Yu Lingye glanced at her Strength attribute, which had just increased to twenty-four points.
While this amount of attributes was somewhat useful for close-quarters parrying and breaking free from binds, it was still far from enough to truly unleash the power of 【Armor-Penetrating Heavy Punch】. However, giving it to Lia would be a different story.
Lia's original Strength already exceeded one hundred points. With her body reinforced by the Basic Puppet Core and the Former Master's Spine Fragment, her skeletal durability and physical power were already far beyond those of ordinary people.
Even without using any skills, a direct punch from her would be enough to overwhelm most close-combat classes.
More importantly, after merging with the Basic Puppet Core, Lia was no longer an ordinary doll.
According to Celantia's class classifications, an advanced puppet like her—who possessed independent consciousness, could make autonomous judgments, and was completely detached from a normal flesh-and-blood structure—would likely be classified under the extremely rare 【Aberrant class】.
However, Aberrants were not all puppets.
Among them were also those who had managed to survive after coming into contact with curses.
Their flesh, bones, and mana circuits mutated, leaving monster-like traces on their appearances to varying degrees.
Ordinary people feared them, while other factions viewed them as outcasts. Consequently, most Aberrants could only survive alone, far away from towns and cities.
The greatest advantage of an Aberrant was that they were not restricted by conventional class paths.
As long as their bodies could bear it, they could learn skills from different classes.
But the cost was also obvious.
For every additional incompatible power they accommodated, their alienation burden would increase.
At best, it resulted in physical damage and skills spiraling out of control; at worst, their consciousness would be swallowed by the curse and their mutated instincts, causing them to completely degenerate into territorial monsters.
In her past life, some Descenders had set their sights on this path.
They actively sought out witches and dark mages, using curses to modify their bodies in an attempt to bypass class restrictions and learn skills from multiple categories.
Very few succeeded.
Most of the rest lost their minds and became mutated bosses on the wilderness maps, eventually waiting for other Descenders or mercenary groups to band together and clear them out.
Yu Lingye looked at the scroll in her hand, her gaze turning a bit more serious.
Lia had not yet determined her sub-class.
If she could fully accommodate 【Armor-Penetrating Heavy Punch】, she would have a chance to establish the martial class as her first sub-class.
The higher the Strength, the stronger the effects of martial class skills.
This path was indeed suitable for her.
If Lia could smash through an enemy's armor head-on in the future, Yu Lingye would no longer have to rely on her Soul Threads to slowly wear down the target's defense, allowing her to free up more mana to control the battlefield.
However, whether it was suitable was one thing.
Whether she was willing to learn it was another.
Now that Lia possessed autonomous judgment, Yu Lingye did not intend to make decisions regarding her future class path on her behalf.
“I'll take it back and ask her first.”
With this thought, Yu Lingye rolled 【Armor-Penetrating Heavy Punch】 back up and stored it inside her Radiant Ring.
The last scroll was dark teal all over, its surface engraved with several sharp blade patterns radiating outward.
【Basic Skill Scroll: Shattered Blade Scatter】
【Effect: Consume 10 Mana to condense twenty-four magic shattered blades in front of the user, firing them in a fan shape toward a designated direction. Each shattered blade deals 8% basic magic damage, with a single target taking a maximum of six shattered blades. The closer the distance, the more shattered blades the target will receive.】
【Restriction: The shattered blades have weak armor penetration and will rapidly collapse upon hitting a high-defense target. The attack range and damage are influenced by the user's current mana.】
Yu Lingye nodded. What she lacked right now was precisely a stable area-of-effect attack.
When facing a large number of low-tier enemies, she could only disperse her Soul Threads one by one.
The more targets there were, the greater the strain on her mind and control capabilities.
【Shattered Blade Scatter】 could directly cover the area right in front of her.
Even if it couldn't kill the enemies, it could still force back a group of targets when she was besieged, buying her time to reposition herself.
Furthermore, these shattered blades were condensed from mana.
If she could use 【Mana-Conducting Thread】 to integrate her Soul Threads into the shattered blade structure in the future, she might be able to guide some of the blades to change direction, or even have them perform a second scatter in mid-air.
Of course, this was merely a preliminary hypothesis.
【Mana-Conducting Thread】 was not omnipotent. To alter a complete skill structure, she would still need the corresponding spell frameworks, attribute materials, and numerous attempts.
Yu Lingye was in no hurry to learn it. She rolled the scroll back up. The moment it entered her ring, the blue gemstone on the ring's surface suddenly flashed, before quickly turning dark red.
【Storage space has reached its limit.】
Yu Lingye looked down at it.
Fortunately, the hidden compartment had already been emptied.
If she had discovered even one more item, she might have actually had to carry it back in her arms.
She double-checked the hidden compartment, ensuring that not even a single fragment in the corners had been missed. Only then did she push the wooden boards back into place and cover them with the moss-covered stone slab once more.
By now, it was already dark outside.
It was not safe to traverse the Mist-Dwelling Forest at night, so Yu Lingye was in no rush to travel.
She first used her Soul Threads to seal the entrance and broken windows of the watermill, then had Moon guard her side. After confirming there were no other footprints around, she rested for the night in a corner that had not completely collapsed.
The next morning, she and Moon continued their return journey.
The way back was much quieter than when they had come.
The thick fog that had shrouded the Mist-Dwelling Forest for years had dispersed. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree canopy, illuminating the ground covered in decaying leaves, severed roots, and residual black sap.
Two days later, Yu Lingye returned to Grey Oak Village.
She no longer used Rena's face, wearing only an ordinary cloak with most of her face hidden inside the hood, blending in with a few passersby as she entered the village entrance.
Not far away, several mercenaries were gathered in front of the bulletin board, whispering among themselves.
“Did you guys see? The fog in the forest has cleared.”
“Could it be that the subjugation team actually succeeded?”
“Succeeded in what? Not a single person who went in has returned.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe they took another route out.”
“Don't talk nonsense. Last night, I still heard something crying and laughing in the forest. Who knows whose undead spirit that might be.”
Yu Lingye passed by them without attracting anyone's attention.
To the people of Grey Oak Village, the fact that the entire subjugation team had gone missing while the Mist-Dwelling Forest had suddenly returned to normal was enough to keep them guessing for a long time.
Once the news spread further, caravans and adventurers would eventually try to enter the forest.
The former man-eating forbidden zone might very well turn back into the old trade route leading to the north.
This region, which had been depressed for far too long, would soon see new changes.
Yu Lingye went to the tavern to grab a bite, then made a round near the bulletin board and the place where Milo used to live.
For now, no one had found Milo, nor had they heard of him returning to Grey Oak Village.
That lunatic was either still hiding in the forest or had already fled along some other path.
In the short term, he probably wouldn't be able to cause much of a stir.
Yu Lingye did not continue her search.
She returned to the inn where she had previously stayed, sealed the doors and windows with her Soul Threads, and laid down a simple layer of perception threads by the bedside before sitting down to take stock of her harvest.
The Radiant Ring was stuffed to the brim.
Gold coins, ores, timber, medicinal herbs, and treant materials were roughly sorted by her.
The chests bearing the Rosalind family coat of arms were set aside separately.
After sorting through the ring, Yu Lingye's consciousness shifted to the very bottom of her inventory panel.
An independent bound slot had appeared there.
The 【Decayed Residual Root】 was quietly suspended inside it.
The relaxed expression on Yu Lingye's face faded.
She recalled the voice that had echoed in her ears when she extracted the Hourglass of Dusk fragment.
“Do not reject the power of Decay.”
“It was meant for you from the very beginning.”
What did it mean by “meant for her”?
Just because Valen had been eroded by Decay and turned into that monstrous, half-human, half-ghost form, did she, as his adopted daughter, naturally have to inherit his legacy?
Yu Lingye's brow furrowed slightly as she looked at the item description once more.
【Special Item: Decayed Residual Root】
【Status: Bound】
【Cannot be transferred】
【Cannot be discarded】
【Currently unusable】
The few lines of text were simple to the point of being perfunctory.
It couldn't be used, couldn't be transferred, and couldn't even be thrown away.
Then what on earth was the point of it being bound to her?
Yu Lingye first activated 【Inverse Radiance Shadow-Folding】 to suppress her Malice and Holy powers into a relatively stable state, then summoned the Decayed Residual Root and placed it on the table.
The withered bark was covered in tiny cracks, with a dark red glimmer hidden deep within the crevices, like an ember that had not been fully extinguished.
Yu Lingye manipulated her Soul Thread, tentatively reaching toward one of the cracks.
Suddenly, her surroundings seemed to enter a vacuum. The arguments downstairs, the horse hooves outside the window, and the soft rattling of the wind against the window frame were all completely cut off in an instant by some mysterious power.
Darkness abruptly enveloped Yu Lingye's vision.
By the time her vision returned, she was no longer in the inn.
Instead, she stood in a boundless space where near-solidified darkness stretched endlessly into the distance, resembling a bottomless deep sea.
Standing within it, her body was completely immobilized; she couldn't even lift a single finger.
Something was watching her.
Yu Lingye slowly raised her eyes.
Deep within the darkness, a massive mass of matter with a giant red eye and an indistinguishable silhouette coiled there.
It resembled tree roots, yet also looked like countless limbs piled together.
Its black surface writhed constantly, occasionally splitting open to reveal the dark red light within.
The entity was so colossal that Yu Lingye couldn't even perceive its entire form.
She could only sense it slowly lowering its head, casting a “gaze” that shouldn't have existed upon her. The 【Fog Mirror Earrings】 at her earlobes suddenly grew burning hot.
【Warning: You are being peered at by an unknown existence.】
【Reverse-lock failed.】
【The target's tier far exceeds the equipment's tolerance limit.】
【Unable to lock onto source.】
In the next moment, it voluntarily withdrew its “gaze,” and the darkness before her eyes collapsed.
Yu Lingye snapped her eyes open, her breathing slightly heavier than usual.
The inn room remained exactly as it was.
Outside the window, someone led a horse past; downstairs, the innkeeper was still arguing with a guest. All the sounds that had just been cut off flooded back into her ears at once.
Yu Lingye looked down.
The Soul Thread she had extended toward the Decayed Residual Root had snapped, and the tabletop was empty.
A new prompt appeared before her eyes.
【Bound item has automatically returned to its slot.】
Yu Lingye sat back on the bed, her expression turning solemn.
That had not been an ordinary illusion, nor did it seem like a residual memory attached to an item.
That entity was truly watching her through the Decayed Residual Root.
It was even highly possible that it was not looking at “Yu Lingye,” but rather at Isolde's body.
Yu Lingye stopped trying to summon the residual root, temporarily sealing the bound slot. She planned to return to Crow Candle Castle and look through the notes and old books left behind by Valen.
Valen had studied residual limb corruption for so many years; surely he must have left something behind.
Additionally, the chests bearing the Rosalind family coat of arms would have to be carefully inventoried on her own territory.
This place was no longer suitable for further testing.
Once dawn broke, she would return to Crow Candle Castle.
Rate on N.U.
