Appraisal Skill Learned

The old woman stared wide-eyed in disbelief, holding the slip of paper as she began to question her entire life.

Taking advantage of the opening, the young man began surveying this Appraisal Shop, which was filled with an antique atmosphere.

To his surprise, there were not many appraisal tools or various magnifying glasses and the like inside the shop.

The most abundant thing in this small space was books.

Behind the hunched old woman's seat stood an entire bookcase filled with ancient-looking books.

With a quick scan through the Eye of God, Xuan Sheng immediately understood that these books covered daily life, precision operations, scripts from ancient times to the primordial era, modern firearms and weaponry, serious classical literature and traditional philosophy, and the less serious aspects of Profound Insight... Ahem, the less serious Three Little Pigs Love Riddles. They truly contained everything and were incredibly comprehensive.

From the attic above the shop, he could also vaguely see books piled as high as mountains.

So, putting all this together, did NPCs in this world really need to rely on accumulated knowledge to make an initial judgment about an item's origin?

Seeing that the old woman was still muttering and questioning her life, Li Xunsheng asked softly.

"Did I pass?"

"Ah... You passed... But how did you do it?"

The old woman took one last puzzled look at the golden slip of paper. The once-clouded eyes had now become crystal clear, though they were filled with confusion.

"How did you decipher the item's information without using the Appraisal Skill?"

The small piece of paper she had given him contained only a short story composed of various ancient scripts, along with a simple Obscuring Spell.

Ordinary appraisal methods involved using eyesight and accumulated knowledge to identify the general content of the short story, then using the Appraisal Skill to remove the obscuring effect, allowing everyone to understand the story.

But the young man before her had merely glanced at it before dispelling the Obscuring Spell...

This, this, this... This was simply absurd!

Even the founding grandmaster reincarnated could not accomplish something like this, right?

When she had still been an apprentice, she had heard her master say that those with extraordinary talent could break simple obscuring spells through eyesight alone. Such people were the best inheritors of the Appraisal Skill.

But that sort of information had always been nothing more than hearsay passed down from generation to generation. No one had ever truly managed to do it!

And now, such a freak had appeared right before her eyes!

"I... just saw it... It was a little fable about Buying the Casket and Returning the Pearls."

According to the information obtained through the Eye of God, the story seemed to use many strange scripts from different cultures.

But under the gaze of the Eye of God, all those fancy tricks were completely useless.

The story's contents had been conveyed with perfect clarity into Li Xunsheng's mind, so everything had happened naturally...

"All right... I understand now."

The old woman, who had been full of energy, suddenly became as listless as a deflated ball. She looked as though a wanderer who had once pursued a dream had just been told that the dream had long since shattered.

"I'll teach you the Appraisal Skill and tell you some common knowledge, but I can't become your master."

Congratulations, 'Inheritance of the Appraiser' has been completed. Reward obtained: Appraisal Skill

A refined blue book appeared in the old woman's hand and was passed to Li Xunsheng.

"What I want to say is that for ordinary appraisers, appraisal is absolutely not as simple as throwing out a skill."

Although there might not be much use in saying this to the monster before her, the old woman continued as if complaining.

"To become a Master Appraiser, you must first rely on your own judgment to determine seventy or eighty percent of an item's information. Only then can using the Appraisal Skill possibly succeed. Even so, the appraisal may still fail to obtain complete information."

She had gone from an apprentice to where she was today, and had read more books than she could count!

Everything she had done was to reduce the chance of failure when using the Appraisal Skill.

"The Appraisal Skill can only provide assistance, but the higher its proficiency, the stronger that assistance becomes. For low-level items or equipment, a high-level Appraisal Skill will almost never fail. So for you, all you need to do is practice the Appraisal Skill more. All right, that's everything I have to say. Hurry up and leave."

The old woman waved her hand, sending him away while her mind remained full of confusion.

Could all outsiders have this kind of talent? Could they identify something just by looking at it, without any store of knowledge?

Wouldn't everything she had once worked for have turned to nothing, then?

No, it shouldn't be like that. If it were, those outsiders from before wouldn't have come groveling to her...

Was this guy the only monster?

Sigh... In the end, there really was a difference between people...

After being inexplicably driven out of the Appraisal Shop, Li Xunsheng scratched his head, still utterly confused, and used the blue skill book in his hand.

Congratulations! Skill: Appraisal Skill! Learned. Current proficiency (Lv. 1)

Based on the skill's proficiency and the user's understanding of the item requiring appraisal, the success rate will fluctuate. The Mana consumed will also differ, as will the amount of information obtained through appraisal. Please take note.

So... for someone with the Eye of God, this thing had a one-hundred-percent success rate and would reveal all the information, right?

It even worked across levels?

This cheat had activated so abruptly that he was caught completely off guard...

"Li Xunsheng?"

Just as Xuan Sheng was wondering about this, a graceful figure stopped in front of him.

"Ah, Yi Qing, you're here."

The young man shook his head, deciding to interact more with the old woman who had taught him the Appraisal Skill in the future, before turning his attention back to the girl before him.

Yi Qing was now wearing leather armor. Her once-empty right arm had returned properly to her body. The exquisite leather armor clung to the girl's shapely figure. Although she was a woman in the prime of her youth, her figure was so good that Xuan Sheng's eyes felt a little dizzy...

Her exquisite, coldly beautiful face was as calm as ever. Only her eyes, brilliant as stars at midnight, revealed a trace of puzzlement.

"You came here to get something appraised? She charges... a lot."

"No... Actually, it's pretty reasonable..."

Thinking of the sea of books behind the old woman that was enough to fill a football field, Li Xunsheng felt that perhaps a Gold Coin as an appraisal fee really wasn't too expensive...

"But you've had something appraised here before?"

Yi Qing knew the old woman's appraisal fee, which surprised Xuan Sheng quite a bit.

"Yeah, but I didn't have any money, so afterward I went to the general store owner."

Yi Qing crossed her arms and nodded.

"The general store owner provides appraisal services too? Is it cheap there?"

"No. One Silver Coin, but his Appraisal Skill was poor, and it failed."

A few adorable traces of distress appeared on Yi Qing's normally calm face, making Li Xunsheng laugh aloud.

So this young lady had thought the one Gold Coin appraisal fee was too expensive, gone to the general store owner, and wasted one Silver Coin instead? Hahaha...

"Fifty Copper Coins. Here."

Seeing her companion laugh without mercy, Yi Qing's expression turned a little colder, and her calm voice carried a faint trace of displeasure.

"All right, all right, I wasn't making fun of you. What do you want appraised? Let me take a look."

After accepting Yi Qing's repayment and obtaining the Appraisal Skill, Li Xunsheng wanted to try it out, so he offered...