It Must Be Because My Face Hit the Ground First

Shane did not know how to describe his current mood.

It was just absurd.

[Shane]

Status: Mental Power · Ordinary (Deficit, recovering)

Traits: [Great Wisdom Looks Like Stupidity (Golden Legend)], [Thought Acceleration (Golden Legend)], [Time Mastery (Golden Legend)]

Evaluation: A human.

He had passed out the moment he stripped the traits, and in his haze, he heard something hit the floor.

Looking at it now, he must have landed face-first back then.

Did he crash directly into the traits?

"Can a person actually be enchanted with traits? Is it just me being a special case, or can anyone do it?"

Shane could not figure it out.

And it seemed he would never truly be able to.

Because the act of stripping a trait caused the item it was taken from to crumble and vanish, he dared not experiment on himself. If he were to experiment on other "people," once enchanted, it could not be undone; it would permanently alter someone else's life, which was far too shameless.

But conversely, could he do it to a dead person...

At this thought, Shane shook his head, immediately cutting off his own train of thought. People were off-limits—at the very least, they should be!

In his mind, that pair of scarlet, madness-filled eyes appeared once again, unbidden.

Had he been influenced by them?

Looking at the "Mental Power Deficit (Slowly recovering...)" in his status bar, Shane decided it must be because his mental power was too low, causing his brain to lose control.

He pulled the quilt over his head and went to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was already afternoon.

Shane went to knock on Frieren's door first, but there was no response.

Thinking of her habit of sleeping in, he conservatively estimated she could sleep until the next morning, so he simply went downstairs to grab a bite, shouldered a bag full of mushrooms, and prepared to head over to the Adventurer Guild.

First, to exchange them for money; second, now that he possessed the [Great Wisdom Looks Like Stupidity] trait, which could simplify complex magical formulas and principles into "traits" for direct mastery, did that mean he could finally learn magic?

When he had first transmigrated, he had held high hopes for that.

It was a pity he had no magical talent whatsoever.

Now, if he could learn magic through traits, becoming a "Magic Swordsman" in the future wouldn't be bad—he could attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

"Adventurer Guild - Lamir Regional Branch"

Confirming the name at the entrance, Shane walked into the hall.

Unlike the adventurer guild halls he had seen in novels or anime, there were no small groups drinking and gambling, no walls covered in commission notices or bounties, and certainly no beautiful cat-girl attendants.

On the contrary, this place was more like a shop.

Rows of shelves on the left were filled with bottles and jars, along with semi-finished herbs, ores, and other miscellaneous items; the right side was stocked with various weapons and armor; in the center of the hall, there was only a long counter, and on the wall behind it hung notices such as Magic User Rank Examination Schedule and Rules and Adventurer Code of Conduct.

Hearing Shane's footsteps, the head of a beautiful woman popped up from behind the counter.

Upon seeing Shane, her eyes clearly lit up. After a clattering sound, she hurried out from behind the counter, smoothing her dress and tidying her hair as she walked.

"Welcome to the Adventurer Guild. You must be Shane, right?"

"?"

"Haha, don't be nervous. I just heard about you from the landlady of the Iron Hoof Inn; she said you were the most handsome adventurer she'd ever seen. Oh, by the Goddess, I've been looking forward to your visit for a long time." The woman winked at Shane.

"Uh..."

Shane was momentarily speechless.

The inn landlady certainly had a lot of close friends.

"So, what do you need? Whether it's medicine for an upset stomach or armor forged from refined iron, we have everything here. Of course, if you need grimoires, you'll have to go to the great library in [Gostan City]. I don't have such precious things here..."

They didn't have grimoires? He had wanted to buy one to test the effects of the [Great Wisdom Looks Like Stupidity] trait.

Going to [Gostan City] wasn't impossible; it was the largest trading city in the Lamir region, about three to five days' travel from this small town.

The woman recommended items enthusiastically, leaving Shane feeling like he couldn't get a word in. It seemed shop clerks in this other world weren't much different from those in his past life.

Finally, waiting for a gap when she stopped to "catch her breath," Shane quickly swung his backpack onto the counter and seized the opportunity.

"Oh! It's [Ghostlight Mushroom], a very rare material! I haven't received any in years. Wait a moment, let me check the current market price... Oh, found it, 7 silver coins per catty."

"The price of this stuff has really skyrocketed. The last time I received some, it was only 6 silver coins per catty. Look at it now, it's gone up by a whole silver coin."

Although the woman's mouth never stopped moving, her hands were quick, and she immediately took out a scale to start weighing.

"Let me see how much you have here. Oh, it's quite heavy... exactly 3 catties, so that makes 21 silver coins."

While the beautiful woman chattered on incessantly, Shane's gaze remained fixed on the equipment section to the side.

He appraised the displayed weapons and armor one by one, but the entries he saw were mostly white-tier traits like [Sharp], [Heavy], [Basic Resistance], and [Mana Conduction], none of which held any particular value.

This confirmed what Frieren had said earlier: ever since the era of the Unified Empire, the sages skilled in alchemy and artifact crafting had vanished.

The weapons and equipment of the current age lacked powerful enchanted attributes, serving essentially only as basic protection and utility.

Even the staff Frieren used possessed nothing more than a basic [Mana Conduction] trait.

Adventurers in this era relied purely on talent and individual physical fitness.

For a "blank slate" like Shane who possessed no talent whatsoever, there was no other path forward than to stack equipment stats.

It seemed that if he wanted powerful gear, he would have to craft it himself.

However, now that he had money, he could at least buy a few minor pieces of equipment to strip for traits, using them as fodder for upgrades.

"Madam, please give me nine [Leather Bracers]."

"Certainly, no problem. Nine Leather Bracers will be 45 silver coins in total. Would you like me to pack them for you?"

"No need, I suddenly feel I don't really need them that much after all."

Clutching his 20 silver coins and the 100 copper coins he had exchanged, Shane returned to the inn.

Inside the room, Frieren was still asleep.

Worried that she might sleep for too long and wake up hungry in the middle of the night, Shane intended to ask the landlady to send some bread and water to her room.

As it turned out, after walking a full circle, he couldn't find the landlady anywhere.

"Strange, not only is the landlady gone, but there isn't a single soul in the shop. What's going on?"

He wandered around again, puzzled, and was then shocked to discover that not only was the inn empty, but the pedestrians who had been bustling in and out of the inn's entrance just moments ago had also vanished.

The entire street was deserted, devoid of a single person, and the shops lining the street that had been open just moments ago were suddenly empty as well.

Shane's heart skipped a beat.