Chapter 53

Fifty-Three Retrieval

As night fell, in the apartment on the Upper City’s Yangnan Flower Road in Igewent.

Dorothy lay on the sofa, curiously looking at the ring on her hand, which emitted a dim silver glow. This was the ring that Dorothy had always worn, and according to her memories, it was the only item left by her mother whom she had never met.

Now, this item was emitting strange silver light in Dorothy’s eyes. She understood what this silver glow meant; she had just exchanged for the Cain Identification Technique, allowing her to directly identify extraordinary items with her n*ked eye.

‘This family heirloom ring from my mom is glowing? Does this mean it’s an extraordinary item?’

Dorothy thought to herself in astonishment. She had never expected that her seemingly memory-less cheap mother had left behind an extraordinary item! This implied that she had some connection to the secret world or was even an extraordinary being herself?

But why would any extraordinary being abandon the study of mysticism to marry a hunter in a remote countryside? That seemed very strange…

Suddenly, Dorothy recalled what Audric had said before.

‘Whether it’s Dorothea or Meyshos, your name and surname are uncommon in this country, somewhat reminiscent of Eastern countries…’

‘Yes… Gregor and my name are also uncommon here. According to Aunt Hannah’s recollection, our father had a low level of education, so our names might have been given by our mother. And this mother who might be an extraordinary being could possibly be a foreigner… from an Eastern country?’

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Dorothy puzzled over these thoughts. After much contemplation, she decided to put aside the matter of her mother for now.

‘Sigh… I won’t figure anything out like this. Let me just identify this ring first. Maybe there’s information on it?’

Then, Dorothy focused intently on the crescent moon-decorated ring, using her incomplete Cain Identification Technique. Due to its incompleteness, she needed to consume spirituality, and the required type was… “Lamp.”

‘Huh… The identification requires ‘Lamp’… Does this mean ‘Lamp’ has something to do with insight and dispelling mysteries?’

While thinking, Dorothy used her only “Lamp” to identify the ring, and the ring’s information immediately appeared before her eyes.

“Veil Ring”

“Effect: When imbued with the spirit of ‘Shadow,’ it can shield the spirituality of the wearer and other extraordinary items carried, blocking detection abilities. To counteract the detection, additional ‘Shadow’ spirits are needed, proportional to the detection ability’s rank or the provided spirituality.”

After reading the identification results, Dorothy pondered. After carefully considering the ring’s abilities, she began to think.

‘This ring can shield my and my other extraordinary items’ spiritual manifestations, meaning if other extraordinary beings have passive skills like identification techniques, I could be protected by this ring. If someone actively uses detection skills to detect me, I could counteract by consuming ‘Shadow’ spirits.’

This is a good thing for hiding one’s extraordinary nature. Although the Holy Communion Society, associated with the ‘Cup,’ lacks detection methods involving ‘Lamp,’ it may not be useful right now. But in the future, when facing other extraordinary beings with detection abilities, this might come in handy.

Carefully examining the ring, Dorothy thought to herself. She was quite wary of information leaks, and this ring added another layer of security.

‘This could be considered a gift from my mom… But then again, what use would she have for leaving such a thing to the original Dorothy? If she doesn’t become an extraordinary being, this thing would be completely meaningless.’

Lazily leaning against the sofa, Dorothy was deep in thought when suddenly, the system’s voice unexpectedly rang in her head.

‘Warning… Detection of self-retrieval. Warning… Detection of self-information retrieval… Estimated completion time: 124 seconds, recommended to prepare accordingly.’

Hearing this, Dorothy jumped up in shock and immediately asked the system.

‘Retrieval? What kind of retrieval, system?’

The system continued to respond.

‘Using ‘Lamp’ and ‘Enlightenment’ together, opening the information channel with ‘Enlightenment’ and searching with ‘Lamp.’ Upon completion, specific information will be obtained. Recommended to implement symmetry. Current estimated completion time: 112 seconds.’

The system responded coldly. Hearing this, Dorothy frowned slightly.

‘Using spirituality to retrieve specific information? So using spirituality to get the information you want? It feels like fortune-telling… Or more accurately, divination.’

‘Maybe I’m being divined? Someone wants to use mysticism to get my information?’

Immediately, Dorothy had a rough idea of her current situation and quickly asked the system.

‘What method should I use to counter the retrieval?’

Dorothy continued, since the system could monitor information retrieval and accurately predict the completion time, it must have some countermeasures.

Sure enough, the system soon answered Dorothy.

‘Scheme One: Counter the retrieval source’s ‘Lamp’ and ‘Enlightenment’ with equal amounts of ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’ to block the retrieval.

‘Scheme Two: Provide higher ‘Lamp’ and ‘Enlightenment’ than the retrieval source to perform a reverse retrieval.

‘Scheme Three: Provide corresponding ‘Silence’ to the retrieved information to delete it.

‘Scheme Four: After successfully reversing the retrieval and obtaining the retrieval source’s address, provide no less than three times the ‘Enlightenment’ of the retrieval source for feedback.

‘Detection of retrieval source providing ‘Lamp’ and ‘Enlightenment’ at 1 point each. Current estimated completion time: 90 seconds.’

After hearing the four schemes listed by the system, Dorothy’s mind went a bit blank. Shaking her head, she began to carefully sort through her thoughts, trying to understand what these schemes meant. But realizing she only had 90 seconds left, she knew she couldn’t waste time.

In fact, after roughly listening to the requirements of these schemes, Dorothy realized she had no choice. She had already used her only “Lamp,” so Scheme Two was out. She had no idea how many points of ‘Silence’ were needed for the monitored information, and she didn’t want to use her only “Silence” anyway, so Scheme Three was out. Scheme Four was out as well, based on Scheme Two’s success and her lack of ‘Enlightenment’ for feedback.

Thus, the only option left was Scheme One.

Counter the retrieval source’s “Lamp” and “Enlightenment” with equal amounts of “Shadow” and “Enlightenment” to block the retrieval.

The retrieval source provided “Lamp” and “Enlightenment” at 1 point each, and Dorothy had both.

‘System, I want to block the retrieval.’