Miraculous Forger of the Collapse Chapter 35

Because of the suggestions Chen Shi had made earlier, Li Changxi argued her case forcefully, and the artifact was temporarily lent to Chen Shi while she herself received that Delicious Scallion. This made Chen Shi deeply regret his loose tongue.

"Alright, I'm leaving. You two go enjoy your honeymoon." After waving goodbye to his parents, Chen Li shut the door, returned home, and chose to teleport.

Well, Chen Li's parents had been locked outside.

"What do we do now? We can't just sit around doing nothing, can we?" Chen Shi looked at Li Changxi.

As parents, although their accomplished son was already capable of supporting them, they couldn't keep letting their child give everything.

That was why Chen Shi had always felt it was inappropriate to have Chen Li run around other worlds just to forge artifacts for the two of them.

"Even if we don't have relics, we can borrow some," Li Changxi said.

"You mean steal them? Is that really okay?" Chen Shi hesitated.

"That's hilarious. Before my personal panel reached Level 5, I couldn't do whatever I wanted. If I still can't do whatever I want after reaching Level 5, then what was the point of raising it? Come on, let's find Judge and get some information from her on villains who possess relics. We can collect some relics while traveling the world, then give our precious son a huge surprise when he comes back."

"If that's the case, why don't we make it big? If things get out of hand, the worst that can happen is we run off to another world with our son." Chen Li glanced up at the sky, for reasons unknown.

"Uh, that's a little too extreme," Li Changxi complained.

Li Changxi had long told others that she absolutely was not the most extreme person in the family!

But nobody believed her!

Please Choose Your Herrscher Opponent

Switching back to Chen Li's perspective, Chen Li chose to spend 10 Starstones to return to the Previous Civilization Era of Honkai rather than travel to another world.

That was because Chen Li remembered something.

He still hadn't saved that unlucky kid Kalpas!

Based on the information Chen Li had looked up, Kalpas had currently fallen from the sky, helped the people of a village deal with some Honkai beasts, and then been tied to a pillar and bled by those very villagers.

Because they believed that anyone capable of resisting Honkai had to be extraordinary.

Chen Li had completely forgotten about it.

And Chen Li felt that helping Moth Chasing Flame forge weapons to kill Honkai beasts should also increase his merit.

But...

"Where the hell did I end up this time?" Chen Li was a little dumbfounded as scene after scene suddenly appeared around him.

Please select the Herrscher you wish to face.

From the Third Herrscher to the Thirteenth Herrscher, a total of twenty-five Herrschers were available for Chen Li to choose from.

That's right, twenty-five.

They included the Third through Thirteenth Herrschers of this Civilization Era—the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia—as well as the First through Twelfth Herrschers, the Herrscher of Origin, and the Finality Herrscher of the next civilization.

However, several of the character cards among the Herrschers from the next civilization were duplicates.

The twenty-five Herrschers were arranged in order, like a winding river, quietly awaiting Chen Li's selection.

"Looks like I still underestimated the effect of obtaining the first Miracle Card, Comeback Kid. So it gives me a selective chance increase?" Chen Li felt his eyes had truly been opened.

Comeback Kid (Miracle Card): Defeat a Herrscher with a human body.

Effect 1: Can selectively increase the chance of encountering Herrschers after arriving in this world.

Effect 2: When a Herrscher is hostile toward you, they will feel a slight sense of pressure, making them more likely to commit foolish acts inconsistent with the current situation.

Effect 3: Can be used to forge artifacts.

The sudden choice that appeared after his transmigration prevented Chen Li from immediately heading to the Previous Civilization Era of Honkai.

"It's not like I can say something so discouraging as, 'My arrival means nothing to the Previous Civilization Era, and I can't save it from destruction.' This is probably because I haven't changed the Previous Civilization enough yet, right?" Chen Li rubbed his chin.

Chen Li was considering the deeper meaning behind the appearance of these twenty-five cards.

After giving Elysia an artifact in this world, Chen Li had left it.

The artifact he gave Elysia was indeed very suited to her and could greatly enhance her combat strength, but it was hard to say how much impact it could have on the overall situation of the entire world.

"But then again, if I completely changed the Previous Civilization Era, would the Astral Express still have Welt?" Chen Li was quite curious.

With that thought, Chen Li knew what question he would ask the Miracle Pixie next time.

The Miracle Pixie seemed to truly know everything. At the very least, through the notes exchanged regarding the two artifacts Chen Li had forged for his parents yesterday, Chen Li had learned how he lost the people important to him in his original fate.

More precisely, Chen Li's parents had not died in the future. They had simply become lost.

And because of that, Chen Li accepted the profession of transmigrator and embarked on a journey to find them again.

What was this, tadpoles looking for their mother?

However, Pixie also said that this was only one of Chen Li's possible destinies.

In Miracle's words, Chen Li's fate was far too exciting. It would be best if Chen Li did not learn about it.

"Although I'd love to go challenge Finality one-on-one, I could only challenge Finality Herrscher Kiana one-on-one, and I definitely couldn't beat her." Chen Li had no interest in specifically seeking out Finality Herrscher Kiana just to get beaten up by her.

Finality's Authority was reincarnation, something related to time.

But even if she didn't use her Authority, she could still use Honkai energy.

Of all the Herrschers before him, the only one Chen Li was confident he could solo was the Second Herrscher of the next Civilization Era.

And that was only before she became a multi-core pufferfish.

"..."

"...Sorry. You suddenly appeared right in front of me—pretty girls get nervous too, you know." Elysia looked somewhat sheepishly at Chen Li's slightly bruised left eye.

"No need to explain. This time, it was my fault." Chen Li sighed.

Chen Li really had acted impulsively this time. Among the twenty-five cards, he had chosen the Herrscher of Origin from the Previous Civilization—Elysia.

Chen Li had thought this would save him the travel time from where the Miracle Beacon was placed to Moth Chasing Flame, but he had forgotten to notify Elysia first.

So, the moment Chen Li finished teleporting, all he saw was a fist the size of a sandbag.

"You're lucky you don't have a habit of showering in the morning. Otherwise..."

Otherwise, Chen Li felt that he might have been beaten half to death.

"I shower after morning training. Thirty minutes ago, to be exact," Elysia said.

"Huh?"

"Just kidding."

"You scared me."

"It was actually fifteen minutes ago."

"..."

"So, can we go out now? I still need to dry my hair. Or do you want to help me dry it?" Elysia said, one hand on her hip while the other toyed with her still-damp hair.

"Damn it, if I'd known, I would've crossed over fifteen minutes earlier. It's all Houraisan Kaguya's fault!"

After waking up that morning, Houraisan Kaguya had clung stubbornly to Chen Li's leg until he ordered her breakfast delivery, only then letting him leave.

The money Chen Li had given Houraisan Kaguya before? She had spent it all on gacha again.

Curious about what game could burn through so much money, Chen Li took a glance and found that she was playing Sanguosha.

Oh, then never mind.

Time to leave Sanguosha a bad review!

"Then you should be careful not to get silenced. You can't just casually enter a girl's room without an invitation." As Elysia spoke, she pushed Chen Li out of her room and into the dormitory living room.

Elysia did not directly throw Chen Li out of the dormitory. Instead, she sat with him in the dormitory lounge and picked up a hair dryer to dry her hair.

"By the way, how is Kikyo doing?" Elysia asked while drying her hair.

The day after Chen Li finished clearing out the demons and monsters in that world, he had taken the time to send Elysia a message briefly describing what had happened.

After showing concern for the humans of that world, Elysia had evidently begun worrying about Kikyo.

"Kikyo is trying to teach her younger sister how to use a bow. She asked whether I wanted to learn a few tricks."

"Did you?"

"No. Didn't I promise to learn archery from you? So I politely declined," Chen Li said without changing expression.

In truth, it was mainly because Chen Li was in a hurry to collect the relics of the slain demons and monsters that he had asked the surviving ones to gather, so he had tactfully refused.

As for the miscellaneous items he obtained, aside from a few that had remained intact, Chen Li tossed them all into the recycle bin.

The Peaceful Longbow was a little too powerful, leaving few intact items behind and causing the affixes on those items to be dim and lackluster.

If he forged curios using affixes like that, Chen Li would lose everything.

"Ah, I want to learn archery from Kikyo too." Elysia's tone brimmed with anticipation.

"???" —Chen Li.

Were you lusting after her archery, or after her?

"Alright, my hair's dry. There just so happens to be no field assignment today, so come on, I'll take you to..."

"Learn archery?"

"Go see little Gretel! I'm telling you, little Gretel looks nothing like her father. She's absolutely adorable." The thought of Gretel brought an affectionate smile to Elysia's face.

"If you say that, Henk will be heartbroken. But this works out. Gretel's mother works in Mobius's laboratory, and I need to deliver some mission materials to Mobius too."

"What materials?"

"Demon and monster flesh and blood," Chen Li said.

As for what Mobius could research from that demon and monster flesh and blood, that was none of Chen Li's concern.

No matter how bizarre Mobius's research got, could it be stranger than curios?

Chen Li was already deploying curios in the Previous Civilization. What was there to worry about?

"There's a mole. Abort the deal."

The next moment, a blinding light flared on.

As if heralding the two of them being caught red-handed.

"Honestly, why didn't you turn on the lights?" Elysia deftly switched on the laboratory lights, looking at Chen Li and Mobius, who were huddled together as if plotting something shady, in confusion.

"He asked for it." Mobius lazily rose to her feet, then looked at Chen Li.

"I figured an evil transaction like this needed a little atmosphere," Chen Li explained.

"What do you mean, evil transaction? This is a dedication to truth and science, understand?" Mobius shot Chen Li a disdainful glance.

"Don't understand. But remember to pay up."

"..."

"Why aren't you talking? Say something, Mobius!" Noticing Mobius's silence, Chen Li directly gripped her shoulder with one hand.

At this point, Mobius was still an ordinary researcher and couldn't beat Chen Li, who knew a bit of martial arts.

"Calm down. It's just a minor problem."

"What minor problem?" Although Chen Li did have enough Soul Steel on hand, Soul Steel's ability to change shape made it highly suitable as a strange artifact base.

It did nothing to increase a strange artifact's power, but it could make it more convenient to use.

"Because of that Longevity Pill of yours, the Moth Chasing Flame higher-ups didn't reject the deal between us. But they said the Soul Steel budget would have to be deducted from my biology laboratory."

Put simply, the Moth Chasing Flame higher-ups had granted the laboratory authorization to purchase Soul Steel.

"And then?"