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I Loaded the Mysticism Panel

Chapter 105 - 102: Slingshot Technique · Oct 26, 2026

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Chapter List (281)

Page number / 6

101 Chapter 101 - 98: The Inner Layer’s Answer 2026-10-26
102 Chapter 102 - 99: Ka, Ba, Shute 2026-10-26
103 Chapter 103 - 100: Shadow Reversal 2026-10-26
104 Chapter 104 - 101: This Time for Sure 2026-10-26
105 Chapter 105 - 102: Slingshot Technique 2026-10-26
106 Chapter 106 103: Sect 2026-10-26
107 Chapter 107 104: Spiritual Vision and Divination 2026-10-26
108 Chapter 108 - 105: Casting a Wide Net 2026-10-26
109 Chapter 109 - 106: Stone Armor 2026-10-26
110 Chapter 110 - 107: Next Time 2026-10-26
111 Chapter 111 - 108: New Marvels 2026-10-26
112 Chapter 112 - 109: Sun Emblem 2026-10-26
113 Chapter 113 - 110: Three Traits 2026-10-26
114 Chapter 114 - 111: Family Chain 2026-10-26
115 Chapter 115 - 112: Shield and Bait 2026-10-26
116 Chapter 116 - 113: Inspiration Test 2026-10-26
117 Chapter 117 - 114: Stars and Ants 2026-10-26
118 Chapter 118 - 115: Wax Words 2026-10-26
119 Chapter 119 - 116: Peanuts and Candy 2026-10-26
120 Chapter 120 - 117: Character Profile 2026-10-26
121 Chapter 121 - 118: Marvel Selection 2026-10-26
122 Chapter 122 - 119: Do I Have to Learn Fighting Too? 2026-10-26
123 Chapter 123 - 120: A Small Surprise and a Big Surprise 2026-10-26
124 Chapter 124 - 121: Military Merit Medal and Silver Ring 2026-10-26
125 Chapter 125 - 122: Lighting Up [Perception] 2026-10-26
126 Chapter 126 - 123: Madagascar Vanilla Bean Caramel Pudding 2026-10-26
127 Chapter 127 - 124: Bonus 2026-10-26
128 Chapter 128 - 125: The Divination Master is a Detective 2026-10-26
129 Chapter 129 - 125: The Divination Master is a Detective 2026-10-26
130 Chapter 130 - 125: The Divination Master is a Detective 2026-10-26
131 Chapter 131 - 126: The Vanished She? 2026-10-26
132 Chapter 132 - 127: Healing 2026-10-26
133 Chapter 133 - 128: Stone Fist 2026-10-26
134 Chapter 134 - 129: Shadow Armor 2026-10-26
135 Chapter 135 - 130: Upgraded Treatment 2026-10-26
136 Chapter 136 - 131: Marvel Recovery 2026-10-26
137 Chapter 137 - 132: Edge of Inspiration 2026-10-26
138 Chapter 138 - 132: Blade of Inspiration 2026-10-26
139 Chapter 139 - 133: Technique: Moon Nail 2026-10-26
140 Chapter 140 - 134: Black Hound 2026-10-26
141 Chapter 141 - 135: Traditional Permutations and Combinations 2026-10-26
142 Chapter 142 - 136: Female Graduate Student 2026-10-26
143 Chapter 143 - 137: Buying a Gun 2026-10-26
144 Chapter 144 - 137: Buying a Gun 2026-10-26
145 Chapter 145 - 138: Fear the Intelligent 2026-10-26
146 Chapter 146 - 139: Piercing Needle 2026-10-26
147 Chapter 147 - 139: Piercing Needle 2026-10-26
148 Chapter 148 - 139: Piercing Needle 2026-10-26
149 Chapter 149 - 140: Hunter Reserve 2026-10-26
150 Chapter 150 - 141: The Scholar’s Status 2026-10-26

”Are you any good with a slingshot?” Richard asked, a question that had nothing to do with Latin.

Tom paused.

The first three tutors had all started with the exact same lines after walking in the door:

”Alright, let me see your current level in Latin,” or ”Turn your textbook to page so-and-so.”

”...I’m okay,” he said, a bit wary.

”What have you shot at?”

”Squirrels, sparrows, the cat from next door... That cat deserved it. It was stealing our fish.”

”Did you hit them?”

”Missed the squirrels, but I hit a sparrow.” He puffed out his chest. ”And I hit the cat twice.”

”Where on the cat did you hit it?”

”Its butt.” Tom grinned gleefully. ”It jumped *so* high.”

He gestured with his hand to show how high.

Charlotte’s brow furrowed. She clearly didn’t understand why the new tutor was talking about slingshots.

The faint sound of footsteps came from outside the door. It was probably Lady Dawn, listening from the hallway without coming in.

Richard picked up a gingerbread cookie from the coffee table, tossing it in his palm a couple of times.

”Do you know why a slingshot can fire a stone?”

”The rubber bands shoot it.”

”Right. The farther you pull back the rubber bands, the more power they have when you let go, and the farther the stone flies.

But have you noticed that your fingers get most tired when you pull it back all the way?”

”Yeah.”

”Latin declensions work the same way.”

Tom’s relaxed expression turned to confusion.

”The noun endings are the rubber bands.

You take a word’s root and pull on it, changing its ending. Each ending is like pulling the slingshot to a different angle.

It shoots in a different direction and hits a different target.”

He placed the gingerbread on the coffee table and traced a ”Y” shape on its surface with his finger.

”First declension, second declension, third declension... You can think of them as three ways to draw a slingshot.

The first way is for shooting things up close. The second is for things far away. The third has the trickiest angle, for hitting things hidden behind branches.”

Tom tilted his head, staring at the gingerbread on the coffee table.

”You’re saying each declension is a kind of... shooting style?”

”Something like that.” Richard broke the gingerbread in half, giving one piece to Tom and keeping the other.

”For example, if you want to hit a sparrow at the top of a tree, you wouldn’t use a level shot like you did for the cat’s butt, right?”

”Of course not. You’d need to aim high for that.”

”Good. ’Aiming high’ in Latin is like using the dative or ablative case. It tells the other words in the sentence: ’Watch out, I’m changing direction.’”

He picked up the sugar tongs from the coffee table and set them up as a triangular stand on the tabletop.

”The sparrow at the top of the tree is the nominative case. It’s the subject; it decides what the whole sentence does.

The stone is the accusative case; it gets shot by the slingshot. The slingshot’s rubber bands are the verb, connecting the nominative and the accusative.”

Tom stared at the triangle made of sugar tongs on the table, forgetting to munch on the gingerbread in his hand.

”Nominative, a straight shot. Accusative, a level shot. Dative, a high-angle shot. Ablative...”

He thought for a moment. ”What angle is the ablative?”

”The ablative is the action of putting your slingshot away because you’re done shooting.

It indicates ’moving away from a place’ or ’by means of something.’”

”So the ablative is putting the slingshot away.”

”More or less.”

Tom stuffed his slingshot into his pocket and sat back down in his chair.

He pulled a book out from behind the chair’s backrest.

It was his Latin textbook, with several dog-eared corners and a cover full of doodles.

”Alright, what page should you turn to now?” Richard glanced at the publication information on the book’s spine.

”Page twelve, the first declension noun chart,” Tom said, dutifully turning to the page.

This was the chart his previous tutors had made him memorize countless times, the one that always made his mind wander by the second line.

But today, he suddenly found the chart rather interesting.

Next to each ending, an image of a slingshot being pulled to a different angle automatically appeared in his mind.

-a is a straight shot, -am is a level shot, -ae is a high-angle shot, and -ā is putting the slingshot away.

Richard didn’t rush him, simply sipping his tea in small mouthfuls.

After a moment, Tom closed the book.

”rosa, rosam, rosae, rosā, rosa.”

Five forms, without a single stutter.

Charlotte’s teacup paused at her lips, hovering for a long moment before she set it down.

She looked at her brother, then at Richard.

”...Those are the five forms of the first declension.” Her mouth hung slightly open in surprise.

”Yep.” Tom shook his textbook. ”The Slingshot Technique. It’s easy to remember.”

From the hallway outside, a middle-aged woman in house clothes came around the corner.

Lady Dawn had features similar to Charlotte’s, though hers were a bit rounder, with a soft double chin.

She had clearly been listening from outside the door; her footsteps had given away her position.

”Lady Dawn.” Richard stood up and gave a slight bow.

”Please, sit.” Lady Dawn entered the small living room and sat in a chair near the door.

Her gaze first fell on her son. The sight of Tom with his slingshot put away and his textbook open on his lap was equally surprising to her.

”Mr. Williams, I overheard some of what you were just teaching.”

”My apologies. The slingshot analogy might have been a bit... crude.”

”Crude? That’s what I call a quick, young mind!” Lady Dawn chuckled.

”The last teacher couldn’t even get Tom to properly recite the genitive case of *rosa*.”

Tom chimed in from the side, ”That’s because the last teacher wouldn’t let me play with my slingshot.”

”The last teacher also didn’t use a slingshot to teach you,” Charlotte added.

She looked at Richard, as if ticking a ’provisional pass’ box on a mental checklist.

”Mr. Williams, I’d like to confirm your schedule.”

”Saturdays and Sundays, one hour each day. I can do mornings or afternoons.”

”Mornings are better. Tom can’t sit still in the afternoon.”

Charlotte flipped to a page in a small notebook she carried, where she already had items listed.

”Regarding the tutoring fee, the standard rate suggested by the Classical Society North District Office is two shillings per lesson.”

Two shillings an hour, two hours a week, came to about sixteen shillings a month.

It wasn’t a small amount, especially since this part-time job didn’t take up much time, and he hardly needed to prepare in advance to tutor the boy.

Just as he was about to nod, Lady Dawn spoke up.

”Charlotte, I don’t think two shillings is appropriate.”

Charlotte turned to look at her mother.

Lady Dawn’s gaze fell on Tom, who was still perched on his chair, flipping through his textbook.

”That graduate from the Royal Academy before—we paid him two shillings an hour, and Tom drove him away in two days.

The Grammar School teacher with eight years of experience? Two shillings and six pence. He left after six weeks.

And that retired public school master—we raised it to three shillings, and he didn’t last two months either.”

She counted on her fingers. ”Putting all three together, forget the wasted fees and effort. What’s more important is the wasted time. Tom’s entrance exams won’t wait for him.”

Lady Dawn turned to Richard, her expression growing serious.

”Mr. Williams, today you taught Tom in five minutes what he couldn’t memorize in three months.

If you can really stick with it and bring his Latin up to the level required for his entrance exams...”

She glanced at Charlotte.

Charlotte’s expression didn’t change, but she didn’t object.

”Three shillings an hour it is.” Lady Dawn made the decision. ”Today’s trial lesson will also be counted as a formal session. We’ll settle it all together later.”

She took a small ledger from her dress pocket, flipped it open, and made a couple of notes.

”Additionally, if Tom’s Latin grades at school show significant improvement over the next six months,

we will provide an additional bonus. The exact amount will be determined by his report card.”

”Also, we will provide lunch for each lesson. You can eat here before you leave. As for transportation...”

She thought for a moment. ”How far is Helfier Road from where you live?”

”About a thirty-minute walk.”

”Then I’ll have the coachman drive you. He’ll pick you up before the lesson and take you back after lunch.”

Richard quickly did the math in his head.

The Dawn family would provide lunch for each lesson, saving him the cost of two meals. The transport to and from would also save him a lot of time.

All told, it would be a steady income of over a pound a month, and that didn’t even include the promised bonus.

”Can we start next Saturday?”

”Of course.”

Charlotte stood up from her chair and looked toward her brother.

”Tom, what do you say to Mr. Williams?”

”Goodbye, teacher,” Tom said politely, but his hand was already pulling out his slingshot.

He raised the slingshot, aimed out the window, and muttered, ”Nominative... straight shot...”

A muscle in Lady Dawn’s cheek twitched, but for once, she didn’t scold him as she usually would.

It was the first time her son had voluntarily recited a declension chart in front of a tutor. Even if his posture wasn’t very elegant, it was a thousand times better than him just spacing out.

Lady Dawn had a maid fetch three shillings—the fee for today’s one-hour trial lesson, paid in full.

Three gleaming silver shillings were handed to him in a small envelope. Lady Dawn had also neatly written ”Mr. Williams’s Tutoring Fee” on it.

This way of doing things improved Richard’s impression of the Dawn family even more.

It wasn’t the dismissive attitude of someone tossing a coin to a beggar. They paid promptly, kept clear accounts, and treated a tutor like a professional.

As Charlotte saw him to the door, she paused on the steps of the entryway.

”Mr. Williams.”

”Yes?”

Her hand rested on the doorframe.

”The previous tutors also recognized my brother’s problem.

He isn’t slow—in fact, you could say he’s quite smart. But he can’t keep his focus on academics.”

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