Chapter 165: The Essence of Encryption

Richard and Maggie both froze.

"Wait." Maggie spoke first.

"Sir, these inscriptions have existed for over two thousand years. Has no one ever deciphered them?"

It was a good question.

Mr. Hutton took a sip of his tea.

"Maggie, let me give you an analogy."

He picked up a coin from the low table.

"Suppose this copper coin bears a single sentence: 'The sun shines upon the earth.'"

He tossed the coin, catching it face-up.

"A thousand years ago, a scholar read this sentence.

He wrote an annotation: 'The sun shines upon the earth' means that light dispels darkness, and order suppresses chaos."

He flipped the coin over.

"Five hundred years later, another scholar read the same sentence.

He wrote an annotation: 'The sun shines upon the earth' means that nothing can hide in the shadows forever."

"Three hundred years later, yet another scholar read this sentence.

His annotation read: 'The sun shines upon the earth' means the sun can illuminate the land, but it can also scorch it to death."

He stood the coin on its edge between his thumb and index finger, exposing both faces to the two young people.

"Three people read the same sentence. None of their three annotations are wrong, yet none of them are similar."

Richard pondered the meaning behind these words.

"Do you mean, sir... that the 'previously undecrypted text' required for the probatio doesn't actually mean deciphering a text no one has ever touched?"

"Correct. It only requires you to write your own interpretation from your own perspective."

Mr. Hutton set the coin back on the table.

"The Latin word for the probatio is probatio—proof.

It proves you have the ability to face an encrypted inscription independently, dismantle it from start to finish, understand it, and re-express it using your own language and knowledge."

"Otherwise, after thousands of years, there is only so much encrypted text.

But Scholars must undertake the probatio every year. You can't expect us old men to manually encrypt inscriptions for you every time, can you?"

"So, the exact same inscription can be used as probatio material by different scholars?"

Maggie's brows shot up. "Doesn't that mean we can just copy our predecessors' answers?"

"Would a copied answer truly be yours?" Mr. Hutton asked.

Maggie opened her mouth, then closed it.

"You could certainly dig through the filing cabinets and find those past papers."

Mr. Hutton set his teacup back on its saucer.

"But after copying them, when you stand before that inscription and anchor it with Spirit Vision, what the inscription reflects back to you will be entirely different from what it gave them."

"Because the era has changed, you have changed, and even the veil itself is changing."

"The same inscription appears vastly different to scholars of different eras, different Ranks, and different traditions.

A scholar five hundred years ago might have read 'tranquility' from the seventh group of inscriptions, while you might read 'restraint.' Both of you would be right, yet neither of you would be entirely right."

"But as long as you can stand before the inscription and independently complete a full interpretation using your own knowledge and Inspiration, and..."

He held up three fingers.

"First, the logical chain of your interpretation is completely traceable, with no skipped steps.

"Second, the conclusion you draw must resonate with the ether flow of the inscription itself.

"Third, your interpretation draft must be submitted to your guide and at least one Practitioner of the Scholar path for double verification. The standard for confirmation is whether your answer logically holds up."

Mr. Hutton lowered his three fingers.

"Satisfy these three conditions, and you pass the probatio."

Richard leaned back in his chair, mentally sorting through all the information he had just heard.

So the probatio was never about "finding a ciphertext no one has touched and unprecedentedly translating it."

Every scholar facing the same inscription handed in an answer sheet that belonged uniquely to them.

This answer was influenced by their knowledge reserves, Inspiration biases, the era they lived in, the tendencies of their breathing method, and even their life experiences.

Feed the exact same inscription to a hundred scholars, and it would yield a hundred distinct interpretations.

Every single one of them could be a passing probatio.

"So these ancient inscriptions are actually a circulating test bank."

Richard thought of the past exam papers from his previous life.

There were only a few textbooks, yet after years of actual exams and mock tests, there was always fresh material for new questions.

"You can understand it like that." Mr. Hutton was quite satisfied with his analogy.

"The sealing inscriptions, tomb epitaphs, and ritual fragments currently existing within the Empire... large and small, they add up to a few thousand pieces.

Each one can be used repeatedly. The predecessors finish with them, and the descendants continue to use them. Every generation reads something different from them."

His tone grew a bit lighter. "In fact, the repeated interpretation of the same inscription by scholars across different eras is itself a part of the continuation of tradition.

A thousand-year-old annotation stacked alongside today's forms the history of humanity's understanding of the veil."

"If one day your interpretation is nearly identical to your predecessor's, it instead proves your thinking has fallen too far behind."

Mr. Hutton smiled.

"That is why we are always discussing points of innovation. For our human traditions, only innovative viewpoints possess value."

Richard silently committed these words to memory.

Beside him, Maggie was already writing furiously on the back of the rubbing with a charcoal pencil.

"Sir, this rubbing..." She finished her last stroke and looked up. "I also participated in the tracing. Can I keep a copy?"

"Of course. These are shared resources; anyone can interpret them."

"Sir," Richard spoke up.

"Yes?"

"When I was looking at those inscriptions down there today, I thought of something."

"Go on."

"Of the twelve groups of inscriptions in the Boundary Stone Array, the bottommost layer is Celtic, the middle layer is Romanized, and the surface layer is medieval Latin."

"Mm."

"Three layers of text coexisting on the same medium. This is very close to the definition of 'Double Overwriting.'"

Mr. Hutton's hand paused on his teacup.

"Where did you learn the term 'Double Overwriting'?"

"The Imperial Capital University Library." Richard had his answer prepared.

"When I was flipping through documents on the east side of the second floor, I saw an old book about encryption methods.

It mentioned this concept—two or more layers of text coexisting on the same medium, an overlay of information on both the physical and ether levels."

"I hastily jotted down the term at the time but didn't study it deeply."

The old gentleman set his teacup back on the table.

"Since we've arrived at this topic, I'll explain it to you in passing.

The research results of our profession must also be published and circulated in society.

Scholars cannot close their doors and talk to themselves; papers are written to be read by others."

"But have you ever thought about how these papers are written in a way that keeps laymen from understanding them?"

Drawing from his own experience of decrypting Appendix C and other texts, Richard offered a guess.

"...By repeatedly packaging them in academic language, artificially setting up a reading barrier?"

"Correct." Mr. Hutton nodded. "That is the most commonly used layer."

"In the publicly distributed journals at the Imperial Capital University Library, more than half the articles look like papers on physiology, geology, anthropology, or classical studies, but they are actually entirely about our profession."

"When a layman opens them, they only see convoluted, sleep-inducing treatises and put them down after a couple of glances."

The old gentleman took a sip of tea.

"This is why our profession places such high value on the mind. For an ordinary person to earn a diploma, they only need to memorize textbook facts.

In our line of work, if you can't even read the papers of your peers, how can you be a Scholar?"

"So that's how it is." Richard digested this.

"As for the 'Overwriting' technique you mentioned..."

"Double Overwriting. On the physical level, there is only a single line of text, but when treated with specific methods, a second layer becomes visible.

Spirit Vision, particular light sources, chemical reagents, temperature changes... there are many methods."

Mr. Hutton rested his teacup on his knee.

"The content hidden beneath the overwrite is not the same kind of thing as the surface content at all."

"...What do you mean?"

"The surface layer is 'safe knowledge,' such as a certain piece of history or a language."

"What is hidden in the lower layer is something truly dangerous."

"How dangerous?" Maggie was also highly intrigued; after all, exploring the unknown was a Scholar's very nature.

Mr. Hutton glanced at her.

"Within the academy system, any document involving multiple overwrites or even more complex encryption techniques shares a common trait."

"What trait?"

"Many of them are connected to the Abyss Tradition and forbidden rituals."

Richard's fingers tightened slightly on his knee.

Beside him, Maggie paused the charcoal pencil between her fingers, her shoulders stiffening a fraction.

She was a child who had grown up in the Gaelic Highlands. To her ears, the weight of the word 'Abyss' was far heavier than it was to Richard.

Mr. Hutton noticed her reaction but did not shift his gaze away.

"From its very inception, the knowledge of the Abyss Tradition has been regarded by all major traditions as the most dangerous thing in existence."

The old man folded his hands over his teacup.

"Scholars of the Solar Tradition believe the Abyss is a betrayal of order;

alchemists of the Hearth Fire Tradition believe the Abyss is a distortion of the laws of transmutation;

Hunters of the Moon Hunting Tradition are even more direct. They have seen far too many bastards go mad and wipe out their entire squads, so they wish they could burn all related literature to ash."

"But the Abyss Tradition itself truly contains things that cannot be found in other traditions.

Some knowledge can only be excavated from the depths of the veil. Some Spell Formulas can only be operated by cultivating the Abyss Tradition."

"So those Scholars who possessed such dangerous knowledge made a compromise.

They did not destroy these documents, but repeatedly encrypted them using multiple overwrites or even more complex methods."

Mr. Hutton raised his hand.

"When Scholars encrypt texts, it is to establish a set of progressively advancing screening thresholds.

"Ordinary text encryption, which contains basic occult knowledge, can keep out the common man;

Double Overwriting can keep out the majority of Newcomers;

as for even more complex encryption methods above that..."

He slowly lowered his hand.

"Our principle is that since you have the capability to dismantle the corresponding text, you already possess enough judgment to decide whether you should continue reading."

Mr. Hutton lowered his head and blew on the tea leaves in his cup.

"Richard, I know you have a very strong curiosity toward all kinds of knowledge.

That is the most important quality in a Scholar, and also the trait most likely to cause trouble."

"But I will tell you this right now, in advance... try your absolute best not to touch knowledge related to the Abyss Tradition."

His gaze landed on Richard's face.

"Whether it is the Solar, the Hearth Fire, Web Weaving, or any other branch tradition...

Although these paths all have their own risks, in the end, their direction is upward.

Up above, there is light, rules, and a path trodden by those who came before."

"The direction of the Abyss Tradition is downward.

Down below, there is no light, no rules, and no path trodden by predecessors.

Or rather, the path trodden by predecessors will move on its own down there.

You might think you are walking the path, but in reality, the path is walking you."