Mr. Hutton walked off in the opposite direction. Before he left, he handed Richard the key to the back door and told him to lock up before leaving through the gap in the wall.
Richard locked the door, walked along the wall to a low gap on the eastern side, and climbed over.
The streets were mostly empty.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, his right thumb and forefinger pinching the silver coin.
The panel glowed quietly in a corner of his consciousness.
[Available Points: 0.25]
It had increased by 0.1 the moment he got the silver coin, and the Ether was still seeping from it.
Unlike the Sphinx Oil Lamp, the residual Ether on the silver coin wasn’t held back by a Seal. Although the seepage was slow, it was much more unimpeded than the Oil Lamp’s.
By the time he reached the steps to his front door:
[Available Points: 0.5]
The number stopped moving.
He took the silver coin out of his pocket and examined it under the streetlight.
The grayish-blue frost had vanished completely. The coin’s surface had regained the pure sheen of old silver.
’Drained dry.’
’A silver coin over three hundred years old, which served as a Filtering medium for a Seal, had accumulated a total of about 0.4 Points of residual Ether.’
He stuffed the silver coin back into his pocket and began to run comparisons in his head.
’Copper Pendant: 1 Point. A thousand-year-old artifact. Contained primordial sealed paranormal residue.’
’Divination Disc: 1 Point. Also an artifact from the Eastern Continent, over a thousand years old.’
’Sphinx Oil Lamp: With its Seal, I can only absorb 0.1 at a time. But if I break the Seal, the total could be over 1 Point.’
’Silver coin: 0.4 Points. Only three or four hundred years old, and not a primary artifact, just a byproduct of the Sealing process.’
There seemed to be a positive correlation between age and Points.
The older the artifact, the more sealed paranormal residue it held, and the more Points it could provide.
’If this hypothesis holds true...’
’...then those truly ancient artifacts, thousands of years old or even older—like implements from the golden age of the Priest Class in the Black Earth River Basin, or the Holy Objects in the Aegus Sea God Temple—how much would be sealed inside them?’
’Two Points? Four? Seven?’
He stood on the steps for a moment, suppressing his excitement.
His gains for the night were already substantial.
He had witnessed the entire Seal reinforcement process, verifying a key hypothesis: Ether diffused in the air could not be converted into Points by the panel.
He had also obtained 0.4 Available Points, a stalk of Ashen Grass, and a small Self-defense Technique.
And the update to his understanding from that afterimage was more visceral than any description he could read in a book.
He took out his key and turned it in the lock as quietly as possible.
The living room was dark. The kitchen was dark, too.
Richard carried his shoes in one hand, stepping onto the stairs barefoot and making his way up, one tread at a time.
The old floorboards let out the faintest CREAK under his feet.
He reached the second-floor hallway. The crack beneath his sister’s door was dark as well.
He tiptoed over and was just about to push open the door to his own room when...
"Hold it."
The voice emerged from the darkness, thick with sleep.
Richard’s heart skipped a beat. He realized his own bedroom door was being opened from the inside.
Evelyn was standing behind the door, wrapped in a blanket.
Her hair was a mess and her eyes were half-closed; she had clearly been waiting in his room for a long time.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Richard glanced at the wall clock in the hallway, but it was too dark to see clearly.
"...A little after eleven."
"Eleven forty-seven." Evelyn’s tone was icy. She’d obviously checked the time on purpose.
"I went out for a walk."
"’A walk’ until eleven forty-seven."
"The night air is nice."
"The air in Brighton is nice?"
’She had a point. The city reeked of coal smoke during the day; claiming the night air was good was a tough sell.’
Moonlight streamed through the window at the end of the hall, casting his sister’s cute little face in a deathly pale light.
She walked right up to Richard and sniffed a few times like a puppy. "You’ve got a smell on you."
Richard’s heart sank.
’That damp, cold smell from the basement, a mix of rust and ancient decay, must be all over me.’
"I passed by the flea market on my walk."
"The flea market is closed at night."
"The smell drifted out as I passed by."
Evelyn looked him up and down.
’A dark, old jacket. Dust on his pant cuffs. Shoes held in his hand, walking barefoot to keep quiet. Dirt under his fingernails.’
’She never used to have to worry about her brother staying out all night.’
’The old Richard was always sick. Forget sneaking out at midnight—he’d have to lie down for half the day if he just walked a little too fast.’
’And now?’
’He spent his days in the library until after dark.’
’He came home in a rich classmate’s fancy car.’
’He went out at night and didn’t return until almost midnight, covered in grime.’
’She realized she couldn’t keep up with the pace of her brother’s changes at all.’
"Brother."
"Yes?"
"Did you join some kind of gang?"
"...What?"
"One of those gangs in the old district. The kind that steal things and get into fights."
"Evelyn, you know I can’t fight."
"That’s exactly why you’d join a gang. So you’d have people to watch your back."
Richard felt like conversations with his sister never followed any normal logic.
’From being a kept man to joining a gang... this girl’s train of thought leaped all over the place.’
"I didn’t join a gang."
"Then what were you doing out in the middle of the night?"
"I really was just taking a walk."
"Do Mom and Dad know?"
"They don’t."
Evelyn wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. She didn’t press him further, but she didn’t go back to her room, either.
The stalemate lasted for about ten seconds before she shifted to one side, clearing the doorway.
"Go on, go to sleep."
"Okay."
"Take off your dirty clothes and leave them by the door. I’ll get up early tomorrow to wash them for you, so Mom doesn’t see."
In the moonlight, the girl wrapped in her blanket looked a mess, her hair disheveled and her eyes still hazy with sleep.
’She looked nothing like the usual sharp, capable Evelyn. Instead, she resembled a little owlet huddled in its nest... her round face and puffed-out cheeks, glaring at him with those dazed eyes. She tried to look fierce, but she was really just sleepy.’
"Thank you, Evelyn."
"Nothing to thank me for." She turned her head. "I don’t care what you’re getting into."
"But you have to promise me... don’t get hurt, don’t get sick, and don’t make Mom worry anymore.
Last time when your fever was at its worst, Mom sat by your bed the whole time. She barely even drank any water."
She mumbled,
"And Dad... he didn’t say anything, but he missed two days of work."
The hallway was quiet for a long while.
"I promise you," Richard said.
Evelyn didn’t answer. She just pushed open her door and went inside.
The door closed, the latch clicking softly into place.
A few seconds later, a muffled voice came from the crack under the door.
"Don’t forget to leave your dirty clothes by the door."
"Got it."
"And remember to wipe the mud off your feet."
"Got it."
"I’ll fry an extra egg for you for breakfast tomorrow."
"...Alright."
"Good night."
"Good night."
Richard closed his door, took off his dirty jacket, folded it, and placed it by the entrance.
He then found an old rag and wiped the grime from the soles of his feet.
The sweat on the back of his shirt had dried, leaving a ring of salt stains.
He took off the shirt as well and laid it on top of the jacket.
He sat on the edge of his bed in the darkness and took the silver coin and the stalk of Ashen Grass from his pocket.
He placed the silver coin on the nightstand and carefully tucked the Ashen Grass inside the cover of a notebook.
In the quiet of the night, his Breathing slowly returned to its usual rhythm.
Richard pulled up the covers and closed his eyes.
Outside, the wind whistled mournfully as it passed through the forests of Brighton’s chimneys.
The cool pillow felt comfortable against the back of his head.
’Today, I glimpsed a real corner of the Mysterious Side, and it was more real than any forum post I’d ever read.’
’But the Candle is already lit. Whether or not the eyes in the darkness can see it is their problem.’
’All I have to do is make that flame grow brighter, and brighter still.’
’Until one day, those eyes will see the light, and not dare to come near.’

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