Attribute Exchange

"The mutation in Skull No. 1 was my fault," Professor Armitage said. "After Professor Rice found it, it was I who determined it to be harmless."

Professor Armitage propped up Hope's back so he could lie down and asked Hope if he wanted coffee or tea.

Although she really wanted to try the librarian's coffee, Hope ultimately opted for black tea, remembering the taste of Wilbur's handmade coffee.

The professor poured three glasses, and Elizabeth, holding her own glass, sat down some distance away, seemingly not intending to interrupt their conversation.

Hope looked at her glass; it was clear and bright, but a little hot, so she couldn't drink it immediately.

"You have acquired some extraordinary knowledge," Professor Armitage said.

"Professor Morgan said you like the occult, but you're not just an ordinary occult enthusiast. Regardless of Pathway you got involved, you've come into contact with the real occult. I'm curious about how this happened; perhaps you'll need some help."

Hope stared down at his tea, vaguely wanting to say something, wanting to tell Professor Armitage something, but he couldn't remember what it was.

A few seconds later, the urge to confide in someone turned into worry about his situation, after all, in Hope's memory, he seemed to be a cultist.

He hesitated and said nothing.

But Professor Armitage spoke gently:

"I'm not interrogating you, so don't be nervous. If you don't want to talk, you can pretend I never asked. You practically saved Elizabeth's life, which proves you're trustworthy."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief, "Have you subdued Skull No. 1?"

The professor shook his head. "Like I said, I couldn't help. By the time I got there, the skull was already shattered."

"It broke?" Hope exclaimed in astonishment.

"Yes, it fell from the sky and broke into several pieces on the floor. My only contribution was to collect the pieces."

"But how could it suddenly fall?"

Professor Armitage took a sip of tea. "Do you remember what you did before you fell unconscious?"

"Before falling into a coma... I used 'Exchange'... 'Exchange' is..."

"A kind of magic," Professor Armitage said. "I know it's magic from Skull No. 1, but you don't need to tell me how you got it. You can refuse to answer anyone who asks you a similar question."

Hope nodded. "Okay, I've 'traded' the mana from Skull No. 1 for my eyesight."

"Mana points... vision... did you name these yourself?"

"Uh..." Hope was a little embarrassed. He felt like he had spent ten years studying and discovered that "in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the two legs equals the square of the hypotenuse," only to find that everyone knew it was called the "Pythagorean theorem."

"Yes," he admitted.

"It's not entirely wrong, but generally speaking," Professor Armitage said, "we usually call them ' Self-Sense ' and ' Inspiration.'"

"Does 'not being completely wrong' mean there's some error?"

"In layman's terms, Self-Sense is not just about sight, but all your abilities to perceive the external world, including hearing, touch, and smell, while Inspiration is more complex."

Self-Sense and Inspiration... "Vision" is "Self-Sense," "Mana" is "Inspiration"... Such a familiar naming convention...

Hope recalled that the Skull No. 1 referred to "body constitution" as "Spirit Body"... or rather, that it referred to "Spirit Body" as "body constitution".

"Is there also a ' Self-Being '?" Hope asked.

"It seems you already know something," Professor Armitage replied.

Hope recalled how, when he played games, after completing the tutorial, the guide would always say something like, "It seems you've mastered the basic controls" or "It seems you're gradually becoming more proficient," followed by, "Go and improve your skills in real matches!"

He was an unfortunate player who was prevented from starting in the beginner village due to a system bug. After running several dungeons in the wild and taking on challenging quests, a beginner mentor finally came to tell him, "That attribute isn't agility, it's precision."

It's actually not very meaningful.

He also remembered why he had started this conversation with Professor Armitage:

"Can't Inspiration and Self-Sense be interchanged?"

"Yes, there are other ways to change attributes besides magic, but they are very troublesome and rare," Professor Armitage replied.

"All attributes can be changed, but not arbitrarily; a lot of preparation is needed beforehand. Otherwise, the consequences will be dire."

He took another sip of tea, his voice still gentle, but what he said sounded like something out of a horror story:

"To die, or to become a pile of rotten flesh due to the collapse of the soul and body."

That doesn't sound very good.

"The medicines you brought..."

Professor Armitage shook his head. "Taking it in advance might have some use, but I did it because I had no other choice."

"But I was only unconscious for five hours, "Hope thought.

Hope's situation is definitely not normal, as can be seen from Elizabeth, Professor Armitage was surprised by Hope's condition more than once.

When speaking of him, Professor Armitage's language was full of restraint.

The professor's behavior went beyond mere respect for others' privacy; it was more of an indifference, or even... a very, very small fear.

Something illogical happened, but the professor didn't want to know why.

"But..." Hope asked, voicing her doubts, "Skull No. 1 says it can exchange various attributes for magic."

"It's deceiving you. If it really did that, neither party would benefit from the exchange," Professor Armitage said. "You already know what happened to it after you exchanged attributes."

He emphasized, "You were lucky this time, but don't do anything like that again; it's very dangerous."

"Those cunning and treacherous cultists," Hope cursed under her breath.

The terms for surrender were offered so generously, but it turns out they never intended to give anything in return.

"Knock knock."

Someone knocked on the door.

"Please come in," Professor Armitage said, as he poured himself another cup of black tea.

Clearly, he already knew who was outside the door.

"Love woke up so quickly?" the person who Door Opening said.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Hope remembered; it was Professor Rice, the stout, middle-aged man with iron-gray hair, a professor of ancient languages with a master's degree in pharmacy.

"It's a miracle you woke up so quickly," said Professor Rice, sitting down next to Professor Armitage.

"When Professor Armitage came to see me, I was almost scared to death. And when he said you were out of danger, I was startled again."

"He later prepared some nutritional supplements for you," Professor Armitage said.

Hope responded with a smile.

He had previously assumed that Professor Rice was an ordinary person because of his background.

Now it seems that since Professor Armitage needs to seek his help, even if his attributes are at a normal human level, Professor Rice must possess considerable esoteric knowledge.

"Didn't you have some questions about herbalism that you'd like to ask Hope?" Professor Armitage said to Hope.

"You seemed quite anxious, so I called Professor Rice over. Luckily, he wasn't busy."