Richard could feel the Ether Micro-Cycle within him stabilizing at that very moment.
The Light Tree, which had been somewhat illusory before, sent its roots inch by inch into the center of his chest, taking firm hold.
[Signing complete.]
[Richard Williams, Newcomer → Practitioner.]
Richard opened his eyes.
He had become a Practitioner.
In the private room, the three of them were looking at him.
"He did it," his aunt said first.
Her Spiritual Vision had been active the whole time, so she had seen that last scene with perfect clarity.
"In all my years as a Practitioner, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a signing with such a high degree of compatibility."
"I know, right?" Sofia’s voice was still filled with amazement.
"Mentor, Richard’s lamp and him... it’s like they were born to be together."
Clara didn’t say anything, but the look in her eyes as she gazed at the lamp was filled with curiosity.
According to the rules, when a Newcomer crosses the threshold to become a Practitioner, their Marvel will "align" with their chosen profession.
For the Scholar path, this usually meant leaning toward "recording and Analysis."
But Richard’s lamp was different from the Marvels of an ordinary Scholar.
"Richard." His aunt voiced the question on everyone’s mind.
"Your lamp... what changed after the signing?"
Richard had been wanting to test it out himself.
He had sensed it the moment the signing was complete.
What the lamp gave him was related to "recording and Analysis," but it was also so much more.
He stood up and walked under the crystal chandelier.
The light shone down from above, casting a distinct Shadow at his feet.
Richard looked at his Shadow.
With a thought, he acted.
The Shadow on the floor... vanished.
It wasn’t blocked by anything; it simply disappeared into thin air.
Richard stood there under the chandelier, plain as day.
But the floor at his feet was completely clean, without a trace of a shadow.
"Ah!"
Sofia was the first to cry out.
She shot up from her chair and circled halfway around Richard, her eyes wide as saucers.
"Your Shadow?! Where did your Shadow go?!"
Clara stood up as well, staring at Richard’s feet.
"It’s gone... completely vanished from the Material Realm."
His aunt didn’t move.
Her Spiritual Vision was active.
The moment Richard’s Shadow disappeared from the Material Realm, his aunt’s brow furrowed before anyone else’s.
She saw it.
To the Spiritual Vision of an ordinary person, Richard’s Shadow was gone.
But her observational precision was far beyond that of her two senior students.
A wisp of her inspiration probed downward from Richard’s feet, reaching toward the Curtain.
She saw the Shadow.
It hadn’t vanished, merely been moved behind the Curtain.
"...Your Shadow," his aunt began slowly.
"It’s no longer in the Material Realm. It’s behind the Curtain, and not in the shallowest part, either."
Richard nodded at his aunt.
Another thought.
The Shadow at his feet reappeared out of thin air, identical to before, without the slightest change.
Richard explained, "I can make my Shadow switch freely back and forth between the area behind the Curtain and the Material Realm."
Sofia still hadn’t fully processed it.
"What... What’s the use of that? Making your Shadow disappear? Is it just for scaring people for fun?"
Clara understood first.
"It can be linked to many Techniques on the Ether Layer."
She looked at Richard and, uncharacteristically, spoke at length.
"Many Techniques use a shadow as a medium.
"For example, Tracking Techniques and Positioning Techniques require locking onto the target’s shadow first... If you move your Shadow behind the Curtain, those Techniques can’t lock onto you."
"There’s more," his aunt continued.
"The beauty of the ability Richard’s lamp has given him lies in the ’switch’."
"Defensively, shadow-related Techniques can’t lock onto him."
"Offensively," his aunt looked at Richard, "your Shadow can switch back and forth between the two realms..."
Richard finished the thought: "My opponent would be completely defenseless against any Techniques that use my Shadow as a medium."
He recalled the inner answer to the Sphinx’s riddle.
"The Shadow is not the servant of man, nor is man the master of the Shadow.
Shadow and man share existence, each with its own will, mutually dependent."
The lamp had sealed within it the Sphinx’s power to "guard the Gate of Two Realms."
The world of light and the world of shadow.
Now that it had acknowledged Richard as its master, it had given him the ability to "Ferry the Shadow between the two realms."
"That’s amazing," Sofia said, finally understanding.
"An ability like that is practically tailor-made for a Scholar!
"You don’t have to face Evil Beings head-on. Just this trick of hiding your Shadow is enough to save your life!"
"It is a good thing," his aunt agreed with a nod. "A standardized Marvel could never grant an ability like this."
She looked at Richard’s lamp and fell silent for a moment.
’It seems Elder Hutton’s assessment was too conservative after all.’
With this major event concluded, the atmosphere at the table immediately relaxed.
His aunt uncharacteristically called a waiter over to open a bottle of wine.
"We’re celebrating today," she said, pouring a glass for herself and her two students.
"You’ll both have a little with me. Richard, no drinking for you. You’re not of age yet."
Richard obediently raised his glass of fruit juice.
But once the wine was opened, trouble began.
The first one to have a problem, surprisingly, was Sofia.
The girl was usually so lively and talkative that everyone assumed she could hold her liquor.
But after just one glass, before a second could even be poured, her face was already beet-red.
"Mentor!" She suddenly jumped onto her chair, waving her empty wine glass and flailing her arms.
"Let me tell you, your nephew... he’s done you so proud!
"Back when I did my apprenticeship, I only got eighth place, and he comes along and gets second! If this... if this..."

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