As night fell, in an apartment on Nanyang Flower Road in the Upper District of Igwinte.
Dorothy lay on the sofa, staring curiously at the ring on her hand that shimmered with a faint silver light. This ring was one Dorothy had always worn; in her memory, it was the only item left behind by her mother, whom she had never met.
Now, this item was emitting a strange silver light in Dorothy's eyes. Dorothy understood what the silver light was about; it was because she had just redeemed the Kane Appraisal Technique and could now distinguish extraordinary items with her naked eye.
'This heirloom ring left by my mother is glowing? Does this mean this thing is an Extraordinary item?'
Dorothy thought in utter astonishment. She had never expected that her cheap mother, of whom she had no memory, would actually leave behind an Extraordinary item! Did this mean she had some connection to the hidden world? Or was she an Extraordinary herself?
But what kind of Extraordinary would abandon researching mysteries to run off to a remote village and marry a hunter, having children? That's quite strange to think about...
Suddenly, Dorothy thought of what Aldrich had said before.
'Whether it's Dorothy or Mesi Horse, your first and last names are rare in this country; they have a bit of an Eastern country flavor...'
'Yes... Grego and my names are very rare in this country. According to what Hannah Aunt said in my memory, our father wasn't highly educated. Our names were probably given by our mother, and this mother, who is suspected of being an Extraordinary, might also be a foreigner... from some country in the East?'
Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Dorothy pondered in confusion. However, after thinking for a long time, she couldn't figure anything out, so she decided to temporarily ignore matters concerning her mother.
'Phew... I won't figure anything out like this. I might as well appraise this ring first. Maybe there's relevant information on it?'
Then, Dorothy stared at the ring on her hand, which was decorated with a crescent moon, concentrating intently. She began using the Appraisal Technique to appraise it. Since her Kane Appraisal Technique was incomplete, she needed to pay a price by consuming Spirituality, and the type of Spirituality required was... "Lamp".
'Heh... Appraisal requires "Lamp"... It seems "Lamp" might have the meaning of insight, observation, and dispelling mysteries...'
While thinking, Dorothy consumed her only point of "Lamp" and appraised the ring in her hand. Then, the ring's information directly appeared before her eyes.
"ring of concealment"
"Effect: After bestowing "Shadow" Spirituality, it can shield the Spirituality manifestations of the wearer and other Extraordinary items carried by them, blocking detection abilities aimed at the wearer. When blocking detection abilities, additional "Shadow" needs to be provided to counteract the detection's Spirituality. The higher the rank of the detection ability or the Spirituality provided, the more additional "Shadow" is required."
After reading the appraisal result before her eyes, Dorothy felt a surge of amusement. After carefully savoring the ring's abilities, she immediately began to ponder.
'It can shield the Spirituality manifestations of me and other Extraordinary items on me, which means if other Extraordinary also have passive skills like Appraisal that can see Spirituality, I can be protected by this ring? If someone actively and forcefully detects me using a detection skill, I can also consume "Shadow" Spirituality to make the other party unable to detect anything?' 'This is a good item for hiding one's extraordinary nature. Although the Holy Communion Society is a "cup" society and lacks "Light" detection methods, it's probably not very useful at the moment. But if I face other Extraordinary with detection abilities in the future, this thing might be helpful.'
Carefully examining the ring in her hand, Dorothy thought to herself. She was quite wary of information leakage, and having this item provided an extra layer of assurance.
'This counts as a gift from my mother... But then again, what use would she have for leaving something like this to the original Dorothy? If she herself didn't become an Extraordinary, this thing would be completely meaningless, right...'
Leaning lazily on the sofa, Dorothy was thinking this when suddenly, in her mind, the system's voice abruptly rang out.
'Warning... Information retrieval targeting the self has been detected. Warning... Information retrieval targeting self information has been detected... Estimated retrieval completion time is 124 seconds. It is recommended to prepare for a response.'
Hearing this voice, Dorothy was startled. She sprang up from the sofa and immediately questioned the system.
'Information retrieval? What information retrieval, system?' Dorothy quickly asked, and the system continued to answer.
'Composite application of "Light" and "enlightenment". "enlightenment" is used to open the information channel, and "Light" is used to retrieve specific information. Upon completion of retrieval, specific information will be obtained. Symmetry is recommended. The current estimated retrieval completion time is 112 seconds.'
The system continued to respond coldly. Listening to the system's words, Dorothy couldn't help but frown slightly.
'Using Spirituality to retrieve specific information? This means using Spirituality to obtain some information one wants to know? This feels like fortune-telling... or in more mystical terms... divination?'
'Perhaps I'm being divined? Someone is trying to get my information using mystical means?'
Immediately, Dorothy had a rough guess about her current situation, and then she immediately questioned the system.
'What method should I use to counter the retrieval?'
Dorothy continued to ask. Since the system could detect information retrieval, accurately predict the completion time, and even remind her to prepare for a response, there should be some counter-measures.
Indeed, the system quickly answered Dorothy.
'Option 1: Corresponding to the retrieval party's "Light" and "enlightenment", provide an equal amount of "Shadow" and "enlightenment". Retrieval shielding can be performed.
'Option 2: Provide more "Light" and "enlightenment" than the retrieval party. Counter-retrieval can be performed.
'Option 3: Provide "Silence" corresponding to the retrieved information. Information deletion can be performed.
'Option 4: If the retrieval party's address is obtained after successful counter-retrieval, provide at least three times more "enlightenment" than the retrieval party. Feedback can be performed.
'It is detected that the retrieval Spirituality provided by the retrieval party is 1 point of "Light" and 1 point of "enlightenment". The current estimated retrieval completion time is 90 seconds.'
After hearing the system list four options in one breath, Dorothy's mind felt a bit muddled. After shaking her head, she began to carefully sort through her thoughts to understand what these four options meant. But when she realized she only had 90 seconds left, she found that it wasn't the time to think too much; she had to quickly choose an option.
Actually, after roughly hearing the Spirituality requirements of these options, Dorothy realized she had no choice. She had just used her only point of "Light", so Option 2 was out. Now, only a ghost would know how many points of "Silence" the detected information corresponded to, and she only had one point of "Silence" which she didn't want to use, so Option 3 was also out. Don't even think about Option 4; it's based on the success of Option 2, and she didn't have that much "enlightenment" for feedback, so it was definitely out.
Then the final choice was only Option 1.
Corresponding to the retrieval party's "Light" and "enlightenment", providing an equal amount of "Shadow" and "enlightenment" can shield the retrieval.
The "Light" provided by the retrieval party is 1 point, and the "enlightenment" is 1 point. Dorothy currently has both of these.
'System, I want to perform retrieval shielding.'