Miraculous Forger of the Collapse Chapter 29

Houraisan Kaguya's face instantly darkened.

Forget it. Hold it in, hold it in.

I still need something from him. Hold it in.

"Anyway, that's how it happened. Thanks to your money, I rented a place and became rich through our heartfelt exchanges. Although it was mutually beneficial, I'll always remember your help. If I really make it back to Gensokyo, I'll definitely have Eirin make you a hundred Elixirs of Hourai. Really." Houraisan Kaguya spoke with utter certainty.

"Why are you making it sound so mushy? What are you after?" Chen Li looked at Houraisan Kaguya warily.

We've been online friends for two years. You think I don't know you?

Just say what you want.

"Um... Li Bao, do you have a way to send me back to Gensokyo?" No longer bothering to pretend, Houraisan Kaguya looked at Chen Li expectantly.

"Because of Jingliu?" Chen Li asked.

"Mhm, mhm." Houraisan Kaguya nodded repeatedly.

Jingliu, meanwhile, had no idea why Houraisan Kaguya was saying this.

"This..." Chen Li knew that Houraisan Kaguya could infer from Jingliu that he had some means of communicating with other worlds, but he was considering how to explain it.

Should he tell her the truth?

Was Houraisan Kaguya trustworthy?

Never let down one's guard against others—this had been one of the core principles that had kept Chen Li alive since his first transmigration at thirteen.

"Why did you stop talking? Do you have concerns? Tell me about them." Houraisan Kaguya took the initiative to break the silence.

Houraisan Kaguya was not an impatient person, but this matter truly touched upon her bottom line.

"Quiet. I'm looking something up."

"What are you looking up? Let me see... 'Houraisan Kaguya seems to have a side that never forgets the gratitude she owes others'?" Houraisan Kaguya leaned over to glance at the information on Chen Li's phone and was utterly shocked.

"Can you trust what you read online? You might as well believe I'm Qin Shi Huang." Quickly growing embarrassed and angry, Houraisan Kaguya snatched the phone from Chen Li's hand.

"You have a point. Give me ten minutes." With that, Chen Li stood and walked off to the side, then summoned the Forging Table and the Miracle Hammer.

Because Houraisan Kaguya and Chen Li existed in the same world, Chen Li's concerns about her ran deeper than his concerns about anyone else.

Houraisan Kaguya could really come after Chen Li in person.

So Chen Li intended to forge a miraculous item.

One that was useful now and would certainly be useful in the future.

Houraisan Kaguya curiously watched Chen Li, who had suddenly run off to the side to hammer metal in the middle of their conversation.

Houraisan Kaguya knew that Chen Li's secondary profession was a forger. In fact, providing Chen Li with Undying Remains was one of Houraisan Kaguya's main sources of income.

Yet as she watched the blue flames rise, she felt a faint sense of familiarity.

Chen Li tossed the crystal containing the Forced Transaction trait into the Miracle Fire.

Forced Transaction Coin: When both parties agree upon the terms of a transaction before this coin, the transaction will be forcibly executed and cannot be violated.

Notes: The more relatively equivalent the exchange between both parties, the more capable it is of forcibly executing transactions upon targets governed by higher-level rules.

PS: Never! Never say things carelessly in front of the coin, never! Important things must be said three times!

(Miracle: Gensokyo? Oh, found it. System records show that this world has a lot of idiots, and Miracle Power has been used in strange ways. Compared to worlds destroyed by the abuse of miracles, worlds like this one that can pull back from the brink in time are the minority.)

The exquisite, compact, and ornate gold coin in Chen Li's hand differed from all the miraculous items he had made before.

This miraculous item consisted of a single trait. Yet it had cost no small number of crystals—excluding the crystal that stored the trait itself, it had still taken a full fifteen crystals.

Forced Transaction had originally been a trait from the miraculous item Call to the Distance. Extracting the trait had consumed very little Miracle Fire, and together with the crystal used to store it, it had only cost two crystals.

But Chen Li had spent twelve crystals to raise the trait's brightness as high as possible.

As a result, the miraculous item's initial capacity was insufficient, so he had to spend another two crystals to increase its trait capacity.

Compared to "traditional" methods of forging miraculous items, this approach was unconventional. It suited traits that already met one's needs and required no support from other traits.

Increasing trait brightness also had diminishing returns. The higher the brightness, the more exponentially the number of crystals required increased. As a Miraculous Forger, one had to weigh the cost-effectiveness for oneself.

Miraculous Forger: lv1 (104/100)

Seeing this, Chen Li decided to level up after returning home.

Holding the newly forged miraculous item, Chen Li walked back over to Houraisan Kaguya.

"Come on, let's make a deal. I'll do my best to help you get home, and during this time and after you return to Gensokyo, you cannot harm me physically or mentally in any form. And since I'm the one providing the service, you'll need to satisfy my reasonable requests to a certain extent. This includes, but is not limited to, reasonable transactions involving your body... I mean Undying Remains, as well as helping me make fake medicine infused with a bit of Eternity Power to extend one's lifespan." Chen Li held up the coin as he spoke.

"Isn't that basically offering myself to you? Sure. As long as you can send me back to Gensokyo, I'll listen to anything you say." Houraisan Kaguya blinked and casually blurted out.

"???"

Seeing the coin in his hand radiating golden light, Chen Li was completely dumbfounded.

"Sorry, I'll never spout nonsense again." Houraisan Kaguya clutched her head and begged for mercy.

Over the past half minute, Houraisan Kaguya had nearly been beaten into a lump-covered mess by Chen Li.

"Alright, what do you think we should do now, you lolicon?" Chen Li crossed his arms and looked at Houraisan Kaguya, who was sitting obediently beside him.

I'm only seventeen! You know that's illegal, right?!

"The point is, you never told me this thing could force transactions between both parties to be carried out. Otherwise, how could I possibly have named such a condition?" Houraisan Kaguya said aggrievedly.

Wasn't trading trash talk online the most common thing ever?

Today they were sisters, tomorrow they were father and son, and the day after, they were grandfather and grandson.

A true case of disaster coming from one's mouth!

"Fine, you have a point. But I'm not omnipotent, either. Luckily, you added that condition about listening to me in everything afterward, so it's not like there's no way to salvage this."

"What do you mean?"

"As long as I don't allow you to offer yourself to me, won't that solve it?" Chen Li spread his hands.

But then again, it was precisely because of that condition that this Forced Transaction could be completed.

Chen Li didn't need Houraisan Kaguya to offer herself to him, but his demand was that Houraisan Kaguya had to listen to him under reasonable circumstances and could not harm him.

Houraisan Kaguya's words perfectly fulfilled those conditions.

Since Chen Li's expectation had been met, and Houraisan Kaguya's expectation of returning home had also been met, her promise to listen to him in everything was regarded as a voluntarily added gift.

Although there had been a small accident, Chen Li was still very satisfied with this artifact.

Since this artifact could trick Houraisan Kaguya, it could naturally trick other people too.

Chen Li might not use this function, but the artifact couldn't be without it.

In any case, all Chen Li had to do was keep himself from saying nonsense.

"Other than offering myself to you, how are we supposed to deal with the other additional gifts?" Houraisan Kaguya asked with a headache.

"That'll depend on my conscience." Chen Li spread his hands and completely gave up trying.

PS: Five chapters delivered. Please spare some recommendation votes and monthly tickets, mua~~

Shilling a friend's book: "This Chat Group's Vibe Is a Little Different"

Synopsis:

Good news: I transmigrated, and it's even a peaceful everyday world.

Bad news: There's a chat group, and every member is constantly pulling off ridiculous stunts.

Kiana: Everyone, run! I have a split personality!

Talulah: A hundred people challenge ten jin of flour to survive for a week in the snowfields. Let's go! We're doing it, brothers!!

Sakiko Toyokawa: The boss is withholding wages again. So annoying. He hasn't paid us for two months. I think that damned boss wants a change of heart! Everyone, gather in Tokyo tonight! Time to steal his heart!!

Yuji Itadori: Elbow Power! Third Stage! I've mastered a domain that converts cursed energy into elbow power. Now it's time to elbow Ryomen Sukuna and begin Elbow Technique Kaisen!

Suddenly transmigrating into a happy, wonderful everyday world and obtaining a dimensional chat group as well—two joys overlapped, and I should have obtained a dreamlike happy life. But why... why did it turn out like this...

Why are all of you so different from normal people?!

Chapter 42: Kaguya: If You Pull for Jingliu, You Can't Pull for Me

"Is there really no other way?" Houraisan Kaguya was still unwilling to give up.

"It's not completely impossible. If I forge an artifact using a hundred crystals, it might be able to counter this artifact's effect," Chen Li said.

The conflict between artifacts was, put simply, a conflict between rules.

Whichever artifact had rules with higher priority would be better at countering the other.

It was quite similar to the basic setting in the Type-Moon World, where lesser Mysteries were nullified in the face of higher Mysteries.

In terms of actual manifestation, it was simply a matter of how bright an artifact's traits were.

"Then forge one already."

"Are you giving me Miracle Power?" Chen Li rolled his eyes at Houraisan Kaguya.

"Miracle Power?" Houraisan Kaguya suddenly noticed the blind spot.

"Mm, your guess is right. Some things just happen to work out that way." Chen Li nodded calmly.

"That ball of light ended up in your hands?" Houraisan Kaguya's eyes widened.

"More accurately, the ball of light merged with me after exhausting its Miracle Power. Put another way, the ball of light went bankrupt and was liquidated, then I acquired it," Chen Li said.

"Emmm... when did that happen?"

"Yesterday."

"Then is it possible that it came looking for me, but you intercepted it? After all, I safely crossed between worlds. I'm clearly heaven's chosen one." Houraisan Kaguya proposed a theory.

"Give up on your fantasies. The Miracle System only went bankrupt; it didn't get dementia." Chen Li patted Houraisan Kaguya on the shoulder.

"Damn it, at least leave me a little room for imagination. Forget it, let's not talk about that. Since you got that orb of light, you should be able to help me return to Gensokyo now, right?" Houraisan Kaguya asked expectantly.

"Uh, well... that depends on luck. If we're lucky, you might be able to go home in a few days. If not, you may have to wait several more years," Chen Li said.

"What do you mean?"

"It means... if I want to go to Gensokyo, I first need to roll a forging commission issued by someone from Gensokyo. Only after establishing a connection can I travel there," Chen Li explained.

The Miracle System had recorded his experiences in that world, but it did not have that world's coordinates.

It was because of Yakumo Yukari's words—get out of this world and never come back. Then the Miracle System had actually deleted that world's coordinates.

But Chen Li did not dare say that aloud, afraid that Houraisan Kaguya would get so enraged she might die of anger.

"Like her?" Houraisan Kaguya pointed at Jingliu.

"More or less." Chen Li nodded.

Even though they were talking about Jingliu, Jingliu herself remained silent at the side.

That was because, with Chen Li's permission, Houraisan Kaguya had given Jingliu the information about her that she had found online.

Chen Li had allowed it because Jingliu could not possibly refuse the wondrous artifact Chen Li would forge for her, one that might summon Baiheng.

"Then roll for one."

"Refreshing commissions costs Miracle Power."

"How do you earn Miracle Power? I'll help you earn it."