I loaded the Mysticism panel.

At the very bottom of the panel, the line of text about seeds also changed.

Originally, it was "Planting conditions: [Spirit] item unlocked".

The text has now been updated to: "Seed planted, germination countdown: 24 hours."

Richard glanced at his pocket watch; it was a little past eleven.

Tomorrow night will be the moment the answer is revealed.

He walked back to Central Street from the entrance of Nail Alley and started heading north.

The night wind blew in through his collar, taking away the last bit of body heat from inside his coat.

The changes brought about by his walking skills can be felt in every step he takes.

My steps and breathing gradually came together, and the lightness in my legs made traveling late at night no longer a burden.

Pushing open the back door, the living room was pitch black.

He squeezed in from the side, gently closing the door from the inside, muffling the sound of the latch falling with his hand.

I took off my shoes and stepped onto the wooden floor in my socks.

This time, he stopped in the second-floor corridor and listened for a while in front of his sister's room.

Only after confirming that he could hear the girl's even breathing inside did he feel relieved.

He returned to his bedroom, closed the door, and bolted it.

Richard placed the oil lamp on the bedside table, next to the gargoyle.

Under the moonlight, the gargoyle's mouth was wide open, its expression ferocious;

The Sphinx had its eyes half-closed and its expression calm.

Two strange, animal-shaped objects squatted at the head of the bed, essentially keeping watch over him at night.

The next day was a normal school day.

Richard was no different in class than he was in his daily life.

He sat in the front row by the window, listening to the lectures and taking notes. As usual, he had lunch with Warren and Grey.

Warren ordered roasted lamb chops with mashed potatoes as usual.

"Why have you been looking at your watch all day?" Warren asked, chewing on a lamb chop. "Well, I just checked it again."

Richard casually made up an excuse to get by.

The countdown had been weighing on his mind; he was incredibly curious about what was inside.

On the other side, in the lower grades section, Evelyn sat among a group of girls of the same grade.

Recently, the plate in front of her has been much more lavish than before.

In addition to the standard bread and salad, there was an extra roasted chicken leg on the right side of the plate, and a cup of steaming cocoa was placed next to the soup bowl.

She didn't order the chicken leg herself.

Cocoa isn't one either.

The girl sitting to her left was from the next class.

Ten minutes later, she came over with her plate, sat down next to Evelyn, and placed an apple in front of her.

"Here you go, these are freshly picked from my orchard, they're especially sweet."

Evelyn glanced at the apple: "Thanks, but I won't..."

"Try it, it's really sweet."

The girl on the right is even more outrageous.

She ran straight to the window, got a cup of hot cocoa, and brought it back, placing it next to Evelyn's soup bowl.

"It's getting cold, have something hot to drink."

"I have tea..."

"Cocoa tastes better than tea."

Evelyn said "No, no" but she had already picked up the apple and taken a bite.

It is indeed sweet.

She picked up the cocoa and took another sip.

It really does taste good.

The two girls exchanged a satisfied look.

There were more than just the two girls surrounding Evelyn.

Another person was telling Evelyn how beautiful a ribbon they saw at the department store yesterday was;

Another person handed over the cookies they had brought.

Evelyn munched on an apple while dealing with the enthusiastic chatter from all sides, her ears filled with a cacophony of voices.

She is not stupid.

How many times had these girls spoken to her before? No more than twenty times in total.

When did things suddenly become so lively? Probably after her brother became a prominent figure in Greenwood.

More and more people wanted to get close to Richard Williams, but Richard's social circle was very small.

Lunchtime was completely taken up by Warren's little group, and I often spent my breaks in the library.

If you can't break through head-on, try attacking from the flanks.

The most obvious gap on the flank was his younger sister.

Evelyn placed the apple core on the side of the plate and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

She knew exactly what was going on, but the apples were really sweet, the cocoa was really delicious, and the cookies were really crispy.

The feeling of being surrounded by people... I wouldn't say I dislike it.

During the break, Evelyn came out of the classroom and walked down the corridor toward Richard's classroom.

She found her brother leaning against the window, flipping through a book, at the corner of the corridor.

"elder brother."

Richard closed the book: "What's wrong?"

Evelyn's expression shifted between smugness and displeasure: "Can't you control your suitors?"

"What kind of suitor?"

"It's those...those girls who keep trying to get close to me!"

She pretended to be annoyed:

"One of them sent me apples, and the other bought me cocoa."

Another one insisted on telling me about the ribbons she saw at the department store branch. What interest do I have in ribbons?!

"Did they buy you hot cocoa?"

"……right."

"Then let them keep using it. You can handle the things they gave you yourself."

Richard reopened the book and continued reading his ancient Greek.

Evelyn glared at him, then turned and walked back.

As she walked back, Richard's gaze swept across the pages of the book and landed on his sister's somewhat excited back.

This greedy girl, though she says she's annoyed, her actions tell a different story.

Richard shook his head and turned his attention back to the book.

After school in the afternoon, he ate dinner, helped his mother wash the dishes, and then went upstairs to his room.

Evelyn was doing her homework next door, the pen scratching softly.

Richard sat at his desk, ostensibly flipping through an ancient Greek textbook, but his attention was mostly focused on the control panel.

Around 10 o'clock, the countdown reached zero.

A new notification popped up at the bottom of the panel: "The seed has germinated, the entrance is open."

"Enter?"

"Note: During this process, the body will enter a deep sleep state. It is recommended to do this in a safe environment."

【whether】

Upon seeing this message, he pressed his ear against the door.

My mother stopped coughing, and my father's snoring could be heard through the floor.

The light in Evelyn's room across the street had been off for almost half an hour, and the girl's even breathing could be heard through the door.

The whole family is asleep.

Richard lay down on the bed, pulling the blanket up to his chest.

He chose "Yes".

Consciousness plunged into darkness.

Maybe three seconds, maybe three minutes, and the ground appeared beneath your feet.

The soles of my feet felt cold and damp.

A thin layer of black water covered the ground, reaching only about ankle-deep.

Above my head was another side of water.

A black, upside-down surface of water mirrors the water beneath your feet.

It hung about three meters above, flat, quiet, reflecting his silhouette.

If Richard had to find a description for where he was, the first thing that came to mind was a tomb, or perhaps a water dungeon.

There is light in the distance.

Richard took the first step.

As I stepped into the thin layer of black water, ripples finally appeared on the surface.

Ripples also appeared on the inverted water surface overhead.

He started counting the steps.

The temperature of the black water under the feet remained constant, neither hot nor cold.

Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps... The light source is slowly approaching.

At forty steps, he began to be able to discern the outline of the light source.

He stopped after fifty paces.

A stone gate stands in the black water.

Two square stone pillars, one crossbeam, and no door panels.

Richard's gaze fell on the reliefs on the stone pillar.

There is a crouching Sphinx on the left pillar.

It has the body of a sphinx and the face of a human, and is in a semi-reclining position with its front paws resting on the edge of the base and its tail wrapped around its hind legs.

The facial features are very clear: high cheekbones, narrow chin, and slightly upturned eyes.

He was wearing a crown on his head that was somewhat difficult to see; it could be a serpentine crown or a sun disc, but for some reason Richard just couldn't make it out clearly.

On the right pillar is a vulture with outstretched wings.

The vulture lowered its head, looking down at the black water on the ground.

As he was observing, the Sphinx on the stone pillar opened and closed its mouth:

"Born of the soil, it first kisses the earth with its four limbs; "

Standing at noon, measure your own shadow with your two feet;

As dusk falls, the third foot is not a foot, but an extension of the shadow.

"What is this?"

Richard's first reaction upon hearing this was: Isn't this the classic riddle of the Sphinx from Thebes?

What has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?

The answer is people.

Babies crawl on all fours, adults stand and walk on two legs, and the elderly use a cane, which is like a third leg.

This is Oedipus's answer, and also the most famous riddle in ancient Greek mythology, which is mentioned in many popular books.

But he did not answer immediately.

Because the last line of the riddle is different from the classic version.

In the classic version, the third leg is a cane.

This place has become an "extension of the shadow".

"The third foot is not a foot, but an extension of the shadow."

Is this change a trap or a clue?

If the answer is still "human," then the last sentence is merely a rhetorical change and is irrelevant.

If the answer isn't "people," then the last sentence is the key difference.

Richard stood in the black water for a while.

He decided to take a gamble.

"people."

The sphinx relief on the crossbeam has its mouth closed:

"The answer is correct, but incomplete."

"Humans are the surface of the mystery."

"The shadow is the inner layer of the mystery."

"Come again tomorrow, with the answers from within."

After the text on the wall appeared, the entire space began to darken.

Richard felt a pulling force coming from behind him, pulling his consciousness back.

When he opened his eyes, he was still lying in bed.

He covered his chest with the blanket, in the exact same position as before.

Nothing in the room has changed.

The lights were off, and a thin sliver of moonlight peeked through the gap in the curtains.

He glanced at his watch; he had been in that space for about twenty minutes.

The physical sensation is also similar.

He moved his fingers and toes, and tried to bend his knees.

everything is normal.

I felt no discomfort whatsoever, and was even a little more energetic than before.

I had a very vivid dream.

The Sphinx told him to come back with the "answer to the innermost layer".

What is the answer in the inner layer?

"The shadow is the inner layer of the mystery."

This statement itself is not the answer.

It's a direction, telling him that the answer is related to "shadow," but what exactly it is, he needs to figure out for himself.

Richard lay back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

In classic riddles, the "third leg" is a crutch.

A cane is a tool in the material world, an assistive device that humans need as they age.

The version in the torrent file replaced the cane with "Shadow Extension".

Why do shadows extend?

The answer from physics is simple: as the sun's angle decreases, the shadow is lengthened.

But the Sphinx wasn't asking about physics.

Richard closed his eyes, organizing everything he knew about "Shadow" in his mind.

As mentioned in Appendix C, the permeates behind the curtain exist in various forms.

His shadow demonstrated its ability to act independently when the oil lamp was broken.

It stood up and tried to lock his throat.

This means that the shadow has something independent of the body... what?

Willpower? Instinct? Reflex?

He wasn't sure.

His thinking has reached a dead end tonight; he lacks sufficient knowledge to make a judgment.