15 Mask of mirage

𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵..., Drake thought as he inspected his storage space.

What he found are only a few long ropes, a bottle of Immortal misery wine, and the illusion eye which he had just obtained. He also noticed that only thirty percent of the heaven-grade outfit's defensive power remained, along with the four minutes usage time for the invisibility effect.

As a matter of fact, Drake doesn't need to worry if it's only about escaping by himself. That's because he already has the guest token in his possession. All he had to do is just reveal the token to the guards and they wouldn't dare to stop him anymore.

With that, before the sect master and others return, if he could get out of the core region, entering the inner court, then he could simply remove the Secret Santa outfit and returning to his identity as the outer sect disciple Wen dingxiang.

At that point, nobody would be able to relate a core formation expert to some looser in the outer court, and could only conclude it saying that the expert had left the sect undetected, just like how he entered in the first place.

But Drake didn't want to do that...

There is only one reason for that... He did not want to leave behind brother Huang alone.

Even though he has full confidence in brother Huang's capabilities, what if, for some unexpected reason, he got captured? Drake wouldn't be able to accept that result. What drake wanted to do is... to wait until he meets brother Huang, and then find a chance to escape together.

𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴... Drake thought as he brought the illusion eye out of the system's storage. As he tried to inspect the eye at a close distance, drake noticed a misty grey illusory vortex which suddenly appeared at the center of its golden pupil. As the vortex gradually expanded, unknowingly drake's consciousness began to blur.

Immediately all kinds of alarm bells went out in drake's head as he forcefully yanked his head back, breaking his direct eye contact.

After he shook his head forcefully a few times to get rid of the dizziness, Drake stole a glance at the illusion eye which he is still holding in his hand. Seeing as the eyeball looked normal again, Drake heaved a sigh of relief.

"Damn... this thing is quite deadly!" he exclaimed in dismay.

Drake had a feeling that if he had looked at it for some more time, he would have again fallen into some kind of horrible illusion...

Calming himself down and remembering the lesson he learnt earlier, Drake decided against inspecting it anymore

𝘏𝘮𝘮... 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴... As drake pondered, the immediate solution that came to his mind, is to ask for the system's help.

"System, Do you know any method for me to make use of this thing." drake enquired.

"Ding*

The host needs to refine the artifact first in order to use it.

Note: The system would be able to refine it for the host. In return, the host needs to provide the required amount of fate points." The system's mechanical voice replied.

"Fate points? Oh, you mean the ten points I got after I completed the last mission? I would need to pay with those points ?"

"Yes," the system replied tersely.

"How many ?"

"10 fate points."

" ... "

Drake couldn't help but become speechless at how the required points are exactly the same as the amount he had.

"Ok, I would like to refine this thing right now." drake agreed without further thoughts.

"Ding*

Artifact Refining initiated....."

As soon as the system's mechanical voice rang, the Illusion eye left his hand on its own and began to hover in the air. Immediately after, in front of drake's curious eyes, it began to emit a faint glow.

As time passed the glow gradually intensified until a sudden flash of blinding white light occurred, after which everything went back to normal.

When drake regained his sight, which got blurred by that sudden flash, what floated in from of him is not the illusion eye anymore, but a strange and mysterious-looking mask.

This mask which had a wide smile of mischief on it seemed to have been carved out of material similar to soft ivory.

Drake became surprised when he noticed an eye, which pretty much looked like a miniature version of the bigger illusion eye from before, embedded slightly above the center of its brows.

As he observed the ordinary yet mysterious-looking mask, slowly an itch to wear and find out what it does, began to develop in his heart. However, remembering the effect the illusion eye had on him when he tried to be this curious earlier, drake refrained from grabbing it directly.

"System what is this mask ?" drake instead questioned the system.

"Ding*

Artifact Name: 'Mask of mirage'

Its function is to change its user's appearance in the perception of people around him. This is based on the illusion that the mask creates, and it is up to the user to decide on how he wishes to look.

Note: This artifact consumes qi essence from the user, but since the artifact casts very minimal illusion instead of an area-wide illusion, there is only moderate qi consumption." the system mechanical voice replied drake.

"Marvellous! Just what I needed" Drake couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the mysterious ivory mask hovering in front of him in anticipation.

"System are there any side effects for using this mask. Also are there any limitations ?" drake further enquired cautiously.

"Ding*

Negative effect: 'Forgetfulness'

As the wearer wears the mask for prolonged periods of time, they tend to become forgetful. This starts with forgetting some trivial matters at first, then develops into losing of days and months of their memories, depending upon the amount of time they prolonged the usage of the mask. However, this is only temporary, and their memories will be restored once they remove the mask.

Limitation:

It doesn't work against someone who attained core formation realm." the system replied.

𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴... 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺, drake thought as his expression turned solemn after hearing the system's remark

𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮... 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩* 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, Drake consoled himself.

After extricating himself from his thoughts, drake did not waste any more time and immediately reached out his hand towards the Mask of mirage which is hovering in the air.

As he grabbed the mask, drake felt the mask's surface to be quite smooth and it doesn't even seem to have much weight to it. Overall, drake felt that aside from him nobody would be able to tell it apart from any other ordinary mask.

As he tried to put on the mask, surprisingly it got fixed to his face without the need of any supporting string. In fact, drake couldn't even feel the mask on his face anymore. It's as if he did not put it on in the first place!

However, when he tried to feel it with his hands he realized the mask is still present. Realizing that this should be the work of some expert craftsman, drake didn't waste any more time and began to think about what would be the best way to use this mask to get out of his current situation.

After pondering for a brief moment, suddenly the corners of his mouth curled up as a faint smile slowly crept on his face. Immediately drake strode back towards the large hall where he met with the maids earlier.

Once he is in the hall, he noticed the maid who has given him directions for the cultivation chamber, busying herself with her work.

𝘏𝘮𝘮... 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, Drake lightly whispered to himself as he began to infuse his qi essence into the Mask of mirage, immediately the illusory grey vortex began to spin inside the golden yellow pupil of the miniature illusory eye. After a while, when drake noticed that the mask is no longer taking any qi from him, he lowered his head to take look at himself. And when he did, he couldn't help but have a sudden urge to laugh out loud.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘭𝘺! that was the only thought in his mind.

Feeling extremely satisfied with the work of the mask, drake approached the maid who looked to be immersed in deep thoughts while adjusting the wall curtains.

"Oh! You're back already... Is everything ready for the feast ?" the maid questioned as she snapped out of her reverie when she noticed her companion return back in her peripheral vision.

"Huh No...I mean yes... everything is already set" drake fumbled with words, still feeling slightly dubious over the trustworthiness of Mask of mirage.

"Oh... Ok then" the maid said as she climbed down the small stool she was standing on, "Earlier that senior went to the cultivation chambers to meditate. I guess it's time for me go and invite him over." the maid continued as she dusted her palms and straightened her dress.

"Oh... Do you need me to go with you?" drake questioned casually.

"No, you stay here. It's already been some time since elder Gao has gone to notify the sect master and others about our sudden visitor. They might be here anytime now." the maid replied seriously.

"Oh... Ok then, I will wait here" drake answered with a smile.

Seeing her friend smile the maid just shook her head and strode towards the cultivation chambers.

As drake watched her leave, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Drake is not naïve, he had already guessed that the Mask of mirage might also have the capabilities to manipulate the voice and actions, to make things more believable for the people around him.

In essence, however he talks or moves, the others wouldn't be able to tell him apart from the actual person. And this is the reason why drake felt that the Mask of mirage is much more precious than he initially thought, simply because the wearer does not need to even pretend anymore!

After the maid left the hall, Drake cast a cursory glance at his surroundings, and became pleasantly surprised at finding himself surrounded by so many precious items!

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 "𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨"! drake thought as he pushed up his sleeves while wearing a wide smile on his face.