Dirty Shroud

Bai Xiaowen draws the second gold card.

Prompt message:

"You have obtained a special item: Scrawled Research Notes."

Bai Xiaowen tried to review her research notes, but unfortunately received a new piece of information:

"Reading these research notes requires a certain level of knowledge and professional expertise. This item can only be read once and will disappear afterward. Confirm opening?"

Bai Xiaowen shook his head, giving up on reading his research notes. He didn't want to regret it because of a momentary curiosity.

"Why don't you open it and take a look... You're Alchemist, Norton is an alchemist. You should meet the requirements, right?" Li Shuyi said.

Bai Xiaowen shook her head and said, "I'd rather not try. I know how bad my Alchemist skills are; there's no need to waste this Yi-Yi chance. Besides, I already have someone in mind to read the notes... Let's continue drawing the last card."

Li Shuyi casually tapped the screen, and within the golden light, the pattern of an item appeared.

[The Dirty Shroud (Bind on Equip)]

[Quality: Heroic Tier (Gold)]

[Equipment Slot: Back]

[Equipment Requirements: None]

[Attributes: Back Armor +3, Evasion Rate +3%]

[Additional Skill: Greasy: Passive, Physical attacks from behind have a 100% chance to deflect, reducing damage by 40%. You take 30% more fire damage.]

[Durability: 34/35]

[Note: This is tailor-made for individuals who are withdrawn, abnormal, or psychologically disturbed.]

A dark, unidentified object emitting a slight stench appeared in Bai Xiaowen's hand; when unfolded, it became a crumpled cloak.

"Uh..." Li Shuyi didn't know how to describe it, and glanced at the cloak with some disgust. "Damn it, I finally got a piece of Gold Equipment, and it's this kind of... it's so ugly."

Bai Xiaowen didn't mind that the shroud itself was Greasy; he carefully read through the additional skills and gave his evaluation:

"The passive skill attached to this equipment is actually quite good, providing a permanent 40% damage reduction against physical attacks from behind. Although it has the negative effect of fire vulnerability, spell damage is rarer than physical damage, and fire spells are even rarer. When facing assassin classes, or when escaping, this equipment is comparable in value to Dark Gold Tier."

Awakened individuals possess the ability to actively Parry and Block physical attacks based on their strength, agility, and other attributes, as well as their Battle Specialty, effectively reducing physical damage.

However, both Parry and Block abilities only apply to attacks from the front. Attacks from behind cannot be Parry or Block; if you can't dodge them, you can only rely on your armor and Life Value to tank the damage.

Therefore, attacks from behind generally deal more damage and are more likely to result in Critical Hit.

Many assassins like to sneak up behind their opponents and launch surprise attacks, and this equipment is very effective against assassin-type classes.

Additionally, when escaping, you'll definitely be facing away from the enemy. Having a cloak that reduces physical damage by 40% will make you more durable and greatly increase your chances of escaping.

However, Bai Xiaowen then added, "This equipment isn't suitable for the two of us. Fortunately, it's Bind on Equip, so it can be traded. Those Awakened who value their lives and don't care about their image will definitely be willing to pay a good price for this equipment."

Bai Xiaowen favors offense; to him, betraying his opponent would only hasten his demise, so he disdains this equipment. Li Shuyi, on the other hand, already possesses the Radiant Cloak, which has a decent area-of-effect Blind skill, and she is equally reluctant to replace it.

Of course, Bai Xiaowen couldn't bear to make the beautiful Li hold her nose and put on this equipment.

After using up all three draws, the treasure chest disappeared. However, where the treasure chest disappeared, a transparent potion bottle floated in the air, faintly glowing.

Bai Xiaowen reached out and scooped up the bait, receiving a hint:

"You have obtained a special item: Aberration Potion."

[Aberration Potion: After consumption, it temporarily adjusts your attributes for 120 seconds. During the adjustment, your total attributes will not Transformation; the adjustment range for each attribute is between (22) and (50) points.]

Following the explanation, there is a line of smaller print:

"This item will only drop if Norton Norton, the Voodoo Alchemist, has never entered Phase Two. Once this condition is met, the item is guaranteed to drop and will not be counted in the loot draw list."

"So this is the mutation potion Norton was going to drink after his Life Value dropped to 50%," Bai Xiaowen said with a smile. "Luckily, he didn't drink it, or it wouldn't have fallen. It seems this potion is quite potent; even if it uses up a potion's usage for a battle, it's worth it."

A battle begins with "entering combat" and ends with "leaving combat." During a battle, only one combat potion can be used, such as the healing Silverlight Potion or the buffing Savage Bull's Might Potion.

Similar limitations apply to combat food; it can only be used once per battle, regardless of whether it's a debuff removal or recovery item. Of course, the use of combat potions and combat food doesn't conflict, which is why Awakened Ones typically purchase a certain amount of recovery food like "Rye Bread" before entering the Spirit Realm.

As for entering and leaving combat, that is determined by the Spirit Realm Rules.

When a target makes a threatening action or shows an aggressive tendency (including but not limited to chasing, attacking, coercing, etc.), you will enter combat mode.

There are two ways to disengage from combat: one is to kill the target that is posing a threat to you, and the other is for the opponent to abandon their aggressive tendencies, such as stopping the chase, giving up the attack, or canceling the coercive actions.

This Aberration Potion potion also had no binding restrictions. Bai Xiaowen handed it to Li Shuyi and saw that the range of adjusted attributes had changed to (15)~(39). He nodded and said, "The adjustment range is based on our own attributes. Let's put this potion in the team's Shared Storage Space. Who uses it depends on the tactical arrangement."

Li Shuyi nodded, indicating she had no objection.

After resting, early the next morning, Bai Xiaowen used the Patrol Militia Insignia to request access to detailed information on the missing persons case. Ahan readily agreed, leading Bai Xiaowen and Yahan to the archives room, where all the relevant documents were placed on the desk for Bai Xiaowen to review.

This information mainly includes the missing person's age, gender, family information, and other personal details, as well as investigations of the disappearance scene and accounts from nearby residents.

Ahan had read these documents many times and could practically recite them from memory. He didn't think Bai Xiaowen could find any clues from these worthless documents, so he didn't leave them in the archives. Instead, he led the patrolling militia to the southern commercial street to deal with the mess left behind by the Voodoo Cult's lair.

I'm working hard on the concept... Whenever there's a new plot, I always need to refine it, so the pace slows down. Please forgive me~ If I don't think it's appropriate today, I won't update.