Refining Traits

Chapter 42: Refining Traits

[Name: Skin Face

Number: 03

Trait Description: In the early stages of possession, this anomaly causes the possessed person's scalp to itch, with symptoms similar to dermatitis, leading people to mistake it for a skin condition. If possession is successful or enters a new phase, it will create a skin face identical to the possessed person, attaching to their body and intermittently controlling their actions. During this period, the possessed person's neck will twist and rotate, and there is a chance it can infect nearby humans.

Resolution: ■■■■■

Trait Strength: ?]

After re-adding the [Skin Face] trait from this third document, Shen Xing stared at the text and fell into thought.

A moment later, between the words "Name" and "Number," he added another line of new text.

[Name: Skin Face

Type: Monster

Number: 03

...]

Zheng Ruijun was definitely more experienced than him, and his analysis made a lot of sense, leaving Shen Xing unsure if the Skin Face was a ghost or something else.

So, he simply defined it as a "monster" for now. Under the current circumstances, things that didn't seem like ghosts were referred to as "monsters."

After completing his current deductions on [Skin Face], the understanding level of the trait displayed by the silver text in his mind was 95%.

This meant he was only 5% away from fully understanding the [Skin Face] trait.

Shen Xing had a bit of ambition. Judging by the manifestation of [Skin Face], there were definitely latent skills involved.

Therefore, after creating the wooden carving of the Skin Face and absorbing its trait, the higher the understanding level, the greater the chance of obtaining a "Latent Skill."

He considered whether he could absorb the trait after reaching 100% understanding.

After thinking for a while, he added the following sentence to the description of the Skin Face trait.

[This Skin Face is not a ghost.]

After waiting a moment, no prompt appeared in his mind.

He immediately changed the sentence, rephrasing it according to Zheng Ruijun's suggestion.

[This Skin Face is actually not a ghost, but a type of unknown anomaly.]

He waited again, but still no prompt text appeared in his mind.

In fact, he had tried this before. It seemed that regarding the description of what this anomaly actually was, no matter how he guessed, whether it was a monster or a ghost, it had no bearing on the trait's understanding level and wouldn't cause its percentage value to change.

Shen Xing then re-reasoned the trait description of the Skin Face.

[During this period, the possessed person's neck will twist and rotate, and there is a chance it can infect nearby humans until finally, by infecting and controlling a number of humans, it reaches its limit. They will lurk among ordinary people and gradually appear indistinguishable from them.]

As soon as this passage was edited, the silver text in his mind changed.

[Skin Face, current trait understanding level 99%.]

Looking at this number, Shen Xing was speechless.

For the next hour, no matter how he guessed or used various methods to deduce, he couldn't achieve the final 1%.

It seemed that for some unknown reason, he was unable to fully obtain the anomaly's trait no matter what.

Shen Xing then shifted his attention to the words [Trait Strength].

So far, he had encountered three anomalies: Fake Hong Bin, Blood Pupil, and Skin Face.

Based on his current interactions, Blood Pupil seemed to be the most powerful, followed by Skin Face, and then Fake Hong Bin.

The power of Blood Pupil lay in its bizarre physical attacks. After attaching to the skin, it caused complete paralysis and immobility. It could also jump through the eye nerves and seize a creature's eye sockets to control the opponent's body.

In terms of mental attacks, it also caused Shen Xing's Mental Antibody to continuously decrease.

As for the Skin Face, its physical attack was not strong, but its mental attack, or rather, its degree of mental influence, was more potent than Blood Pupil's.

As for Fake Hong Bin, he had almost no mental attack or influence. After Shen Xing discovered something was wrong with him, this guy couldn't even defeat him.

Of course, Fake Hong Bin could influence the real Hong Bin's behavior. If the two were together, whether he would still have a chance of winning was another matter.

After ranking them like this, Shen Xing decided to use letters to represent their trait strengths.

Fake Hong Bin was "F-Rank," Skin Face was "E-Rank," and Blood Pupil was "D-Rank."

Since there were no higher-level anomalies for comparison, he decided to set them like this for now and would make adjustments later if opportunities arose.

After finishing all the modifications, Shen Xing carefully reread the text descriptions of Fake Hong Bin and Blood Pupil.

[Name: Fake Hong Bin

Type: Ghost

Number: 01

Trait Description: This anomaly can replicate itself to become identical to the humans of the current world and continue to live. Currently, it is Fake Hong Bin. It mostly remains silent, speaks little, and rarely expresses its intentions to the outside world, but it can indirectly control the real Hong Bin...

Resolution: ■■■■■

[Trait Strength: F-Rank]

[Name: Blood Pupil

Type: Monster

Number: 02

Trait Description: This is a Blood Pupil capable of independent movement, seemingly possessing its own consciousness. Originally belonging to Lin Wanru, it transformed into a Blood Pupil following its owner's death. It can detach from the original body to exist independently, propelling itself via optic nerves. Currently, it appears to achieve parasitism by seizing the eye sockets of humans or animals.

Solution: ■■■■■

Trait Strength: D-Rank]

As for the definition of the Blood Pupil, whether it is a "ghost" or a "monster," Shen Xing could not quite pin it down; since it originated from Lin Wanru's eye, calling it a ghost was acceptable.

However, given the Blood Pupil's current manifestations, labeling it a monster seemed more appropriate.

Regardless, there was no accurate definition for the time being. If he hadn't been able to store the Blood Pupil earlier, he likely would have become its third host, so he would treat it as a monster for now.

Turning off his phone screen, Shen Xing rubbed his aching neck, tilted his head back, and cast his gaze out the window in front of his workbench, looking at the scenery outside.

He currently had the highest level of understanding regarding the Skin Face trait, but he lacked a wooden carving of it, so he had to craft one first before he could preserve and absorb its properties.

Still, he could not wait around forever. Given the anomalies he had encountered so far, each posed its own unique dangers, and he had to improve his survival capabilities as quickly as possible.

He decided to continue deducing and absorbing the Blood Pupil's traits, first increasing his Physical Strength, and if he could absorb a Latent Skill, that would be even better.

As for whether the eerie power in his hands would continue to increase, he was unsure, but if he could further enhance it so that the next time he encountered someone like the Fitness Coach Killer, he could instantly crush their skull, that would certainly be better than anything else.

Shen Xing's only worry now was that he might eventually encounter an anomaly with powerful physical attacks; if his Physical Strength did not improve, such an encounter would be very difficult to handle.

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