Miraculous Forger

Her father's sudden death was something she still could not accept. Influenced by a chuunibyou protagonist, she believed her father was in a parallel world beyond the "Invisible Boundary Line," and in her search for the "Invisible Boundary Line," she had developed chuunibyou syndrome herself.

There was no such thing as the other side of the Invisible Boundary Line, so how was Chen Li supposed to find it? He couldn't exactly create one first, could he?

And what the hell was this unknown risk?

An unknown risk caused by altering someone's worldview?

Indeed, if he really made her fantasy come true, wouldn't "reality" be exploding every day?

Still, creating something similar to a Miraculous item did seem rather interesting...

"Fine. Call me again when you have a revival coin." Having made up his mind, Chen Li looked at the next commission.

Creating a miracle did not necessarily mean following the other person's wishes.

A commission was merely a reference for Chen Li.

The other party's true goal was clearly to revive her father, and that counted as a miracle too.

Find My Head: Create an item that could help a Headless Knight find her own head.

Publisher: Celty Sturluson

Reward: 1–15 Crystals

Risk: Low–Medium

"This... what was this again? I think I've heard of it, but never watched it. I'll definitely get to it next time." Chen Li scratched his head and looked at the next commission.

"..." Chen Li suddenly closed the Miraculous Forging Guide.

Then he opened it again for another look.

Immortality: Obtain an item that could conveniently extend one's lifespan.

Publisher: Matou Zouken

Reward: 10–40 Crystals

Risk: Low–High

"Seriously? You bastard still want immortality?"

Chen Li had heard of Matou Zouken's infamous name. He was from Fate/stay night, or what was commonly called the Type-Moon World.

Matou Zouken, originally named Zouken Makiri, was the first Family Head of the Matou family and one of the founders of the Holy Grail War. Though he had initially been a passionate young man determined to save the world, after realizing that his lifespan was insufficient, he began seeking methods to extend it so that he could better fulfill his ideals.

Over time, it became an obsession. He lost himself on that path and came to regard it as his ultimate goal, eventually becoming a beast in human skin who would exploit and sacrifice others without hesitation just to prolong his life.

But regardless of what he had once been, he had long since become utterly beyond saving.

"Though I can't determine what point in time he's currently in, as long as he's called Matou Zouken now, it means I can make a move."

Although Zouken Makiri had also sought immortality, he had only wanted it in order to fulfill his wish of saving the world. It was the process, not the result.

If it really were Zouken Makiri, then the commission Chen Li received should have been to obtain an item that would allow him to save the world.

"Matou Zouken himself isn't important, but his absence is very important to me."

Matou Zouken might be able to create miracles, but a world without Matou Zouken would be the greatest miracle of all!

But the problem now was that Chen Li wanted to travel to the other party's world without letting Matou Zouken benefit from it.

There were many Heroic Spirits in the Type-Moon World, which meant Chen Li had a chance to obtain many Heroic Spirit attributes.

The Noble Phantasms of Heroic Spirits could be dismantled into attributes.

As for Heroic Spirits related to knights, he could use Pale Justice to summon them, then strike a PY deal with them and have them leave behind Knight's Training cards. In the end, he could obtain Inherent Skills from those Knight's Training cards.

Therefore, in order to keep Matou Zouken from breaking the agreement and refusing to send him over after obtaining the item, it was important to use a Forced Transaction Coin to make a deal with him.

So Chen Li had to give him something that could truly grant immortality.

At least, something that could theoretically grant immortality.

"I've got it!" Chen Li snapped his fingers excitedly.

"Not only can I give him immortality, I can give him invincibility too! Maybe I can even save a lost soul because of it. What a tremendous good deed!"

Its name was... degeneration!

This was the solution Chen Li had come up with based on Mobius's Fusion Warrior form.

Fusion Warrior Mobius possessed incredibly powerful immortality. She would be reborn every time she died, but the side effect was that her body's age would decrease.

But that did not entirely count as a side effect, because becoming physically younger was another form of rejuvenation.

And if this degenerative effect acted not only on the body but also on the soul, it might be able to revert Matou Zouken back into Zouken Makiri.

Chen Li intended to make this degeneration effect trigger upon death.

And triggering death would not be difficult either. Chen Li could summon Matou Zouken over using the friend function and have him go die.

Chen Li had a certain degree of command authority over support characters summoned before him through the friend function.

Though the summoned person could choose to answer the summon with a projection, the death of that projection also counted as "death."

He just needed to make the activation conditions for the death attribute a little more "sensitive."

Like one of those "Shake It" ads.

"I'm a freaking genius!"

"So the biggest problem is here. Where am I supposed to get a regression trait?" Chen Li tilted his head.

Are you there?

"Hm?" After Matou Zouken froze for a moment, he felt a sharp pain in his head, as though countless mysterious pieces of information were flooding into his mind.

As Matou Zouken gradually understood everything, his gaze became somewhat vacant.

"Elder Matou, what is it?" In the lavishly decorated, brightly lit living room, a dignified middle-aged man in a red suit, with proper features and deep-set contours, politely asked after seeing Matou Zouken suddenly fall silent.

"It's nothing." Matou Zouken shook his head.

"Then, shall we settle the adoption ceremony for my younger daughter like this?"

"Mm." Matou Zouken nodded absentmindedly.

He no longer cared at all about adopting the Tohsaka Family's second daughter. He only wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible and return home to contact that so-called Miraculous Forger.

"Then when will you come to take my daughter away, Elder Matou?"

"After a while..."

Watching the figure rise to take his leave and walk away, Tokiomi Tohsaka did not feel that sending his second daughter to the Matou residence was something sad.

Because he understood that the greatest sorrow of a mage family was having no descendants with aptitude for magecraft, leaving the family inheritance without a successor. Yet even sadder was having two children with aptitude for magecraft.

Because a mage family's Magic Crest could generally only be inherited by a single successor.

And both of his daughters possessed exceptionally fine aptitude for magecraft.

Fortunately, due to the Matou residence's inability to acclimate, the magic circuits in their bloodline had gradually died out. Thus, Matou Zouken had asked Tokiomi Tohsaka to transfer a child with magic circuits into his family as an heir to continue the lineage.

To avoid wasting Sakuya's magic circuits, and also to fulfill the alliance between the Matou and Tohsaka families, Matou Zouken and Tokiomi Tohsaka had just been discussing transferring Sakuya into the Matou residence as an adopted daughter.

At that moment, a second message popped up before the departing Matou Zouken.

Old geezer! Give me some "metamorphosis" traits.

Matou Zouken: Master Forger, Do You Want a Loli?

Chen Li felt that he had gotten the cause-and-effect relationship backward.

If Chen Li encountered difficulties with traits while forging a miraculous item that would grant Matou Zouken longevity and immortality, then instead of thinking about where to get those traits, he should have thrown the problem at Matou Zouken.

Because Matou Zouken would definitely be more anxious than Chen Li.

If you won't do it, plenty of others will. That saying had once again been made tangible.

If you won't hand over traits, plenty of others would be willing to hand them over to forge miraculous items.

"I know you want a miraculous item that can extend your lifespan, so you need to provide me with metamorphosis traits or regression traits." With his arms folded, Chen Li spoke imperiously to the holographic projection that had appeared before him.

Only upon facing Matou Zouken directly did Chen Li understand what it meant to be terrifying enough to stop a child from crying.

Matou Zouken was simply too frightening-looking.

Matou Zouken wore a kimono of ultramarine and dark gray, holding a wooden cane in his hand. He was bald, with limbs as shriveled as a mummy's, keen light shining from his deeply sunken eye sockets, and a short, hunched back.

Moreover, because Matou Zouken had discarded his original body, his appearance somewhat resembled a Crest Worm.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. So, do you want a miraculous item forged or not? If you don't, I'll go find someone else. Do you know how busy I am every day? People beg me daily to forge miraculous items for them. If it weren't for the fact that helping you create miracles lets me gain some Miracle Power, who would even bother with you?" Chen Li said with a look of disdain.

"Why metamorphosis or regression traits?" Although Matou Zouken was displeased with Chen Li's attitude, when he considered how miraculous a Miraculous Forger was, he did not dare put on airs before Chen Li.

"According to the Miraculous Forging commission, you raise bugs. I figured those are the only kinds of traits you could find. Aren't insects related to regression and metamorphosis?"

"And what effect would the miraculous item forged this way have?" Matou Zouken asked patiently.

"By my estimate, every time you die, it should reduce both your body's age and your soul's age a little, making you younger. That would effectively grant you longevity, and it might even come with immortality as an added bonus," Chen Li said.

"Then... what price must I pay?"

"First, you need to provide the traits yourself. And you also need to offer me some valuable items as the forging fee. No problem with that, right?"

"No." Matou Zouken shook his head.

If forging such a miraculous object meant the other party had to suffer a loss, Matou Zouken would have found it less believable instead.

"If you want to add other functions to the miraculous item, you'll need to pay an additional forging fee."

"No problem."

"Then tell me what additional offer you can make," Chen Li asked.

"An additional offer?" Matou Zouken paused.

"You really don't get it, do you? There are things I might not ask for, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't offer them." Chen Li rubbed his fingers together.

"Then what would you like?" Matou Zouken asked in a somewhat hoarse voice.

"Things containing valuable traits. Or specialties from your world, if you have any... Hold on, someone's looking for me." Halfway through his sentence, Chen Li suddenly opened the Miraculous Forging Guide again and checked the messages.

"Specialty..."

"Um... your name is Matou Zouken, right? Sorry, but it looks like our deal might fall through."

"What?" Matou Zouken, who had tolerated Chen Li's aggressive tone all along, instantly rose to his feet, tapping his cane.

"Because someone else offered more. Their world has creatures called slimes that can transform. A transformation trait is pretty valuable." Chen Li was utterly unfazed by Matou Zouken's glare.

"Transformation, mere transformation... Our world has creatures known as Servants. They are Heroic Spirits who achieved great deeds in history, and they possess miraculous items known as Noble Phantasms. Perhaps they will satisfy you."

"Hm?" Chen Li leaned forward slightly, seemingly interested.

"Our world also has a power system known as magecraft, and the Holy Grail War will be held a year from now. Seven Masters will summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete for the omnipotent Holy Grail. I can provide you with a spot." Matou Zouken continued.

"That does sound pretty good..."

"There are beautiful women among the Servants..." Matou Zouken gave Chen Li a brief appraisal. Seeing that he was at the age when his blood ran hot, he added.

"Beautiful women? Sorry, I like lolis."

"Yes! There are lolis!"

"Huh?" Chen Li, who had merely tossed out a perfunctory response because he did not want his reputation to become too terrible, froze for a moment.

"I just formed an alliance with a mage family. They are to adopt their second daughter into the Matou residence as an adopted daughter. I can give her to you. She is a loli."

"...Fine." Chen Li agreed reluctantly.

Although Chen Li had already planned to find an excuse to agree to the other party's request, he had not expected it to happen through this opportunity.

"If possible, could you add another function to the artifact I want to create?" Seeing that Chen Li seemed fairly satisfied, Matou Zouken struck while the iron was hot.

"What function?"

"Could you add a function to the artifact that would place a curse on anyone who kills me?"