That evening after dinner, Mrs. MacNeil gathered everyone at the long table again.
She took a rolled leather pouch from her satchel, untied the cord, and laid its contents out on the table one by one.
"These are the ’tributes’ left over from the underground Seal."
She explained the origin of the items:
"Ever since that crude sealing in the Middle Ages, those who maintain the Seal have only ever worked on its outer layers."
"The artifacts sacrificed to reinforce the Seal over the past few hundred years can, by rule, be taken as our team’s reward."
Several items were laid out on the table.
The first was a Silver Handled Ritual Dagger.
The dagger’s blade was narrow and thin. Vine patterns were entwined around the silver handle, ending in a dove with spread wings.
The blade was unsharpened; from the moment it was forged, this dagger was never meant for cutting.
"A fourteenth-century Ritual Dagger," Mrs. MacNeil explained.
She flicked the blade lightly with her index finger, producing a clear hum.
"The silver handle is pure silver, and the blade is a silver alloy. It’s been inside the sealed area for nearly six hundred years.
Unlike an ordinary weapon, this dagger’s purpose is to act as a ’conduit’ in rituals.
Practitioners in the initial stages of a sealing would use it to cut the first opening in the Ether Layer, allowing subsequent Curse Spells to be sent through."
She placed the dagger back on the table.
"It’s very brittle and would break with a single strike if you tried to cut something, but for use as a ritual conduit, a conductor for carving inscriptions, or an Ether-conducting rod when mending a Seal... it’s an excellent tool."
Next were three silver coins.
The obverse of the coins showed a profile of Saint Michael, while the reverse depicted a flaming sword.
Mrs. MacNeil lined the three silver coins up in a row.
"Minted in the Middle Ages, bearing the emblem of Saint Michael, and they’ve been in the sealed area for about four hundred years."
As she spoke, she scraped the edge of one with her fingernail.
"But let me be clear, the Ether deposit on these three silver coins is very low.
Four hundred years sounds like a long time, but the coins are too small and were too far from the Seal’s core. At best, they’ve only absorbed a superficial amount."
She pushed the silver coins aside.
"Strictly speaking, they don’t qualify as standard Marvels.
If you take them and wear them, they will slowly seep a minuscule amount of Ether, but the quantity is negligible.
Their greater value is as collectibles. Saint Michael Seal silver coins can fetch a decent price on the Imperial Capital’s antiquities market."
The third item was a parchment scroll.
The parchment was rolled tightly and tied with a dry leather cord.
"Suspected to be an early Celtic Curse Spell." Mrs. MacNeil did not unroll it. "The specific contents will require further appraisal."
There was also a Bronze Plate.
The Bronze Plate was about the size of a palm, its surface covered in dense symbols.
"A Pre-Roman artifact." She flipped the Bronze Plate over. "It’s inscribed on both sides and is in excellent condition."
There were also some Ether Condensates that resembled crystal fragments, arranged neatly on a piece of old flannel.
Richard recognized them at first glance.
"These are from the children last night..."
"Correct." Mrs. MacNeil straightened the edges of the flannel.
"When the ritual concluded, the twenty-five children were swallowed back beneath the True Name Stone.
But in this hall, they were hacked apart by Hunters’ Enchanted Weapons, pierced through the heart by Silver-Lead Bullets, and disassembled by the Scholars’ Judgments... During this process, the Ether structure of each child was repeatedly destroyed and reassembled."
"Of the twenty-five children who were ultimately swallowed back, some fragments were left behind in this hall."
She tapped the darkest cluster with her fingertip.
"These condensates are precipitates from the Shadows, containing the residual Ether traces from the children.
From the mill workers of 1881, from the singers of the Pre-Roman era, from the repeated prayers of medieval Practitioners... hundreds, even thousands of years of Ether, all jumbled together within the children, crystallized and precipitated out after the ritual ended."
"High-concentration Ether Condensates. All three disciplines have their own uses for them."
"If a Newcomer has chosen their signature Marvel, these condensates can also be used to nurture it."
At this, she glanced at the four new members.
"Alright, that’s all the loot."
"The distribution rules." Mrs. MacNeil folded her hands on the table. "You’ll each choose based on contribution and need."
"Captain Field was the most severely injured. He chooses first."
The captain rose from his high-backed chair and walked to the table.
His gaze swept over the items, and he reached out to pick up the silver-handled dagger.
In his large palm, the dagger felt almost weightless.
He turned the dagger over to look at the inscription on its spine, then flicked the blade again.
Then, he turned and offered the dagger to Richard.
"Take it."
Richard was a little confused.
"Captain?"
"Take it." Captain Field’s hand moved forward half an inch.
The dagger’s silver handle was pointed right at Richard.
"I’m not a Scholar. I have no use for this kind of ritual tool.
It’s better off with you... you’re a Scholar. A Ritual Dagger is much more useful in your hands than in mine."
"Captain, this..."
Richard glanced at Mr. Hutton.
"Go on, take it." The old gentleman nodded.
Richard looked at the dagger.
The vine pattern on the silver handle had a matte sheen in the light of the Furnace Fire. The blade was narrow and thin, and six hundred years of saturation in the sealed area gave the entire dagger a profound sense of history.
He took it.
The dagger felt slightly warm in his hand. Silver has excellent Ether conductivity, and hundreds of years of saturation had filled the entire dagger with Ether, from hilt to tip.
The [Available Points] on his panel flickered, but he didn’t look at the exact number.
"Thank you, Captain."
"Don’t thank me. Consider it an investment in you.
Hurry up and get stronger, and we can go on field missions together in the future."
Captain Field rubbed his temples and limped back to his chair.
"Captain," Mrs. MacNeil said at this moment.
"Since you gave up the dagger, I can’t let you leave a mission empty-handed."
She picked up two clusters of condensate from the flannel and handed them to the Captain.
"These two have the highest Ether Density. While a Hunter doesn’t need to feed a Spirit Lodging Artifact, you can use these high-concentration precipitates for physical conditioning."
"If you slowly nurture your body with these two condensates, you can at least recover some of the cost of using Burning Blood."
"...How much can I recover?" the Captain’s eyebrow twitched.
"If you’re lucky, less than half a year’s worth."
"Half a year is enough." The Captain took the condensates, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and put them in his pocket.
"Thanks, ma’am."
"Don’t thank me." Mrs. MacNeil shook her head. "It was what you were owed."
She turned her head.
"Sarah."
The Female Hunter walked over, casually picked up a silver coin, and spun it on her fingertip.
"This is enough."
"Just one?"
"One is enough." Sarah put the silver coin in her pocket. "I’ve already received my payment from you, Mrs. MacNeil. It wouldn’t be right to take more."
Mrs. MacNeil herself selected more than half of the crystal fragments and placed them in her own leather case.
"I’ll be taking these to replenish my Spirit Lodging Artifacts."
Three were left. She looked at the Newcomers present.
"Edmund, Maggie, Theodore, one each."
The three Newcomers each took their Crystal Fragment.
Edmund held the fragment up to his eyes to examine it.
"This... how are we supposed to use it?"
"For now, just hold onto it," Mrs. MacNeil instructed.
"When you have your own signature Marvel in the future, place the fragment next to it, and it will slowly seep in on its own."
What remained on the table were: the Sheepskin Scroll, the Bronze Plate, and two silver coins.
Richard walked to the table, his gaze lingering on the three items for a few seconds.
The silver coins had Ether deposits, but the amount was the lowest of the three items.
The parchment scroll and the Bronze Plate were both document-type items, far more valuable to a Scholar than to those of other disciplines.
He tentatively touched the Sheepskin Scroll and the Bronze Plate and found that the Bronze Plate’s Ether content was clearly higher.
"I’ll take the Bronze Plate."
"Alright." Mrs. MacNeil had no objection.
Richard picked up the Bronze Plate from the table.
The Bronze Plate was cool to the touch, the engravings on its surface distinct and uneven under his fingertips.
Mr. Hutton’s voice came from the side:
"Don’t hold the Bronze Plate too tightly. It can easily oxidize, and the characters on it will become illegible."
"Understood."
The old gentleman himself chose the Sheepskin Scroll.
The parchment scroll was dry and brittle. He cradled it carefully with both hands, afraid that uneven pressure might crush the edges.
The remaining two silver coins were put into a cloth pouch.
"Team property." Mrs. MacNeil put the pouch away. "I’ll take these back to the civilian Guild for registration and mission verification."
The distribution was complete.
Richard wrapped up the Bronze Plate and the Ritual Dagger and put them in his backpack.
When the Bronze Plate was in his hand, the [Available Points] on his panel flickered.
’This Copper Artifact had been in the sealed area for at least a thousand years.’
’The amount of deposited Ether should be substantial, but the Seal itself suppresses it, making the seepage rate extremely slow.’
’Once I get it home, away from the suppressive environment of the sealed area, the seepage rate should be much faster.’

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