Transcendent's Handbook

Transcendent's Handbook

The testing site was on the third floor. The girl called Orange was actually named Meng Cheng, while the boy who looked like a delinquent was Meng Yang. They were siblings, and the girl had told Xu Zhi all of this in one breath.

Xu Zhi felt that she was far too trusting, but that was not a bad thing for her, so she never spoke up to warn Orange.

"Though its full name is the Special Events Processing Department, everyone usually calls it the Special Investigations Office. It means 'special' and 'investigation,' and apparently the name had already spread around before the department was officially established."

"Don't be fooled by how many people there are. Most of them are ordinary people, after all. Transcendents are still a minority right now."

Xu Zhi nodded as she observed the people passing by. Many wore casual clothes like Orange, but some wore black uniforms. They resembled armed police uniforms, yet were distinctly different—black and gold, neat and simple, while still suited for movement. Xu Zhi guessed that those in such uniforms probably handled dangerous operations.

The rest also wore black-and-gold uniforms, though theirs were more refined and attractive. Most of them sat at their desks or carried documents of some sort.

Most of the third floor was occupied by staff in these more refined uniforms. Seeing Orange and Xu Zhi, a woman walked over.

"May I ask what you need?"

Xu Zhi glanced at the woman and found that she was unfamiliar with Meng Cheng.

The staff here did not know Meng Cheng.

The disaster had happened only a little over a month ago, so this place probably had not been established for long. With little time and many personnel, it seemed normal for staff members not to know most of the members. But Orange and the others were Transcendents, not ordinary people. If even the staff did not know them, that could only mean they were not important enough.

Was that why Orange had tried so hard to recruit her in the car?

Because their team was not valued and had difficulty taking in new members?

Orange seemed accustomed to strangers treating her this way. She smiled and said, "Ma'am, this is a new Transcendent I ran into while on a mission. She still doesn't know what her attribute is, so I brought her here to check."

The woman looked at Xu Zhi and nodded. "You may need to wait around ten minutes. There's still someone ahead of you being tested."

"Take a look at the handbook first."

Her manner was highly practiced. Apparently, new Transcendents being "picked up" had happened quite often. She turned to the counter, pulled out a brand-new booklet, and handed it to Xu Zhi. "It contains some common knowledge you'll need after becoming a Transcendent. You must read it. The handbook is updated every month. After registration, you'll receive an official website account and can view the updates there."

"Sit nearby for now. I'll call you when it's your turn."

For some reason, Xu Zhi felt as though she had encountered a head nurse at the hospital as a child.

Meng Cheng sat down beside Xu Zhi and urged her to hurry up and read. Xu Zhi simply went along with it and opened the thin handbook.

The first page introduced [Attributes].

Just as she knew, the handbook stated that there were eight types of attributes. Besides [Moth], [Cup], [Blade], [Winter], and [Heart], which Xu Zhi already knew about, it listed three attributes she had not known of.

[Lamp], [Opening], [Forge]

Xu Zhi wondered why she had rarely encountered these three attributes in Cloud City.

Were they incompatible with Cloud City and unwilling to appear there?

She looked over the handbook's descriptions of the various attributes and soon noticed that something seemed off.

The descriptions were extremely vague. The wording was imprecise, and they were not written in much detail. It was as though even the person who had compiled the handbook did not understand the specifics of each attribute and could only make guesses and judgments based on certain circumstances.

For example, this was what the handbook said about the [Moth] attribute.

[Transcendents with this attribute are mentally unstable most of the time. They have many strange ideas, though these are impractical. They enjoy fantasizing and may perform actions beyond ordinary people's understanding. Their stances are unstable, and holders of this attribute cannot be classified as good or evil. Whether they are dangerous depends entirely on their condition at the time.]

Xu Zhi was left utterly bewildered.

What kind of vague definition was this? And what did "mentally unstable" even mean?!

How should she put it? It did point out certain characteristics of [Moth], but it was not accurate enough.

For an official handbook to be written so ambiguously, they probably really could only confirm this much at present. Once more precise discoveries were made, it would likely be updated.

In other words, people outside knew which eight attributes existed, but unlike the game console, they could not provide precise descriptions directly. They could only judge based on the personalities displayed by Transcendents with those attributes.

Xu Zhi looked through the descriptions of the other attributes she knew and found them much the same as [Moth].

The description of the [Cup] attribute, however, was rather distinctive.

[Be wary of every Transcendent possessing this attribute! Notify the Special Events Processing Department immediately upon discovery! Do not trust a single word they say, and do not accept any temptation they offer! Dangerous!]

Well then, it seemed the fanatics outside were no saints either.

Xu Zhi then focused on the descriptions of the three attributes she did not understand. Though she knew the handbook's explanations of attributes were not entirely reliable, they were not without value.

[Opening:

There are currently few Transcendents with this attribute. According to available intelligence, wounds inflicted by Transcendents with this attribute are difficult to heal, and they become skilled at certain things, such as: lockpicking.]

Lockpicking???

Xu Zhi was completely baffled. She already knew this thing was unreliable, but she had not expected it to be unreliable to this extent.

Wait, maybe not.

What if people with this attribute really could become skilled at lockpicking?!

"No, that's not right. It should be related to lockpicking. Combined with the word 'Opening,' perhaps it means opening something?"

Xu Zhi pondered inwardly. She did not believe the Federation had failed to consider that point. It seemed this little handbook was concealing something after all.

That made sense. How could something anyone could read possibly contain the truly important information?

Having figured that out, Xu Zhi continued reading.

[Forge:

As its name suggests, this attribute is related to forging. Its holders often possess talents in smithing, manufacturing, and machinery that surpass those of ordinary people.]

After reading this passage, a thoughtful look flashed through Xu Zhi's eyes. She thought she knew which word the system had censored in the section on forging Transcendent items.

It should be the word [Forge].

That sentence should have read: Increasing affinity with [Forge] can raise the success rate.

It was hardly surprising that this attribute was scarce in Cloud City. Mutated animals could hardly possess talents related to forging and machinery, while many of the people left behind in Cloud City were old, weak, sick, or disabled. The rest had each stayed for their own reasons. Among them, how many could possibly possess a talent for [Forge]?

However, based on the differences she had noticed in the descriptions of the other attributes, Xu Zhi guessed that this likely described only one part of [Forge]. To learn the specifics, she would have to wait until she truly obtained a [Forge] Attribute Core.

Next, there was only the last one left—an attribute that concerned Xu Zhi the most just from its name alone.

[Lamp]

Whenever Xu Zhi saw that word, she thought of the black fog that blotted out the sky over Cloud City. Could [Lamp] bring humanity a glimmer of light in the darkness?