Miraculous Forger

Then... Kalpas chose to stop thinking.

As the saying went, when Brother Kalpas started thinking, God laughed.

Though Kalpas's mind still worked perfectly well, he simply disliked using it most of the time.

Right now, Kalpas was only thinking of protecting the companion beside him, this self-proclaimed outsider, until they found the next place to settle.

From beginning to end, Kalpas had never thought the other person came from the same world as him.

Because he was too weak.

No, man, you could feel pain from kicking down a stone door?

Even so, the other party had meant well.

Since he had nowhere else to go anyway, he might as well see what Chen Li, a fellow outsider, would do in this world.

It was a good thing Chen Li had no mind-reading ability right now. Otherwise, upon hearing Kalpas's thoughts, he would definitely have flipped off this berserker who, with a mortal body, had directly solo-killed the Herrscher of Ice while suffering only severe frostbite; fought Sakuya, a Fusion Warrior, to a standstill; and remained completely unfazed even after having his heart stabbed through.

Brother, are you even human?

Still, considering the 10 crystals and 200 Starstones gifted by the Save Private Kalpas world, after flipping him off, Chen Li would still have to give him a thumbs-up to balance it out.

Come to think of it, did this world have some kind of law where outsiders either killed a Herrscher or created one?

Yakumo Yukari: Yagokoro Eirin Went to a More Wonderful Place... My Bed

"Please, just help me craft an artifact that'll let me say a few words to Eirin... That was what you said while hugging my leg, wasn't it?" Chen Li asked calmly as he faced Houraisan Kaguya.

After Chen Li brought Executive No. 1's subordinates to Kalpas's village and rescued Kalpas, he returned to Moth Chasing Flame and casually set up United Nations Executive No. 1. Then he realized he did not have much fake medicine left, so he had come back to take some.

Then Houraisan Kaguya hugged his leg.

"That's right." Houraisan Kaguya's eyes darted everywhere.

It was normal to be a little impatient after suddenly seeing hope, just like students were often at their most restless during the final class before a holiday.

"You know I obtained the skill allocation ability. For your sake, I specifically adjusted the development direction of the Communication trait I had stored before toward communication between people, rather than communication with any object. You should know how much convenience I gave up, right?" Chen Li continued.

"Uh, right." Houraisan Kaguya nodded obediently.

If an artifact crafted with the Communication trait could allow people to communicate with objects, Houraisan Kaguya could not even imagine how great its potential would be.

Talking to corpses could solve any mystery.

Talking to antiques could reveal what sort of fate they had carried.

Talking to a forest, and you could even play the role of a child of the forest on the spot.

"You also said that as long as I crafted such an artifact, you would do anything. Right?" Chen Li continued asking.

"Y-Yes."

"Now that I've crafted the artifact for you, is it really that difficult for me to ask you to make some fake medicine for me?" Chen Li's expression remained calm.

"But... don't you think this is way too hasty? And are you asking me to make just a little fake medicine? That's a hundred thousand pills!" The moment she heard the words "fake medicine," Houraisan Kaguya snapped back to her senses.

No, that wasn't right. It wasn't like she had no grounds to stand on.

Then Houraisan Kaguya threw the artifact in her hand at Chen Li.

A hundred thousand fake medicine pills—what were you planning to do?

Buy out another world?

I take back what I said before. Even if you came at me, that would be better than treating me like a tool!

You really only ever think about yourself!

"Hey, that's an artifact I worked hard to craft. Could you at least respect the fruits of my labor?" Chen Li said unhappily after catching the paper cup flying at his face.

"The fruits of your labor? You mean this communication artifact you crafted for me—two paper cups tied together with a string?" Houraisan Kaguya squeezed the other paper cup in her hand with all her strength, yet she could not crush it.

The moment she remembered that this was because she had added the Forever trait to the paper cup, Houraisan Kaguya instantly lost her temper.

"Try to understand me. I only came back to get some fake medicine from you so I could keep scamming people. Crafting an artifact wasn't part of the plan. Besides, while this artifact is simple, it still works." Chen Li said this into the paper cup, and Houraisan Kaguya heard—and even saw—the words through the cup in her hand.

This paper cup was very smart. When you were not holding it to your ear to listen for messages, it would preserve the voice while also converting it into text subtitles.

How considerate.

"Honestly, how many crystals did you spend to make this artifact?"

"Uh, four crystals," Chen Li said.

The Communication trait had been extracted and stored from the artifact Call to the Distance, and converting it into a trait had cost two crystals.

Forever and Extension had each cost one crystal.

The effects were weak, but they were barely usable.

"I've already sold myself to you, and you were only willing to spend four crystals on me." Houraisan Kaguya spoke irritably.

"You can't think of it that way. You should think of it like this—you already sold yourself to me, so I could have spent no crystals at all. Feeling better now?"

"???"

"Alright, I'm just teasing you. Kaguya, do you know? Ever since I first saw you, I've been drawn to you. Your beauty left me utterly amazed." Chen Li suddenly gazed at Houraisan Kaguya with deep affection.

"Uh, don't do this." Feeling the sincerity in Chen Li's words, Houraisan Kaguya could barely stay seated.

"Kaguya, I have to say..."

"Don't say it. Please."

"Alright." Chen Li looked somewhat dejected.

Being effective against beautiful women was really useful.

When Chen Li first saw Houraisan Kaguya, he had indeed been drawn to her—but it was the traits on her that attracted him.

Of course, Houraisan Kaguya's beauty had also genuinely amazed Chen Li.

Who said telling the truth meant you couldn't lie?

"But is it really appropriate to use this thing to communicate with Eirin?" Just as Chen Li had expected, Houraisan Kaguya changed the subject.

"This is only the first step. Do you know what the biggest problem is with communicating between you and Yagokoro Eirin?"

"What is it?"

"You don't have the coordinates of the Gensokyo world."

"This thing can help me find the world coordinates?"

More or less. I can use the Peaceful Longbow to poke you and trigger Cut the Weeds and Eliminate the Roots, then use the Peaceful Longbow to aim at Yagokoro Eirin and fire one of the cups as an arrow. Once the cup reaches Yagokoro Eirin's hands..."

"Then we can determine the world coordinates and I can go home?"

"Oh, you're thinking too much. If it were that convenient, why hadn't I done it before? Determining world coordinates isn't something you can do just by taking a look or stopping by for a moment—you need to record the coordinates." Chen Li shook his head.

Even in One Piece, one had to stay on an island for a while to use a Log Pose to record its coordinates, let alone the coordinates of an entire world.

The Peaceful Longbow had a hidden effect that could warp objects into arrows and fire them, but it only worked on Miraculous Items with extremely weak effects.

Chen Li could forge a Miraculous Item specifically for recording coordinates and fire it over, then forge another Miraculous Item capable of teleportation.

But... one word: broke.

At least, that was how it had been when Chen Li had possessed so many Miracle Crystals three days ago.

Fire Miracle Crystals toward Gensokyo and construct a teleportation route by capturing a Miracle Commission?

Unless, at the exact instant the Miracle Crystal reached Gensokyo, someone there happened to desire a miracle and happened to resonate with the Miracle Crystal...

Otherwise, Houraisan Kaguya could forget about going home, because her home would already be gone.

"Although this communication Miraculous Item doesn't have the effect of recording world coordinates either, as long as this paper cup lands in Yagokoro Eirin's hands, I can take the other cup and use Miraculous Forging on it, forging it into a high-priority communication Miraculous Item. Recording the world coordinates might not work out, but we'll definitely be able to communicate freely," Chen Li said.

Chen Li also understood that communicating through paper cups alone could never truly serve as an outlet for their feelings.

Besides, Chen Li had another use for this communication Miraculous Item.

"Oh, I get it. That's what this string is for, right?" Houraisan Kaguya looked at the string connecting the two paper cups and suddenly understood.

The string's purpose was to allow Yagokoro Eirin to come into contact with the Miraculous Item at the same time Chen Li forged it.

"That's right." Chen Li nodded.

"You really put a lot of thought into this." Houraisan Kaguya was deeply moved.

"For you, anything is worth it." Chen Li's gaze was resolute.

"Don't be like that. At least wait until I get back to Gensokyo..."

"Then I'll leave the matter of making a hundred thousand counterfeit medicines to you."

"Leave it to me!" Houraisan Kaguya patted her chest righteously.

But the next second, Houraisan Kaguya's smile froze on her face.

"Wait a minute. You weren't being so affectionate just so I'd help you make counterfeit medicine, were you?"

"How could that be?" Chen Li turned his head away.

"You bastard, you really were deceiving my feelings! And you're not even trying to hide it!"

"Let's establish communication with Yagokoro Eirin using this Miraculous Item first," Chen Li suggested.

"Tch. Fine."

Houraisan Kaguya felt that Chen Li's mother absolutely didn't need to worry about him being tricked by bad women after arriving in another world. This guy was practically born to deceive bad women.

What bad woman would dislike someone who sincerely praised her?

Houraisan Kaguya felt that Chen Li's mother should be more worried that he would provoke too many bad women, deceive their feelings, and get hacked to death after they flew into a rage from humiliation.

Forget it. He could have simply ordered me around, yet he went through all the trouble of deceiving my feelings. Maybe there really is a place for me in his heart.jpg

Chen Li directly summoned the Peaceful Longbow, warped one of the paper cups into an arrow and nocked it on the bowstring. He first poked Houraisan Kaguya, then, after discovering Yagokoro Eirin's marker through the effect of Cut the Weeds and Eliminate the Roots, fired the arrow straight at her portrait.

The Eternal effect on the paper cup and thin string was meant to ensure that they could slowly repair themselves after being damaged.

"So how long do we have to wait now?" Houraisan Kaguya asked, propping up her chin.

"We might have to wait quite a while, so while we have the time, let's have a thrilling and exciting..." Chen Li suddenly had a great idea.

"A thrilling game? Or an adventure?" Houraisan Kaguya looked rather expectant.

"A counterfeit medicine-making contest!"

"...Get lost!"

Could you stop obsessing over that fake medicine of yours?

I'll make it for you!

An hour later, Houraisan Kaguya was making fake medicine, while Chen Li watched her make fake medicine and simultaneously increased his proficiency with the power models of eternity and moment.

But even if his proficiency reached max level, Chen Li still felt that Houraisan Kaguya should get some exercise every day.

He should leave the work of making fake medicine to Houraisan Kaguya.

Watching the proficiency of Houraisan Kaguya's ability model soar, Chen Li felt it was about time to find the Herrscher of the Void and mooch some skill proficiency off her.

Suddenly, the paper cup Houraisan Kaguya had set beside her twitched.

"Hm?"

Houraisan Kaguya, who had been watching the paper cup the whole time, immediately picked it up and said excitedly into it, "Eirin, is that you?"

"No, it's me, Yakumo Yukari. You're Houraisan Kaguya, right? Long time no see." From the other end of the paper cup came the pleasant, alluring voice of a mature woman.

"Ah, how did it end up in your hands? Where's Eirin?" Houraisan Kaguya froze for a moment.

Chen Li froze as well.

In theory, the Peaceful Longbow couldn't possibly miss.

"Oh, your Eirin was knocked out by a flying paper cup just now. Then I sent her somewhere more wonderful."

"Where?"

"My bed."

"Damn it!" Houraisan Kaguya blurted out a Gensokyo curse.

"Hm? Okay." Yakumo Yukari said from the other side of the paper cup.