Yu Lingye went to the Abandoned Watermill.
She had been here once in her past life.
At that time, she was following Xu Zhiheng's party out of the Mist-Dwelling Forest, and they had passed by this creek along the way.
Su Xiaoman had discovered a hidden compartment behind the watermill and immediately told Xu Zhiheng about it.
Yu Lingye had been standing far away back then, only catching sight of a pair of earrings and several scrolls wrapped in oilcloth.
She didn't know what those items were actually used for at the time.
Thinking back now, the fact that Xu Zhiheng had managed to evade his competitors' detection multiple times later on and always judge the strength of his enemies in advance might not have been entirely due to his knack for reading people.
The watermill was half-collapsed by the creek, its rotting wooden wheel sunken into the mud, with several broken beams jutting out of the ruins at an angle.
During the peak of the old trade route, the stations, watermills, and abandoned warehouses along the way were often used by caravans as temporary storage for supplies.
Now that the people were gone and the buildings had collapsed, the items hidden inside became resources for the Descenders to scavenge.
Yu Lingye dismounted, went around to the back of the watermill, and lifted a moss-covered stone slab.
Sure enough, half of a rusted iron ring was revealed beneath the slab.
She gripped the iron ring and gave it a gentle tug.
A dull grinding sound echoed from underground, and the hidden compartment concealed behind the stone slab slowly revealed itself.
There wasn't much inside, but it made Yu Lingye's eyes light up slightly.
A pair of ordinary earrings lay quietly on top.
The surface of the silver-gray earrings was engraved with fine mirror patterns, with a faint ring of old runes still visible along the edges.
The moment her fingers brushed against them, a wave of chill surged up through her fingertips.
【Special Equipment: Fog Mirror Earrings】
【Quality: Rare】
【Effect 1: After equipping, it can simulate an appropriate earring appearance based on your current attire.】
【Effect 2: Lock onto a non-combat target within your line of sight. After staring continuously for three seconds, you can inspect their basic stats, attribute tendencies, and current status. This effect can bypass information obscuration caused by Pressure and strength concealment.】
【Restriction: A single target can only be inspected once every twenty-four hours. If the target's perception is significantly higher than the user's, the inspection attempt may be detected. Cannot directly inspect hidden classes, specific skills, special bloodlines, or Fallen Fragments.】
Yu Lingye pressed her fingertip against the earrings, finally understanding what Xu Zhiheng had relied on in her past life.
With this piece of equipment, he only needed to watch someone from a distance for a short while to roughly gauge their strength.
When he encountered the weak, he would find a way to swallow them up; when he met the strong, he would bow his head and steer clear in advance.
No wonder his strategy of "bullying the weak and fearing the strong" had remained so incredibly consistent in her past life.
The continent of Celantia was never short of appraisal and inspection skills.
Descenders, in particular, relied heavily on their system panels, often inspecting others' attributes, classes, and factions the moment they met.
It was precisely because of this boundaryless prying that the Descenders' Guild and local mercenary guilds had frequently clashed in the later stages.
Yu Lingye would be active outdoors frequently in the future, and she also needed a way to see through others.
After confirming that the earrings carried no corruption or curses, she put them on.
The moment the cool ornaments touched her earlobes, they tightened on their own like living things, clinging firmly to her skin.
A prompt popped up before Yu Lingye's eyes.
【Fog Mirror Earrings bound.】
【Current attire detected: Ordinary adventurer traveling gear.】
【Simulating appropriate appearance...】
A thin layer of mist rose from the surface of the earrings.
Once the mist dispersed, the original silver-gray earrings engraved with runes had transformed into two inconspicuous black studs.
Hidden within her strands of hair, the studs left almost no trace.
Yu Lingye reached up and touched them; they were very lightweight and did not hinder her movements.
Just as she was about to examine the other items, a new prompt suddenly popped up.
【"Fog Mirror Earrings" has been influenced by the passive skill "Witch's Mask".】
【Compatibility conditions met. Extra effect triggered.】
【Additional Effect: When the user is subjected to external perception such as appraisal, attribute identification, faction detection, or soul-peeking, the Fog Mirror Earrings will provide an early warning and attempt to reverse-lock the general direction and exposed aura of the peeker.】
【Warning: If the external perception far exceeds the equipment's tolerance limit, it will only confirm that the user is being observed and cannot complete the reverse-lock.】
Yu Lingye paused her movements, her finger still resting against the side of her ear.
...It could even be used like this?
The previous 【Inverse Radiance Shadow-Folding】 had also been influenced by the 【Witch's Mask】, allowing her to reflect inspection results into whatever identity the observer was most willing to believe.
It seemed that as long as binding was complete, and the equipment or skill itself was related to disguise or concealment, it was possible for the 【Witch's Mask】 to draw out new effects.
Of course, this was merely her current speculation.
Whether all similar equipment could trigger this or if the 【Fog Mirror Earrings】 just happened to be highly compatible with her abilities remained to be verified in the future.
But at least from now on, if anyone tried to hide in the shadows to check her class or faction, or use items to secretly verify her identity, she would no longer be completely oblivious.
Yu Lingye lowered her hand and continued to inspect the hidden compartment.
A small crystal bottle with a cracked neck was wedged into a gap in the wooden boards, containing five dark red shards.
The shards were only the size of a fingernail and looked like coagulated blood clots.
【Attribute Material: Strength Attribute Fragment ×5】
【Effect: Upon absorption, permanently increases Strength attribute.】
Yu Lingye felt that she had finally found a supplement suitable for her.
Her current Strength was only nineteen points.
Relying on her Soul Threads, skills, and equipment, this shortcoming wasn't very noticeable when facing ordinary enemies. But once a close-combat class got near her, or if her movements were restricted by an enemy, it would be difficult for her to break free using raw physical strength alone.
During her previous battle with the Treant King, she had relied almost entirely on 【Skimming Shadow Step】 and her Soul Threads to keep her distance.
If she had actually been entangled by those tree roots, her end wouldn't have been any better than Kolo's.
These five shards had arrived at just the right time.
Yu Lingye pulled out the damaged cork and poured all the shards into her palm.
The shards melted rapidly upon contact with her skin, turning into five streaks of scalding red light that seeped into her body through her palm.
A brief, aching soreness spread from deep within her bones.
The muscles in her arms and back tensed slightly, but quickly returned to normal.
【Strength Attribute Fragment absorption complete.】
【Strength: 19 → 24】
Five shards had increased it by five points in total.
The increase wasn't massive, but at least the next time she had to parry in close quarters, draw her bow, or break free from a bind, she wouldn't be as utterly powerless as before.
Yu Lingye rotated her wrist; as her joints tightened, she could indeed feel more power than before.
She was quite satisfied with this.
Deep inside the hidden compartment lay three more scrolls. Yu Lingye picked up the topmost one first.
The scroll was entirely dark gray. Upon being unrolled, light rapidly coalesced into a human figure before silently dispersing above the scroll.
【Basic Skill Scroll: Substitute】
【Initial Cost: 5 Mana】
【Effect: Create a substitute with the exact same appearance as the user's current form.】
【The substitute can perform simple actions and preset commands such as walking, surveillance, and more. The longer it is maintained and the more complex the actions, the higher the mana cost.】
【The substitute will automatically collapse if it is attacked, moves out of control range, or if the user's mana is depleted.】
【Restriction: The basic substitute possesses a genuine life aura, but lacks complete cognitive capacity and independent combat capability.】
Yu Lingye read the description on the scroll but did not use it immediately.
Most ordinary people who obtained a 【Substitute】 would probably use it to lure enemies, conduct surveillance, or briefly show their face in certain places on their behalf.
However, she also had 【Mana-Conducting Thread】 in her possession.
Mana-Conducting Threads possessed decent extensibility and load-bearing capacity. If she used Soul Threads to construct a skeletal framework first, and then overlaid the 【Substitute】 on the outer layer, she might be able to alter the substitute's original height and build.
At the very least, adjustments between human forms should be worth a try.
As for animals and birds...
The leap was too great, and the consumption of mana and spell materials would likely be substantial. Whether it could succeed was a different story entirely.
If she could truly pull it off in the future, paired with the 【Witch's Mask】, the utility of this basic skill would be far greater than what was written on the scroll.
Yu Lingye's finger brushed across the edge of the scroll, a hint of interest flashing in her eyes.
However, speculation was merely speculation in the end.
If a deviation occurred during skill fusion, losing a few scrolls would be a minor issue, but if even her Soul Thread structures suffered backlash, it would be a massive trouble.
It was best to conduct this kind of attempt inside Crow Candle Castle.
Materials were abundant there, and if anything truly went wrong, Lia and the castle would be there to handle it for her.
Yu Lingye rolled up the 【Substitute】 scroll and stored it inside her Radiant Ring.
The remaining two were both skill scrolls, one of which had a sunken fist print stamped on its surface.
【Martial Class Skill Scroll: Armor-Penetrating Heavy Punch】
【Effect: Focus physical strength in a short amount of time to deliver a heavy strike to a single target. Upon hitting, it can weaken a portion of the target's physical defense. The force of the attack is determined by the user's own Strength.】
【Restriction: Places a heavy burden on the body. The lower the Strength attribute, the longer the recovery stiffness duration after use.】
Well, this skill was definitely not suitable for her.
Rate on N.U.
