Miraculous Forger

What If Chen Li poked Houraisan Kaguya with the Peaceful Longbow and triggered the Cut the Weeds and Eliminate the Roots effect—would he be able to track down Yagokoro Eirin, who was countless worlds away?

"Even if finding the coordinates of Gensokyo's world wouldn't let me send Houraisan Kaguya back, maybe I could aim the Peaceful Longbow at Yagokoro Eirin and send a letter by arrow across worlds. Though Yagokoro Eirin might find it a little painful..."

"Forget it. What if my arrow-letter accidentally poked a hole in Gensokyo's Great Barrier? Wouldn't Yakumo Yukari come after me with her life on the line?"

Considering that possibility, Chen Li decisively abandoned this somewhat inhumane idea.

PS: Thanks to all you dear readers for your support. It hasn't fallen off the click rankings. 4

Chapter 44: Merit Competition, Officially Begins Today!

Chen Li sat cross-legged on his bed, propping up his chin with one hand as he stared at the Miraculous Forging Guide in deep thought.

Bang!

"Chen Li, I found a folder called 'Study Materials' on your computer, but it has a password. I want to look at it..." Without even knocking, Houraisan Kaguya barged straight through the door.

"Knock before coming into my room!" Chen Li hurled the Miraculous Forging Guide straight into Houraisan Kaguya's face.

"Ow." Houraisan Kaguya clutched her forehead and crouched down.

The Miraculous Forging Guide was offensive in nature. The more miraculous items stored in the Omniscient Archive, the greater its lethality.

Although its book-like form made it slightly less effective as a weapon, it was a soul armament, so naturally, it attacked the soul directly!

That was why getting hit by it hurt so much!

And it was almost impossible to defend against.

—Afraid that hitting people wouldn't hurt enough, he had put all his Attribute Points into pain!

However, when hitting Houraisan Kaguya, Chen Li had only used the Miraculous Forging Guide's initial strength.

"You'd better give me a suitable reason, and not because you wanted to see some study materials. Otherwise... I'm curious—can an Houraijin eat noodles upside down?" Chen Li said as he got off the bed.

"Gasp, eat noodles upside down? Well, actually, I came because I missed you so much. It wasn't because of any study materials."

"Really?"

"Really. And after not seeing you for ten minutes, I feel like you've gotten even more handsome. You've got my heart fluttering a little." Houraisan Kaguya gave him a thumbs-up.

"..."

"Hm? No, wait... Chen Li, what did you do? Why does your aura feel like it's actually become a little different?" Houraisan Kaguya froze for a moment before asking suspiciously.

Gasp, this guy didn't secretly alter her favorability toward him or something, did he?

"Well, maybe it's because I leveled up?"

As he spoke, Chen Li looked at the class level displayed on the Miraculous Forging Guide he had summoned back.

lv2 (4/200)

That was what Chen Li had been doing alone in his room just now.

The Miraculous Forging Guide stated that raising one's level would improve physical fitness, mental resilience, resistance to various elements, resistance to alien energies, learning speed for skills below one's level, and so on.

At the instant he leveled up, Chen Li had indeed felt a certain improvement in his basic physical condition. He had yet to notice the enhancements in other areas.

But what delighted Chen Li most after leveling up was actually the increase in the initial cost for forging miraculous items.

It had risen from 10 points to 12 points.

That meant that as long as Chen Li forged even a slightly stronger miraculous item, he could save two crystals right away!

The more miraculous items he forged, the more Chen Li felt that the initial allowance of 10 points simply wasn't enough.

Class levels were great. He needed to level up his class! Level it up like crazy!

"Level up? I've leveled up so many times. Why haven't I felt anything?" Houraisan Kaguya asked in confusion.

"Kaguya, have you ever heard this lyric?"

"What lyric?"

"Your childhood and my childhood were completely different~"

"That's not right, shouldn't it be 'seemed just the same'?"

"That isn't important. What matters is that mine is a special panel, so it gives me quite a few more types of attributes," Chen Li said.

"Emmm, forget it. You don't even have a personal panel anymore, so what am I arguing with you for?" Houraisan Kaguya thought it over and immediately came to terms with it.

"No, what do you mean by that?"

What was wrong with not having a personal panel? He had the Miraculous Forging Guide!

"Hehe!" Houraisan Kaguya stuck out her tongue, then ran out of Chen Li's room.

But the next moment, Houraisan Kaguya pushed the door open again and poked her head in.

"Oh, right. Send me the password for the study materials. Thanks."

"Eight eights. All right, go play." Chen Li waved her off in disgust.

"Okay!"

"...Forget it. I won't argue with that little cutie. I feel like leveling up has filled me with energy. I keep wanting to forge something." Chen Li clenched his fists, feeling an itch in his hands.

Although the Miraculous Forging Guide did not explicitly state that forging Miraculous Items consumed energy, no one could work all day without getting tired.

But after leveling up, his energy seemed to have been fully restored.

"Perfect timing. I'll ask Pixie if she has any idea what the benefits after leveling up are, and about that reputation system too..."

It was a little strange to treat Pixie like an encyclopedia, but the weak were meant to be ruthlessly squeezed dry by the strong for whatever value they had left!

As for the study materials Houraisan Kaguya wanted to see?

"Damn! Why are these actually study materials?" Seeing all the incomprehensible forging knowledge in the folder, Houraisan Kaguya's head started to ache.

"I'll remember this grudge!"

(Miracle: I looked through the underlying code of the Miraculous Forging Guide. From levels 1 to 10, you will gradually unlock the rank that originally belonged to the Miracle System. A rank is similar to a beneficial buff—the higher your rank, the stronger your resistance and the greater the bonuses to attack and control.

Furthermore, before your strength reaches the upper limit of your rank, your rate of improvement will be faster. This includes, but is not limited to, physical fitness, Mental Strength, and the speed at which you learn low-level skills.

But note that rank does not definitively represent strength. A human may not be able to beat a tiger, but could they not beat a newborn tiger cub?

From levels 11 to 20, you may gradually transfer your rank to the Miraculous Forging Guide.

In that case, you can retain your rank limit while also freeing yourself from the constraints of Miracle Light's rank.

Although this leveling logic is indeed somewhat complicated, and theoretically could allow you to ascend to the heavens in a single step and instantly gain strength befitting your rank, that would only cause you to lose even more things, including your humanity and emotions.

Lastly, I implore you to clear Miracle Light's name. Prove that Miracle Light truly belongs to the order faction, rather than being some inherently evil "Uchiha brat (World Destroyer)." That is the origin of the reputation system, and it may also be considered Miracle Light's last wish.)

"Was that a spoiler?" Chen Li scratched his head.

Things like shedding one's rank were usually only revealed in the late stages of a profession, weren't they?

Thinking about it that way, the Miraculous Forging Guide was incredibly considerate, wasn't it?

As for the reputation system...

Chen Li could only say that he would do his best to maintain his reputation.

Yeah, his best...

This note naturally came from the new Miraculous Item Chen Li had forged, and he could not put the item down.

Karma Balance: The karma competition officially begins today!

Effect: Performing any positive acts of a selfless, healing, altruistic, saving, charitable, or similar nature can earn "Approval of Noble Morality" (karma). It can be used to avert disasters and resolve difficulties, improve one's fortune, offset karma, make others unlucky... or even do certain things that morality does not permit.

PS: The more Approval of Noble Morality you possess, the more you can stand on the moral high ground and condemn others!

"What do you mean, it can be used to do certain things that morality does not permit?" The first time Chen Li saw that line, he was deeply shaken.

Reality once again proved that the more attributes a Miraculous Item had, the more "reliable" its effects were!

Chen Li had forged this Miraculous Item using the "karma" he had obtained from killing demons in Inuyasha's world and a single wheat ear from the Gift of Abundance.

The karma Chen Li obtained could both be used directly and have its karma attribute extracted.

Chen Li figured this stuff was quite useful, so he had wanted to turn it into a sustainable resource.

Adding an Abundance Wheat Ear was also meant to expand the channels through which he could obtain karma.

Abundance and karma overlapped somewhat in their definitions, so they were highly compatible.

Reality proved that Chen Li's idea had indeed been correct, and he had succeeded. However, because there were too few attributes to lock down the item's effect range, the Miraculous Item had also undergone a certain degree of random variation.

His old man had once said: "Eight or nine times out of ten."

But his old man had also said: "A tiny deviation can lead to an error a thousand miles away."

Because the base material for this forging was of excellent quality, inherently possessed regularity, and had highly luminous attributes, there was no need to increase their brightness further. Extracting the karma and abundance attributes only used three Miracle Crystals in total, but the Miraculous Item's attribute capacity still needed an additional five points.

The higher the required attribute capacity, the better the quality of the Miraculous Item. Unfortunately, such a fine item had only granted eight points of profession experience.

From that perspective, the increase in initial cost had indeed saved Chen Li crystals, but it also meant two fewer experience points each time.

Still, the benefits definitely outweighed the drawbacks. After all, if Chen Li wanted to, he could spend every single crystal on one Miraculous Item.

"Alright, the Miraculous Item for obtaining karma is in hand. Time to score some karma!" Chen Li put away the palm-sized clump of karma left over after forging the item, thought for a moment, and opened the Miraculous Forging Guide.

Every grievance had a source, and every debt had a debtor. As for suckers, naturally, he had to look among the customers.

Come on, let's go score some karma in another world!

You there?

"..." Looking at the light screen that had suddenly appeared before him and the information flooding in afterward, Sunday, the Family Head of the Oak Family and one of The Family's Penacony Spokespersons, pressed a hand to his forehead and tried to process it all.

Without the power of Miracle Crystals, it would have been difficult to make Sunday believe such an absurd reality. After all, there were countless things Paths could accomplish in this universe, and the screen before him might merely have been another prank by a Masked Fool...

Yet even though he believed it due to the power of miracles, as a perfectionist, Sunday still did not wish for something beyond his control to appear.

Sunday always wanted to control everything, even himself.

"However, power beyond one's control is still power. This sort of accident may also be an opportunity."

Sunday did not deny that one reason he was willing to communicate was because he had heard Robin's name from the other party.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Chen Li, and I am a Miraculous Forger. I came to disturb you because I heard your wish to forge a microphone for your younger sister." After Sunday accepted Chen Li's video call request, Chen Li's holographic projection instantly appeared before him.

The video call function worked like this: the person who sent the request would appear before the person who accepted it. Curious about another world, Chen Li had sent the request first.

After introducing himself, Chen Li looked at Sunday, who was examining him, and couldn't resist hopping once.

"...What are you doing?" Sunday frowned slightly.

"I was just curious whether I could jump in this world. You may not know this, but some worlds prohibit jumping," Chen Li answered.

Chen Li could hardly be blamed for his curiosity. This state of extended senses felt far too much like playing a holographic game.

And since he was playing a game, whether he could hop around in Honkai: Star Rail was very important to Chen Li.

"There are actually worlds like that? Enough idle chatter. My time is valuable. You said just now that you could forge a Microphone Artifact that would satisfy my sister Robin. What exactly did you mean?" Sunday asked directly.

"To be precise, the commission I received was to forge a microphone that would satisfy my younger sister Robin, allowing her to stand on stage even better. So I hope you can let me speak with your sister. That way, I can tailor it specifically to her," Chen Li said.

"You want my sister to communicate with you personally? Impossible! Your origins are unknown. Robin cannot fathom your intentions! What if you deceive her?" Sunday interrupted before Chen Li could even finish.

"Uh..." Sunday's words left Chen Li momentarily at a loss for what to say.

You mean Robin, who had long since embarked on a journey of touring and singing across countless worlds, traveling through innumerable planets, was easier to deceive than you—a true "caged bird" who had stayed in Penacony ever since adulthood and never once left the Asdana System?

You really did have the beauty of a foolish little brother.