I Loaded the Mysticism Panel

At the very bottom of the panel, the line of text about the seed had also changed.

It originally said, "Planting Condition: [Spirit] attribute unlocked."

Now, the text updated to: "Seed planted. Germination countdown: 24 hours."

Richard glanced at his pocket watch. A little after eleven.

Tomorrow night, the answer would be revealed.

He walked from the Nail Alleyway back to Central Avenue and started heading north.

The night wind poured in through his collar, stealing the last bit of warmth from his coat.

He could feel the change brought by the Walking Skill with every step he took.

His steps and his Breathing gradually fell into a rhythm, and the lightness in his legs made the late-night journey less of a burden.

Pushing open the back door, he found the living room pitch-black.

He squeezed inside, gently pulled the door shut from within, and muffled the sound of the latch falling with his hand.

He took off his shoes and walked on the wooden floor in his socks.

This time, he paused in the second-floor hallway, listening at his sister’s door for a moment.

Only after confirming the sound of a girl’s even breathing from inside did he relax.

He returned to his own bedroom, closed the door, and slid the bolt.

Richard placed the Oil Lamp on his nightstand, setting it next to the Gargoyle.

In the moonlight, the Gargoyle’s mouth was wide open in a ferocious expression,

while the Sphinx’s eyes were half-closed, its expression serene.

The two beast-shaped Marvels squatted by his bedside, acting as his night watch.

「The next day was a normal school day.」

Richard was no different in class than usual.

He sat in his usual spot by the window in the front row, paid attention in class, took notes, and ate lunch with Warren and Grey as always.

Warren ordered his usual: roasted lamb chops with mashed potatoes.

"Why do you keep looking at your watch today?" Warren asked, chewing on a lamb chop. "There, you just looked again."

Richard brushed him off with a casual excuse.

The seed’s countdown was constantly on his mind; he was just too curious about what was inside.

Over in the underclassmen area, Evelyn sat among a group of girls from her year.

Lately, the plate in front of her had been much more lavish than before.

Besides the standard bread and salad, there was an extra piece of roasted chicken on the right side of her plate, and a cup of steaming cocoa sat next to her soup bowl.

She hadn’t ordered the chicken.

Or the cocoa.

The girl sitting to her left was from the class next door.

Ten minutes ago, she had walked over with her tray, sat down next to Evelyn, and placed an apple in front of her.

"This is for you. Freshly picked from my family’s orchard. They’re extra sweet."

Evelyn glanced at the apple. "Thank you, but I don’t..."

"Just try it. They’re really sweet."

The girl on her right was even more over-the-top.

She had run straight to the counter, bought a hot cocoa, and brought it back, placing it next to Evelyn’s soup bowl.

"It’s getting cold. Drink something warm."

"I have tea..."

"Cocoa is better than tea."

Evelyn said, "No, really, you don’t have to," but her hand had already picked up the apple and taken a bite.

’It really is sweet.’

She then picked up the cocoa and took a sip.

’This is really good, too.’

The two girls exchanged a satisfied glance.

They weren’t the only two girls hovering around Evelyn.

Another was telling Evelyn how beautiful a ribbon she had seen at the department store yesterday was,

while yet another offered her some cookies she had brought.

Evelyn dealt with the attention from all sides while chewing her apple, her ears filled with their chattering.

She wasn’t an idiot.

How many words had these girls spoken to her before? Not even twenty sentences, all told.

When had they suddenly become so friendly? Probably after her brother became a big shot at Greenwood.

More and more people wanted to get close to Richard Williams, but Richard’s own social circle was very small.

His lunchtimes were completely occupied by Warren’s little group, and he often holed up in the library during breaks.

’If you can’t break through the front, you flank them.’

’And the most obvious gap in the flank was his little sister—me.’

Evelyn placed the apple core on the edge of her plate and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

She knew exactly what was going on, but the apple really was sweet, the cocoa really was delicious, and the cookies really were crispy.

The feeling of being the center of attention... she couldn’t say she hated it.

During the break between classes, Evelyn left her classroom and walked down the hall toward Richard’s.

She found her brother at a corner in the hallway, leaning against the windowsill and flipping through a book.

"Brother."

Richard closed his book. "What is it?"

Evelyn’s expression flickered between smug and disgruntled. "Can you do something about your admirers?"

"What admirers?"

"You know... those girls who keep trying to cozy up to me all day!"

She forced a look of annoyance.

"One of them gives me apples, another buys me cocoa."

"And another one insisted on telling me about some ribbon she saw at the department store. What do I care about ribbons!"

"They bought you hot cocoa?"

"...Yes."

"Then let them keep at it. You can deal with the stuff they give you."

Richard reopened his book and went back to reading his Ancient Greek.

Evelyn shot him a glare and turned to walk back.

As she walked away, Richard’s gaze flickered up from his book, landing on his sister’s somewhat jaunty back.

’That little glutton. She complains, but her actions tell a different story.’

Richard shook his head and returned his attention to his book.

After school, he went home, ate dinner, helped his Mother with the dishes, and went upstairs to his room.

Evelyn was doing her homework in the next room, the tip of her pen scratching.

Richard sat at his desk, outwardly flipping through his Ancient Greek textbook, but most of his attention was on the panel.

A little after ten, the countdown hit zero.

A new notification popped up at the bottom of the panel: "Seed has germinated. Entrance open."

"Enter?"

"Warning: While inside, your physical body will enter a state of deep sleep. It is recommended to enter in a safe environment."

[Yes] / [No]

Seeing the prompt, he pressed his ear to the door.

His mother wasn’t coughing anymore, and he could hear his father’s snores through the floor.

The light in Evelyn’s room across the hall had been off for over half an hour, and the sound of the girl’s even breathing carried through the door.

The whole family was asleep.

Richard lay down in bed, pulling the covers up to his chest.

He chose [Yes].

His consciousness plunged into darkness.

Maybe three seconds, maybe three minutes later, the ground appeared beneath his feet.

The sensation under his soles was cold and damp.

A thin layer of black water covered the ground, no deeper than his ankles.

Above his head was another surface of water.

An inverted black surface, a mirror image of the water at his feet.

It hung about three meters above him—flat, still, and reflecting his silhouette.

’If I had to find a word to describe this place, my first thought would be "tomb," or maybe a "water prison"?’

There was a light in the distance.

Richard took his first step.

The sole of his foot pressed into the thin black water, and ripples finally appeared on its surface.

The inverted surface above him rippled in sync.

He began to count his steps.

The temperature of the black water underfoot remained constant, neither growing warmer nor colder.

Ten steps, twenty, thirty... The light source was slowly getting closer.

At forty steps, he could begin to make out the outline of the light source.

At fifty steps, he stopped.

A stone gate stood in the black water.

Two square stone pillars and a crossbeam, but no doors.

Richard’s gaze fell on the reliefs carved into the pillars.

On the left pillar was a crouching Sphinx.

Lion’s body, human face, in a half-reclining pose. Its front paws rested on the edge of the base, its tail wrapped around its hind legs.

The features of the human face were very clear: high cheekbones, a narrow chin, and slightly upturned eyes.

On its head was a crown-like ornament that was somewhat indistinct; it could have been a serpentine crown or a solar disk, but for some reason, Richard just couldn’t see it clearly.

On the right pillar was a vulture with its wings spread.

The vulture’s head was bowed, looking down at the black water on the ground.

Just as he was observing it, the mouth of the Sphinx on the pillar opened and closed:

"Born of the soil, it first travels by kissing the earth with four limbs;

Standing at noon, it measures its own shadow with two feet;

Returning at dusk, its third foot is no foot, but an extension of shadow.

—What is this creature?"

After hearing it, Richard’s first reaction was: ’Isn’t this the classic riddle from the Sphinx of Thebes?’

What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?

The answer is Man.

A baby crawls on all fours, an adult stands and walks on two legs, and an old person’s cane is the third leg.

This was the answer of Oedipus, and it’s the most famous riddle in Ancient Greek mythology, mentioned in many popular books.

But he didn’t answer immediately.

Because the last line of the riddle was different from the classic version.

In the classic version, the third leg is a cane.

Here, it had been changed to "an extension of shadow."

"Its third foot is no foot, but an extension of shadow."

’Is this change a trap or a clue?’

If the answer was still "Man," then the last line was just a rhetorical change, irrelevant.

If the answer wasn’t "Man," then the last line was the key difference.

Richard stood in the black water for a while.

He decided to take a gamble.

"Man."

The mouth of the Sphinx relief on the pillar closed:

"The answer is correct, but incomplete."

"Man is the surface layer of the answer."

"Shadow is the inner layer."

"Return tomorrow with the inner layer’s answer."

After the text finished appearing on the stone, the entire space began to dim.

Richard felt a pull from somewhere behind him, yanking his consciousness back.

When he opened his eyes, he was still lying in his bed.

The covers were pulled up to his chest, his position exactly the same as before.

Nothing in the room had changed.

The desk lamp was off, and a thin sliver of moonlight seeped through a gap in the curtains.

He glanced at his watch. He had been in that space for about twenty minutes.

Subjectively, it felt about the same.

He wiggled his fingers and toes and tried bending his knees.

Everything was normal.

There was no discomfort; in fact, he felt a little more refreshed than before he went in.

It was like he’d had an incredibly vivid dream.

The Sphinx wanted him to return with the "inner layer’s answer."

’What is the inner layer’s answer?’

’Shadow is the inner layer of the answer.’

That sentence wasn’t the answer itself.

It was a pointer, telling him the answer was related to "Shadow," but what it was specifically, he would have to figure out for himself.

Richard lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

’In the classic riddle, the "third leg" is a cane.’

’A cane is a tool from the material world, an aid needed by humans due to old age.’

’The version from the seed replaced the cane with an "extension of shadow."’

’Why would a shadow extend?’

’The physics answer is simple: as the Sun’s angle lowers, shadows get longer.’

’But the Sphinx probably isn’t asking about physics.’

Richard closed his eyes, organizing everything he knew about "Shadow" in his mind.

’Appendix C mentioned that the infiltrators from behind the Curtain exist in many forms.’

’My own Shadow had demonstrated the ability to act independently when the Oil Lamp was unsealed.’

’It had stood up and tried to choke me.’

’This meant that a Shadow has some kind of... what? Independence from its source?’

’A will? An instinct? A reflex?’

He wasn’t sure.

His line of thinking had hit a dead end for the night. He lacked the knowledge to make a proper judgment.

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