Chapter 202 - 173: Unyielding Pit

"The last collapse before the Black Stone Mine was abandoned swallowed an entire team of miners, and that’s not even counting the sporadic accidents before it."

"Three points, where traces have accumulated from repeated deaths;

And because these traces have not faded over the years, a passage has gradually formed."

"Where does it lead? To the central point of the lines connecting them."

"That piece of land was a naturally formed sinkhole in the Pre-Roman era.

At the time, the natives of this area would erect a stone circle around the edge of the pit every autumn equinox to perform sacrificial rites.

This ritual continued uninterrupted for over five hundred years, until the Roman Legions purged the Druids from this area."

"More importantly, the pit’s location happens to correspond to a ’Place Where Stars Hanging’."

"Thus, this place possesses three properties simultaneously.

It is a Blood Soaking Point built up from repeated deaths; it is a sacrificial scar that has lasted for hundreds of years; and it is a corresponding point on the star charts."

"According to the classification of weak points, this is a medium-sized, triple-aspect composite weak point."

Richard recalled the *Curtain Weak Point Examination*.

All the examples given in the book were basically single- and dual-type weak points.

The author wrote with extreme caution about all the documented composite weak points on the Imperial mainland.

Any that were of triple-aspect composition were marked with specific serial numbers, their owning parties, and their maintenance schedules.

A triple-aspect convergence, while not as significant as the highest-level quadruple-aspect, was still considered a medium-sized weak point that the average Practitioner wouldn’t dare enter rashly.

He had never imagined that such a place could exist within the West Suburb Mine Group, which he could see from a distance every day on his way to and from school.

He continued reading.

"At the level of the Curtain, a place of triple-aspect convergence is equivalent to a natural passage near the Second-Layer Deep Realm."

"For this very reason, after our predecessors discovered this entrance, they made the Seal exceptionally tight.

The surface entrance has been repeatedly filled with earth and poured with cement to a depth of over thirty feet.

Additionally, a Nine-Layered Stone Ring Inscription was erected, which the Brighton Branch Office routinely inspects and reinforces twice a year, in spring and autumn."

"Inspectors not registered locally are forbidden from unauthorized entry, regardless of Tier!"

"Trespassers, regardless of their purpose, will be treated as ’reverse infiltrators’!"

Richard finished reading this section and put down his pen.

He was familiar with the term "reverse infiltration."

It was the most serious offense on the Mysterious Side.

A Seal is two-way: it stops things inside from getting out, and it also prevents people outside from getting in.

Forcibly entering a weak point within a Seal, by any means, is equivalent to opening another hole in that Seal.

Regardless of the intruder’s Tier or purpose, the defenders would view them as an infiltrator from the opposite direction of the Curtain, essentially no different from an Evil Being.

There is only one way to handle it: immediate elimination on the spot, with no further questions asked.

Richard committed the location to memory, marking it and the three smaller surrounding weak points in red on his map.

He then read the appendix.

The content of the appendix was far more interesting than the main text.

After finishing the survey description of the "Unyielding Pit," the author’s tone shifted, and he began to record a set of homespun methods the miners had figured out for themselves.

It was clear that he had relaxed while writing this part; his choice of words was like he was chatting with you.

"The main pit is sealed, but business has to go on," he began.

"The mines have to be worked. If the mines don’t open, the city can’t stand.

You go tell the whole of Brighton we’re not mining coal anymore and should all go home and plant potatoes, and see if they don’t string you up from a lamppost first."

"After a lot of back and forth, the Branch Office sat down and talked with a few of us old hands from the community.

The solution we reached was to seal the main pit, while the circle of neighboring mines around it would continue to operate as usual.

If Evil Beings pop out sporadically, we deal with them sporadically. No one should expect a once-and-for-all solution."

"Although the main pit is sealed, some things without physical form still pop out from time to time in the adjacent mines.

These things are basically remnants that have leaked out from under the main pit. They have no form, possess hosts through the Ether Layer, and feed on human terror."

"This is where the problem lies. There are dozens of mines, large and small, around the main pit.

We can’t possibly just sit around and guard the mines every day; we’d never get anything else done.

So, the ones who really have to deal with these things day in and day out are the miners, who have no idea what ’Ether’ even is."

"But if you underestimate them, then you just don’t know the business."

"After more than a hundred years of going down into the pits, even though the common miners don’t understand our jargon, they’ve figured out a whole set of methods on their own.

Passed down from one generation to the next, it’s more practical than any of the rules we write in our studies."

Richard, having deciphered this far, began to study the text intently once again.

Rule One.

"If you hear someone call your name down in the pit—don’t look back."

"Don’t answer, don’t reply, don’t ask who it is.

Lower your mine lamp to light up the small patch of ground by your feet, take two steps back following your own footprints, and then get back to work."

The compiler added an explanation below:

"If a non-corporeal thing wants to ’remember’ a miner, it will call his name repeatedly.

If you don’t respond within three calls, it will move on to the next person. Respond once, and it will recognize you."

Richard mentally connected this rule to what Old Big had taught him.

The "window theory": if you look out, something will look back in.

The miners had reached the same conclusion through the simplest of means.

Rule Two.

"When you eat down in the pit, don’t be in a hurry to swallow the first bite.

Hold it in your mouth, then spit it back into your palm, smear it on the pit wall, and only then start eating properly."

"When the old foreman told me this, I asked him why.

He shot me a look and said, ’If you don’t leave a bite for the things in the pit, they’ll take a bite from you. Can you afford to give them that?’"

"The words are crude, but the principle is sound."

The compiler added:

"This trick is effective against ’Hunger’ type abominations, but useless against ’Resentment’ and ’Rage’ types."

Rule Three.

"Never borrow a lamp underground."

"If your own lamp goes out, go back to the pit entrance to get another. It’s better to climb up in the dark than to ask a companion for their mine lamp."

"And don’t lend your mine lamp to anyone else, even if they call your name and sound exactly like someone you know."

Richard paid special attention to this rule.

From a Mysticism perspective, borrowing a lamp is equivalent to sharing a person’s "defenses" with another.

If the person borrowing the lamp isn’t a true companion, you’ve just handed your defenses right into their jaws.

The miners, of course, didn’t understand words like Ether, defenses, or Disguise.

But they certainly knew of someone who had lent a lamp to another and then never came home.

The second half of the appendix was the compiler’s own further explanation, detailing the principles of Mysticism behind these rules.

When Richard saw this section, he practically copied and memorized it line by line.

As this knowledge was firmly recorded in his mind, the progress bar for [Scholarship] Lv. 2 climbed from 82%.

The bar continued to rise, only slowing its pace as it approached 84%. This was more progress than he had made in two weeks of self-study poring over dictionaries.

This was all life-saving knowledge for exploring the Curtain, more useful than anything from a book.

The compiler had also left a conclusion at the end.

"As I compiled this volume, I often felt my face flush with shame."

"We, who come from academies, mystical orders, or Guilds.

We’re so proud of how many volumes we’ve read and the countless rules we’ve memorized, spouting Latin and Ancient Greek Text at every opportunity.

But when it comes down to it, the ones who have really been struggling against these things on the edge of the Curtain for decades are these miners, who’ve never had a proper education in their lives."

"They used their blood as ink and their lives as paper to write a book that we, sitting at our desks, could never write."

"To those who come later and find this volume, please be sure to hold it in reverence.

Every one of these rules is weighed down by a name; they are viable paths, forged through the trial and error of countless lives."