Hidden Attributes

Following the system prompt, everyone looked toward the fox girl on the carriage.

It was a very plain freight carriage, with two deep ruts trailing behind it. Driving it was a white-haired fox girl.

She looked only fifteen or sixteen. The girl had gleaming white hair, a beautiful yet playful face, and at the sight of her, one could not help but picture the little girl next door from their own fantasies.

She wore a loose blue-and-white gown, with two tender white feet peeking out beneath the hem. Her gaze was somewhat vacant as she looked at the group.

It was as if this girl next door had been frightened by their brutal display just now.

Ali nudged Qi Lin beside her and asked curiously, "I think we scared this NPC pretty badly just now."

Qi Lin and Young Mistress both fell into thought...

What they did not know was that, just moments ago, a gentle voice had sounded in the white-haired fox girl Jiu Yue's mind.

Although it was the first time Jiu Yue had heard this voice, the instant she did, it was as though someone had told her in the depths of her mind that its owner was the great Goddess of Life.

"..."

"Mm." Jiu Yue nodded, looking toward the Travelers in the distance as she thought, As expected of the Travelers personally summoned by the Mother Goddess in the rumors. The Mother Goddess even arranged a task for them herself.

Jiu Yue drove her carriage up to Qi Lin and the others, then asked with feigned curiosity, "Are you the Travelers from another world summoned by the Mother Goddess?"

"That's right." Young Mistress stepped forward first to speak with the fox girl Jiu Yue.

In fact, they had already used the Appraisal Technique on Jiu Yue just now. Everyone was curious about her information; after all, she was the third NPC the players had encountered.

[Name: Jiu Yue]

[Race: Liyue Foxfolk]

[Level: Level 15 (Qi Refining Stage)]

[Class: Qi Refiner]

[Description: Jiu Yue is a junior among the foxfolk cultivating in Liyue's mountains. Out of curiosity, she ran out of the forests and into the mortal world. With no money to her name, she began traveling between Liyue and Mondstadt as a merchant...]

"A merchant?" Ali rubbed Qi Lin and Dun Qu Qi Yi beside her, asking curiously, "Could this be the follow-up plot Young Mistress mentioned after the system's earlier prompt?"

"Most likely." Qi Lin voiced her own guess. "Isn't her background that of a traveling merchant? That means the Mora in our hands finally has a use."

Meanwhile, seeing that someone had answered, Jiu Yue said, "My name is Jiu Yue. Not long ago, I received instructions from the Great Elf Skadi and hurried here from Mondstadt."

As she spoke, Jiu Yue pointed at the carriage behind her and asked, "May I ask where the Great Elf Skadi is now?"

Jiu Yue gave Young Mistress and the others a slight smile. Their vision blurred, and though everyone present was a girl, they had all been drawn in by Jiu Yue's sweet smile just then.

Could this be the legendary fox enchantress? everyone frantically complained inwardly.

Though stunned by the fox girl Jiu Yue's appearance, the women quickly recovered.

Ali took the initiative to explain, "I can take you to Skadi. What reward will we get?" The question mark above Jiu Yue's head had yet to disappear.

So she asked first.

Just after Ali finished speaking, a system prompt appeared before her: You have triggered the quest [Message from Beyond.]

Seeing the system prompt, Ali hurriedly took a screenshot and sent it to Qi Lin, Young Mistress, and Dun Qu Qi Yi beside her, then replied in the chat:

"I think I triggered a quest."

Seeing the message in the chat window, Young Mistress was the first to type a reply: "Let's see how NPC Jiu Yue responds first, then act according to the situation."

"A reward?" Jiu Yue suddenly understood. "As a merchant, I too uphold Liyue's spirit of contracts. So long as you lead me to the Great Elf Skadi, I will give you an appropriate reward."

After Jiu Yue finished speaking, the system prompt before Ali changed as well:

[What will our reward be?]

Ali would have asked that anyway, even without the prompt. Since the system had prompted her, she followed it and asked, "What will our reward be?"

Jiu Yue took a talisman paper from her sleeve and said, "This is an extra Spirit-Awakening Talisman I used when I was little. It can allow people with other apprentice classes to change their class to a Qi Refiner."

"This doesn't seem very useful to us." Young Mistress asked doubtfully from the side.

Hearing one of the Travelers question her reward, Jiu Yue put her hands on her hips in displeasure, puffed out her cheeks, and said angrily, "Who says it isn't useful?"

"The Spirit-Awakening Talisman lets you, if you are dissatisfied with your current class, awaken your spirit at level ten and become a Qi Refiner, one of Liyue's two major classes."

"But we're all very satisfied with our current classes." Ali looked at the message Young Mistress had just sent and read it out word by word: "If you don't have a suitable reward, you can provide me with information instead."

Jiu Yue's face immediately flushed red. She scratched her cheek awkwardly and said, "Actually, I can offer other rewards, such as Mora. When I saw this Traveler, I realized..."

"She has a unique aura that makes her very suitable for a class change into the foxfolk branch of Liyue's Qi Refiners."

The same thought surfaced in Qi Lin, Ali, and Young Mistress's minds: A hidden class.

Dun Qu Qi Yi, who had remained silent all this time, asked curiously, "Sister Ali, what are your Hidden Attributes?"

Hidden Attributes were special attributes Cheng Jue had set during the game's initial design, such as eloquence, charm, luck, and so on. There were dozens of them.

When Cheng Jue designed the World Tree game, it returned a tiny amount to the bodies in the original world. Thus, the souls entering the game retained, more or less, traits from their original world.

For example, Hawkeye's vision among the Hidden Attributes on his quest panel was higher than that of other players.

For another example, Lord Xin Zhao Xin's reaction attribute on his panel was also higher than that of other players.

After such a long period of closed beta testing, everyone had realized that each person's Hidden Attributes were different. There was currently no way to obtain Hidden Attributes, though people on the forums speculated that they might require equipment or corresponding quests.

Regardless of the other Hidden Attributes, people on the forums had already predicted from some information on the official website that several would be extremely useful in the future.

They were luck, aptitude, comprehension, spiritual perception, charm, and eloquence.

Yet everyone agreed on one thing: no matter which Hidden Attribute it was, an individual value would not exceed ten points. Even if someone's luck was through the roof, it would not exceed twenty points.

Of course, those were the lucky ones. For the vast majority of people, no individual Hidden Attribute exceeded five points.

Luck was the sole exception. Everyone's was zero, without exception.

Dun Qu Qi Yi asked curiously, "Sister Ali, what are your six useful attributes?"

Young Mistress spoke first, dispelling Ali's concerns. "My luck is 0, aptitude 14, comprehension 10, spiritual perception 9, charm 11, and eloquence 11."

Qi Lin then said, "My luck is 0, aptitude 8, comprehension 8, spiritual perception 14, charm 10, and eloquence 9."

Seeing that all her sisters had shared theirs, Dun Qu Qi Yi said as well, "My Hidden Attributes are luck 50, aptitude 16, comprehension 17, spiritual perception 18, charm 21, and eloquence 5."

Hearing Dun Qu Qi Yi's Hidden Attributes, Qi Lin and Young Mistress both raised their brows. "How did Little Yi do that? Her attributes are so high. No wonder her luck is always so good."

Jue thought, Is that high? Sister had already weakened all those attributes. Without the weakening, they would probably have been multiplied by a thousand afterward.

After everyone had shared their Hidden Attributes, Ali finally said, "I know what's going on now. My charm is 98."

"What? Ali, your charm attribute is 98?" Everyone was stunned, including Dun Qu Qi Yi. She knew her own situation best.