Though the process had been a little awkward, Feng Xue had finally confirmed his theory thanks to this "Phantom Object: Remote Toy," which had the [Mini], [Vibration], [Pleasure], and [Toy] traits, among others, and was, in a sense, a Female Special Attack.
First, the traits of a Phantom Object were indeed affected by the material it was made from before Smelting. However, the influence didn't necessarily carry over exactly. For example, the Remote Toy's [Mini] trait was probably influenced by the "Mini Book."
Second, when an item was Reforged, the Shi it already contained also had a considerable influence on its composition. Take the paper used to make the Mini Book, for example. It was probably from the second half of the first chapter of the original novel. Everyone knew the sort of book it was: whether it was a plot-focused story or pure smut, the first chapter always had to open with something eye-catching enough to show off the author's skill in that department.
And that page, usually polished for a long time before the author even started writing the book, was often one of the easiest pages in the whole thing to get off to.
It went without saying what kind of Shi would gather on that page. So after thinking it over for a moment, Feng Xue wasn't all that surprised that it had formed into a Remote Toy.
Well, it was still pretty awkward.
"Looks like when Reforging True Things in the future, I'll have to take into account the kinds of Shi they already contain. And if I want to refine something specific, I'll need to put in a lot of Shi and traits to dilute the original Shi."
Muttering his conclusions, Feng Xue casually shoved the pink Remote Toy into Chen Xiyao's hands.
"Ah! Why are you giving me this?!" Chen Xiyao's face immediately flushed as the Remote Toy was thrust into her hands. She flailed about in a panic, but Feng Xue simply said:
"It's a Female Special Attack. It's not much use to me, so you might as well have it. When you get back, you can hold on to it while reading that kind of book, for a little extra excitement..."
Chen Xiyao was so flustered that she wanted to throw away the toy, which she'd only ever seen in certain movies and novels. But after thinking it over, she didn't make a scene, though her face stayed red.
Well, how should she put it? She was pretty curious about the thing, too.
Feng Xue didn't really care whether Chen Xiyao kept it or not. The thing was genuinely useless to him. Its description said it had a "Female Special Attack," and that if loaded properly, it could leave the target weak and make a defeat CG easier to trigger. But the problem was, if I could load it in the first place, why would I bother inflicting a debuff? Wouldn't Disassembly Madonna be better?
As Feng Xue grumbled to himself about how impractical the pink toy was, Chen Xiyao's hand suddenly trembled. It wasn't because the toy had accidentally activated. She'd noticed something and immediately widened her eyes.
"You just said... go back? Back where? To my old world? I can still go back?!"
Looking at Chen Xiyao, who had suddenly grown a little hysterical, Feng Xue just rubbed his head and said with a blank, innocent look:
"Huh? Didn't I tell you? As long as you can get back to the door you came through, you can go home!"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Chen Xiyao felt her brain start to boil. She'd been in this world for almost a week. The initial thrill and excitement of having crossed into another world had long since worn off, leaving only her longing for her old world. Now that she'd heard Feng Xue say she could still go home, her whole demeanor changed.
"Because after each door opens and closes, it takes another twenty-four hours before it can be opened again. And the Cross Sword Guild should have posted guards around that door by now. Even if I'd told you, it'd be hard for us to get near it."
Feng Xue shrugged, delivering a heavy blow to the hope that had just risen in Chen Xiyao. Then he went back to thinking on his own. What he was focused on now was how to use the rules he'd just discovered to make useful items.
Feng Xue touched the CD, unsure where to put it, and worked out a plan. He turned to Chen Xiyao, who was still fretting over going home.
"Does the protagonist in this book have a Storage Item?"
"Ah... oh, I think so. It's a standard feature in otherworldly transmigration stories, after all. I remember him killing someone and getting a ring from them..." Chen Xiyao was taken aback by Feng Xue's sudden question, but quickly answered.
Feng Xue was quite pleased with how quickly the girl understood the situation and accepted reality. He immediately picked up the book, which he'd already taken completely apart, and began looking for the relevant passages, selecting the pages where Storage Items appeared in large numbers.
The book was over a thousand pages long, with more than eight hundred characters on the front and back of each page. Finding the right ones was clearly going to be a tiring task. Fortunately, Feng Xue and Chen Xiyao had nothing to do each day besides take care of the girl's basic needs, so they could take their time and calmly search for what they needed.
Although Storage Items appeared in plenty of places, they were ultimately just standard tools. Whenever they were mentioned, the focus was usually on what they contained, so it wasn't easy to find scenes that drew attention to the Storage Items themselves.
But Webnovels had a characteristic: whenever something appeared for the first time, the author would make a big deal of it. As it appeared more often, though, it became less special, and the author devoted fewer words to it.
This novel, which Feng Xue considered extremely formulaic, followed the same pattern. Only the parts that would later be censored online were written decently.
He laid the seven or eight pages he'd selected in front of him and thought for a moment before turning them into all sorts of shapes. Fortunately, paper was easy to modify, and Feng Xue had spent some time doing origami in his previous life. Before long, he'd made seven or eight different items.
There were paper boxes and paper wallets that looked like they could hold things, as well as a more abstract semicircular paper pouch that closely resembled something worn by a certain Blue Fatty. Naturally, he also made paper bracelets and paper rings, drawing on their symbolism.
The paper rings used the least material, so Feng Xue made more than a dozen of them. He lined them up on the table, and if you ignored the fact that they were made of paper, they could've passed for a jewelry store display.
"All right, let's begin!"
Feng Xue looked at his handiwork with eager anticipation. Since he was planning to make use of the Shi already attached to the paper itself, he didn't put in much Shi. He simply added the [Storage] trait to lock in the Phantom Object type.
This trait wasn't particularly rare. Backpacks bought from any tailor's shop usually had it. Feng Xue had even wondered if they were failed attempts by the tailors to make Storage-type Phantom Objects.
But as it turned out, even Reforging True Things didn't guarantee that you'd get a Phantom Object. Of the more than thirty items he'd Reforged, only three became Phantom Objects. Most of the rest were like that pocket watch from before: they'd accumulated a large number of traits, but showed no signs of becoming Phantom Objects. And since True Things couldn't be Smelted, Feng Xue had no choice but to put them away one by one, planning to use them as provisions later.
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