Chapter 130: Upgraded Treatment

Richard was just about to organize the materials he had just reviewed when three knocks sounded at the reading room door.

Three knocks—evenly spaced, neither hurried nor slow.

Richard's pencil paused in midair.

Hardly anyone ever came up to this third-floor storage room in the Greenwood library, which Mr. Hutton had specially opened for him.

Originally a supply closet, it had been cleared out a few years ago and furnished with two desks and a few chairs.

When students reached the third-floor stairwell and saw the narrow corridor and the "No Entry Without Invitation" sign, most would automatically turn around and head back down to the second floor.

Mr. Hutton wouldn't come up here either; he just waited in his office for Richard to come to him.

Grey didn't know this room existed, and Warren and Hugh were even less likely to climb all the way up to the third floor.

Richard looked up from his notebook.

Outside the somewhat worn wooden door, a mass of ether was slowly condensing.

Richard's Inspiration had sharpened considerably since his [Perception] lit up.

Even through the wooden door, he could sense the density of the ether mass outside.

It was heavy, dense, yet very quiet.

The first comparison that sprang to Richard's mind was the time Gerard's ether had completely crushed him.

Gerard's release back then had carried an oppressive intent, its sheer force distorting the ether throughout the entire space.

The mass outside the door was different.

It pulled itself in as tightly as possible, trying its best not to disturb its surroundings.

The tighter it withdrew, the more Richard could sense its true weight.

The knocking sounded three times again.

Likely aware that the person inside had noticed its ether field, a tall figure floated into the room.

Its silhouette resembled a human's, but it was at least a head taller than an average person.

Its entire frame was swathed in a long gray robe, the hem brushing the floor and hiding its feet.

No hands protruded from the cuffs; instead, two wisps of mist swirled slowly within.

It wore a wide-brimmed hat. There was clearly something where its facial features should be, but looking at it, Richard simply couldn't articulate what they looked like.

Every time he tried to focus, its face quietly slid out of view.

Before Richard even finished sizing it up, it reacted.

It bent down and offered a bow.

"Your Excellency, I am a Spirit Realm Messenger ordered to deliver a letter."

The messenger withdrew a letter from its chest, a new token tucked inside.

"Forgive my presumption in disturbing Your Excellency's studies." It gave another slight bow.

"According to the rules, I need Your Excellency to receive this in person and confirm receipt."

Richard roughly understood its purpose here.

A Spirit Realm Messenger, a personal delivery, and the high standard of etiquette.

Pieced together, these clues pointed to only one person: Hecate.

The first time he received an invitation, it was delivered by a large, flapping moth.

The formal Spirit Realm Messenger standing before him now had an ether density roughly at the Minor Adept tier.

His treatment had been upgraded.

Richard could roughly guess the reason for it.

At the end of the first gathering, Hecate had told him right before he left, "You are welcome to return for our next gathering."

It seemed that line hadn't just been a polite pleasantry. The newcomer had passed the initial evaluation, and his status had risen accordingly.

The Spirit Realm Messenger before him far exceeded the level of his first delivery, whether in terms of size, ether density, or ceremonial etiquette.

He figured that aside from granting him proper courtesy, she probably intended to demonstrate her strength as well.

Richard extended his right hand.

"Thank you."

He took the envelope from the mist swirling inside the entity's sleeve.

"According to the rules..." the messenger spoke again. "Please open and confirm the contents in my presence, Your Excellency."

Richard nodded.

He broke the wax seal with his thumb and drew out a thin sheet of paper of the same texture.

Your Excellency Hermes:

We are scheduled to gather once more at the round table of the Theogony Salon on the night of the sixteenth of this month.

The time remains unchanged from our previous meeting.

Please ensure you are fully rested the night prior, lest your spiritual vessel suffer fatigue.

— Chief; Hecate.

Tucked inside the envelope was a new Clay Token, bearing the pattern of Hermes's double-snake staff.

Richard folded the letter and tucked it back into the envelope.

"I have confirmed it," he told the messenger. "The contents are well received."

The messenger nodded.

"Then I shall take my leave." The messenger bowed once more. "I wish Your Excellency success in your studies."

It straightened up and took a step back.

A second later, the messenger vanished completely, its entire silhouette returning to the other side of the veil.

Richard sat back down at his desk. He would need to make ample preparations over the next two days.

...

After school, Richard took a detour toward the other end of the market.

Now that he had a new Spell Formula, he naturally wanted to find a target to test it on.

Unable to find any living creatures on the late-night streets to test his newly acquired Spell Formula, he had spent all day itching with anticipation.

The winter sun set early in Briston; it wasn't even five o'clock, yet the sun was already dipping behind the western chimneys.

He chose an old warehouse district on the north side of the market as his testing site.

Most of the warehouses were abandoned. The perimeter walls were built with decades-old bricks, topped with patches of withered grass.

The area was deserted, save for a few stray cats patrolling their territory atop the walls.

Richard walked along the warehouse wall for a bit.

He stopped near the third corner.

A gray stray cat was crouched atop the wall. This was his target.

It was resting on the wall, its front paws tucked beneath its body and its tail hanging over the outer edge, swinging lazily.

The distance was about five meters.

Richard stopped outside the wall, refraining from getting any closer.

He confirmed the casting conditions.

The cat's shadow was cast against the ground outside the wall, perfectly visible.

He raised his right hand, palm down.

The induction began.

Ether flowed from the Seat of the Sun, gliding down the inside of his right arm to his palm.

Unlike Stone Armor, the conduction circuit did not cover the surface of his skin this time.

The ether briefly condensed at his palm before releasing outward in a reversed flow.

His own shadow on the ground served as the bridge connecting his body to the outside world.

The ether spread across his shadow, extending outward to touch the cat's shadow.

The entire process took less than a second, and the effect was instantaneous.

The stray cat jerked downward.

It had been resting atop the wall in a relaxed posture.

A second later, it was pinned flat against the brickwork.

The cat let out a terrified screech.

It tried to stand up.

Its front paws braced against the wall and its hind legs kicked backward as it tried to arch its spine.

But it didn't budge.

Richard stood five meters away, observing carefully.

The cat's muscles strained with violent tension. It frantically twisted its waist and hind legs, trying to use the sheer torsion to wrench itself off the wall.

The struggle lasted about five seconds.

Richard had seen enough.

As the ether flowed back, the weight bearing down on the cat's shadow retracted.

The load vanished.

Like a tightly compressed spring, the stray cat leaped up with a swoosh.

The moment it landed, it darted off along the rooftops without a single backward glance.

Richard looked down at his right hand.

During the cast, his right arm had been completely unable to invoke Stone Armor.

He had tried calling upon the full-arm armor mid-cast, but it yielded no response whatsoever.

The cost was exacted thoroughly.

As for the effects... he ran a quick mental calculation.

The stray cat likely weighed around four kilograms.

The extra load inflicted by Shadow Armor was equivalent to about twice the target's own body weight.

To a cat, this was downright disastrous.

Its skeletal structure was built for its normal weight. Suddenly supporting three times that mass resulted in it collapsing under the pressure.

But this was likely only a surface load.

If the load had applied equally to its internal organs, the cat would have suffered severe injuries on the spot.

Yet it had scurried away energetically.

For now, it could only suppress movement via external surface pressure. That was roughly the extent of Shadow Armor's effect.

For his current needs, it was more than enough.

Richard walked back out along the perimeter wall of the old warehouses.

The test results gave him a better grasp of the technique, but there was another unresolved issue.

That was an ordinary cat, so the effect was naturally immediate.

But in situations where he genuinely needed to use this Spell Formula, his opponents wouldn't be ordinary felines.

Ghouls, wraiths, aberrations... these mystical evil creatures all possessed their own internal ether circulation to varying degrees.

Low-tier ones possessed a little, while high-tier ones could actively disrupt the environment just like a Major Adept.

This was precisely why ordinary lead bullets did little more than scratch an itch on evil creatures.

If ether circulation could resist common metals, it could naturally mitigate the effects of a Spell Formula.

Moreover, the "bodies" of many mystical creatures simply defied conventional definition.

Those spirit entities didn't even possess physical forms, let alone shadows.

Even when dealing with physical entities, a ghoul's bodily resilience was far superior to a human's.

Saddling it with an extra load equal to twice its own body weight might not limit its mobility all that much.

However, the Panel's description stated that the duration and intensity were positively correlated with his proficiency in Stone Armor and his ether consumption.

This Spell Formula possessed the capacity for growth; he was likely still at its most primitive stage right now.

Right now it added twice the weight. Once he practiced more and accumulated more ether, applying five times, ten times, or even a hundred times the weight onto an enemy...

If his control improved, and he concentrated all that weight into a single point of pressure, even a body of steel could be crushed into a pancake.