In the cabin, Feng Xue held a pocket watch in his hand, as despondent now as he had been cheerful before.
In the assessment field of vision provided by Golden Finger, two striking lines of text appeared on the pocket watch—
Name: Pocket Watch
Elements: [Tool], [Time], [Stop]...
Indeed, although he had assembled the "Time Stop" element, the pocket watch had not transformed into either a [Moon Timekeeper] or a [Cassiopeia] as Feng Xue had hoped, but instead became a Pseudo Artifact with the elements [Time] and [Stop].
The good news was that the recasting hadn't failed.
The bad news was that it hadn't succeeded either.
"Tsk..." Feng Xue watched the ticking pocket watch with some dissatisfaction before eventually tucking it into his chest. The reasons for not becoming a phantom object were various—perhaps the number of elements was insufficient, or their concentration was too low, or he had not invested enough [Identity], any of these could be possible.
However, since it was still a Pseudo Artifact, Golden Finger could continue to recast it. As long as he collected elements related to Time Stop, Feng Xue believed that one day he would be able to craft the Phantom Object he desired.
After comforting himself, the somewhat lackluster Feng Xue aimed at the remaining trash and kept clicking on the recast option. As item after item dissolved into particles and vanished, many useful elements were added to his panel.
...
After a whole day of Refining and recasting, Feng Xue gained several Phantom Objects and also roughly confirmed several rules of the "Recast" function.
First, recasting inevitably embeds the selected elements into the chosen base material.
Second, recasting has a certain probability of generating new elements based on the amount of [Identity] invested. The maximum number of new elements is unknown, and while the newly generated elements will certainly fit the base material, they may not match the original elements.
Third, the likelihood of creating a Phantom Object is not directly related to the amount of [Identity] invested. Although investing more [Identity] increases the chance of generating new elements, if the new elements don't match the original ones, it could actually prevent the creation of a Phantom Object.
Fourth, it's almost impossible to remove specific elements from a Pseudo Artifact without damaging it, but there is a chance for the elements to change during the recasting process.
Feng Xue remembered the last two points most vividly because he had painstakingly infused elements like [Bloodthirst], [Killing], [Bleeding], and [Penetration] into a dagger. He invested an enormous sum of 500 towers during recasting, hoping for a big win, but not only did it fail to become a Phantom Object, the original [Killing] element had somehow gained a "Not" in front, turning into a [Not Killing] element, and in the end, Feng Xue had no option but to melt it down.
On the other hand, he managed to put together some unremarkable elements and crafted quite a decent main combat weapon.
Slipping the dagger into his left arm sleeve, Feng Xue checked his gains.
In addition to the Suffocation Blade in his right hand and the newly crafted dagger, he had three Phantom Objects in total.
One was his shirt, which, after successful recasting, had directly transformed into a three-piece suit including jacket, pants, and lining, which looked a lot simpler than Ezio's design and leaned more towards Altair's style. However, it didn't come with accessories like daggers, throwing knives, or belts, and its specific attributes were also quite plain—
Name: Phantom Object·Assassin Suit
Elements: [Assassin], [Clothing], [Concealment], [Lightweight]
Summary: The official suit of the legendary assassin organization "Brotherhood," wear it, and you shall inherit the creed of the assassin. This clothing enables you to enter a state of concealment, making it impossible for others to detect your information. When you wear the hood, your presence will be significantly reduced, making it easier to escape the gaze of others and evade injuries when falling from high places.
Note: It's nothing special, take it or leave it.
...
The second Phantom Object was a belt with the assassin's emblem on it, or to be more precise, one of the three inconspicuous pockets on the back of the belt. At first, when Feng Xue hadn't quite figured out the recasting rules, he dismantled the three small, seemingly useless pockets in the back of the belt for experimentation. Unexpectedly, one of them underwent a transformation and became a small waist pack, the size of a fist, that could be tied around the waist—
Phantom Object: Storage Waist Bag
Elements: [Storage], [Tool]
Description: A bag capable of containing a large number of items, which can be retrieved at the holder's will without being counted towards their carrying weight. However, only items that can fit through the mouth of the bag can be stored inside it.
Note: It's too big, it won't fit in!
...
For Feng Xue, this storage tool that seemed like a protagonist's staple was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise. In reality, this thing was simply for initial padding for him, and even the storage element was part of the small leather bag's own gimmick. But it had its flaws—after all, the opening of the thing was only the size of a fist. The size of objects that could be put inside was limited, and it was clearly impossible to store all one's belongings like some novel's protagonists would.
As for the third phantom object, it was crafted from the shoes of the Scavenging Set—
Name: Phantom Object·Silent Boots
Elements: [Silence], [Shoes], [Equipment], [Assassin]
Description: A pair of shoes that can extend the wearer's lifespan, lightweight and agile. Almost silent when walking, they improve the wearer's speed and slowly heal external injuries after exiting combat.
Note: This item is not reliable, and... hugely ugly.
...
"I agree that they're hugely ugly," Feng Xue looked at the green cloth shoes and decided to go to the Tailor's shop to order a larger pair of leather boots, wearing these shoes like socks—indeed, they were as soft as socks anyway.
As for landing silently...
What a joke, this is a phantom object!
What's a phantom object?
A phantom object is something that activates its abilities as long as you meet its conditions. As long as Feng Xue wore them, even if he wore metal greaves over them, he could still land in complete silence—okay!
After measuring the size of the Silent Boots, Feng Xue changed into a brand new Assassin's suit and put on the ordinary leather boots that had failed to transform into a phantom object (the boots from the Assassin's suit he wore when he crossed over) and was ready to go out. Just as he was tying his laces, however, a familiar sensation suddenly descended upon him.
For a moment, Feng Xue felt the [Identity] inside him begin to spin rapidly, collide, and reassemble. The moment a new tag appeared within Feng Xue's body, he finally understood what "wear it, and you shall inherit the assassin's creed" from the Assassin's suit really meant.
This thing directly forged an [Assassin] tag for him!
Feeling the wealth of knowledge surfacing in his mind, Feng Xue began to wonder if the Manager had also obtained tags like Swordsman through the Great Sword.
After some thought, he took off the Assassin's suit, but the tag did not disappear. Instead, his work card vibrated with a completely different notification from previous work alerts—
"New tag discovered, would you like to connect to the browser?"
"..." Feng Xue grimaced, selected yes, and got dressed again. However, when he entered the backend, intending to hide the Assassin tag, he found the options indicating "In Concealment mode, all tags are invisible."
At this moment, Feng Xue once again realized the rule of this world where "settings triumph everything," and he also felt more at ease about wearing a phantom object out in public.
After all, prior to discovering this, the Concealment effect of the Assassin's suit was only a text shown by Golden Finger, and its actual effectiveness was unknown. It was not like he could face danger without wearing his equipment, nor could he say, "Hang on, let me go home and get some equipment."
The strong sense of security was accompanied by an unprecedented expansion of self-confidence. Today's success made Feng Xue believe that as long as he maintained this pace, in less than half a year, he could accumulate a set of Divine Equipment and move towards the legendary residential area.
"No, I mustn't get overconfident. I have to stay cautious! Becoming the Sword God of the Ten Mile Slope is my goal!"