He thought for a moment, then added quickly:
"This isn't an invitation to go adventuring. I'll handle the seal reinforcement myself; you just need to stand by and watch."
"The reason I'm bringing this up..." He slipped the Pocket Watch back into his pocket. "...is mainly to warn you against staying at school too late these days."
"Is there a connection?"
"Your current state is rather unique," the old gentleman said, folding his hands over his knees.
"When an ordinary person encounters a death echo, the worst they'll suffer after going home is a headache and a few nightmares.
Perkins had a good scare, but he was fine after resting for two weeks.
To them, the interference from a death echo is just a mosquito bite—itchy, but not fatal. They recover on their own after a while."
"But you're different."
He looked earnestly into Richard's eyes."You already possess a preliminary degree of ether affinity and spiritual Perception.
Practicing the breathing method has established the nascent form of an Ether Micro-circulation within your body. Although it is still extremely weak, it makes etheric interference much stronger for you than for an ordinary person."
"Think of it this way: an ordinary person is a rock to a death echo. A death echo can't see rocks and couldn't be bothered with them, but you..."
Mr. Hutton's expression darkened.
"You are a candle in the dark. The flame might be tiny, but in pitch-blackness, even the slightest speck of light is glaringly obvious."
"Death echoes are anchored to the place of their death and cannot move.
But if a living person with ether affinity enters their Perception range, the death echo will use that faint trace of ether on your body to sustain itself."
"Think of it like a leech. A leech doesn't produce its own blood; it has to suck yours to survive."
"Can it be removed if it latches on?"
"Yes, but it's troublesome." Mr. Hutton shook his head.
"Once it attaches to you, you definitely won't be able to handle it yourself. You'd have to find a professional to clear it out."
"So are you telling me not to come, or to come?"
The old gentleman chuckled, the smile carving deep creases at the corners of his eyes.
"I was just trying to scare you at first.
The last time I tested Lillian with these same words, she shook her head furiously and said 'no' eight times in a row."
"Then I'm different from her. I want to go take a look."
Mr. Hutton's smile froze.
"Are you serious?"
"Dead serious."
"...Why?"
"Two reasons." Richard slipped his satchel strap off his shoulder and set the bag on the desk, relaxing his posture a bit.
"First, encountering a similar situation in the future is just a matter of time.
If I don't even dare to take a look now when I have you to protect me, I'll only be at a greater disadvantage when I run into one alone later."
Mr. Hutton didn't reply, waiting for the second point.
"Second..."
He hesitated a moment, but spoke anyway.
"I want to observe the seal's structure and whatever is sealed inside up close. Reading about it in a book and seeing it in person are two entirely different things."
"You remind me of someone." The old gentleman sighed.
"It was many years ago. That person wasn't afraid of anything either, and wanted to see everything with his own eyes."
He tucked his pipe into his breast pocket.
"He later became a very formidable figure. And then... he died in the New Continent."
Richard didn't reply.
Mr. Hutton stood up straight and picked up his folder, his expression returning to its usual casual demeanor.
"Ten o'clock on Friday night at the school's back gate. Wear dark clothes."
He took two steps before turning back to add another warning.
"Don't wear any copper accessories. Copper disrupts the ether field.
The interference is minuscule, but it's best not to risk it. If your belt buckle is copper, wear sweatpants."
"Understood."
"Also, make sure you eat your fill before coming. Doing this kind of thing on an empty stomach is asking for trouble."
He pushed the door open and left.
...
At nine-thirty on Friday night, Richard slipped out the back door of his house.
He wore an old, dark gray coat. It was a hand-me-down from his father, tailored down to size, making him inconspicuous in the night.
He checked his pockets twice more to confirm he didn't have any copper coins or items on him.
His parents had already gone to bed before he left. There was no light shining from under his sister's door, so she was likely asleep as well.
Pedestrians were sparse on the streets. In the distance, the factory chimneys lined up like a row of black teeth against the night sky, occasionally belching out columns of smoke laced with sparks.
The night air in Briston was a little cleaner than during the day. With fewer factory night shifts, the amount of soot emissions dropped significantly.
It was about a twenty-minute walk from his house to the school.
His pace was measured, and his Breathing maintained the rhythm of his cultivation.
By the time he reached the school's back gate, Mr. Hutton was already waiting.
"You're here?"
"I'm here."
The old man took a key from his leather bag and unlocked the back gate.
The two of them walked onto the campus.
The windows of the teaching building were completely dark; the guard had also clocked out after nine o'clock.
Mr. Hutton didn't head toward the teaching building. Instead, he led Richard east along a small path hugging the inside of the perimeter wall.
"The seal isn't in the basement," he explained as they walked.
"The basement was just caught in the crossfire. The seal is actually located deep in the foundation on the east side of the gymnasium. That's where the old textile mill's boiler room used to be."
"The entrance is inside the electrical room next to the gym."
The electrical room was a small brick shed. An iron sign reading "Electrical Danger, Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out" hung on the door.
The padlock was unlocked. Mr. Hutton walked over to the innermost electrical box, crouched down, and lifted an iron plate from the base of the enclosure.
They sure hid this well, Richard marveled.
Beneath the iron plate lay a flight of brick stairs that stretched downward, vanishing into the darkness.
The steps were barely wide enough for one person, and a layer of salt frost coated the walls.
A damp, frigid chill welled up from the opening.
Richard's chest tightened slightly. The sliver of warmth accumulated within his Seat of the Sun was gently prodded.
He instinctively checked his panel.
[Available Points: 0.15]
It hadn't moved an inch.
The air was clearly permeated with something that didn't belong to the normal world, and his Inspiration was already reacting to it. This meant the ether concentration down here far exceeded the surface, yet the available points on his panel hadn't increased at all.
"Feel it?" Mr. Hutton glanced back at him.
"Yeah." Richard nodded, suppressing his other thoughts.
"Then you're on the right track." The old gentleman secured his grip on his bag.
"You'll become more familiar with these things in the future. Let's go. Stay close to me and don't touch the walls."
He took a lantern from his bag, its flame flickering in the narrow passageway.
The deeper they went, the colder and damper it became.
The tightness in his chest intensified, but the available points on his panel still didn't budge.
What did this mean?
No matter how high the concentration of ambient ether was in the air, it couldn't be converted into points.
His cheat didn't absorb "loose" ether.
At the bottom lay a horizontal corridor. Circular silver discs were embedded in the walls on both sides, spaced roughly every ten paces.
"These are markers," Mr. Hutton said without looking back.
"The seal is a complete system. The more intact the web, the more stable the seal.
If something goes wrong with a particular silver disc, the shielding in its corresponding area weakens.
The equipment shifting in the storage room, the anomaly Perkins felt in the tunnels—all of those correspond to weak links forming in the outer nodes."
At the end of the corridor was an iron door.
Mr. Hutton hung the oil lantern on a nearby wall hook and crouched down to open his bag.
Inside were several items:
a sealed glass bottle filled with a clear liquid, which Richard guessed to be holy water;
a small silver ingot, an extremely fine Engraving Tool, a jar of grayish-white wax, and a few Silver Coins.
"From here on out, do not speak," Mr. Hutton warned. "Blink once if you understand."
Richard blinked once.
Mr. Hutton nodded and snapped his fingers. The iron door automatically slid inward.