CHAPTER 93: CHAPTER 93: UNDERSTANDING WEAKNESSES_1

Is it as I imagined?

Lu Yuan blinked.

As before, there was no skill description; he would have to explore and understand it himself, bit by bit.

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, walked over to the full-length mirror on the large wardrobe in his room, and then activated the skill.

[Death Omen Eye]!

The moment the skill activated, Lu Yuan clearly saw the black in his pupils rapidly expand.

In less than a second, his eyes turned completely, purely black.

His pupils, irises, and the whites of his eyes became indistinguishable. They had completely merged into the same black color.

Amidst this pure blackness, a faint, straight white vertical line could be vaguely seen, as if someone had sliced an opening right down the middle.

Very eerie!

It reminded Lu Yuan of scenes from movies where people’s eyes changed after being possessed by evil spirits or Demons.

Yet, he felt no discomfort, nor was his vision affected in any way.

The scene before him didn’t seem to have changed... No! There was a difference.

When Lu Yuan looked down, he noticed faint wisps of black smoke coiling around his body.

They were extremely faint, almost invisible unless he looked closely.

This black smoke drifted and coiled around Lu Yuan’s fingers, over the surface of his skin, and was present on many parts of his body.

Lu Yuan observed carefully and confirmed it was emanating from within his own body.

"What is this?!"

Lu Yuan immediately thought of the Black Qi surrounding the Divine Servants of the Crow God Sect; the two were very similar.

However, the Black Qi from those Divine Servants was so potent that the slightest touch could corrode flesh. In contrast, the black smoke seeping from his own body had no such extraordinary effects.

As soon as he deactivated the skill, it vanished.

So what use could this [Death Omen Eye] have?

Lu Yuan pondered this as he walked out of his bedroom.

The living room was quiet, imbued with the unique tranquility of a summer afternoon.

The only sound was the soft whirring of an electric fan.

His father, Lu Xinghua, was out. His grandfather was napping in his room; he was the one who had turned on the fan.

Lu Yuan activated [Death Omen Eye] and, standing at his bedroom doorway, furtively observed his sleeping grandfather, Lu Yueping.

He saw that his grandfather’s body was also entwined with a lot of black smoke, only it was much denser than his own.

It could no longer be called black smoke; it should be called Black Qi.

Lu Yueping’s entire body was enveloped in thick Black Qi, with it being most prominent around his head.

SIGH— After a few glances, Lu Yuan quickly turned his head away.

He was afraid that if he kept looking, he wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to rush in, pull his grandfather out of bed, and drag him to the hospital for a thorough check-up.

I need to look at others!

Lu Yuan returned to his bedroom and found a pair of sunglasses in his desk drawer.

He’d bought them during a family trip to the beach in his third year of junior high and hadn’t used them since.

Lu Yuan tried them on. They fit, albeit snugly, pressing a bit tightly against his temples.

It doesn’t matter anyway. They’re just to hide the strange state of my eyes.

After putting on the sunglasses, Lu Yuan walked to the window, parted the blinds to create a small gap, and carefully observed the pedestrians coming and going on the street below.

Everyone had Black Qi coiling around them!

The only difference was the amount.

Within 20 minutes, Lu Yuan observed 123 pedestrians passing by on the street below, plus 13 cats and dogs. He eventually summarized a few characteristics and patterns:

1. Any living being would have Black Qi coiling around it; the older the being, the more Black Qi it possessed.

2. Those who appeared physically fit and healthy had less Black Qi.

3. Although Black Qi enveloped the entire body, it tended to concentrate more heavily in certain areas.

...

So, does the density of Black Qi indicate the proximity to death? In other words, lifespan?

Lu Yuan mused.

Considering the name [Death Omen Eye], he thought of a more fitting term for the Black Qi—Death Qi.

The denser the Death Qi, the more obvious the death omen, and the closer one is to death.

And the areas where Death Qi concentrated on each person likely corresponded to their relatively failing or weakened organs.

Take his grandfather, Lu Yueping, for example. He had just undergone brain surgery and hadn’t fully recovered, so a large amount of Death Qi had gathered around his head.

Another was a neighbor Lu Yuan knew quite well, who had a widely known heart condition; Death Qi was concentrated around their heart.

For the other pedestrians, the Death Qi in most of them was concentrated in their chest and abdominal regions.

That area corresponded to the body’s vital internal organs.

Out of the 138 subjects he had observed, Lu Yuan himself had the least Death Qi.

It was even fainter than that of several infants.

Lu Yuan guessed this was probably related to his 15-point Constitution.

A Constitution of 15 points might have also significantly extended his natural lifespan.

If the effect of [Death Omen Eye] is to see the Death Qi on living beings, and the patterns of its flow and accumulation...

Lu Yuan gently stroked his stubbled chin and immediately thought: Could I use this to identify a person’s physical weak points?!

Attacking an opponent’s weak points in a fight would naturally be far more effective.

[Death Omen Eye], discerning weaknesses... It’s somewhat useful, I guess.

Or, before each fight, he could glance at his enemy and coolly declare: "I have already foreseen your death!" or "In my eyes, your demise is imminent!"

As a badass opening line before a fight, it sounds pretty good too.

Lu Yuan indulged in these self-reassuring, idle thoughts for a moment before taking off his sunglasses and stopping his exploration of the new skill.

Now, on his [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] class panel, only the last of the three basic skills remained locked.

Lu Yuan hadn’t expected his luck to be so bad; with a two-thirds probability, he still hadn’t managed to unlock the skill related to Extraordinary Death Qi.

Oh well, it’s just a matter of a few more days. I’ll unlock it sooner or later.

He glanced at his other three class panels.

The EXP bar for his [Student] class hadn’t moved much since summer vacation started, so he ignored it.

His [Ancient Language Expert] class was LV 3 (24/400).

His [Fighter] class was LV 5 (1280/1600).

Neither of these two classes needed much EXP to reach the next level; with a little effort, he could break through soon.

Then he would have more skill points to unlock the final skill for his Death Teller class.

In the afternoon, Lu Yuan continued training his Crows.

This training was interspersed with practicing the Crane-shaped Pile, engaging in [Imaginary Enemy] consciousness battles, and occasionally studying ancient languages to relax.

By 11:00 p.m., close to bedtime, Lu Yuan had trained over 200 Crow "informants," establishing a preliminary "Crow intelligence network" exclusive to him within Burnt Rock City.

...

「The next morning.」

Lu Yuan didn’t go out for his morning exercise. Instead, he sat at his desk, rapidly scrolling through information displayed on his computer screen.

It was the local news network for Burnt Rock City.

He was trying to find any news reports about the aftermath of the Crow God Sect incident.