Who Says I'm Not a Proper Adventurer?
Chapter 36: Attribute Lock

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Attribute Lock

This Chapter explained a concept called the Attribute Lock in detail.

Now that the path of the Professional was well-established, there were naturally methods to measure one’s own capabilities, which were categorized by five Attributes.

This was just like Lance’s panel. It seemed that in the process of integrating into this world, the panel had adopted this exact method to display his Attributes.

For an ordinary human, the upper limit for each of the body’s Basic Attributes was 10 points.

No matter how much one trained or honed their skills, once they reached the mortal limit of 10 points, conventional training methods would no longer produce any improvement as long as they had not yet acquired a Profession.

"This is a problem..."

Lance’s brow furrowed.

He pulled up his system panel and double-checked the requirements for the Pale Guard Profession.

Constitution Requirement: 12.

It was clearly asking him to break his racial limit. No wonder it was called a Heroic Profession.

Attributes, Skills, a trial, and a heroic deed.

Any one of these four requirements alone would be enough to drive an ordinary person to despair, yet this Profession demanded the complete set.

Lance sighed and kept reading.

’Since the book mentioned the Attribute Lock, there must be a way to break it.’

Sure enough.

The book listed several ways for humans to surpass their limits.

The first was personal Talent.

Some people were born extraordinary, with awakened Talents that could directly increase their Attribute caps. These were the ones born with a silver spoon, blessed by the heavens themselves.

Lance could skip right past that one.

He was a pure mechanics exploiter, with no such simple, brute-force stat bonuses.

That left only the second method.

Chugging potions.

This world had many Alchemy Potions capable of forcibly raising an individual’s potential.

The book specifically mentioned a Magic Potion that could help humans break their Constitution Attribute Lock: the Giant Amber Potion.

This item came from the Life Alchemy School in the Alchemy Holy Land Veridia. Its main ingredient was a Regeneration Enzyme isolated from the blood of Forest Giants.

Consuming it would forcibly break a human’s Constitution Attribute Lock, allowing it to be improved further.

Since it could break the rules, its price was astronomical for anyone who had yet to become a Professional.

Lance saw the latest market reference price in a small note in the book’s margin.

Giant Amber Potion: Market reference price, 13 Gold Coins.

Lance stared at the number, feeling a sharp pain in his jaw.

That was three Gold Coins more than his life goal of saving up enough money to go to Ostrara and find a wife.

Not only would this one Potion bankrupt him, it would leave him saddled with a massive debt.

If he were to follow the conventional path—save money, buy the Potion, and then attempt the challenge for the Heroic Profession...

...it would probably take until the end of time.

Any other Adventurer facing this insurmountable obstacle would probably just have to buckle down and save up, or give up entirely.

But Lance was different.

He was a cheater.

Since the conventional route was a dead end, he would have to find a backdoor.

His gaze fell upon the Biological Research module on his system panel.

Illustrated Guide: Sub-human Species - Goblin

Current Research Progress: Level 2 (9/50)

According to the settings from the game he used to play...

Once he completed Level 2 research, he would unlock the map-marking function for that species.

It was like activating a full-map wallhack; all hostile mobs within a certain range would be marked on his map.

Whether for avoiding danger or for targeted extermination, it was a Divine Skill.

But the key was Level 3.

Lance clearly remembered that upon completing Level 3 research, the player could Plunder a Racial Talent from that species.

Although Goblins were weak, as Demons, some of their biological functions were beyond compare for a human.

And forget Goblins—what if he could research high-Constitution Demons like Giants or Ogres in the future?

There were also Iron-skinned Wild Boars and Stone Shell River Crabs in Copper Creek Forest—Demons that leaned toward Constitution—which could also be considered.

There was a high probability that he could forcibly break the human Attribute Lock by Plundering their Talents.

This was his third path, unique to him and him alone.

Lance glanced at his current panel data.

Constitution: 6

Spirit: 7

Perception: 6

Compared to the 12 Constitution, 10 Spirit, and 10 Perception required for the Pale Guard Profession, he was still short a total of 13 Attribute points.

Especially his Constitution, which needed to be doubled.

’First, I need to grind my Basic Attributes.’

Lance formulated a plan in his mind.

Before his Attributes hit the 10-point limit, there was no need to worry about breaking the Attribute Lock.

By then, he figured he would have hunted enough Demons to obtain the Racial Talents needed to break through the barrier.

As for training his Basic Attributes, the book stated that there were absolutely no shortcuts.

The gods, high in the firmament, had generously granted every race the power to climb the long staircase and ascend to a level of existence closer to their own.

But every race first had to endure arduous training just to earn the right to set foot on that staircase.

Lance turned the page. On it was an illustration of a Red Dragon.

These creatures were born powerful, yet their young had to undergo a cruel ritual known as the "Rite of Swallowing Embers" shortly after hatching.

Before a young dragon could truly spew the world-incinerating Dragon Breath, it had to swallow scalding, sharp-edged volcanic crystals day after day under its parents’ supervision.

They had to use these hard, hot objects to repeatedly tear and temper their own tender esophagi.

Only through countless cycles of injury and healing could they grow the internal flame-resistant lining needed to insulate them from the heat, thereby developing the Talent for Dragon Breath.

If this was true for the naturally powerful Dragon Race, how much more so for frail humans?

For humans, the only way to become a Professional was through dull, day-in, day-out training.

No matter which Profession one chose, the minimum threshold was having one of the Basic Attributes reach the mortal limit—the so-called Attribute Lock.

Those who wished to become Swordsmen had to endure the soreness of torn muscles, swinging their blades millions of times to temper their bodies until their Power hit that invisible ceiling.

Those who wished to become Mages had to endure solitary stillness, meditating endlessly through the night until their Spirit Attribute was full to bursting.

It was a path that was both perfectly fair and incredibly cruel.

Whether a prince of noble blood or a common street peddler, anyone who wished to walk this path would inevitably suffer.

Thus, tales were often told across the continent of some Duke’s heir who, despite possessing the finest resources and bloodline, was too lazy by nature to endure the pain of training and ultimately failed to become a Professional.

Such stories would become fodder for gossip among the common folk of their fiefdom.

Conversely, the world was not short on commoners of Ordinary birth who, through their own nearly masochistic training, took step after arduous step until they became Legendary.

The book concluded with a single line of small text:

The gods have granted this world the greatest fairness of all: the sweat from one’s brow can truly become the power to change one’s fate.