Phantoms Aren't Always Useful

Name: Phantom · Skill Learning Machine (Misty Field)

Elements: [Mist], [Stealth], [Blindness], [Field], [Skill], [Item], [Learning]

Description: Allows the user to learn the skill "Misty Field".

Notes: Don't ask me how to use it, figure it out yourself.

Looking at the CD in his hand, Feng Xue didn't know what to say for a moment. Although from a practical standpoint, Misty Field could be considered a superior replacement for Mist Concealment Technique in every aspect, holding the CD made him feel strange.

Firstly, this thing had unprecedentedly produced four new elements, which couldn't be explained by the one thousand [Knowledge] he had invested. The only possibility was that the material used to make the scroll itself belonged to the True Thing category and carried a large amount of [Knowledge], which caused mutations during the reforging.

Although this mutation seemed to have developed in a positive direction, Feng Xue didn't like such uncontrolled changes. More importantly...

How the heck was he supposed to use this thing?

Feng Xue looked at the note and felt mocked, but soon, a scene he had seen countless times flashed through his mind.

Although it hadn't felt strange in the game, now that the CD was in his hands, it felt incredibly ridiculous.

After thinking for a moment, Feng Xue felt it would be too stupid to experiment himself. Considering it was a sixth-generation skill, it shouldn't be a consumable, so he beckoned to Chen Xiyao beside him and said:

"Come here."

"Ah, what is it?" Chen Xiyao's attention was also completely focused on the CD in Feng Xue's hand. Being called by Feng Xue, she immediately felt that this matter might be related to the CD.

Could it be...

The ability to turn the content of a book into an image?

Was he trying to get her to watch it with him now?

But which book was it...

A flood of thoughts surged through Chen Xiyao's mind again, but the next moment, she felt something appear in her hand.

Looking at the CD, which was slightly thicker than normal ones of its kind, Chen Xiyao was a bit confused. It wasn't until she heard Feng Xue speak:

"Hold her up and place it on your forehead."

"Huh?" Chen Xiyao thought she misheard for a moment, but then Feng Xue repeated his request.

"What kind of weird foreplay is this? I'm not a VCR!"

Chen Xiyao examined the CD closely, her face filled with a strange expression. However, under Feng Xue's serious gaze, she finally chose to trust the man and obediently held the CD up, pressing it against her forehead...

"Beep~ Beep~ Beep~ Beep..."

The sound of a Pokémon learning a skill suddenly echoed in the room. Feng Xue watched the CD spin on Chen Xiyao's forehead. With a final "ding" and the sound effect celebrating a Pokémon learning a skill, it stopped.

Chen Xiyao, reopening her eyes, looked at the skill learning machine in her hand, completely bewildered, and exclaimed:

"What's the principle behind this? How did you do it? Can mathematics be learned like this too?"

"To experiment with the ability first instead of asking if it can be used to learn mathematics... In a way, you're truly something else."

Feng Xue grinned, took the CD from the girl's hand, and instead of answering directly, he asked his own question:

"Did you learn the ability? Can you use it?"

"Ah, I can..." Chen Xiyao, who had been interrupted, finally focused her attention on the supernatural ability she had gained. After sensing it for a moment, she said:

"This ability allows me to create a patch of mist. It can be used a total of ten times. After use, I need to rest before I can use it again."

"Only a usage limit? No special energy requirement?" Feng Xue narrowed his eyes, feeling that this thing seemed much stronger than a skill machine in the game, at least it didn't limit the learning species.

"There isn't that, but the concentration, range, and duration of the mist created seem to be affected by my personal physical condition."

Chen Xiyao also seemed curious about her new ability, but she hadn't forgotten that she was still being hunted, so she forcibly suppressed the urge to cast it immediately and see.

Feng Xue listened to the girl's words and nodded gently. This situation was similar to the Blade of Suffocation; both had undergone some realistic changes. He wondered if this was due to a lack of Phantom elements or if it was influenced by some other factors.

However, since it could indeed be learned this way, Feng Xue no longer dwelled on the posture issue. He placed the CD on his forehead, and the strange dinging sound echoed in the room again...

Having learned the Misty Field skill, Feng Xue didn't experiment immediately either. Instead, he shifted his gaze to the remaining "two books." If his guess was correct, these two "books" should also carry a large amount of [Knowledge] belonging to the True Thing, and this, in turn, seemed to bring about significant changes to the reforging.

"It's at most wasting two pieces of paper. I have such a large book, I can afford to waste it!"

Feng Xue pondered that the booklets in his hand were enough to make hundreds of such mini-books, and his heart immediately settled. He decided to test his hypothesis.

This time, Feng Xue picked up the mini-book that looked like a memorial, invested the three elements [Soundless], [Assassination], and [Item] into it. However, this time, he only symbolically invested 1 point of [Knowledge], wanting to see if these papers truly contained enough [Knowledge] as he thought.

As he pressed the melt button, the memorial twisted and then, a few seconds later, it turned into a gun...

A silenced pistol.

"This is truly unexpected!" Feng Xue read in a monotone voice, ignoring Chen Xiyao's now shining eyes beside him. He picked up the pistol and began to examine it--

Name: Phantom · Silenced Pistol

Elements: [Soundless], [Assassination], [Projectile], [Weapon]

Description: A pistol that makes no sound.

Notes: I bet there are no bullets in this gun.

"You call this thing a Phantom?" Feng Xue fiddled with the silenced pistol, which looked like a simplified version from an anime, a slight twitch at the corner of its mouth. Perhaps the Phantoms it had seen before were too extraordinary, making this plain object difficult to process.

After all...

A gun without bullets was less effective than a small knife.

"Here, play with it." Feng Xue casually tossed the pistol to Chen Xiyao, then shifted its gaze to the last mini-book. This time, it only invested one Element, [Item], before pressing the recast button.

Chen Xiyao, who had fumbled to catch the pistol, was about to reprimand Feng Xue for carelessly tossing dangerous objects when it saw the small booklet in front of it begin to change. With the experience of the previous two times, she immediately shut her mouth and quietly waited for a miracle to happen.

Then...

The book transformed into a pink ball with a remote control