Chapter 10: The Second Attribute Core
After having Yi carry the wheelchair upstairs, Xu Zhi carefully inspected the room again. Confirming that there were no signs of anyone living there, she closed the door and took out her game console.
She had no intention of sending Yi away to hunt or find that black fruit just yet. Although time was tight, Xu Zhi could still tell the difference between urgency and priority. Right now, in an unfamiliar place, it was best to have Yi stay for a while longer.
Besides, she had another appointment later.
“Go search the building and see if there are any other people around.”
Xu Zhi didn’t let Yi go too far. Even at the current speed, if anything dangerous came up, Yi would be able to respond quickly.
While Yi was clearing the building and the small dog was hunting in the meantime, Xu Zhi didn’t bother cleaning the room. She immediately began controlling the small dog to hunt.
The hunting process went surprisingly smoothly, with prey falling one after another, most of them still asleep. They were easily taken down. In less than half an hour, Xu Zhi had used the small dog to kill four prey.
At this moment, Yi returned to the room.
After pressing the button to continue searching for prey, Xu Zhi looked up at Yi and asked, “Is there anyone else here?”
The giant snake humanized itself and shook its head.
“Okay, stay here.”
With that, Xu Zhi lowered her head and focused on the game console, where a new round of hunting had just ended.
What caught Xu Zhi’s attention was an item emitting faint light among the prey’s bodies on the pixel screen. Then, a line of text appeared in the center of the screen.
[Your familiar has overleveled and hunted a sleeping prey, gaining an unexpected reward.]
[Incredible, your luck seems to be exceptionally good.]
Along with this line of text, a message appeared in the bottom left corner of the screen, similar to the message that appears when you pick up items in other games.
[Energy Core +1]
Seeing the message, Xu Zhi was surprised.
Another one?
She quickly opened her backpack, and sure enough, in addition to the gray [Moth] attribute core, there was a light yellow core.
She selected that core, and a single word appeared next to it: [Blade].
“Ah, this isn’t because I attracted it, right?”
Xu Zhi immediately thought of how both of her familiars had the [Blade] attribute.
[Attributes interact with each other, and most of the time, organisms can only awaken the attribute most suited to them.]
[However, this doesn’t mean that an organism can only have one attribute. Generally, there will be no more than three attributes inside a creature’s body, but awakening a second attribute is extremely difficult.]
[This core was not attracted by you, but not entirely unrelated.]
[It was drawn by your familiars. In a sense, your familiar is one with you, so isn’t it also attracted by you?]
[Now, would you like to learn about the Blade attribute?]
“Of course.”
Xu Zhi really wanted to suggest that the narrator just skip this part next time.
[Blade: The principle of war and struggle.]
[It contains brute strength, betrayal, cunning, and pain. The elements can be conquest and domination, struggle and resistance. Its characteristics are craftiness, bloodthirst, and a violence that contains cunning.]
[You now have a basic understanding of the Blade attribute. Other attributes will unlock once you possess the corresponding attribute core. As for the specific effects of the attribute core, you will need to explore it on your own.]
It seemed like a good match with her familiar’s attributes.
But the ideas of conquest and domination left her a bit confused.
Nonetheless, the attribute was timely—she already had a rough idea on how to use the core.
This [Blade] attribute core was perfect for an experiment, but that would have to wait until after her meeting with that young lady.
Xu Zhi took the core and placed it in her pocket in the real world, then continued to control the small dog for hunting. After about an hour, thanks to most of the prey not having a chance to resist, the small dog quickly leveled up to level 8.
Looking at the newly refreshed evolution points progress bar, Xu Zhi sighed. She would have to manually level it up two more times to unlock the auto-hunt feature.
She looked at the screen and thought about the now sizable gray dog, whose size was now almost that of a Tibetan Mastiff. “Might as well give you a name now.”
After thinking for half a minute, Xu Zhi decided on a name for her second familiar member.
“From now on, you’ll be called Gouzi.”
The large dog in the pixel screen couldn’t hear her words. It simply stood there, lazily wagging its tail, oblivious to the fact that it had been given a rather dismissive name.
Xu Zhi checked the time—it had been two hours. It was time to meet that young lady as agreed.
“Let’s go, Yi. Let’s see if the sister is back.”
She didn’t use the wheelchair this time. It was inconvenient without an elevator.
While climbing the stairs, she suddenly thought about how Gouzi’s size was nearly the same as that of a Tibetan Mastiff. If it grew any larger, riding it would be no problem. In that case, she wouldn’t even need a wheelchair when going out.
Her frail body made it difficult to climb even a single flight of stairs, leaving her a bit winded. She paused outside the door to catch her breath before knocking.
Soon, a voice came from inside: “Who’s there?”
Xu Zhi realized her hearing was fine again. She could clearly tell it was the same voice she had heard two hours ago.
“Sister, I’ve come to find you as agreed.”
Her tone was polite, like a well-behaved child.
There was a brief silence, then she heard footsteps coming toward the door. Xu Zhi stepped back two paces, and Yi, beside her, kept a watchful eye on the door, spitting out its tongue.
The door quickly opened, and the young lady from earlier stood inside. She looked the same, but her sportswear was now stained with a lot of dirty blood—likely from hunting, as she hadn’t had time to change before answering the door.
If this blood was hers, she probably couldn’t stand anymore.
“Did you go hunting just now, sister?” Xu Zhi asked with a smile.
The young lady didn’t hide it, nodding and casting a subtle glance at Yi, her expression tense. She seemed unable to let go of her wariness toward the unfamiliar girl and the giant snake.
But since she hadn’t chosen to run away and had opened the door as agreed, even though she was still on guard, she didn’t intend to do anything contradictory. The woman stepped aside, allowing Xu Zhi to enter.
“Come in, take a seat. I’ll go change my clothes.”
She pointed to the bloodstains on her clothes. The blood was quite thick, and Xu Zhi noticed that the woman’s fingers were calloused and looked strong, unlike Xu Zhi’s delicate fingers. She appeared to have hands suited for wielding a blade.
“Sorry for disturbing you.”
Xu Zhi politely entered, sitting on the sofa. The woman hesitated for a moment before going to change. Before leaving, she grabbed a paper cup and poured some water for Xu Zhi.
“Thank you.” Xu Zhi’s voice was soft. If one didn’t notice the giant snake lying at her feet, she might sound quite easy to bully.
However, despite acting very obedient, Xu Zhi never reached for the cup of water.
