Chapter 564: The Dropping Of Gu Xiaoyue’s Attributes
Gu Xiaoyue had always lived a simple life; she rarely interacted with other students, and all her spare time was spent either reading or in meditation. If anyone called that girl lazy, then the school would probably have no one who could be called hardworking.
With those emotions in his mind, Xiao Lin opened the door to Gu Xiaoyue’s room. Since dinner had just passed, he did not worry that she would be asleep. The girl was as cold as usual, but when she saw Xiao Lin walking into her own room so naturally, the corner of her lips twitched.
Xiao Lin suddenly thought that barging into a woman’s dormitory late at night was not a good idea, but he had to admit that he had been driven by the urge to see Gu Xiaoyue immediately.
Gu Xiaoyue looked at him calmly, as she was not one to start conversations.
Xiao Lin looked around the simple room, and his gaze fell on the desk. The desk had a book on it, so she was probably reading earlier. There were two bottles next to the book; one of them was already empty, and the other one had a faint red liquid inside.
“What is that?” Xiao Lin finally asked.
“Nutrient potions.”
Xiao Lin raised his eyebrow before picking up the bottle to read the words on it. “Nurse the Body and Replenish Blood?”
Xiao Lin observed Gu Xiaoyue, who was right next to him with an intense expression, and he was surprised to find that, after so long of not seeing her, Gu Xiaoyue’s face seemed a little pale. His voice got a little heavier, “What’s wrong with your health?”
Gu Xiaoyue seemed a little shy at being stared at, and she looked away, saying, “I have… I have not been feeling all that well lately, so I bought these two bottles of potions to help with it.”
“A little unwell? Are you so unwell that it caused your physical attributes to drop by so much?” The girl tried to brush it aside, but it did not cause Xiao Lin to relax. He knew that Gu Xiaoyue was very stubborn.
Gu Xiaoyue’s physique had dropped only a little compared to last semester, and it did not look that much, but Gu Xiaoyue was someone who signed up for physical training classes. With her hardworking personality, she would definitely have increased the attribute by quite a bit. If that was the case, her attributes would not have decreased by so little.
Xiao Lin cursed himself for not realizing it earlier, and it caused him to have a dark thought as he asked, “Does it have anything to do with your lifespan? I looked at your report earlier; you only have a year and a half left!”
Half a semester had passed, and Gu Xiaoyue had lost a quarter of her life!
It now looked like, with the shortening of her life, Gu Xiaoyue would be suffering from severe impacts to her body. Xiao Lin could vaguely feel that the cold girl in front of him was slowly weakening.
Before, Xiao Lin had already speculated on Gu Xiaoyue’s secret with Song Junlang. The two of them felt that Gu Xiaoyue might have elvish blood in her. As seen from the colonist territories, whenever humans bred with the natives, they would almost always have natural born genetic deficiencies, and their lifespans were never long.
It was a problem that stumped all the academies. The problem still did not have a solution to this day, but Song Junalng had told Xiao Lin before that he had constantly been conducting genetic research, so it was possible that Song Junlang could be of some help. Only, after hastily showing his face in the academy last time, Song Junlang had already returned to Dawn City to continue his research, and it would be hard to find him in the academy in the short term.
Xiao Lin knew that it was useless to console Gu Xiaoyue, as the girl probably had such a realization long ago, but Xiao Lin still said with determination before he left, “No matter what, I won’t let you just die like that after a year!”
Gu Xiaoyue answered casually, but she probably did not take it to heart.
Xiao Lin did not continue on that topic, and instead shifted his focus to the book she had. He noticed it was a spellbook; the name of the book was God’s Light — it was a Bronze-ranked healing spell. Even though Gu Xiaoyue was not at Bronze rank yet, her intelligence meant that she was more than capable of learning that spell.
Xiao Lin was a bit speechless. “You really are determined to continue pursuing support magic.” He had looked at the assessment report, and Gu Xiaoyue had continued focusing on support-type spells. She only had a few offensive combat spells to protect herself.
“Of the twelve monitors, no one had chosen this path,” Gu Xiaoyue said calmly.
Xiao Lin paused, not understanding what she meant.
Gu Xiaoyue rolled her eyes, saying, “Are you telling me you still don’t know the competition system for the inter-academy tournament?”
Xiao Lin felt a little awkward, because he really had not been paying attention to that. However, he suddenly felt that it was strange; the twelve monitors had all been forced to participate in the competition on behalf of the first-years this time, but no one else had been forced. Even though the student union seemed to have put Gu Xiaoyue into the list of candidates, it made no sense that she would be interested in that tournament with her personality.
Gu Xiaoyue did not answer his doubts. Instead, she said, “The tournament will be split into individual and group tournaments. Setting aside the individual portions, in the group competitions, when both sides have equal skill, the support will determine the victory!”
Xiao Lin smiled bitterly. It really seemed like he was neglecting his duty, but he really did not have time to understand the inter-academy tournament. Hearing Gu Xiaoyue mention it, he took the chance to say, “I really haven’t looked at it in detail, but Gu Xiaoyue, are you really going to attend?”
The tournament had a list of 15 people, so other than the 12 monitors, there would be three other attendees. Of course, that would be determined after layers of selection, and the current list had yet to be publicized.
“In the first year, outside of myself, I can’t think of anyone who can replace me!” Gu Xiaoyue pushed her glasses confidently, going silent for a moment before lowering her voice. “The prize is very important to me this time, so I need to win it back no matter what!”
“What prize?”
“There is an announcement on the forums. I think you should go back and look at it.”
Xiao Lin did not know whether to laugh or cry. Gu Xiaoyue was clearly chasing him away, but he knew that being there in the middle of the night could easily cause misunderstandings as well. Before he left, he told Gu Xiaoyue to take care of herself, and asked her to tell him if it got worse. Even though she said okay, Xiao Lin doubted the girl took his words to heart.
After returning to his dormitory, Xiao Lin decided to look at the forums after having his curiosity piqued by Gu Xiaoyue. He found the thread that Gu Xiaoyue had mentioned. The one who posted it was the second-year leader Chen Yu. It was a thread announcing the tournament, and it introduced the tournament’s history and meaning.
Of course, it included a lucrative and attractive prize.