Chapter 3960

Xia De shook his head:

"Even if the 【Philosopher's Stone】 is consumed, I won't let you supplement it. I am equally curious about what your mother left behind."

"... You know the value of the 【Philosopher's Stone】, right?"

Weige confirmed, and Xia De nodded:

"Of course. I was also cultivated after receiving an orthodox Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi education, so naturally, I know its value. Weige, you know I have things to do at three o'clock this afternoon, so don't talk to me about this anymore."

Thus, Miss Eve MacDonald watched as Xia De opened the test tube and carefully extracted a small amount of the 【Philosopher's Stone】. This special material exists between a liquid and a solid state; it clearly looked liquid while in the test tube, but once it actually appeared in the air, Xia De transformed it into a solid.

He decided it would be better to save some, so he first placed a very small amount of the Philosopher's Stone into the groove of the box.

But fortunately, this was enough. As the groove lit up, the Philosopher's Stone dissolved into the rune lock. Subsequently, the entire box continued the alchemical ritual after absorbing the 【Philosopher's Stone】, the 【Emerald Tablet】, and Weige's blood, and an alchemical ritual array, even more complex than the previous one, appeared in the air once again.

After all the runes dissipating on the surface of the box vanished, the box was finally opened, exposing the collectibles inside.

Even without looking, Xia De could feel the clear whispers of elements, which indicated that Ms. Lemay had left behind at least one relic.

The box slowly fell from the air. Weige caught it, took a look inside, and then sighed:

"There really are a lot of things."

She took the items out one by one. The first was a very well-sealed necked bottle containing a solution emitting a faint red light, but Weige, Xia De, and Miss MacDonald did not know what it was.

Next was a bronze-colored ring branded with an "eye." The ring carried obvious miraculous elements, and Weige had seen a sketch of this item in her mother's research notes:

"This is the 【Eye of True Knowledge】 held by my mother. It is an item once held by ancient alchemists and is said to be related to ancient god sects. Wearing it while conducting alchemical experiments can significantly increase the success rate of the experiments.

Before my mother passed away, she disposed of all her alchemical materials, relics, and other supernatural items. I thought this one had also been disposed of by her; I didn't expect it to have been hidden."

Although she had lost her mother's pendant, Weige was still very happy to have obtained her mother's ring now.

The third item she took out was a mystical book titled "Natural Alchemy: Theory of Evolution." Weige briefly flipped through the table of contents and then told Xia De and her student:

"This book views the generational evolution of life as a 'natural alchemy' behavior based on the world. This is a very interesting perspective; I will flip through it later."

The fourth item was a dagger made of "jade." This was an alchemical item. Although Weige had not seen this in the notes, she could recognize it as a weapon made by her mother.

The fifth item was also a ring, but this ring was just an ordinary item. On the black iron band was a triangular metal face, and a black gemstone in the shape of an eye was embedded in the face.

Xia De carefully investigated it and confirmed that it was indeed an ordinary item.

"I thought my mother would have left behind the identification item she used to have at the 【Emerald Alchemy Society】, which is the plain ring that all alchemists wear."

Seeing that only the last item remained at the bottom of the box, Weige said this, and then she reached out to take out the thing at the bottom of the box that looked like a blanket, and then felt that this thing did not feel like wool or pure cotton material, but rather like...

What Xia De and Miss MacDonald saw was her taking out a folded piece of leather from the box.

This was the thing Xia De had just sensed as having strong whisper elements. Weige only pulled out a part of it, but she froze as soon as she looked at it.

Xia De wanted to ask what this was, but saw Miss MacDonald's face suddenly turn pale, and an indescribable expression appeared on her face. That expression contained disgust, fear, aversion, and disbelief at the same time; clearly, she recognized what this was:

"Skin item?!"

Xia De heard the tall Miss say. Weige only then recovered from the shock, and as if discarding something dirty, she threw the item in her hand back into the box.

Then Miss MacDonald said in an incomparably certain tone:

"This is a 【Skin Item】, a relic derivative produced by the Sage-level relic 【Skin Item Hall】. The danger rating of this kind of special relic derivative is usually considered to fluctuate between Poet-level and Sage-level, depending on its specific effects.

After wearing the skin item, one will become the original owner of that human skin, and everything—voice, appearance, and body odor—will be exactly the same. And long-term wearing will cause permanent changes to one's internal structure until one completely becomes the person corresponding to the human skin."

"I'm going to wash my hands!"

Weige, as if having suffered a huge mental shock, rushed out of the room. Xia De had never seen her run so fast.

He stood up and looked toward the door with some worry, while Miss MacDonald, whose face had already turned pale, was still speaking:

"I know the teacher because of this. Besides producing skin, 【Skin Item Hall】 also produces tool-type relic derivatives. Among them, the relic derivative known as the 'Skinning Knife' can be used to make disposable skin.

At that time, I was targeted by an illegal Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi holding the knife, and it was the teacher who happened to save me. It was also because of this incident that I awakened my talent shortly after and was guided by the teacher onto the path of a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi."

Her complexion at this moment was somewhat like Weige's usual state.

Xia De looked at the box again. The leather, which had been folded very neatly, was now piled up in the box in a very messy way because Weige had taken it out. Although Xia De also had an instinctive feeling of discomfort toward this kind of thing, he still said to the pale-faced Miss:

"You should also go to the washroom to wash your face. I want to check this thing. Weige's mother left it behind, surely not to scare Weige."

But Miss MacDonald pursed her lips and shook her head:

"No, I also want to know the reason for its appearance here. Mr. Watson, I am a local, and I know and recognize more people than you do. Let me stay."

Xia De hesitated for a moment before nodding. He did not intend to wait for Weige; the Witch, who had been thoroughly disgusted, would probably take some time to return:

"Alright then, but if you feel unwell, don't force yourself."

Xia De said, finding gloves to put on his hands, but after thinking about it, before reaching out, he put a "Bubble Pod" into his mouth and chewed it.

The two maids standing at the door were also looking inside at this time, and then they saw Xia De take out the skin and blow bubbles into the interior of the skin, letting the skin stretch out slightly.

Even Xia De had a severe feeling of nausea during this process, so after confirming that the skin belonged to a man he did not know, and that there were no tattoos or similar marks on the surface of the skin, he crushed the bubbles from a distance, letting the thing fall lightly onto the ground.

"Ugh!"

Miss MacDonald kept her lips pursed and did not speak during this period, and only started dry heaving directly after Xia De finished checking. The girls at the door had long since looked away.

Xia De patted the young Miss's back worriedly. She, as if grabbing a straw for survival, grabbed Xia De's arm and then threw herself into his arms, trembling.

"She" in his ears laughed softly, and that laughter made Xia De's feeling of nausea better.

【Rest assured, I will help you sense the Witch's location. When she returns, I will inform you in advance.】

"She" said quite considerately.

Xia De could feel that the Miss in his arms was truly terrified to the extreme at this moment. Although Xia De was not a professional psychiatrist like Doctor Shi Nai De, he could also guess that this was post-traumatic stress disorder.

"It's okay now, it's okay now."

He gently patted the Miss's back, making his tone as soothing as possible to comfort her.

Thus, Miss MacDonald's trembling gradually lessened, and her sobbing gradually stopped. She suddenly pushed Xia De away, said "thank you" in a voice that could barely be heard, and then, just like Weige earlier, rushed out of the study.

Xia De guessed that she had also gone to the washroom and would probably run into Weige, who was still washing her hands.

"Actually, since the incident at the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】, I had guessed that I would encounter things related to 【Skin Item Hall】."

Xia De was the only one left in the study for the time being, and he lowered his head to look at the disgusting thing at his feet:

"I just didn't expect that I would see it in this way. 【House of Pseudo-Humans】, 【Skin Item Hall】, and 【Mansion of Personality】 were originally known as the three most notorious Sage-level relics.

Now that I have extracted the most valuable 'deteriorated eldest son's flesh and blood' from the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 and closed the door, because the mirage 【Blood Red City】 and that door actually still exist, the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 is still elevated to an 'Angel-level' danger degree and judged to have Unknowable-level potential.

It's just that I don't know if there are any secrets inside the other two relics."

He thought in his heart, but no one responded to him.

"But why would it appear among the things left by Weige's mother?"

【According to the Witch's statement, alchemists generally do not have a strong sense of morality. Perhaps, for Lemay, this was just a handy tool.】

"She" said softly, and Xia De also agreed with this speculation, or rather, this was his speculation to begin with:

"Yeah, a kind mother, leaving a useful tool for a daughter who might walk the path of the supernatural in the future. It seems Weige's evaluation of her mother will have to be lowered a bit more..."

But Weige's mother, Ms. Peggy Nicola Lemay, clearly did not expect that her daughter would become a Witch.

Witches cannot change their gender by any means. Two years ago, Miss Jia Lin Na almost destroyed the relic just by trying to wear the 【Transformation Ring】, and this male skin could not be worn by Witches at all.