You Xue was fully prepared for this operation.
It was just like equipping the best gear before fighting a boss in a game, and stacking all the temporary buffs to maximize the chance of clearing the stage.
For instance, the explosions from her flying knives earlier were because she had added a new engraving, [Explosive Flame] , but due to limited time, she had only managed to make two.
Furthermore, the charm around her neck had [Concealment] and [Protection] engraved on it.
She couldn’t bring more [Protection] engravings because the rest had already been delivered to the Academy.
Of course, don’t think engravings are omnipotent.
Strictly speaking, given You Xue’s level as an Engraver, she shouldn’t have been able to access engravings of this grade.
Because the stronger the engraving, the more mental energy it consumes.
If a novice Engraver tried to engrave a high-level one, they would likely deplete their mental energy instantly, at best losing consciousness and becoming an idiot, at worst dying on the spot with no chance of rescue.
You Xue completely ignored the risk of becoming an idiot.
But fortunately, she endured it.
For her, the consequences didn’t seem that severe—just a slight headache.
‘Could this be another benefit of Magic Rejection Syndrome?’
She knew she wouldn’t find an answer by just thinking about it, so You Xue decided not to dwell on it, treating it as a small favor the world gave to someone about to die.
Now, You Xue had activated [Concealment] .
As long as she didn’t make obvious sounds or conspicuous movements, the guards wouldn’t detect her.
From the information she had forced out, the defense formation could be divided into three parts: the outer patrol zone, the middle duty zone, and the deepest core chamber.
There were five Soldiers guarding the outer perimeter, while the middle layer was defended by five Soldiers and one Knight.
The core was guarded by two Knights.
According to what the grunt had said, he was the Knight guarding the middle layer, meaning the first two layers were only defended by weaker Soldiers, and only the final layer presented some difficulty.
Although taking down that man earlier had been easy, that was all under the premise that he had let his guard down.
Especially since his ability leaned toward offense—getting taken down at close range was only natural.
According to the intel, the two Knights guarding the core had abilities: one was [Lock] , and the other was [Steel Body] .
[Lock] had a similar effect to the [Tracking] engraving.
Once a target was marked by the ability user, all of that person’s attacks would forcibly home in on the marked target, making them hard to dodge.
[Steel Body] was simpler: it could harden the user’s skin to the toughness of steel.
Although it wasn’t particularly strong in this world full of supernatural abilities, for You Xue, it was a hard counter to her knives.
Although defeating those two would be difficult, You Xue’s goal was merely to steal the Dragon’s Eye, so she just needed to outsmart them.
She would use the Knight she had just eliminated.
You Xue dragged the corpse near the warehouse where the Dark Crow were stationed, then stuck the last flying knife engraved with [Explosive Flame] into it.
Then she activated the [Concealment] engraving.
It wasn’t invisibility, but it made her presence thin out.
You Xue went to the side of the warehouse, where there was a ventilation shaft leading inside.
Crawling through the shaft, You Xue quickly reached the core area guarded by the two Knights.
She made no sound, and silently detonated the Explosive Flame knife stuck in the corpse.
With a loud explosion, she could hear the shouting of the patrolling Soldiers and the clatter of hurried footsteps.
Not long after, the patrolling Soldiers discovered the corpse, and the noise outside the warehouse grew more chaotic.
“Someone’s dead! It’s a Knight!”
“Hurry! Quick, notify the two Lords in the core area!”
Panicked footsteps rushed toward the core chamber.
The two Knights guarding the chamber door changed expression instantly.
“Someone sneaked in?”
“To dare kill someone on Dark Crow turf, they’ve got guts!”
They exchanged a glance and immediately made a decision: one would stay and guard the chamber, while the other went to check the scene.
You Xue observed the one who stayed: single eye, carrying a longbow—matching the intel of the Knight with [Lock] ability.
The one who left was the Knight with [Steel Body] .
This was the best possible outcome.
That meant You Xue could easily take out the one guarding the place from the shadows.
But first, it was better to confirm the location of the Dragon’s Eye.
You Xue’s gaze swept across the entire warehouse, finally locking onto the metal container heavily sealed with liquid nitrogen behind the Knight.
Inside the transparent heat shield, thick white mist roiled continuously.
This device should be filled with liquid nitrogen, and in the middle of it was a glass container holding a transparent liquid, with the Dragon’s Eye immersed in that liquid.
That’s it.
Now it was time to act.
From the ventilation shaft, You Xue threw two flying knives in the dark.
Two were enough; if she used more, she wouldn’t be able to handle any emergencies later.
With two silver arcs flashing through the air, guided by the [Tracking] engraving, one knife struck the Knight’s heart, and the other destroyed his vocal cords.
After silently eliminating one person, You Xue crawled out of the ventilation shaft and walked toward the container holding the Dragon’s Eye.
She didn’t have much time.
Without any protective measures, You Xue’s hand passed through the mist of liquid nitrogen and grabbed the container holding the Dragon’s Eye.
The cold instantly wrapped around You Xue’s fingers.
Her fingertips were frozen stiff, and a cold, stinging pain spread from her frozen hand.
But she had no choice—she had to hold it like this and then run as fast as she could.
She climbed back into the ventilation shaft.
The [Concealment] engraving was running out of magic power.
She had to escape to a safe place first for this to be over.
The ventilation shaft was narrow and cramped.
You Xue held the Dragon’s Eye container with one hand and used the other to support herself as she crawled forward on the metal surface.
Her entire arm was numb, completely devoid of sensation, but she could never let go of the thing in her arms.
You Xue successfully made it outside the warehouse.
She gritted her teeth.
The faint blue glow of the [Concealment] engraving had already gone out.
From the direction of the warehouse, chaotic footsteps and angry shouts reached her.
The Knight with [Steel Body] had clearly reacted and was frantically searching with all the Soldiers.
“Hurry! She can’t have gotten far!”
“We must get the Dragon’s Eye back! Or we’ll all die!”
The furious shouts grew closer.
You Xue could even hear the sound of boots crunching on gravel.
You Xue kept running.
The biting cold seeped through the glass into her marrow, intertwining with the visceral pain from Magic Rejection Syndrome.
Every step felt like a knife plunging into her internal organs.
A little farther…
A little faster…
“Grab her!!”
Flames and wind blades flew past her ears, smashing the bricks and stones at the corners.
Gravel splashed against her cheek, leaving fine trails of blood.
Fate did not spare her.
She turned and used her knives to take down a few Soldiers, but the Knight remained unscathed.
You Xue was a cornered beast.
More attacks came at her.
She scrambled to dodge, but couldn’t avoid being hit.
Where she was hit, it hurt.
Her frozen arm hurt.
Her organs corroded by magic hurt.
‘Was she supposed to be treated like this by the world? She didn’t like pain. No one liked pain. But why did these things always fall on her to endure? She wasn’t trying to end her life—only to end the suffering. You Xue wanted to live, but it seemed there was no chance left.’
A cold glint flashed in her eyes as she looked at the Dragon’s Eye in her arms.
Then she would make all these people die with her as burial offerings.
In the original story, the leader of the Dark Crow organization replaced his left eye with the Dragon’s Eye.
Though he couldn’t maintain it for long, he could temporarily acquire the mighty power of a dragon.
After that, the Dragon’s Eye would turn into lifeless ash.
She would destroy the Dragon’s Eye right here, so they could get nothing back!
You Xue made up her mind.
She bent her fingers and forcibly reached toward her left eye.