Chapter 198 - 171: Observation

Before dinner, Richard went upstairs and took a hot shower.

With a turn of the faucet, hot water flowed from the lead pipes. Steam crept up the tiles, fogging the mirror completely white.

[Breath Healing] was most effective when the pores of the skin were open.

The Light Tree Leaves unfurled in his chest, and with every exhale, he pushed out the lingering soreness from his muscles.

As he dried his hair with a towel, he could feel the dull ache in his temples receding.

Dinner was stew with mashed potatoes, served with bread his mother had baked that morning.

Evelyn sat across from Richard the entire meal, stealing glances at her brother’s face as she ate.

His mother was also studying him, far more subtly than his sister, her gaze sweeping over him as she passed the salt shaker and the butter dish.

Richard pretended not to notice, dipping a piece of bread into the stew and putting it in his mouth.

The homemade stew featured marbled lamb belly, and the carrots were cooked until meltingly tender.

"Slow down," his mother said, adding another ladleful to his bowl. "You’ve been gone for ten days. You couldn’t have eaten well on the road."

"I ate just fine," Richard said after chewing a piece of potato. "The proprietress at Whitcomb Inn made leg of lamb, and she prepared it differently every day."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I had it roasted, stewed, braised, and in a soup."

Evelyn put down her fork. "Then why did you lose weight?"

"A lot of running around."

"Running around for what?"

"Running errands for my seniors." This was half-truth, half-lie.

His sister murmured an "oh" and picked her fork back up to tackle the last piece of potato on her plate.

After dinner was cleared away, his father brewed a pot of tea and took it to the study to examine a newly acquired tobacco tin.

His mother was washing dishes in the kitchen. Evelyn insisted on helping but was shooed out.

Richard went upstairs to his room.

Once inside his bedroom, he bolted the door.

He had already set his suitcase at the foot of the bed. He took out the contents one by one and arranged them in a row.

The innermost item was the Sphinx Lamp, wrapped in three layers of old flannel.

When he took the lamp out, its body was noticeably warmer than on the day he’d left.

The middle layer held the Talisman Stone Bag, the Copper Disc, the Gray Wax Stick, the Silver Needle Long Box, and the small cloth pouch containing the Maple Whistle.

In the outermost layer were the "spoils" from his winter internship: the Bronze Plate and the Ritual Dagger.

After sitting down, he placed his hand on the dagger’s Silver Handle.

His panel’s [Available Points] began to climb from 0.13.

The points climbed much faster than they had with the copper coin from Huayue Street.

The Ritual Dagger had been steeped in a medieval Sealed Ground for nearly six hundred years, and it was made of solid silver. Once the Seal was broken, the residual Ether seeped out like water from an open floodgate.

Richard leaned back in his chair, his eyelids half-closed.

After about twenty minutes, his Available Points stopped at 0.89.

As was his custom, he had absorbed ninety-five percent of the Ether from the dagger’s main body.

He lifted his hand, moved the dagger back to the left side of his desk, and picked up the Bronze Plate.

The Bronze Plate was ice-cold to the touch. It had clearly spent a great deal of time in the Whitcomb Sealed Ground.

Once the Seal was broken, the Ether gushed out even more torrentially than it had from the dagger.

[Available Points] continued to climb from 0.89.

1.4... 1.6... 1.68...

[Available Points]: 1.75.

’Almost two points.’

He knew the advancement requirements for [Scholarship] Level 3 by heart: Level 2 progress at 100%, 1 Available Point, and personally deciphering a text with Double Overwrite encryption.

’As for the Double Overwrite requirement, I’ll just have to wait and ask my aunt when she visits. I hope she doesn’t bail on me.’

It would also take 1 Point to unlock [Rationality].

If he had any to spare, expanding his [Spiritual Appearance] from 10 to 20 would also cost 1 Point.

When he’d used [Shadow Armor] to help the captain during the Seal ritual, the pure Ether automatically released by his Spiritual Appearance had been incredibly easy to control.

Plus, the side effects were minimal and recovery was quick; the internal blockage cleared up in just two days.

’If I’m ever truly desperate enough to use that bottle of Deep Ether Condensate from Prometheus...’

’The side effects from a potent catalytic medium like that won’t be something I can just sleep off for a couple of nights.’

Richard re-evaluated his plan.

Even if his two sources, Clement and his aunt, didn’t provide any new Marvels in the short term, what Richard had on hand was already enough for his upcoming Scholarship advancement.

If he could get a few more items from them, he would unlock [Rationality] first, then expand his [Spiritual Appearance] to twenty.

As for the [Eating] and [Sleep] Skills, he had already met their unlock requirements.

However, his Level 2 progress bar was still far from 100%. He would have to accumulate daily progress for a while.

It was the same situation for [Walking] and [Perception]; he would have to grind them out slowly.

Speaking of which, he hadn’t yet looked at the advancement requirements for the next tier of [Perception].

Based on the pattern of the previous few Skills, the preview itself wouldn’t cost any Points.

With a thought from Richard, a new line of text appeared at the edge of his panel.

"This Skill is active. To advance further, the following requirements must be met:

Reach 100% progress for Level 2;

Available Point;

Behind the Curtain, actively observe a hostile target of a higher Tier than your own for fifteen minutes without being detected."

"Unlockable Effect Preview—Perception·Observation:

While stationary, the range and precision of your inspiration will be simultaneously enhanced, and you will be harder to detect in turn."

’This unlock requirement is starting to get a little tricky.’

Compared to the unlock requirements for the four [Physique] Skills, which were practically free, both of the currently displayed requirements for the [Wisdom] category were rather difficult.

’For [Perception], the main issue is the restriction that it must be done from behind the Curtain.’

’The target also has to be hostile. Otherwise, I could just stare at Mr. Hutton for fifteen minutes during class and be done with it...’

’Actively observing a hostile target of a higher Tier for fifteen minutes in the Shallows, no matter how you look at it, is just asking for death.’

’Then again, this unlock requirement doesn’t specify that I have to do it alone.’