Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 264 Seeing but not hearing

Lin Bo looked up at the sky above his mind. The many true name runes he knew were arranged like hundreds of constellations, but they were all just phantoms constructed from memory. In this celestial canopy, only one rune was clear, bright, and dazzling.

That was his true name, as bright as the moon hanging high.

The copper moon rune emits a magical glow, which is the source of all light in the spiritual field. This light is dazzling but clear, illuminating all things, but it is not so bright as to cause blindness, as clear and bright as liquid glass.

Now, as his level increases, his magical power rises accordingly, but its light becomes dazzling, completely enveloping Lin Bo's name rune and turning it into a bright white sun, making it impossible to see the complex and graceful strokes of the dragon language runes.

It was at this very moment that Lin Bo realized he had forgotten his real name, completely forgotten it, and no matter how hard he tried to recall it, there was a gap in his memory.

His true name remains hidden in the radiance.

This is the class characteristic of a Lv11 True Name Mage.

The halfling, half asleep, woke up in the middle of the night. She had set an alarm, and an enchanted wooden ring on her wrist vibrated. Startled awake, she slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag, her hair disheveled, and looked around before sitting there for a moment.

The halfling yawned sleepily, crawled out of bed, and went to the stove to make sure the ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast were correct. First, he checked the fermentation of the dough in the basin, then the marinated chicken and pickled fruit and vegetable strips.

She looked around but couldn't find the spice bottle. A hand reached out and handed it to her. The half-human took it and mumbled a thank you. Suddenly, she widened her eyes in surprise, looked around suspiciously, paused for a moment, then slowly relaxed and comforted herself in a low voice: "It's probably just a ghost. It's nothing serious."

After busying myself for a little while, I crawled back into my sleeping bag and continued to sleep soundly.

From beginning to end, she didn't notice Lin Bo, who was right in front of her.

But Lin Bo did not become invisible or turn into an invisible ghost. He returned to the window and clearly saw his own image in the reflection of the glass. The [Frosty Soup Stew Pot] must have seen him too, but no matter what, it could not sense Lin Bo's presence.

To turn a blind eye and a deaf ear.

A real name is everything about an individual, and it also encompasses the memories and impressions others have of that individual.

When Lin Bo's real name is concealed, others can see him and notice the clues he leaves behind, but they cannot remember his existence and forget him in an instant.

Only those with profound wisdom and keen perception can deduce Lin Bo's whereabouts from the smallest details.

Within the spiritual field, as the radiance of the spell shines like the sun, the other true name runes in the sky disappear one after another, like stars in the daytime.

As the upgrade was completed, the intensely bright light gradually cleared, restoring its original translucent color that was dazzling yet undamaged. The true name symbols appeared one after another, shimmering with a clear, sparkling glow, as if washed clean.

Lin Bo still took out the iron ball that had transformed into a seagull, held it in his palm, and its true name runes lit up in his mind in response.

As his thoughts raced, his magical power suddenly projected into the iron gull in his palm, and the resulting intense radiance merged into its skin, obscuring its true name.

In that instant, Lin Bo forgot about the existence of the object in his hand. Although the object could sense him, it remained extremely silent, refusing to utter a single word, as if it were a phantom.

Lin Bo threw the object on the ground and had no recollection of it the moment it left his hand.

Fortunately, the magical power enveloping the object remained conspicuous to him, and no matter how far away he was, as long as he focused his mind, he could notice a radiant glow of magical power that lingered in his heart, like a small pebble in his shoe, bringing a distinct sense of foreignness.

The individuals whose true names are concealed still exist in the mage's mind, so they are not completely ignored or forgotten.

Lin Bo bent down to pick up the object, examining it closely and slowly deducing its true nature. Was it a seagull? No, it was a statue made of some kind of metal. Recalling his habits, he reached into his ammunition pouch and grabbed a few star steel bars and a few iron pellets. Comparing the two, he finally confirmed that the seagull in his hand was probably made of steel.

Lin Bo understood that the concealment of true names only applied to the individual, without causing the true names of all things of that kind to be forgotten. He concealed the true name of Iron Seagull, but did not forget the other steel items as a result.

Lin Bo then donned the Mage's Appearance and sought a prophecy from the Crown of Stars in search of the Iron Seagull's location.

As expected, the Crown of Stars was unable to determine the location of the obscured object.

When a person's true name is hidden, they lose their identity, and many curses, even prophecies or other spells, become ineffective.

If anyone tries to find out Lin Bo's real name, he can choose to hide, making it impossible for anyone to find out.

Unfortunately, once his true name is concealed, he will forget it, making it impossible to cast the corresponding incantation. Therefore, additional ingenuity is required if he wants to use it in battle.

Lin Bo used his magical power to conceal his clothes and equipment, making him appear as if he were wearing an invisibility cloak. Although others knew that something was moving around nearby, they still couldn't detect it.

Ordinary methods of detecting invisibility are ineffective; one needs to combine them with spells or abilities of true knowledge and prophecy to uncover the truth.

After some experimentation, it was found that if the covering was damaged, the magical light would gradually fade, and if it was completely destroyed, the true name could not be hidden.

Once he had a clear understanding, Lin Bo opened the integrated network panel again to check the skill entries for the True Word Illusion Technique.

真言幻术：Lv3（7640.8/8000）（知识残卷0/1）（职业特性：真名藏匿）基础真言术，口诵真名，制造出的幻象物体能够产生真实效应

he mused.

The True Word Illusion can transform something into another form. In this process, the true name is covered by the true name, just like two runes overlapping. With just a gentle wipe, the true name on the surface will be erased, and the illusion will naturally be broken.

If you cover up the original name of something and then print a new name on it, it's like painting over the cracks during an alteration, or rewriting it, which is like fundamentally changing the real name.

Perhaps only by completely destroying the illusion can the traces of alteration be erased and the original name be found. However, by then, the original body that was concealed would already be riddled with holes.

Lin Bo has roughly figured out the effect of the Lv4 True Word Illusion Technique. He only needs to comprehend the incomplete scroll and gain a little more proficiency before he can advance.

Among the loot rewards from clearing the [Grand Archives], "A Glimpse of the Spirit Realm" happens to be a fragment of knowledge related to mystery (truth), which is quite useful. Since the Art of Life can also be used to study fragments, I'll need to purchase more.

Lin Bo had quite a few duplicate scrolls from dungeons in his backpack, which he exchanged for most of them into Disaster Coins, leaving none to gather dust.

Open the affix chest obtained from this challenge.

Ding--

[Rewards: 30000 Disaster Coins x2, Unknown Large Piece of Cloth (Purple) x2, Invitation Coloring Agent (Red) x4, Invitation Bloodstained Needle (Red) x2, Bone-chilling Frost Sword Oil (Purple) x2]

The [Fission] affix doubles the loot from chests. While seeing enemies get doubled is a headache, seeing rewards doubled is a genuine joy.

(End of this chapter)