Ji An scratched his head. What was going on? This was the first time a simulation hadn't ended after death. The pangolin was clearly dead, so how could it continue?
Puzzled, he waited the five minutes and re-entered the simulation.
[Cooldown period elapsed. 'Heartscale' effect triggered. Physique -1. This simulation is not concluded.]
So it was a talent effect.
[Due to the previous long-life bonus, the simulation received an Excellent rating. Host can improve the final evaluation score through repeated simulations.]
"Let's continue then, System!" Ji An declared. What kind of gamer would pass up a chance to min-max their score?
[Inheriting previous character template.]
Attributes:
[Looks]: 8
[Physique]: 104
[Intelligence]: 6
[Background]: 5
Ji An saw that only his Physique had decreased by one point. The talents remained similar.
The system began:
[0 years old: You are born, a male pangolin.]
Good. Hopefully, this time I live longer and rack up more points! Ji An thought with anticipation.
[1 year old: With your exceptional talent, you begin to stand out in your pangolin clan.]
[2 years old: You trigger 'Favor of the Mountains.' You gradually begin to recall memories from your past life.]
Seeing this, Ji An felt a twinge of anxiety. He remembered clearly that in the last life, it was the promise to give the giant rock its eyes that drained the pangolin's life force.
Would it make the same mistake again?
[3 years old: Guided by your memories, you find the giant rock from your past life and begin carving. You exhaust your life force. Before dying, you say to it: ...]
[You have died. Total score increased by 0.5.]
Well, that was predictable. Ji An sighed.
From the immersive experience, the pangolin was truly a friend of his word, a quality Ji An couldn't help but admire.
So… what did the pangolin say?! The question was driving him mildly insane.
...
In the subsequent simulations, Ji An kept repeating the cycle: the pangolin is born, gradually remembers everything, and then dies for its friend. Each reincarnation cost it 1 point of Physique.
From the fragments of text during the simulations, Ji An pieced together that through countless cycles, the pangolin was slowly, like the Foolish Old Man moving mountains, carving the giant rock into the shape of a legendary dragon. However, having never seen a dragon, it could only sculpt based on its own imagination.
Must be majestic… must be imposing… must have horns… must have four legs…
Each simulation yielded only 0.5 points due to the pangolin's early death, followed by a mandatory 5-minute wait. At first, Ji An was impatient.
But after nearly a hundred repetitions, he couldn't help but be moved by the pangolin's persistence.
The giant rock was born blind, dwelling in lonely darkness for millennia—that was its misfortune and suffering. Yet, as a mere rock, it had somehow gained a friend like the pangolin. For an impossible promise, despite its innate timidity, the pangolin was using countless lifetimes to fulfill it.
The friendship between the pangolin and the giant rock was something Ji An found hard to fully comprehend, as he lacked the memory of those 49 years of companionship. But that didn't stop him from envying the rock for having such a friend.
He now understood why the pangolin had said, 'It's difficult. So difficult I almost wanted to break my promise.'
The pangolin's plan truly was "really difficult."
...
By the time the hundredth cycle arrived, the sun was nearing the horizon. Ji An had started this in the early morning.
[Cooldown period elapsed. 'Heartscale' effect triggered. Physique -1. This simulation is not concluded.]
['Heartscale' effect has been exhausted.]
[Inheriting previous character template for this simulation.]
Ji An looked at the inherited attributes and talents. Compared to the first cycle, after nearly a hundred repetitions, the template data had changed dramatically.
Attributes:
[Looks]: 2
[Physique]: 5
[Intelligence]: 2
[Background]: 1
The attribute points had been whittled down to almost nothing. This template would place it at the very bottom of pangolin society, wouldn't it? The former Child of Bedrock, darling of the peaks, had fallen to such a state. It was quite lamentable.
Furthermore, the original three talents—[Favor of the Mountains], [Darling of Bedrock], [Heartscale]—had all vanished. Only one remained in the talent slot:
[Rough Scale]: An unremarkable, pale golden scale. Its rough surface bears marks of time. Effect unknown.
Looking at the 'Start New Life' button, Ji An thought, This is the final simulation. Adding the last 0.5 points would bring the total rating to Perfect. This was the outcome he had wanted, yet for some reason, his heart felt heavy. Perhaps he was worried about the pangolin's fate—concerned that its hundred-life persistence might end as a futile dream.
In fact, during the last few dozen cycles, [Favor of the Mountains] had often failed to trigger. In the simulations where it didn't recall its past life, the pangolin didn't live out a normal lifespan. Instead, it died of what seemed like melancholy a few years later. Perhaps it knew, deep down, that it had forgotten something terribly important.
"Start simulation."
Ji An pressed the button. This time, without the [Heartscale] effect, the pangolin would not reincarnate again. The carving of the giant rock was one step from completion. But now, as an ordinary pangolin, how could it add that final touch? Was all this effort going to end in failure?
Ji An pondered deeply but couldn't think of a solution.
The system began to run.
…
Liyue Harbor.
"In the last installment, we spoke of Rex Lapis walking alone through the mountains when he was suddenly blocked by a pangolin," Tian Tiezuo declared, his voice robust as he snapped open his folding fan.
"The pangolin held a scale in its mouth, bowing and scraping before the lord of Geo. Seeing the creature possessed unusual understanding, Rex Lapis took the scale and followed it."
"Arriving before a fissure in the earth, Rex Lapis heard a deep, resonant sound unlike any other. Following the pangolin through winding passages, he eventually discovered within the rock layers a nearly completed stone dragon."
"Moved by its sentience, Rex Lapis granted the pangolin's wish. Using his finger as a brush, he painted in the dragon's eyes, completing the final step."
"And in that very moment—as swift as lightning—the skies roared with thunder, and a true dragon soared into the heavens!"
Below the stage, Zhongli calmly took a sip of his tea.
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