I loaded the Mysticism panel.

At that moment, Richard finally understood the meaning of the name "Sphinx".

In the mythology of the Black Soil River Basin, the Sphinx sits at the crossroads of two worlds.

Its body is that of a lion, its face is that of a human, and it has huge wings on its back.

Its gate connects two realms—the world of light and the world of shadow.

The ether contained within the oil lamp naturally possesses the properties of the Sphinx.

When this ether flows into the material world, it does not activate flames, temperature, or sound.

It activates the shadow.

Richard leaned against the cold metal frame of the phone booth.

It's late at night and the streets are deserted, but that doesn't mean no one is looking out of their windows.

If an elderly woman suffering from insomnia happens to draw back her curtains and sees the shadow of a flowerpot wriggling on her window... she doesn't want anyone to know what happened in this alley tonight.

The panel numbers are still climbing.

0.78……0.84……0.89……Absorption is ongoing, but the speed is not fast enough.

Richard squatted down and placed his hands over the oil lamp.

With the increased contact area, the panel's absorption efficiency has improved significantly.

The numbers are jumping faster now.

0.91...0.95...0.99...

Just as the notification popped up on the panel, the scene I caught out of the corner of my eye almost made my heart stop.

He squatted in front of the oil lamp, and his shadow must have been squatting as well.

But now, his shadow has risen up.

His crouching figure and his standing shadow were eerie enough in themselves.

Even more strangely, the shadow did not move or twist aimlessly after it stood up.

Its actions were extremely clear.

The shadow raised its arms, crossed them in front of its head, and clasped its hands together at its neck.

Richard understood what it wanted to do the very first second he saw the action.

The moment the shadow clasped its hands together, he felt real pressure on his neck.

When the trachea is compressed by external force, the Adam's apple retracts.

He tried to swallow, but the movement of his Adam's apple was significantly hindered.

The quadruple breathing rhythm was disrupted, and the inhalation volume dropped sharply.

Richard did not attempt to stand up or struggle.

Although there is pressure on the neck, it is not fatal.

Once he reached a point where he felt uncomfortable but could still breathe with difficulty, he stopped applying more pressure.

This must be the effect of the seal.

Although he managed to pry open a crack in the seal of the Sphinx Lamp, the overall structure of the seal was not destroyed.

More than 95% of the sealed inscriptions are still functioning normally.

Shadows can move, can distort, and can take on various poses.

However, they cannot be separated from a two-dimensional plane and therefore cannot obtain true mass.

His own shadow probably wanted to strangle him, but the seal prevented it from succeeding.

Thank goodness, I didn't smash the lamp...

Just as he was struggling to hold his breath, a message that had never appeared before suddenly popped up on the panel:

Structured etheric nuclei detected... Analyzing...

Richard's fingers froze on the surface of the oil lamp.

The text on the panel is slowly updating:

[Nucleocondensation property: Seed]

[Seed source: Residue from sealing material]

【Features and Tags: Mystery, Door, Judgment】

"Extract?"

【whether】

Richard stared at the two options, his heart pounding in his ears.

Starting with ornaments, séance discs, silver coins, copper coins, incense burners, gargoyles... the ether absorption process of each of these wondrous objects is both passive and automatic.

The panel never asked him if he wanted it.

When the ether flows in, the panel absorbs it.

After he finished inhaling, the numbers went up; his involvement in the entire process was limited to his own physical contact.

And this so-called etheric nucleus and seed hint.

The panel shows that it absorbs structured data that cannot be simply categorized as "points".

Feature tags: mystery, door, judgment, each tag points to the Sphinx's function in mythology.

The riddle—the Sphinx poses a riddle to every passerby, and those who answer incorrectly die;

The gate—the Sphinx perches atop the gate between the two worlds, serving as its guardian;

The trial—the riddle of the Sphinx is itself a trial, determining who is qualified to pass.

These three labels, along with a seed, emerged from a thousand-year-old copper oil lamp.

Richard didn't have time to think it through and made a decision on the verge of suffocation.

He chose "Yes".

The panel absorption mode has changed.

The ether, which was originally flowing in evenly, was stirred up by an unseen hand.

Some of them are extracted and converge at the same point, where they rotate, compress, and condense.

A large amount of ether is concentrated and compressed into a very small point.

As the panel absorbs ether over a large area, the concentration of ether in the environment drops precipitously.

The unusual movements of the shadows on the main street outside the alleyway began to subside.

The shadows across the entire block gradually returned to normal.

Starting from the farthest point, the tide recedes and recedes layer by layer towards his location.

The pressure on my neck finally started to ease.

He took two deep breaths, and his breathing stabilized.

The main street outside the alleyway has returned to its normal nighttime scene.

The shadows of the shop signs lay obediently in their proper places, and the shadows of the streetlights returned to being neat, orderly lines.

The mannequin's shadow in the tailor shop window was only a torso and head, clean and bare, without arms.

Business as usual.

Richard looked down at his shadow.

Thank goodness, it finally agreed to squat down.

Available points: 1.62

All his efforts and setbacks were worthwhile.

The oil lamp is almost empty; as usual, I'll leave a little residue and not take any more.

A new line of text appeared on the panel, with a font size smaller than the skill labels.

Seeds have been extracted.

Planting Requirements: Unlocked under the [Spirit] category.

Richard stood up and dusted off his pants.

Come to think of it, I've already owned several unusual items.

But this lamp is the one that took the most effort to make.

He spent several weeks studying its sealing structure, and after buying it, he independently broke the seal.

From the moment he bought it to the moment he deciphered it, he remembered every scratch and every rust on the lamp more clearly than the lines on his own palm.

The Sphinx's Eye was watching him.

The seal is both a chain and a protection.

It locked away the power within the oil lamp, but at the same time reduced the destructiveness of that power to a controllable level.

If the seal hadn't still been in effect, the events of those last few minutes probably wouldn't have ended so easily.

His gaze returned to the new notification at the bottom of the panel.

Seeds need to be planted to germinate, and germination requires certain conditions, namely, unlocking the [Spirit] item.

He didn't yet know what would grow from the seed after it sprouted.

Seeds signify growth, change, and unpredictable outcomes.

Richard put the matter aside for the time being.

The condition for unlocking the Spirit item is that "all four aspects of the body are unlocked".

Breathing, sleeping, and eating are all conscious; walking is the only thing missing.

Before going home, he refocused his consciousness on the panel.

Available points: 1.62

He focused his attention on walking.

The gray faded as quickly as when other skills were activated.

A line of text appeared: "Confirm?"

He pressed it.

[Walking Lv.1] Progress: 0%

Available points: 0.62

The change came quietly.

There was no heat flow, no vibration, and not even a fluctuation in breathing rhythm.

But he felt it the moment he stood up and took his first step.

The forefoot strikes the ground first, absorbing most of the impact, and the center of gravity naturally transitions along the arch of the foot to the heel.

This action naturally distributes the impact force generated by the movement evenly.

But he didn't have time to fully appreciate the changes that walking brought.

At the same moment that the [Walking] indicator lit up, another line of text popped up on the panel.

The message consists of only one line: 【All four aspects of the body are open—the spiritual gate has been opened】

The lock symbol for the 【灵】 item has disappeared.

He touched it with his consciousness, without asking for any points to be consumed.

The text was immediately highlighted.

Numbers begin to appear after the horizontal bar, starting from zero, in a very small font, embedded in the bottom corner.

[Spiritual Appearance 0/10]

0/10, where the zero on the left is the current value and the ten on the right is the maximum capacity.

Richard's attention locked onto that line of text again, and a brief explanation surfaced:

"Spirit Form: Ether Storage Tank"

You can gradually accumulate ether during daily practice, and release it in stages or all at once when the tank is full.

The release effect depends on the total amount stored and the release method.

"The storage rate is linked to the efficiency of breathing technique practice. When the breathing technique is in operation, excess ether automatically flows into the spirit body without the need for manual extraction."

"Current capacity limit: 10 units; it will take approximately 10 days of continuous cultivation to fill up."

The explanation doesn't end here.

His gaze moved downwards, and another prompt surfaced from the bottom:

"Capacity limit can be increased by consuming points."

10→20: Requires 1 points

20→50: Requires 2 points

50→100: Requires 3 points

100→?: Additional conditions must be met (not yet unlocked)

Richard stroked his chin, noting that the cost of increasing the capacity limit increases in stages.

Once it reaches 100 or higher, they don't even tell you the price anymore, they just say "additional conditions must be met".

This shows that the volume of the reservoir is not infinitely expandable.

It gets more expensive as you go on, and after a certain point, there will be a non-points threshold.

The logic is the same as the requirement to "learn an extraordinary breathing technique" to advance breathing skills; the panel does not allow mindless leveling up by simply accumulating points.

He folded the description of the [spirit countenance] back and organized the information in his mind.

The design of the [Spirit] category is more generous than that of the [Body] and [Intelligence] categories.

The free features are given away as soon as you open the door; the ticket price has already been paid for under the condition of "all four aspects of the body are activated".

Expanding the capacity requires additional payment; the initial capacity is given away for free.

He glanced again at the unlock conditions at the bottom of the panel:

"The next condition for unlocking the [Spirit] item is: all four physical attributes and three intelligence attributes must reach Lv.3."

This condition is more than one level higher than the threshold of "fully unlocking all four physical attributes".

All his skills collectively reached Lv.3... He figured he'd have to wait until he became a professional.

But the Lingrong Reservoir is already open.

From now on, his breathing practice will not only maintain the daily operation of his etheric microcirculation, but also allow him to deposit money into his spiritual form.

Saving money doesn't require any special effort; it's fully automatic.