Miraculous Forger of the Collapse Chapter 44

"You needed Affixes to forge Curios, didn't you? I think the greatest miracle in this world is me." Elysia winked her left eye and placed one hand on her hip.

How could a beautiful girl like Elysia not count as a miracle?

"You do know yourself quite well."

"No arguing back... Ahem, you have quite an eye." Elysia, who had just been about to refute Chen Li, froze for a moment before using his praise to hide her delight.

That was way too direct!

Who taught you that?

Did you put all your points into emotional intelligence or something?

"Wipe that smile off your face. I'll give you ten seconds." Seeing Elysia's lips constantly curving upward, utterly impossible to suppress, Chen Li offered a friendly reminder.

"No. Sincere praise from others should naturally be accepted. This gift also counts as one of my ways of thanking you for helping me forge Curios. But... you absolutely must not sell this gift to people from other worlds like an ordinary crystal. Not even people from this world. Otherwise..." Elysia said nothing, merely clenched her fists in threat.

"Don't worry, my emotional intelligence isn't that low. Selling a little fake medicine is enough. I'll treasure this artifact properly. After extracting its Affixes, I'll put it on display at home and worship it every day. The Affixes will only be used to forge Curios for myself or for you. How about that?"

"Fake medicine?"

"I meant Longevity Pills."

"It sounded like I just heard something rather incredible." Elysia blinked, then decisively chose to forget what she had just heard.

"In any case, I'm very satisfied with this statue. Thank you very much for giving me this gift." Chen Li directly expressed his gratitude.

True Self, innocence, beauty...

Just as Elysia had said, this was indeed an item containing precious Affixes.

Perhaps because Elysia had poured considerable personal emotion into forging and shaping this statue, the color of its True Self Affix was not faint.

Aside from being influenced by an item's inherent nature, Affixes could also emerge from the meaning bestowed upon it by time, space, and fate.

And that meant that, under certain circumstances, those who could create miracles and accomplish moments of great significance to time, space, and fate could possess exclusive Affixes of their own.

For example, Elysia's True Self, Vill-V's Spiral, and even the Aeon of Abundance's Abundance.

Such Affixes often had special uses.

For example, the amount of information contained within these Affixes was immense. Using even a single Affix on its own might be enough to forge a Curio with exceptional effects.

"As long as you're satisfied. So, aren't you really curious about the mysterious reward I prepared for you?" Elysia circled Chen Li, repeatedly urging him to ask the question.

"So, what is this mysterious reward?"

"Treat me to a meal!"

"???"

"Then you'll be able to unlock a function here called Elysia's Mysterious Shop."

"What items are currently available in this Mysterious Shop?"

"Lots of things. For example, Elysia's lessons, Elysia's sparring sessions, the adventure commission function, and changing your nickname."

"Adventure commissions?" Chen Li felt like that ought to have been his line.

"For instance, if you want to see another side of Dr. Mobius, you can commission me to find a way to get Dr. Mobius a pink dress and make her wear it." Elysia put on an expression as though she were considering Chen Li's needs.

"You're clearly the one who wants to see that, right? And what about changing nicknames?"

Fine, Chen Li admitted that he wanted to see it a tiny little bit too.

"It means exactly what it says. I'll change what I call you."

"Is there anything else? Like a service to lull me to sleep?"

Who wouldn't want to drift into deep sleep beneath the Pink Fairy Lady's Singing Voice?

Though in that situation, it was more likely that he would be unable to sleep at all.

"What an honest statement. Very good, very spirited! But... further products will unlock after you raise Elysia's affection level further." A mischievous smile appeared on Elysia's face.

"Fine, let's go eat! Eat as much as you want." Chen Li pulled out a pink payroll card.

"Hey, wait, isn't that my payroll card? Treating me to dinner with my own payroll card—you really are a clever little thing." Though she complained, Elysia still followed Chen Li out.

No point talking any further. Food first!

Sunday: Friend, did you forge any Curios yesterday? Did you create any miracles? Did you realize your ideals?

"Ah!" The moment Chen Li woke up in the morning, he saw Sunday's deadly triple barrage!

Just you wait! Once the communication privileges end up in your sister's hands, I'm blocking you!

Master Chen, who had worked hard all day, had only gone to sleep at twenty-five o'clock last night—one in the morning—and woke up to see this message.

The sending time showed seven in the morning.

Chen Li had asked Sunday about their schedule after Sunday harassed him for the first time.

Although the Dreamscape Hotel never saw the sun, and time in dreams remained fixed at a single moment, their daily routine was roughly similar to that of the Previous Civilization Era.

"Seriously, does this guy not sleep? Hiss, wait, does it count as sleeping when people from Penacony enter the dream world?" Chen Li suddenly had a question.

If dreaming counted as sleeping, then after working twelve hours in reality during the day, he would work another twelve hours in the dream world after falling asleep at night...

Chen Li suddenly understood why Sunday wanted to establish a seven-day rest period.

"But what does that have to do with me, a freelance worker?"

Although Chen Li did have a bit of morning grumpiness, he quickly forgave Sunday, that idealist.

There was indeed nothing wrong with the other party's ideal. What was wrong was that he lacked sufficient strength! What was wrong was this world!

At that moment, Chen Li suddenly noticed a red dot on the Miraculous Forging Guide. As someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, Chen Li could not allow such an absurdly conspicuous red dot to exist in his Miraculous Forging Guide!

And then...

Have Some Fun: Forge an artifact for Sparkle that can keenly detect where there is fun to watch.

Requester: Sparkle

Reward: 20–40 Crystals + 250 Starstones

Risk: Low–Medium

"Oh no, Sparkle has caught up with me!" This was Chen Li's first thought when he saw the commission.

Could it be that he had been pinning the blame on Sparkle every day, and Sparkle had ended up Crossing worlds to chase after him?

"Although worlds connected to me can more easily produce wild Miracle Commissions, why Sparkle? It couldn't be that the Miraculous Forging Guide thinks I have a crush on Sparkle, could it?" After shaking off those bizarre thoughts, Chen Li could not help but sink into contemplation.

Chen Li felt that even receiving a Miraculous Forging commission from the Xianzhou would be more likely than receiving a forging commission from Sparkle.

Or perhaps it was because Chen Li had constantly been ruining Sparkle's reputation, causing karma to form between them?

"Then what if I pin all the blame on Aha?"

Strange as it was, obtaining a new commission meant Chen Li had gained another route to the Honkai: Star Rail world.

It was just that... fooling Sparkle might be somewhat difficult.

And honestly, Chen Li was very uneasy about handing an artifact over to Sparkle. Who knew what kind of effects this person would play it into, or who she would go play with?

You there?

But then again, it was impossible to turn down a customer. Absolutely impossible in this lifetime!

And the reason Chen Li only sent a single word at the start each time was that only after Chen Li contacted the requester would they receive the basic information concerning the Miraculous Forger.

In order not to trouble the other party, Chen Li tried to use the shortest possible message to trigger the information transfer effect.

It was definitely not because Chen Li could not think of an impressive opening line for a chat!

Definitely not!

Sparkle: Fellow practitioner?

Seeing the question sent from the other side, Chen Li nearly lost it.

Who the hell was a fellow practitioner with you?!

Sparkle: Hey, hey, why aren't you saying anything?

"What's with this Miraculous Forger? Why has he gone quiet? Come to think of it... should I keep pretending to suspect he's a Masked Fool, then find a way to get closer to him and have him give me a discounted price? But does he even know what Masked Fools are?" Sitting on a roadside bench, propping her chin against the armrest, Sparkle's mind was already racing.

Capturing Miracle Commissions through Miracle Crystals could make the other party unconditionally believe in Chen Li's identity as a Miraculous Forger.

This effect did not apply to commissions that came looking for him on their own.

Chen Li could spend half a Crystal to pay the cost of making her believe, or he could choose to send only messages without attaching the power of "belief."

Chen Li did not pay extra, because whether Sparkle believed him or not was up to her. Besides, even without the power of "belief," communication appearing out of nowhere was already highly credible.

Although Chen Li had not paid extra, Sparkle... believed him.

As a Masked Fool, Sparkle did not think any of her other companions possessed the power to accomplish something this miraculous.

People from the Honkai: Star Rail world might suspect that something like this was the work of a Masked Fool, but Sparkle was a Masked Fool herself. Could she possibly fail to recognize whether there was any power of Elation involved?

In any case, she would believe it first and worry about being deceived later. If she got scammed, that would be another matter. She could only blame herself for not being skilled enough!

Sparkle: Hey, hey, hey, are you there? Are you there?

After noticing that Chen Li had not responded for a long time and sending another message on her own initiative, Sparkle gradually realized something.

The shredded potatoes with vinegar and chili she had just eaten had not contained any potatoes!

"Playing it cool by refusing to talk, huh? Then don't blame me for being ruthless!" Sparkle clenched her fist.

Fine, I'll use you as a memo pad!

Let's see how long you can keep acting cool!

"Let me think, what should the first message be? Oh, right, I'll send a selfie." Sparkle muttered to herself as she snapped a picture.

The communication privilege allowed voice messages, pictures, and functions similar to a phone chat interface. It could even upload files.

For example, Sparkle had just raised the transparent screen and taken a picture of an advertisement playing on loop beside her, promoting a certain Superstar. She had also uploaded one of the singer's new songs.

Sparkle: Hello, my name is Sparkle. I am a singer, and I hope you will like my new song. Also, I hope you can reply when you have time. Sorry to trouble you.

After sending over a picture of the Superstar Robin, Sparkle also included a rather polite message.

Sparkle hated that this virtual screen's name couldn't be changed. At the same time, since she knew very little about the virtual screen, she had no idea whether the other party knew what she looked like. In any case, she would just assume they didn't. If she got exposed... she could always come up with another excuse.

Lady Sparkle never lacked entertainment, because Lady Sparkle could find entertainment in life itself!

"So now... where should I go to find some fun first?" Pondering that question, Sparkle rose to her feet and skipped away into the distance.

"You're Sparkle, then who am I? And sending a selfie of Robin is going too far, isn't it? Does Robin know she's become a Masked Fool?" As Chen Li walked through Moth Chasing Flame's internal corridors, he looked at the information in the translucent Miraculous Forging Guide and grumbled inwardly.

"But the world really is small. Sparkle actually chose Robin's photo as her disguise..."

"Minister Chen, we've arrived." The man in black leading Chen Li knocked on the office door to alert the person inside, then stepped aside and spoke to Chen Li.

"I know." Chen Li nodded.

It was indeed a little strange to be addressed like that for the first time.

It was this very man who had rung the bell to his dormitory at Moth Chasing Flame, causing Chen Li to temporarily stop talking with Sparkle.

Of course, leaving Sparkle hanging for a while had been Chen Li's intention from the start.

Facts proved that men really didn't cherish free things.jpg

"Come in." A highly imposing voice came from within the room. One could tell at once that its owner had held a high position for a long time.

"You may enter alone." The man in black opened the door and invited Chen Li inside, then remained outside to guard it.

"Let me introduce him. He's my closest friend, and I want to bring him in on the Longevity Pill business..." After Chen Li entered, High-Ranking Official No. 1 first activated the office's soundproofing mode, then solemnly introduced Chen Li to the political opponent he had found most disgusting just a day ago.

"Go on, what else did you call me here for?" Chen Li tossed the Forced Transaction Coin in the air, casually gesturing at the two Moth Chasing Flame higher-ups.

"First, some high-ranking officials from the United Nations are also very interested in the Longevity Pill," High-Ranking Official No. 1 said.