Richard pushed the ink bottle to the center of his desk and laid out a new sheet of paper.
He unscrewed the cap, dipped the nib of his fountain pen lightly into the ink, and wrote the first line in the center of the page.
"Shadow Armor: Restructured"
After writing, he paused for a few seconds, then crossed out all the arguments he had originally intended to write below this line.
His previous understanding of Shadow Armor was based entirely on ’piling stones on the target’s shadow’.
But once [Rationality] activated, the limitations of this understanding were laid bare.
The stones were a metaphor. What the entire Technique truly operated on was Ether applying weight to a "Lightless area."
The weight does not have to be distributed evenly. Richard wrote this single sentence at the very top of the page.
He took a pencil from the pen holder and began to draw on the bottom half of the page.
The first distribution method: concentrate the entire mass under the feet.
Richard shaded the shadow area under the feet black. He imagined himself standing at the east end of the lane, the guy opposite him suddenly having his feet nailed to the ground.
The tops of his shoes would be sucked tight to the stone-paved road, locking the linked joints of his entire leg.
This style of attack corresponded to "immobilization."
The second distribution method: he drew diagonal lines on the shadow at the throat.
The human neck is inherently fragile. A few ounces of stone pressing from the outside would be debilitating.
On the Ether level, the pressure would fall directly onto the cartilage and trachea.
Even if it couldn’t cause suffocation, it would at least prevent someone from chanting a Curse.
The third distribution method: he drew diagonal lines on the shadow of the weapon-wielding hand.
An axe, a staff, a short-barreled gun—it didn’t matter. The point was to make the opponent unable to hold their weapon.
Richard’s pen nib paused on the paper for a few seconds.
’What about in an extreme case?’
’Concentrate the entire weight onto a shadow area as small as a strand of hair.’
Richard’s brow slowly furrowed.
He imagined a hair-thin area bearing dozens of times the weight.
He couldn’t picture it, but it would certainly be terrifying.
When writing about the second variant, he extrapolated the concept of a reverse repulsive force.
Theoretically, a Shadow is a "Lightless area," a negative space.
Reversing the Ether Flow once could generate pressure.
’So, logically, reversing it again should produce... negative pressure? A suction force?’
He focused on the physical sensation from the instant he acquired [Shadow Armor] via [Shadow Reversal], trying to recall the critical point when the Ether Flow was inverted.
At that time, the entire Ether Flow had been flipped, changing from "inside-out" to "outside-in."
’But that was only one reversal. What would happen if it were reversed again?’
[Rationality] couldn’t provide an answer.
Richard had no practical experience, nor had he read any literature that mentioned a "double reversal."
Richard put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.
The end of theory is practice, and the prerequisite for practice is a higher tier.
Richard placed the entire manuscript into a hidden compartment in his drawer.
It was already past eleven at night.
Richard blew out the desk lamp. In his chest, the Light Tree Leaves spread throughout his body under the effect of [Breath Healing].
In less than three minutes, he was pulled into a deep, high-quality sleep.
...
Third period in the morning was history.
He didn’t "flexibly learn" during Mr. Hutton’s class; he had to give his Guide some face.
The old gentleman was on the dais, lecturing about the monastery manuscript system during the era of Charlemagne.
Richard only needed to hear the class content once.
He sat in a window seat in the third row and opened his notebook.
Tucked inside the notebook was the summary of last night’s *Shadow Armor: Variant Discussion*.
He turned to a new page below the summary and wrote, "Stone Armor: A Re-reading."
[Erudite] laid out every single stroke of the four sets of Inscriptions from the gargoyle’s pedestal in his mind.
[Rationality] immediately went to work.
The entire load-bearing structure of the [Stone Armor] Technique materialized before his eyes, inch by inch.
Touching and Leading, Inference, Maintenance, Tier Three.
Inference was the most critical variable structure; its flow method could be changed.
As he pondered this, Mr. Hutton’s voice from the front of the classroom faded into distant background noise.
In the Inference stage, when he had practiced in the past, a stream of Ether was pushed out, spreading along the main channel all the way to the surface of the skin.
This method of projection was the most efficient, but it had two weak points.
Richard drew a simplified operational path in his notebook, then marked two red X’s on the path, corresponding to the activation and coagulation stages.
’What’s the solution?’
The answer [Rationality] gave him was to break the entire mass of Ether into several smaller portions, push them out in time with his Breathing rhythm, and gradually layer them on the surface of his skin.
Mr. Hutton’s voice drifted over from the dais.
"Before each manuscript was passed to the next scribe, the previous scribe would use very small letters in the margin to make a... Richard?"
Richard looked up.
The old gentleman had probably seen him engrossed in his writing and called his name.
"...My apologies, sir."
"Did you hear what I just said?"
"I did." Richard quickly continued:
"You were speaking about the revision records in the manuscript system during the era of Charlemagne. By the mid-eighth century, this practice had evolved into a systematic tradition of annotation."
The old gentleman waved his hand in resignation.
"Very good. A precise recitation."
...
After school, he returned to the dead-end alley.
Richard leaned against the base of the oil press factory’s wall and first performed a standard [Stone Armor] to establish a baseline.
It was his normal level. Ever since he used [Healing] to sort out his old injuries, this had become his consistent standard.
He dismissed the Technique and paused for a moment to let his Ether reserves recover.
The second time, Richard tested the improved method. The DING sound was replaced with a "POP."
Richard held the Covering Armor in place and gently pressed the seam with his left index finger.
The third time, he doubled the interval between the batches.
His entire right arm’s Covering Armor formed. He slammed his right hand fiercely against the mixed-iron pillar of an abandoned lamppost at the base of the wall.
THUD!
The sound was much deeper than before.
The depth of the dent in the mixed-iron pillar was double that of his previous punch.
Richard pulled his right hand back. The Armored Fist Surface was completely undamaged.
He shook his wrist and let out a long breath.
’The solution provided by [Rationality] is viable.’
The fourth time, Richard aimed at the mixed-iron pillar and punched again.
BOOM!
The entire mixed-iron pillar vibrated. On top of a high wall in the distance, a crow was startled and flew up with a flutter of wings.
When his fist landed on the iron pillar, he could feel the entire Armored Fist Surface push out a forward shockwave.
For the same Ether consumption, the effect had nearly doubled.
He dismissed the Technique. ’My improved method could probably be written up as a paper and exchanged at a gathering...’
As he mentally outlined how to write up the improved method, Richard walked toward Waste Rock Lane.
Arriving at his front door, he saw his Mother leaning out, holding something in her arms.
It was a black parchment envelope.
"Richard, someone just delivered this."
His Mother handed him the envelope.
Richard took the envelope. The paper looked coarse, but it was surprisingly smooth to the touch.
"Who delivered it?"
"An old woman who sells flowers."
His Mother wiped her hands on her apron and went back into the living room.
"She said that as she was selling her last bouquet at the street corner, a cat jumped down from the top of a wall."
"A cat?" Richard was completely bewildered.
"Yes, a black cat.
It gave her a shilling and told her to deliver this envelope to the seventh house at the East of Waste Rock Lane."
Richard’s gaze rested on the envelope for a moment.
"She believed that a cat gave her money?"
"She didn’t just believe it." His Mother turned to pick up the teapot. "She even asked the cat if it wanted change for the shilling, or if she could keep it."
"..."
"The cat wagged its tail, and she took that to mean she could keep the change."
His Mother poured a cup of hot water and handed it to him.
"When she handed me the envelope, she was still muttering that the cat’s voice sounded a bit like her deceased daughter’s."
Richard took the cup. The steam rising from it split his field of vision in two.
His Mother took a sip of tea.
"Go read it in your room." She pointed upstairs.
Richard nodded.
He went up to his room and locked the door from the inside.
On the front of the envelope, there was no recipient’s name, no address, no postmark.
There was only a black Wax Seal pressed into the bottom right corner. The sigil on the seal was a cat.
The cat was curled into a circle, the tip of its tail resting on its front paws.
Inside Richard’s chest, the Light Tree Leaves trembled slightly, but the premonition from his inspiration wasn’t triggered.
He used a paper knife to slice along the side of the envelope, cutting the Wax Seal off completely without damaging the design.
Inside the envelope was a single, extremely thin, beige card.
The gilt lettering gave off a faint golden light under the desk lamp.
"Little Richard:
MacNeil has told me about you.
This Friday at six in the evening, please remain in your bedroom.
Keep the doors and windows closed, prepare a cup of warm milk, and place it on the windowsill. I will pay you a visit.
—M."
The signature was only a single letter.

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