I loaded the Mysticism panel.

McFaye wrapped the napkin between his fingers and slowly wiped his hands.

"You can eat it, but it's unnecessary."

"Why?" Richard asked.

"Ultimately, this is a question of the stage of civilization."

The white-haired giant pushed the empty plate aside to make room for his two arms.

"The earliest group of people only knew how to eat raw food because they didn't know how to eat anything else besides raw food."

"There are no salt fields, distillers, alchemy furnaces, or even a kiln that can fire at 700 degrees Celsius."

"You're holding something that's still warm in your hand. You either eat it now, or it cools down and turns into a pile of useless meat."

Catherine took the notebook off her lap and laid it out on the table.

Richard also took out his own book.

McFee saw that both notebooks opened at the same time and automatically entered lecture mode.

"Since you want to remember, I'll start from the beginning."

"Let's talk about processing first."

"Which of the gray stamens, multi-eyed black moss, adipocere, Daoist ash, etheric concretions you handled went directly from behind the veil into your pocket?"

Richard thought about it.

"They all need to be dealt with first."

"What should we do?"

"The gray stamen grass must be dried in the shade and crushed; the adipocere must be boiled in salt water and then sealed with wax; the congealed substance must be examined to see its origin, and if its origin is dirty, it must be purified first."

"Yes." McFee tapped the table.

"Salt, fire, distillation, sealing with wax, and judgment—our entire process involves cleaning."

He opened his palm.

"When the produce from behind the curtain first emerges, it might be a fingernail, a shed skin, or a breath that hasn't been exhaled completely."

"What we do is wash these off, make sure they're clean before we dare put them in the stove."

Catherine paused for a moment, then looked up.

McFee understood that look in his eyes.

"You mean to ask where the part that was washed off went?"

The red-haired girl nodded.

McFaye explained it very clearly.

"That's wear and tear."

"The alchemist will tell you when he delivers the goods that the yield is 67% and the loss is 33%."

"Of that 33%, some were actually washed off, and the rest..."

He shrugged.

"He probably embezzled it."

Richard raised his head.

"Therefore, the advantage of eating raw food is that there is no waste."

McFaye glanced at him and thought that this kid was indeed quick to understand, no wonder Old Mo treasured him so much.

"Yes, some products are only meaningful when eaten whole."

"You dissect an evil creature into its heart, liver, bones, and skin, processing each part individually. After processing, each part is still usable."

"But what is lost in the process is irreplaceable."

"Therefore, the tradition of hunting the moon still retains one old rule to this day."

He took the flat wine flask out of his pocket, unscrewed it and screwed it back on, but still didn't drink it.

"The hunter drinks the first sip while his blood is still warm."

"Is it still being implemented?" Catherine wrote.

"I'm not doing it for serious occasions anymore," McFaye said.

"There are regulations in the industry, and the authorities have records. Anyone who does this in the field has to write an explanation when they come back."

"But in those villages north of the highlands, hunters still do it when they first start training their apprentices."

"Don't invite outsiders to watch while you're doing it."

He put the wine jug back into his pocket.

The table was quiet for a while.

At that moment, the cook came over with a basket of bread, put the basket on the table, and looked at the three people.

"Gentlemen, would you like anything else?"

"Not needed for now."

The cook left, but after taking three steps, he turned back and glanced at the lamb leg that was now just bones.

McFaye waited until he was out of sight, then leaned forward slightly.

"Since we're on this topic, let me give you a few examples."

Richard understood.

The professor has gone from answering a student's question to saying, "I'm going to finish this course today."

"Those ancient barbarians who wore bear and wolf skins."

"They didn't wear armor when they fought, and they didn't feel any pain. It took several people to hold them down after they fell down."

"Their rule for joining the group is to eat a raw bear heart on a winter night."

"What about after you finish eating?" Catherine wrote.

"You are not allowed to speak for three days after eating. If you open your mouth, everything you just ate will be expelled with your words."

"Their saying is that name and breath both come from the same hole."

"You swallowed the bear's heart, but the bear's heart hasn't recognized you as its new master yet."

"If you open your mouth and shout at this moment, it's like opening the door for it."

Richard wrote this down in his notebook.

McFaye broke a piece of bread.

"And then there's the Celtic Bulls' feast."

Catherine's pen stopped.

"I know this," she wrote.

"You may know the name, but not the process."

The white-haired giant dipped the bread in the soup.

"They kill a white bull, the kind that can't have a single stray hair."

"After we've killed them all, we'll choose one person to eat the meat and drink the soup."

"Eat a whole head by himself?" Catherine quickly added a line after writing that:

"Two of our men have already done it tonight."

Richard almost burst out laughing.

McFaye glared at the girl and continued speaking.

"After you finish eating, peel off that still slightly damp skin and wrap the person inside to sleep."

"The four priests chanted the truth spell all night long, without pausing for a single word."

"Recite it until dawn, then wake him up."

"Whoever he dreamed of when he woke up will be the next king."

Richard held his pen, lost in thought.

One person eats a whole cow, then wraps it in a raw hide that hasn't fully dried, and four people keep watch over it all night.

This whole process looks like a charade from beginning to end.

Richard, however, saw the crux of the matter: "Is this also about the right to define?"

McFee turned to look at him.

"Yes, primitive rituals and modern rituals are actually interconnected."

He put the bread down.

"However, the reason it was not passed down is that half of the kings chosen by this ritual died in their own coronation year."

Why?

"Because the name in the dream was forced out by the Truth Spell."

"The Truth Mantra, whether good or bad, only tells you whose name is the loudest this year."

"The person with the most famous name is not always the right person to be king."

Catherine finished copying that line and then looked up again.

"What kind of person would eat this and not get sick?"

McFaye looked at her.

"Either they're not even human anymore, then they can eat whatever they want without any problems."

"What's the other one?" Richard asked.

"Through various rituals."

McFaye swiped his hand across the tablecloth.

"But think about it carefully, is this any different from processing?"

Richard thought about it.

"……No."

"That's right, one is processed outside the body, and the other is processed inside the body."

"The only difference is that if something goes wrong with the external processing, at most the furnace will explode."

"If something goes wrong with how the food is processed in the body, the person who ate it might die."

He stuffed the last half of the bread into his mouth and chewed it twice.

"Speaking of which, let me mention something."

"There is a universal ritual in the Abyss tradition that is still in use today."

"The names vary from place to place, but we call this a cannibalistic ritual."

...Cannibalism, cannibalism is indeed an eternal theme in human society, Richard thought.

"Professor, have you tried it?" Catherine asked very directly.

Richard's thoughts were also abruptly interrupted as he looked at McFee across from him.

McFaye sat there, his eyes lingering on his student's face for a long time.

"I ate it, but I threw up."

He didn't explain what he ate; after he finished speaking, he pushed his chair back and stood up.

"I'll go ask the cook if they have any bread left."

The white-haired giant walked around the corner of the table and headed towards the kitchen.

………………

Early morning of the 23rd, King's Cross Station.

McFee was the first to arrive.

The professor was carrying an old, flat leather bag in his left hand, which looked like it contained only a few pieces of paper.

"Professor, where is your luggage?"

McFaye picked up the purse and shook it.

"Here."

"That's all?"

"A book, an engraving knife, and a flat wine jug."

"That's enough for me."

The knife and wine flask were both on his person, so there was indeed only one book in the bag, confirming Richard's guess.

When Catherine arrived, she was carrying a handbag containing only rubbings of paper, silver needles, and a few changes of clothes.

McFaye nodded.

Richard was different; although he didn't have a suitcase, he carried a bulging canvas bag.

"What's in here?"

"Camera, rubbing machine, three Soul-Eating Beast Tooth Needles, light storage device, two packets of condensate..."

"stop."

"There's also dry food."

"How many?"

"Three days."

McFaye closed his eyes.

"Kid, there's an old saying around here."

"The less a person takes on a long journey, the farther they will go."

"Catherine, could you carry his bag?"

The red-haired girl reached out and lifted it, her eyebrows furrowing.

"It's very heavy."

"It's good that it's heavy. Let him carry it himself. Once he gets to the north, he'll know what to throw away."

During this trip funded by public funds, the three of them traveled in first-class carriages.

The last five carriages of the military train were covered with cloth, and the soldiers were lined up one after another in the open freight cars.

Half an hour after the train departed, McFee began explaining the mission.

"Although there is only one thing to do on this trip, there are two reasons for it."

"The Tania sank on May 7th, and of the more than 1,900 people on board, less than 800 made it ashore alive."

"Of those who died, more than half are still adrift today."

"Also, there are those twelve standing stones in Yanhuo Village. Last winter, all the people who guarded them died, and the routine reinforcement was not done this April."

"We will do these two things together."

Richard glanced at McFee, whose expression wasn't very good.

"Professor, was this your idea?"

McFee answered quickly.

"Yes, I argued with someone for half a month and have been preparing for this all along."

"The Department of Classics says this is maritime affairs, the Navy says this is a sealing subject, and the Church says the crew of the Tania should be studied by them."

"The three parties kept passing the buck for half a month, but none of them were willing to pay."

He turned the page of that paper.

"That's what I finally told them."

"If the fortification at Yanhuo Village isn't reinforced this year, a large hole will appear in the north next year."

"Repairing the sealing array costs money, but plugging the holes costs lives."

"Money or life, the choice is yours."

Catherine wrote in her notebook, "Did they pick out the money?"

"They picked out slippers."

McFaye gave a cold laugh.

"They only signed the papers after I took over the maritime affairs department as well."

"This way, the cost can be split evenly, with the money coming from both sides."

The Admiralty reported on the resettlement of the victims of the USS Tannia, and the College reported on the annual maintenance of the Northern Region seal.

"Old Mo and two other professors from the college are backing us up remotely."

McFee glanced at Richard.

"But don't expect them to actually do anything."

"All they can do is bring us back if something goes wrong over there."

At this point, Richard overheard people next door discussing: The Kingdom of the Apennines officially declared war on the other side yesterday.

A colonel on leave by the window took his pipe out of his mouth and commented.

"Another front has been added."

A construction site passed by outside the window.

Searchlights were suspended in mid-air, and rows of scaffolding stood tall; this was the factory building before it was fully topped out.

Construction was underway in this area at night as well; the sound of rivet guns could be heard through the car windows, as dense as rain.

Catherine wrote a line in the notebook and pushed it to Richard.

"This time last year, this was a wheat field."

The train was stopped at around 2 a.m. and remained stopped for three hours.

Richard was awakened by the light and opened his eyes, feeling that the carriage was a bit stuffy.