In the Darkness...

Hope initially did not intend to exchange "disappearance" for it.

He believed he didn't have enough value to offer in exchange.

Even if the numbers after the counter can be used.

However, based on the experience gained from Skull No. 1, the only way to exchange for what's Skull No. 1 is through Self-Sense and Inspiration, and Hope's values for these two are 0.57 and 0.10 respectively.

Inspiration simply wasn't enough, and Self-Sense was the only thing lacking.

Hope considered temporarily swapping out "Disappear" and then switching back to her own attributes after the effect of "Disappear" wore off.

However, the conditions for triggering an "exchange" are related to Self-Sense; one must be able to "see" or perceive the other party in other ways.

With only 0.07" of Self-Sense remaining, Hope may lose the ability to use "exchange".

At this point, Hope still had other options. With the protection of the two professors and Jack, Hope did not believe that he would be defeated just like that.

Therefore, this exchange was "just an experiment."

However, it was discovered that the experience gained from Skull No. 1 was no longer applicable.

The digits after the counter are set to zero, becoming a digit with a value of 0.5.

damn it----

Hope was annoyed by this method of exchanging human lives for money, and the thought that these values did not arise out of thin air, but were provided by the souls of the dead, added a touch of guilt to her anger.

He suppressed these emotions, and the value he could use for the exchange was only half of what he needed. Hope then shifted the exchange to his "Spirit Body," which was currently his highest attribute, although it was only slightly above the average level for ordinary people.

1.55--1.05

The already weak and feeble body became even weaker.

Hope touched her wrist and found that the skin there had become extremely rough. She had to place her hand on it until it left an imprint before she could feel some body temperature through the skin.

Of all the people Hope had ever met, the one with the shortest Spirit Body was Little Brick, the somewhat deformed son born from inbreeding between the Brother Brick. He was only 1.26 meters tall, but even that was taller Hope was now.

Hope did not use Self-Being as a bargaining chip because, of the three attributes other than Inspiration (which defaults to 0), Self-Being is the most stable.

Of all the ordinary people Hope had ever met, all of Self-Being varied around 1, with the lowest Hope had ever seen being 0.97.

Therefore, he worried that his Self-Being "low level" would lead to some negative consequences.

However, one can use the "Spirit Body" as a value—from this perspective, Oliver's skull and the Skull No. 1 are completely different things—

Well, Skull No. 1 himself said that the skull was merely a vessel for a soul—while according to Number One Hope's records, Oliver had his own skull crafted into an extraordinary object.

Soul Container ---- Extraordinary Item ----

The difference is either that Oliver's skull no longer contains a soul, or that the craftsmanship of extraordinary items is more complex?

Hope didn't have time to think that far ahead; he forced a smile at Wilbur.

The Goat Head looked at Hope, who was sprawled on the ground, and seemed to finally realize something, its expression turning somewhat terrified.

The Goat Head looked back and saw that among the three gentlemen sitting in the distance drinking tea, the blond Jack had already finished the last drop of water in his cup and pointed at Wilbur again with a provocative air.

But this time Wilbur didn't dare to question the other party.

He raised his leg, seemingly wanting to kick Hope in frustration.

But the kick ultimately didn't go through.

Wilbur glared at Hope with resentment, then, ignoring the pain in his wound, quickly backed away, ignoring the skull lying to the side.

He slammed his fist against his own neck, an act of self-harm that seemed to somehow alter his body and break the shackles Professor Armitage had placed upon him.

After a sound of air flowing, his and Jack's incantations rang out simultaneously.

At that moment, Jack extinguished the kerosene lamp.

Except for a sliver of moonlight from under the window, the fourth floor of the library was completely plunged into darkness, Hope was surprised to find that she could no longer make out Wilbur's outline.

Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing rang out almost right next to Hope's ears.

In the darkness, someone stepped on Hope's shoulders and kicked Hope aside.

Hope guessed it was Jack, but he didn't know when Jack had arrived.

Just a moment ago, Jack was sitting on the other side of the floor, at a distance where Hope could only discern the light but couldn't see what was beneath it.

Even with Jack's Self-Being of 1.68 meters, the resulting speed shouldn't be enough for him to cross those distances so quickly.

Is it an ability akin to "Uncertainty"—or is it due to this absolutely abnormal dark environment—

It was almost as if ink had been splattered into the air, making it impossible to see anything.

Hope felt herself sliding on the floor and bumping into something, a cylindrical thing—a chair leg?

Jack kicked him back to the Second Circulation Desk?

Clothes----not worn out----

Someone reached out and groped around Hope's body, finally finding his arm, pulling him up and settling him into a chair.

Even at this distance, Hope couldn't see anything, so she couldn't visually distinguish the other person.

However, he could tell from the touch that there weren't many wrinkles on his palms.

"Professor Rice?"

"It's me," Professor Rice replied. "I still don't know what happened—but you'll just have to sit here with me and wait."

This conversation in absolute darkness reminded Hope of the "Communication" magic from Skull No. 1.

The person on Professor Rice's other side, Professor Armitage, seemed to have placed something on the table, and Hope could hear the "thud" of it hitting the table.

But before he could ask, he felt a gentle breeze blowing past him.

The windows should be closed—there shouldn't be any wind blowing in at this time.

"Professor Armitage?" Hope asked tentatively.

"He's already gone to help Jack," Professor Rice said. "In Jack's spells, only Professor Armitage can distinguish friend from foe."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief.

Wilbur is finished, he thought to himself.

"Wilbur is finished," he said to Professor Rice.

But after hesitating for two seconds, Professor Rice retorted, "Given Wilbur's abilities, he shouldn't have been able to hold out for so long. I thought I would be able to relight the kerosene lamp soon."

"But look, it's still so dark around us, and Jack's spell is still going on."

Hope listened to the sound of the wind, something suddenly came to mind: "Jack's Inspiration— "

"It's almost exhausted," Professor Rice said. "He used this spell to take Wilbur down in a flash before he was ready—but now that it's dragged on, Jack should be close to giving up."