I loaded the Mysticism panel.

The transaction process has temporarily come to an end.

Only Ares and Dionysus reached a "favor exchange".

Dionysus provided Lauren with a clue, and Ares owed him fire support.

The other physical transactions were not successfully matched, but the information was already flowing.

Hecate spoke.

"The transaction is complete. We will now proceed to the second stage: intelligence sharing."

"The rules are the same as before: each person can share one piece of information that they think is valuable to the roundtable."

Sharing is voluntary, and you will not be held accountable for not sharing.

But for the person who shares the most, I will use my connections to try my best to match what you want in the next transaction.

Ares was the first to speak.

"Something happened recently in Manchester's industrial area."

Three weeks ago, the night shift workers at the No. 7 Textile Factory in the North District began to experience a collective nightmare.

Those dreams that you can't remember after waking up, but leave physical traces.

"What marks?" Dionysus asked.

"Bruises," Ares said. "They're symmetrically distributed on the inside of both arms, shaped like fingerprints, but thinner and longer than normal fingers."

How did the factory handle it?

"I asked the local parish priest to perform a purification prayer, but it didn't work."

They hired a folk exorcist who performed a standard site cleansing ritual, but it still didn't work.

In the third week, two workers quit, refusing to work the night shift again.

"Has the authorities intervened?" Prometheus asked.

"No, the official forces in Manchester City are currently dealing with another matter."

The smuggling case at the docks involved a batch of prohibited metallurgical materials, so all the personnel were transferred there, and the textile factory's affairs were temporarily left unattended.

Richard memorized this information.

Collective nightmares, symmetrical bruises, and thin, elongated fingerprints.

The standard purification ritual is ineffective.

This doesn't seem to be a phenomenon caused by ordinary residual death sounds or low-level wandering spirits.

Symmetrically distributed bruises, especially fingerprints that are "longer and thinner than normal fingers".

There may be something dirty with the ability to materialize, contacting those workers through their dreams.

Moreover, it targeted night shift workers, a group of people who are chronically sleep-disordered and have the weakest mental defenses.

This is picking on the weak.

Dionysus then shared his intelligence.

"There's something else worth noting in the capital."

He put down his wine glass.

"You know the Royal Society's Commission on Anomalies, right?"

Last month, they issued an internal memo preparing to raise the alert level for "spontaneous abnormal increases in ether concentration" nationwide from Level 3 to Level 2.

"From level three to level two?" Ares was clearly taking it seriously. "When did that happen?"

"The announcement was not made public on the 15th of last month. I heard about it from an acquaintance who works as a scribe on the committee."

What are the criteria for raising the alert level?

"The announcement didn't specify the basis, but my acquaintance said that the number of abnormal events reported across the country in the past six months is twice that of the same period last year."

Richard calmly processed the information.

The increased ether concentration indicates that the veil has thinned in those locations.

As the curtain thins, things behind it can more easily seep in.

If the frequency of such events nationwide is twice that of last year, then that's a general trend.

The curtain is thinning; it's thinning everywhere.

Prometheus didn't share any information; he just sat there listening to others talk.

Hecate didn't share either.

She said, "I don't participate in transactions," which suggests she doesn't participate in intelligence sharing either.

She only provides the venue; she only listens and watches.

After the intelligence-sharing session ended, Hecate looked at the two newcomers.

"You two, you don't need to contribute tonight." She repeated the rules:

"But if you have any questions, you can ask one."

Nemesis did not move.

Richard had originally intended to remain silent as well.

Since this is our first time here, the safest strategy is to observe the situation and not reveal any information.

But then he thought, what if he left without saying a word tonight?

Then he could only play the role of a "silent newcomer" at this round table, and no one would take him seriously next time he came.

If he speaks, the questions he asks will be substantial enough.

Then, his image in these people's minds will change from "newcomer" to "someone worth getting to know".

The question is, what should I ask?

You can't ask him anything too basic, or it will reveal his rank.

If he asks a question that only a newcomer would ask, it's like he's writing "I'm weak" all over his face.

You shouldn't ask anything too specific.

For example, directly asking someone about the details of their needs would be offensive and would reveal their interests in other areas.

He needs this problem to meet two conditions simultaneously:

First, the question itself involves advanced knowledge, proving that he has sufficient knowledge.

Second, the question does not reveal his current rank or specific research direction.

Thanks to my extensive knowledge, I have read a great many books, so this question certainly exists.

He thought for a while, and only spoke when Hecate was about to announce the end.

"I do have a question."

Five pairs of eyes converged on them simultaneously.

The voice coming from behind the Hermes mask was neither fast nor slow:

"As Dionysus just mentioned, the frequency of unusual events nationwide is twice that of the same period last year."

Ares mentioned Manchester City's collective nightmare phenomenon, stating that standard purification rituals were ineffective.

He maintained a composed and measured tone in his speech.

"If the overall decay of the curtain is a continuous trend rather than a local fluctuation..."

He deliberately used the technical term "overall attenuation".

This is not a word that beginners would use.

Beginners will only say "the curtain has become thinner".

"...So, do you all think that the maintenance cycle of the sealing systems in various regions is still a useful reference?"

There was a moment of silence at the round table.

In that brief silence, Richard could sense a change in the way the men were looking at him.

He didn't ask "why the curtain is getting thinner".

This question is too broad, so broad that it's somewhat vague.

He asked a very specific and practical question: the maintenance cycle of the sealing system.

All seals across the country, whether maintained by official bodies, academies, churches, or folk guilds, have fixed maintenance cycles.

However, if the curtain decay rate is already abnormal, more and more "seal failure" incidents will occur across the country.

Things like the Manchester textile factory incident will become more and more common.

This question links the two pieces of information into a logical chain and directly points to a practical issue that everyone present would care about.

Is the seal beneath our feet still safe?

Ares was the first to speak out.

"Are you in charge of seal maintenance?"

"No," Richard said.

"But I have read Haldane's 'Introduction to Curtain Dynamics', third edition, which mentions a similar concept in the chapter on seal decay models."

I found this book in the library of Imperial Capital University.

Richard cited it to let the people present know that they had read literature at that level and were at least quite knowledgeable.

As for his actual rank, that question was cleverly circumvented.

Theoretical knowledge and practical skills are two different things.

A scholar with a strong theoretical foundation may not have a high level of practical experience.

But no one will look down on him because of this, because knowledge itself is a bargaining chip.

Dionysus put down his wine cup.

"Your Excellency is truly learned."

His tone lacked its previous nonchalant air.

"If we extrapolate using Haldane's model, the annual growth rate has indeed exceeded the warning line."

"In other words..."

"The current maintenance is indeed insufficient," Ares added.

"At least for those old seals that were already in a critical state, it's not enough."

"The newly created seal is not a problem; there is enough redundancy."

Dionysus added, "But most of the empire's infrastructure is from a century ago or even earlier, patched up and used to this day."

"Those old seals..."

"There will be problems first," Prometheus suddenly said.

He spoke very little tonight, but every word he uttered was precise.

"Moreover, the order in which problems occur is predictable."

"Who will collapse first, who will collapse later, and when will they collapse?"