Leyton nodded, then raised his right hand and rubbed his fingers together twice, and instantly, eyes opened in the surrounding shadows and crevices.
Their gazes intertwined, reflecting the entire room in their pupils, and a layered, illusory door symbol appeared in their eyes.
The space within the hotel room was miraculously segmented by them, connecting to a certain part of the Spirit World.
Then, he summoned an invisible giant hand and directly mixed the Worm of Time corpse on the table, the subconscious extracted by Cyber Hand, and the crumpled parchment into a ball, continuously compressing it.
Under Cyber Hand's Beyonder power, they quickly transformed into a light cluster predominantly grey-white, with illusory figures gliding across it, shimmering with dazzling colors.
This light cluster, in front of Cyber Hand, was like dough on a cutting board, kneaded into various shapes at will.
A deep blue, almost purple, glow surfaced in Leyton's eyes as he quietly gazed at the grey-white light cluster before him, projecting the symbolic representation of Hidden Sage he had envisioned in his mind onto the light cluster.
The originally grey-white light cluster instantly became dotted with sparkling starlight, and a cold, frantic aura permeated the air.
After nearly half an hour of manipulation, the grey-white light cluster gradually faded in color, kneaded into a folded, grey-brown book about the thickness of a pinky finger.
"It's finished!" Cyber Hand's voice echoed somewhat wearily in Leyton's mind.
Before he could comment, Cyber Hand automatically detached from his shoulder; it bounced directly onto the round table in front of him, lying straight on the tabletop like a tired salted fish.
Leyton's eyes were lowered, his entire right arm, along with half of his shoulder, had transformed into a statue composed of countless starlight, and as he reached for the book on the table, specks of rust-like debris fell from the starlight, rapidly dissipating as they dropped, as if the starlight was repelling negative influences that did not belong to it.
On the grey-brown cover, there was an ancient, mottled twelve-section clock, surrounded by many mysterious symbols representing mind, time, and deceit.
A deep blue light flashed in Leyton's eyes, and he instantly understood the positive and negative effects of this mystical item:
It is a living Sealed Artifact, prone to lying, and will instinctively deceive everyone, including its holder.
Once deceived by it, the corresponding deception will manifest as reality through coincidence; the more trust placed in its words, the better the effect.
Everyone it deceives will provide it with a certain amount of power; when the number of deceived individuals reaches a certain level, it will undergo a qualitative change, and at that point, its influence will be, to some extent, no less than that of a Demigod.
If no one believes it, then it is just an ordinary, somewhat verbose book.
It possesses some characteristics of a Parasite, capable of lodging its main body into anything with spirituality and a Beyonder pathway below the Demigod level, which can be a living or dead object.
The person holding it will occasionally lose things; this could be a pen, a gold coin, or even a mystical item, or even the clothes they are wearing, or even thoughts that cross their mind.
This is a bit outrageous; is the Marauder's influence that great? Losing things as a negative effect is one thing, but why is the positive effect still deception?!
Leyton sighed inwardly, somewhat speechless, and casually opened the grey-brown book in his hand; the folded pages inside were completely blank.
As Leyton acted, silver-white Dragonese words appeared on the grey-brown parchment:
"I am a Warrior of Light from Nebula M78, fallen into slumber due to the depletion of light. You, who see this message, are the inheritor of light. Sacrifice 50 gold pounds to me, and you can obtain my remaining light and become an ATM!"
"..."
Leyton took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to burn the book in his hand, and his mouth twitched slightly as he said:
"This is another world; shouldn't your scam messages also keep up with the times?"
Seemingly understanding Leyton's complaint, the words on the grey-brown parchment quickly distorted; a moment later, a new message appeared:
"I am Ancient Sun God, tragically sealed due to the betrayal of my subordinates. Sacrifice 50 gold pounds to me, and once I am free, you will become my ninth King of Angels~"
Leyton raised an eyebrow slightly, unsure where to begin complaining.
Always asking for gold pounds, is it because scams must yield a reward? If many people were truly deceived by it, this book might indeed be able to intercept some of Ancient Sun God's power… But, these low-grade scam messages wouldn't even bypass the automatic interception function on my old phone.
This book will probably only ever be a verbose, ordinary book for its entire life. It's truly a waste of my materials; nearly half the pages of Groselle's Travels were torn out, and all my Worm of Time reserves… The result is just a book that copies scam messages.
"You might as well just call yourself 'Scam Manual'..." As he spoke, he reached up and touched his chest, feeling a pang of heartache for the materials he had consumed.
As soon as his right hand reached his left chest, he suddenly froze; he didn't feel the pocket watch he had placed in the inner pocket of his outer coat.
He didn't even need to confirm; Clairvoyant's intuition told him the result: his pocket watch had simply vanished due to the negative effect of the book in his hand.
It actually makes items on one's person disappear directly; this negative effect is completely an out-of-control Demigod-level stealing ability. Compared to this negative effect, its embarrassing deception ability is negligible.
Leyton suppressed the urge to curse, looked down at his clothes, and only relaxed when he confirmed that his clothes had not suddenly disappeared.
Casually tossing the "Scam Manual" onto the table, he spoke in a calm voice:
"Since you are a living mystical item, you should learn to act on your own and not require a holder."
The Scam Manual suddenly flipped open on its own, and a series of somewhat distorted Dragonese words appeared:
"I am just a book, without hands or feet to walk, and without deceivers, I cannot Parasite living beings ⊙﹏⊙"
It even has emoticons. Is Hidden Sage specifically feeding it junk information? Leyton was speechless for a moment, then waved his hand and said:
"Wait a moment, I'll find a Knowledge Rabbit to take you wandering. Don't deceive people who are too powerful or too smart; if you mess up, I might not be able to save you."
As he spoke, Leyton pulled a wooden whistle from a side pocket. He placed the whistle to his lips and blew gently, but no sound came out.
A moment later, a somewhat dull-looking, translucent rabbit emerged from an eye that had opened in the room's shadows.
Leyton picked up the Scam Manual from the table and handed it to the Knowledge Rabbit, then squatted down to instruct it:
"Help me take this book to different places. Change its location every once in a while. You need to keep an eye on its movements and not lose it. For every day you work, you can come here and read a book for a day. How about it?"
The Knowledge Rabbit nodded somewhat sluggishly, took the Scam Manual, tilted its head, and stared blankly for a while, then directly burrowed into the eye behind it, leaving the room through the Spirit World.
Snap~
Watching the Knowledge Rabbit leave, Leyton snapped his fingers lightly, and the eyes in the room quickly retracted back into the shadows and crevices.
The warm sunlight from outside the window shone in again, making the room brighter and the temperature rise.