Inside the painting.
The crimson red door was gently pushed open by Christie, revealing a not-so-large room to the lady. It looked like a bedroom; Christie saw a wardrobe, a single sofa, a table and chairs, and a bed.
Additionally, the room occasionally swayed, as if the building it belonged to was not constructed on solid ground.
In the room, a young man in formal attire, with his back to Christie, was squatting on the ground, carving something with a dagger.
A moment later, Christie saw a hexagram carved into the ground there.
Subsequently, the young man drew out a ritual circle and carved 12 symbolic representations of natural elements like 'earth, fire, water, and wind' onto it.
Finally, three candles were lit and placed on the ground.
After completing all this, the young man stood up, positioned himself in the center of the hexagram, extended both hands horizontally, and chanted a spell.
"Eye that sees everything."
"God that Oversees All Things."
"You are the master of knowledge, you mock fate, you toy with time."
"You are the witness of truth, the uncrowned king above the starry sky!"
The room was quiet, but the atmosphere changed. Christie saw that the top of the room, where the ceiling originally was, suddenly became illusory.
Above it was an illusory world composed of wind and light, with endless darkness in its depths, and faint starlight twinkling within.
Christie looked at one of the brighter stars among them, and suddenly realized that it was not a star at all, but an eye!
At this moment, a pair of hands reached down from that illusory world of light and shadow. These hands were covered with various strange patterns and symbols, and they held a faintly glowing, heavy but not entirely real Mysterious Book.
Christie merely glanced at those hands, immediately screamed, and retreated into the passage behind the door, watching the crimson red door in front of her close with a 'bang', isolating the scene in the room.
The lady gasped for a moment, then clutched her skirt and said, "That Lord is indeed favored by a mysterious and powerful existence. By serving him, perhaps one day I can obtain my true 'identity'!"
She looked up, chuckled, and then muttered to herself, "That is a young Lord; he certainly wouldn't like facing an old woman all day."
"Christie, you must become young, beautiful, and pleasing to the eye, only then can you win the Lord's favor."
"Let me think, what kind of women do young men like…"
...
Violet Hotel.
Lex continued to read the appraisal information provided in the Mysterious Book.
'"Lady Christie" possesses living characteristics, which gives it a mutated parasitic ability. The protagonist in the oil painting, Christie, can parasitize other paintings or photographs, replacing the subject of those works, thus making it difficult to arouse suspicion or notice.'
'Christie's parasitic range can reach 1500 meters. Paintings and photographs within this range can be arbitrarily invaded and parasitized. Through this method, Christie can observe the humans around her. She will seek out suitable candidates, and when the time is ripe, Christie can 'Steal Skills' the observed target's spirit body and imprison them in the castle within the oil painting.'
'"Steal Skills" of the spirit body is divided into permanent Theft and temporary Theft. The former requires understanding the target to be stolen; the deeper the understanding, the more complete the stolen spirit body will be. The latter can be stolen instantly, but the stolen spirit body can only be temporarily imprisoned, for a maximum of 48 hours.'
'Lady Christie also possesses other abilities, including but not limited to 'Decryption', 'Steal Skills', 'Steal Thought', 'Steal Location', 'Steal Ability', etc.'
'Decryption: Able to see through illusions and pinpoint the enemy's location.'
'Steal Skills: For the same target, a total of three extraordinary abilities can be "stolen", lasting for 2 hours, but only one "Steal" at a time.'
'Steal Thought: Steals and causes the target to forget the idea they are about to put into practice in their mind, and can control the stolen items, presenting them at the appropriate time.'
'Steal Location: Can swap positions with the target, or eliminate the distance between the current location and the destination.'
'Steal Ability: Can target a single individual or a large area, stealing the target's normal abilities, such as walking, flying, etc.'
'"Lady Christie" is a dangerous item, but can be utilized to a limited extent. At the same time, it has powerful negative effects that require constant attention.'
'Negative Effect One: The user must never appear before Christie, otherwise, your spirit body will be immediately stolen.'
'Negative Effect Two: Each time "Lady Christie" is used, you will lose a certain possession, including but not limited to your lifespan, spirituality, health, luck, or even a certain organ in your body.'
'Note: This item is in a state of submission, Negative Effect One is no longer effective, and Negative Effect Two is downgraded to losing a certain external possession.'
'Additionally, once the original oil painting of "Lady Christie" is destroyed, the 'parasite's' spirituality within it will be released. If Christie, the protagonist of the painting who carries the most characteristics, is harmed, she can recover by consuming imprisoned spirit bodies.'
"This item is very powerful, especially in its state of submission, where Negative Effect One is no longer effective, and the second effect is downgraded to losing a certain external possession. I don't even need to sealed artifact it."
Lex looked at the oil painting in his hand and had already thought about how to carry it for convenient use.
"As for enhancement... I'll skip it for now. The number of dimensional crystals is not much, so I need to be thrifty."
Lex glanced at the dimensional crystals; there were only 489 left. This small amount of crystals should not be enough to enhance "Lady Christie."
One must know that the last enhancement of the 'Devil May Cry', which possessed Sequence 5 abilities, cost nearly five hundred crystals. Now that "Lady Christie" possesses demigod-level abilities, it is estimated that at least a thousand crystals would be needed.
Looking down, Lex saw the Watchers' tipping records.
'Borkin thought you were too poor and casually tipped you 2000 dimensional coins…'
'Carter expressed that it wasn't enough and tipped you 1500 dimensional coins as encouragement.'
'Maple Leaf Colors wanted to send you razor blades, but still tipped you 1200 dimensional coins.'
'Zishen liked your post and tipped you 1000 dimensional coins.'
'Biyen muttered about being short and weak, and tipped you 500 dimensional coins.'
In addition to these Watchers, 'Blaze vs. Prairie Fire', 'Misty Lemon', 'Mr. Thirteen on the Second Floor', 'Rampaging Black Bear', 'Laughing Promise', 'Boy with Hidden Attributes', and other Watchers also tipped.
After silently thanking the Watchers, Lex turned to the 'Message Board' page. He picked up the quill pen, crossed out the previous question, and wrote down a new message.
'Dear Watchers, I hope that through you, I can obtain…'