Chapter 97: Special Ability: Inequivalent ExchangeAfter Su Yang went through the system notification, a young man in traditional Chinese attire appeared above the swimming pool. The 15 to 16-year-old youth had a pair of puffy eyes as if he did not have enough sleep.
At the same time, the system window popped up from the young man’s body.
[Swimming Pool +1: High Life Evolution has occurred. Acquired Intermediate Intellect. Acquired Humanoid Body. Acquired special ability: Inequivalent Exchange.]
[Remark: Brave young man, do you desire this kind of power or that kind of power?]
Su Yang did not know how to react when he saw the description.
‘Did the swimming pool acquire a humanoid body? Does it mean that the point gave birth to a powerful monster? Judging from the size of it, it’s like a monster from xianxia novels reaching transformation stage1, right? Like it transformed into its humanoid form from a swimming pool!’
Su Yang had the feeling that if this continued, he could add a point to a ship, a plane, or even a building.
‘Can I add a point to the earth at a later stage?’
On top of that, similar to Deeny, the swimming pool had acquired Intermediate Intellect, plus a special ability that was recognized by the system.
It was his first time finding a special ability on the monster that he added. He tapped the ability to go over it.
[Special ability: Inequivalent Exchange]
[Ability: You can trade with the Pool Deity once a day with anything you have, but you will be offered two items of inequivalent value in return. Choose one from the two.]
[Simply throw the item into the pool to use it. (Note: Don’t throw trash into the water. The Pool Deity doesn’t like to sort out the trash)]
[Remark: You can throw in a diamond and get a piece of coal in return, young man.]
‘Yeap…another strange ability…’
After Su Yang read through the description, he looked at the so-called Pool Deity. The Pool Deity was standing on the surface of the pool as if he was weightless. He appeared in a traditional Chinese attire which further amplified the deity presence within him.
When the Pool Deity caught Su Yang’s gaze, he smiled harmlessly with his squinted eyes and bowed while putting his hands together in front of him. “Good day, Lord Su Yang, please take care of me from now on.”
‘Yeap…a cute guy…’
Su Yang asked, “Are you the swimming pool itself?”
The young Pool Deity nodded.
“I’ll call you Pool then.”
The Pool Deity did not reply, so Su Yang took his silence as a yes.
A new monster of the ‘transformation stage’ had joined the family. His presence excited the little ones, causing them to come out from their rooms.
With the addition of Pool, Su Yang now had five little monsters in his house.
The dumbest one would be Sanque, the ginseng. Life Evolution failed during the process, causing it to be a little slower than others. Su Yang believed that if the Life Evolution had succeeded that day, Sanque might be a bigger monster like Pool because the reaction from the point-adding was just as grand as Pool’s.
The next would be Gru, the twig. It was the earliest little monster Su Yang had after adding points. Since it had the simplest intellect among the others, it could not speak and did not have any special ability, so it was like having a three-year-old around.
After Gru would be Little Hus, the bolster. He also had Simple Intellect but was a lot naughtier. He was able to fool the other little monsters and even bluff Su Yang at times. Su Yang started to suspect that the b*stard had evolved without his knowing.
The smartest one would be Deeny, the phone. The Intermediate Intellect allowed her to appear in a human form inside the virtual space, but she remained as a phone in the real world. Since she was a smart girl and a quick learner, Su Yang tried to raise her like a real A.I.
All four of them were excited with the arrival of Pool, a senior in the form of a humanoid. They gathered around and bombarded him with questions. To be more precise, only Little Hus was jumping around and asking questions.
Deeny was sizing up the swimming pool as if she felt sad that she could not swim anymore.
Gru ‘Gru-ed’ ceaselessly, but other than Sanque, no one understood what it said.
Sanque returned to the flower pot and played dead.
Su Yang had a feeling that the ginseng did not reconcile with Gru. Instead, it realized the outside world was too dangerous, especially the world with Little Hus around, thus it had no choice but to return to Gru.
The Pool Deity was patient enough even though Little Hus was being annoying and vexing. He smiled and explained patiently.
Little Hus asked, “So, no matter what I throw into the pool, you will give me something back?”
Pool Deity said with a harmless look, “Of course!”
“What if I throw Sanque in?”
A question mark popped up above Sanque’s head.
“You cannot throw in what is not yours,” the Pool Deity explained patiently.
Little Hus’ husky eyes went round and round, as if some evil plan was brewing in his mind. A moment later, he asked, “Why are you in human form?”
The Pool Deity smiled and pointed at Su Yang. “Ask Su Yang to add another point to you.”
The husky eyes on the bolster widened. “Do you mean I can become a human with another point?!”
“Not exactly. You can also acquire other abilities, talents or even change your form further. Of course, there are also chances that Life Evolution will happen again.”
Little Hus barely listened to what the Pool Deity said. The husky stuck its tongue out and its eyes were full of admiration. It must be imagining itself as a handsome young man if Life Evolution happened again and transformed it into a human.
If Su Yang must say so himself, Little Hus would turn into a naughty child instead of a handsome young man.
However, the system still did not allow him to add two points to the same item yet, so everything would remain as a fantasy for now.
Su Yang wanted to test the abilities of the Pool Deity out, but when he glanced at his watch, he realized that it was already 9 a.m.
It was a Saturday and he had to tutor Tang Xiaomi. It was not just about making 2,000 yuan per day anymore. He was also earning Random Points from it.
Su Yang had spent a lot recently to help him in the midterms, and with the last Random Point added to the swimming pool, he must replenish it as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Su Yang put aside the thought of testing the Pool Deity and washed up before he stormed out of his basement. He got on the subway and made his way to Tang Jing’s neighborhood.
This time around, when he reached the entrance, the guard no longer called Tang Jing for confirmation. He simply let Su Yang in. After all, Su Yang had visited Tang Jing’s house many times and the guard recognized him.
When he got to Tang Jing’s unit, he pressed the bell, and Tang Jing welcomed him in casual clothes and an apron. She smiled brightly when she saw him. “You’re here!”
Su Yang nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I’m here.”
Tang Jing opened the door for Su Yang, and while she removed the apron, she said, “Come have some breakfast. Xiaomi is still asleep.”
Su Yang looked at his watch. “It’s already 10 a.m. Isn’t she awake yet?”
Tang Jing nodded. Her eyes were filled with a loving twinkle as she said, “She insisted on playing a game last night, I let her have some fun. But she got addicted and stayed awake until 4 a.m.”
Even though Su Yang was close to Tang Xiaomi, he spoke his mind in front of her mother, “Sister Tang, you shouldn’t pamper her like that. She’s still small, so you shouldn’t let her get addicted to games.”
Tang Jing chuckled and said softly, “It’s not a smart phone game. It’s Sudoku. She’s trying to solve 6 x 6 and 9 x 9.”
Su Yang did not know how to respond. ‘Sudoku? Is that what geniuses play nowadays? What was I doing when I was her age?’
He tried to recall what he did when he was young but realized that he did not have any entertainment back in the village. All he played with was dirt and mud.
‘I really didn’t have a childhood…’