.

The unlock conditions are very strict:

"Independently reconstructing the complete operational logic of a lost and incomplete technique."

He has to piece together the whole picture from the fragments, and the pieced-together image has to be able to run.

When viewed within the academic profession, this condition is essentially a natural extension of one's primary job, pushed to its limits.

Deciphering → Proofreading → Restoring... From reading what others have written to filling in the gaps.

He currently has no direction that meets the requirements.

Although the Cretan labyrinth fragments were able to navigate the entire labyrinth, the "Voice of the Labyrinth" is not considered a lost art.

It's always been there; I just misread the method before.

The names locked inside the statues of the Carolingians are not spells at all.

To put it bluntly, he had only ever paid attention to the complete techniques and had never deliberately thought about looking for any fragments or lost techniques.

I'll leave it for now. My network of contacts is already taking shape, and I can try to find out more about it later.

I've only recently reached level 3 in critical thinking, and I'm still quite far from level 4. It's too early for me to be thinking about unlocking the conditions for level 5.

He lowered his gaze.

Knowledge

This feature is now enabled. To advance to the next level, you must meet the following requirements:

Level 4 completed;

Available points: 2;

To translate a piece of knowledge from one traditional mode of expression into another traditional mode of expression, and for the translated version to function independently within the new tradition.

"Unlockable Effects Preview - Knowledge & General Knowledge: "

The speed of deciphering and learning unfamiliar knowledge such as languages, codes, or inscriptions that have never been seen before is increased;

The extent of improvement depends on one's existing knowledge base.

【博闻】 (Bowen) addresses existing knowledge; it helps you remember everything you've read.

[General Knowledge] addresses incremental learning, allowing even those who haven't read it to apply their knowledge to other areas.

If broad knowledge is a library, then general knowledge is like the librarian starting to write books.

When faced with an inscription he had never seen before, written in a completely new system, all he could tell him was, "Curry doesn't have it."

The general knowledge system uses the thousands of books already in the library to deduce the structure of the thousandth and tenth book, automatically filling in any missing nodes.

The unlock condition is also very clear—"translation".

He felt that this condition was actually more difficult than the one of "speculation," since all the major traditions were clearly distinct, and how could different traditions be translated into each other and still function?

This is too difficult.

Some vague possibilities floated through Richard's mind, but he rejected them one by one. This unlocking condition also needed to be considered carefully.

He then turned his attention to the last one.

【sleep】

This feature is now enabled. To advance to the next level, you must meet the following requirements:

Level 4, progress 100%.

2 points are available.

"I had a dream during one of my sleep that was later confirmed to be real."

"Unlockable Effect Preview - Sleep & Foresight: "

Precise dreams are automatically triggered during sleep when there are events involving the safety of the surrounding environment or major decisions that are brewing or about to occur.

Richard's eyes widened suddenly.

Unlike divination, which involves him actively asking questions.

Holding the cards and the question, with the intention of prying out an answer.

Precognitive dreams are passively told to you; you're lying there doing nothing, and the dream comes to you on its own.

The more crucial difference lies on another level.

Divination has its limits; if it involves beings of a higher rank, the inspiration may give warnings or even backfire.

It is foreseeable that in a dream one is the passive party who is being told what to do.

As long as there's something on that side that feels "this person should know," the dream will come.

Richard should have been excited.

But when a "precognitive dream" falls into the eyes, a certain dream also rises from the depths of memory.

He slept exceptionally well the night before he was to leave for the capital at the end of May.

In my dream, it was the day the results were released.

Everyone was laughing and clapping as they congratulated him.

The table was laden with dishes, but one bowl was empty.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what was missing.

Later he went to the capital.

Old Big died later.

The paper string holding the sage was never untied.

Later... the copper penny passed from Mrs. McNeil's palm to his hand, and was eventually returned to Lizzie.

That's when he finally found out whose bowl it was.

But even if we know, what can we do?

Richard covered his face with his hand and leaned back in his chair.

Behind the murderer crouched a projection of an expert deep within the curtain.

What can he use to stop him?

Should I take a penny? Or a packet of sage?

The man did his job well.

Then he sat behind the desk where he had worked for fifteen years, waiting for the person who would come to take him away.

Foresight, foresight… Richard suddenly remembered what Mrs. McNeil had said by the Black Ditch.

"It's a good thing for them not to remember; ordinary people can't handle the fact that #039 saw #039."

I couldn't resist the thought of having "seen it before".

What's heavier than "having seen" is "having seen but being unable to do anything about it."

Richard let out a long sigh of relief.

It was a bell that rang ahead of time.

The bell will ring, and you might not have time to run.

At least you won't be sitting there drinking tea before the bell rings.

He glanced again at the number at the bottom of the panel.

Available points: 3.01

All his skills were still a ways from level 5, and after reviewing the previews, he prepared to use his spare points on [Out of Body].

[Out of Body] It only takes one point to go from one strand to two strands.

A wisp of spirit has already brought about tremendous changes in him.

With a core, the shadow can train independently behind the curtain, wear a mask, and serve as an independent carrier for naming.

What will happen when two spirits meet?

He went through several guesses in his mind.

One strand is embedded in the shadow to form the core, while the second strand can attach to something else to become another remote eye.

Or both strands can be stuffed into the shadow, making the shadow's "core" thicker, more stable, and more durable.

It's also possible that the two strands each manage their own affairs.

You won't know the specific effects until you try it.

He put one point in.

The emptiness in my chest felt much worse than last time.

He closed his eyes and rested for about ten seconds, his breathing rhythm slowly suppressing the emptiness and discomfort.

The newly emerged wisp floated in the air for a while before moving towards the direction of the shadow.

The first wisp was already embedded in the shadow, and the second wisp instinctively felt it should join it.

Richard stopped the second strand.

Don't rush to cram everything into the shadows; try them one by one.

He first pressed the second strand onto the copper dish on the table.

As soon as Ling touched the disc, his perception gained a second anchor point.

It felt similar to the first time I used a spirit to possess an inanimate object.

It can see, hear, and feel the intensity of ether, but it cannot move.

But this time there was an extra layer of change.

There is a passage between the two anchor points.

The first ray is in the shadow, which is waiting on the shallows behind the curtain.

The second strand is on a copper dish, which is placed on a desk in the material world.

The passage between the two strands of spirit spanned both inside and outside the curtain.

Richard closed his eyes and tried to send a little bit of ether from the material world to the veil through this passage.

It's been sent over.

Ether departed from the second wisp of spirit on the bronze disc, passed through the passage, and arrived at the first wisp of spirit within the shadow's body.

The shadow received the ether, and its outline visibly solidified.

Richard tried the other way around, having the shadow intercept a small amount of environmental ether from the shallows behind the curtain and send it through the passage towards the material world.

also.

The ether concentration on the surface of the copper dish increased slightly.

The amount is extremely small, and the transmission efficiency on both sides is very low.

The passage was too narrow; one can only imagine how much cargo could be transported by a bridge built with a single thread.

But it is open.

Richard retrieved the second wisp of spirit from the bronze dish and held it up in front of him again.

Then he stuffed both wisps of spirit into the shadow.

After the shadow absorbed two wisps of spirit, the changes were quite obvious.

It can now do two things at the same time.

One strand of spirit governs one matter, two strands of spirit govern two matters.

Previously, Shadow either practiced Stone Armor or Moon Nails; he couldn't do both at the same time.

Now he keeps the Stone Armor in his left hand and the Moon Nail in his right... The two are synchronized and can actually not interfere with each other.

Although the efficiency of each side is reduced compared to focusing on a single wisp of spirit, being able to "do two things at the same time" is a qualitative change in itself.

Consumption also increased.

While the two wisps of spirit were running around outside, the feeling of emptiness emanating from his body persisted.

Breathing techniques can reduce this discomfort to a tolerable level, but it won't disappear.

The two strands of spirit remain as they are now; more will emerge in the future...

Richard let Shadow continue his daily training on the shallows.

Available points: 2.01

He mentally planned out his next steps.

While expanding the capacity of [Spirit Form] is good, it is not the highest priority under his current circumstances.

What he needs most right now is to push those half-finished products he has on hand forward.

Practice the silencing technique until you can cast spells without a medium, continue to refine your naming skills, and manage the risks of using shadows in conjunction with masks in dual forms.

Let's save the points for now.

Once we have a clearer understanding of the needs, we can then decide where to invest.