Chapter 104: Spirit Vision and Divination

"My teacher is Madam Marie of 17 Flower Moon Street. You've probably heard the name; she's always sticking small ads in the major papers."

The small newspaper ads, 17 Flower Moon Street, the black cat lounging on the steps, Vincent's warning... it all finally clicked together.

As Old Biggs spoke, Richard gradually pieced together Madam Marie's background.

Madam Marie was far more than just a medium on Flower Moon Street.

She was a heavyweight in the Civilian Guild with decades of practice across the Empire.

She had taught many students who were now scattered across the Empire—from the Imperial Capital to the Northern Industrial Zone, from coastal ports to inland mining towns.

Some of these students became mediums, diviners, or herbalists, while others entered the official system.

They all walked different paths, but their roots traced firmly back to Madam Marie's tutelage.

"Only after a student finishes their apprenticeship are they qualified to use a title like 'Madam' or 'Mister,'" Old Biggs explained.

"What about you, Old Biggs?" Richard asked.

"Me..." He grinned. "I never finished my apprenticeship."

"My Spirit Vision wasn't up to par, my divination accuracy missed the mark, and I could only recognize seals, not set them. I fell short on all three core skills, so my teacher never gave me a title."

"She suggested I take a different path: join the official system as a coroner, and use my half-baked Spirit Vision and Secret-path divination to help with autopsies."

He screwed the lid back onto his copper flask.

"My teacher told me this: in our line of work, not everyone needs to stand at the top of the tower.

"Every brick in the tower has its place. If you do your part well, the whole structure stands a little firmer."

He patted his thigh and stood up.

"So I came to Briston to be a coroner. I do my secondary inspections, and occasionally head to the shooting range on weekends to fire off a few rounds and relieve the boredom.

"My senior sister started two years before me, and her talent far outstripped mine.

"She finished her apprenticeship, earned a proper title, and built up her own clientele across several cities in the North District.

"She makes trips out to Briston as well, mostly serving wealthy families."

He flipped his empty cup upside down onto an ammo crate.

"She came here on business last month, and I treated her to dinner.

"Over dinner, she mentioned a middle school in the North District called Greenwood. She said there was quite a remarkable young fellow there."

Richard didn't say anything, simply waiting for him to continue.

Old Biggs spread his hands.

"I didn't think much of it at the time. Greenwood has loads of students, and I didn't know anyone there anyway. But then you just happened to wander into my shooting range.

"Right off the bat, I could tell your foundation in the breathing method was pretty solid.

"But I couldn't be certain you were the kid my senior sister mentioned, and it wasn't my place to go prying.

"Then today you mentioned you go to Greenwood, and the pieces finally clicked."

"So that's why you only taught me shooting and about Enchanted Bullets last week, without mentioning anything else," Richard realized.

"Of course," Old Biggs chuckled.

"If you were just a random rookie in the official system, I'd teach you how to shoot and leave it at that. No need to run my mouth."

Old Biggs suddenly shifted the conversation.

"All talk and no action gets us nowhere." He fished a Copper Penny out of his pocket and flicked it into the air.

The Copper Penny flipped upward before he caught it cleanly, slapping his hand over it.

"Come on, let's play a game."

He crossed his arms and squinted, studying Richard for a good five seconds.

"The back of your head..." He tapped the back of his own head. "There's a very faint stagnation of energy there."

"You've been doing some heavy mental work lately. Trying to crack a tough nut?"

"Latin homework," Richard said without batting an eye.

Old Biggs froze for a second before bursting into laughter.

"Latin homework!" His belly jiggled as he laughed.

"Sure, Latin homework. Whatever you say."

"I bet that's exactly the excuse you give your sister, isn't it?"

Richard's expression immediately shifted. "How do you know I have a sister?"

"There's a small smudge of flour on the inside of your left cuff. Someone must have helped straighten your clothes before you left the house today.

"The fact that they had flour on their hands means they were right in the middle of baking or kneading dough.

"The height of the smudge is a bit low, which tells me the person is roughly half a head shorter than you.

"So, we're looking for someone who lives with you, bakes, is half a head shorter, and cares enough to straighten your clothes."

Old Biggs ticked the points off on his fingers.

"Most likely your mother or a sister. But if it were your mother or an older sister, they would have been far more careful about leaving a mess on you.

"A younger sister is the most logical answer. She probably just gave your sleeve a quick tug as you were walking out the door."

After talking for so long, his mouth was getting dry, so he took a sip of tea. "Well? Am I right?"

"Spot on."

"Then do you want to learn how to do this sort of thing yourself?"

"I do," Richard answered plainly.

A wide smile bloomed across Old Biggs's face, smoothing out his wrinkles.

"Excellent!"

He hopped down from the ammo crate, displaying a level of enthusiasm that caught Richard slightly off guard.

"Don't look at me like that."

Old Biggs seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"When my teacher took in students back in the day, she never turned anyone away. As long as you were willing to learn, she was willing to teach.

"Even if she eventually realized you had no talent, she wouldn't kick you out.

"At worst, she'd just teach you something else—maybe herbalism, or identifying basic inscriptions. There was always something you could learn.

"Passing down the skills of our trade is incredibly difficult. People with the right circuits are just too rare.

"No matter which path you end up walking, Spirit Vision is a universal foundation. You can use it anywhere."

"So if you want to learn, I'm more than happy to teach you," Old Biggs said bluntly.

"I won't charge you a dime, I won't ask you to formally take me as your master, and we won't bother with any of those superficial rituals.

"If you grasp it, great. If you don't, no harm done. Just consider it a favor between friends."

He pointed a finger at the ceiling and drew a small circle.

"There's an empty office up on the third floor. It used to be an archive room for the monitoring station, but they cleared out the files and left it vacant.

"Nobody goes up there on weekends, so it's quiet. And once you draw the curtains, the lighting is just right."

He started laying out the plan, ticking the points off on his fingers.

"Next Sunday, same time. Head straight up to the third floor when you get here. I'll have the testing materials ready."

"What materials?"

"A few objects with different properties." Old Biggs opened his hand to gesture their size.

"Some will have faint traces of ether residue, while others will be completely clean.

"I'll line them up on a table and throw a cloth over them.

"You'll close your eyes and use the Perception from your internal ether circulation to 'touch' them, one by one...

"If you can accurately pick out which of the ten objects have ether and which don't...

"Even with just a sixty or seventy percent accuracy rate, it'll prove you have enough base Inspiration. After that, it's just a matter of practice and refinement."

Richard ran the process through his mind.

The Spirit Vision test would require him to push out his Perception and hold it there, suspending it beyond his body to scan the surrounding ether environment.

The difference between "push out and retract" and "push out and hold" seemed minor, but the nature of the action was completely different.

One acted like a spring; the other like an antenna.

"If you really do show talent... I can guide you through the door."

He held up a second finger.

"In fact, if your talent is good enough, I can even recommend you directly to my sect.

"Of course, since you're walking the path of a Scholar, you won't need to learn all our Secret techniques.

"But Spirit Vision and basic divination are universal skills. They don't belong to any single discipline.

"A Scholar can use them just fine—sometimes even better than someone on the Secret path, because you have the theoretical foundation to back it up."

He grabbed his toolkit, and the two of them headed up the concrete stairs, one after the other.

Near the doorway, Old Biggs shifted the toolkit and a trash bag into one hand and glanced back at Richard.

"Next Sunday, 2:00 PM. Right here. I'll make sure to bring all the testing materials."

He started down the steps.

"When you get home, right after you finish practicing your breathing method before bed every night, use your final exhale to 'push' your focus outward.

"Don't push it far. Just an inch past your body is enough.

"Push it out, hold it for a single second, and pull it back in.

"Think of it as a warm-up. It'll make it easier to slip into the right state when we run the test."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."