The Eye of Loot is a lens that reads the world for you. Most of what comes after your first hour starts with wearing one.
Wearing it
Wear the Eye in the helmet slot, or in a Curios slot if you have Curios installed. Right-click it to put it on, the way you would a helmet.
It is not armour. It gives no protection, adds no toughness and doesn't compete with your real helmet's stats. It just takes up the slot. Take it off and it stops working.
What it reads
Every half second the Eye looks where you look, up to 20 blocks away. It sees a mob in front of a wall, but never through one.
- Circles. Look at a circle drawn on a block face and an info box names it. For some circles the box adds a detail: a circle bound in reverse reads as Salvage, a Builder shows how far through its job it is, a turret shows what it is aimed at, a glass tank shows what it is bound to, and a focused circle shows its reach. Circle readings are just a lens. They never go in your journal.
- Mobs. Some mobs have something to say when you look at them. Not every mob does.
- Places. Entering certain biomes or dimensions can bring up a message.
- Spell scrolls. Right-click a spell scroll while wearing the Eye to learn the spell.
Each of these fires when you look at something new. Stare at the same thing and it doesn't repeat. Look away and back and it returns.
Notices and the journal
A message from the Eye appears in a small info box. Some boxes go away when you look away. Others stay, and those can be put away for good with Y. Press Y on a notice and you won't be shown it again.
Press Ctrl+Y to open your journal. It lists every staying notice you have been shown or been given, and pins your daily quest to the top. It shows three notices to a page. Page Up and Page Down turn the pages, and Esc closes it. The journal key and the accept key can be rebound in the controls screen. Only the page keys are fixed.
Some notices are riddles. The wiki leaves those for you to find.
Reading spell scrolls
Reading a spell scroll teaches you its spell, and costs some soul. If you can't spare it, you are refused. The scroll is not used up, so you can hand it to a friend. If you already know the spell you are told so and it costs nothing.
The Eye reads spell scrolls only. A word scroll is not something it can read. Word scrolls are learned at a pedestal, in a workshop.
Where it comes from
You don't craft the Eye from scratch. It starts as Riker's Eye, which comes from Riker Loot, and a ritual turns it into the Eye of Loot. Riker doesn't wander in. He has to be called, and the way to call him is written down for you. See Progression.
The Eye is bound to you when it is made.