Chapter 15 | After Rebirth, I Became the Dungeon's Hidden Boss

A message suddenly popped up on the light screen.

【Warning: An unknown echo exists within your soul.】

An unknown echo?

Tsk, even the system can't figure it out. It seems there really is something bizarre about the original host.

However, Isolde quickly shifted her attention to her skill column.

【Passive Skill: Witch's Mask】

【Current Status: Mutating... Mutation Successful】

【Skill Type: Concealment / Deception】

【Skill Description: 1. You can transform into the appearance and class of a devoured target, hiding your original attributes, faction, and titles. This persona can develop skills but cannot use skills above High Tier. 2. When targets with lower Intelligence than yours perform an appraisal, they will see your disguised identity by default.】

This disguise skill certainly came at the perfect time.

She currently held a Boss status; if she couldn't hide it, she would be treated as a wild mob and farmed on the spot by players wherever she went.

This was practically the core skill for her alter ego.

【Soul-Binding Thread】 was her core basic attack, highly useful for simple attacks or binding targets in daily situations.

The subsequent 【Purifying Light】 and 【Mark Weakness】 were obtained from Meng Yinyin and Luo Qi. Although they weren't particularly powerful skills, they could be used by her disguised persona or serve as minor abilities.

Meanwhile, as a newly born major Boss, she only had three active skills: 【Exclusive Skill: Strangle】, 【Exclusive Skill: Blood Banquet Substitute】, and 【Exclusive Skill: Banquet Verdict】. It was a rather underwhelming lineup.

Furthermore, the latter two skills had to be used within the confines of the castle, making them textbook "dungeon mechanics."

Fortunately, her 【Soul Thread】 had a very high ceiling. With a little cultivation or reconstruction using basic skills, she could invent many new skills.

In addition to her active skills, there were two passive skills.

【Castle Authority】:

【Skill Description: 1. You can perceive all movements inside or around the castle through portraits and faceless servants. 2. You can modify the castle at will. 3. You can invite other living creatures to reside here, and the castle will accept them unconditionally. 4. The castle will occasionally express its emotions to you.】

【Home Advantage】:

【Skill Description: There is a low probability that the castle will help the castle master unlock new skills.】

Isolde stared at the last entry for two seconds, and her mood finally genuinely improved.

Now, she was truly the master of the castle.

She never expected her dream of starting out with her own property would be realized in such a twisted way.

Isolde continued to scroll down.

At the bottom of the dark red light screen, there was another line of small text outlined by a bloody line.

【Soul Contractor: Lia】

【Contract Status: Absolute Obedience】

Staring at the line for 【Contract Status】, Isolde suddenly remembered that if two parties were in a bound contract state, they could share attribute increases to some extent.

Now that she had become the master of the castle and her status had risen, Lia, as the contracted party, might also enjoy some of the experience dividends.

But as she looked closer, Isolde's expression turned flat.

Her Defense hadn't changed, her Agility hadn't changed, her Strength hadn't changed, and her Intelligence hadn't changed either.

Was this reasonable?

Actually... it was very reasonable.

Isolde looked at Lia, her gaze falling on her slender, stiff frame.

If she were a natural living being, her body would grow along with her, and her muscles, bones, and magic circuits would be gradually modified by the rules of leveling up.

But Lia was a manufactured creation.

Her skeleton, her body, and her soul were not things she had grown herself.

Isolde propped her chin in her hand thoughtfully, as if she had hit upon a certain line of thinking.

Therefore, it wasn't that Lia couldn't grow, but rather that her method of growth was different from that of a normal person.

Isolde had Lia step closer to her, examining her closely in the daylight coming from outside the window.

If she looked at Lia as a human, she was broken. But if she looked at her as a weapon... she was the most convenient weapon possible.

Loyal, powerful, efficient, and capable of understanding orders.

The only issue was that after the original host created her, she clearly hadn't maintained her properly.

It was like getting a heavy-duty excavator capable of leveling mountains, only for the previous owner to use it solely for serving tea and pouring water, without even bothering to change the oil.

A waste. A total waste.

Fragments of memories surfaced in Isolde's mind.

A dim basement, a transmutation circle covered in bloody lines, a silver box containing ashes, and things resembling remnant souls sealed in small glass vials.

The original host had once squatted beside a pile of severed limbs, excitedly flipping through a black-leather book.

Isolde immediately walked to the desk and began rummaging through the documents the original host had carelessly tossed around.

Not this one.

This one is about preserving rotting flesh.

This one is even more morbid—teaching how to implant embryos into insect eggs.

This one...

Halfway through her search, Isolde's fingers suddenly froze.

An old book wrapped in a yellow cover exposed a corner from beneath a pile of parchment.

There was no title on the cover, only a shriveled eyeball pinned to it.

She reached out to pick it up, and the eyeball immediately rolled, as if identifying its master.

In the next second, the pages flipped open automatically.

A pungent scent of cold ash wafted over, and Isolde clearly saw the contents of the first page.

【Low-Tier Doll-Making Notes】

【Creator: Isolde】

The contents inside were much more complex than she had imagined.

Making a doll wasn't as simple as picking up a few bones and stuffing some remnant souls inside.

First, there had to be a compatible remnant soul.

Normal souls were too complete; they would backlash against the creator because their memories and emotions were too vivid.

Remnant souls that were too fragmented couldn't carry out orders, and stuffing them in would only turn the vessel into a pile of twitching, rotten flesh.

The most suitable were ultra-rare remnant souls that mutated amidst massive death, resentment, fear, and obsession.

They were broken, yet sufficiently resilient.

They lacked a complete self, but retained a certain powerful instinct.

Isolde's hand slowed as she turned the pages.

She suddenly understood that the faceless servants in the castle weren't actually successful dolls at all.

They were merely the original host's test subjects.

They could walk, carry platters, and execute simple commands.

They looked like servants, but in reality, they were just consumables crudely patched together from remnant souls and corpse parts.

But Lia was different.

Lia was the only doll capable of maintaining a stable form, possessing clear obedience logic, and independently assessing simple situations.

In other words, out of the original host's pile of wicked research, Lia was the sole finished product.

Isolde looked up at her.

Lia still stood quietly.

She had no idea she was being analyzed as a "creation," nor did she know that the young lady before her had already reclassified her from "maid" to the list of "core lifesaving gear."

Isolde closed the book, her fingertips lightly tapping the cover.

A bodyguard who could take blades for her, move cabinets, beat people up, clean up corpses, and even thoughtfully ask if she needed a vomit basin was someone who naturally had to be thoroughly upgraded.