---o---
"No, seriously, is Najenda insane?"
The moment Chen Li opened his eyes early in the morning, he shot straight up in bed.
He truly hadn't expected that giving Najenda a Friends Circle terminal would lead to something like this.
Chen Li's original intention was just to win Najenda over; after all, she was a talented individual. But who knew she would turn into an extremist?
Last night, she had even sent him a private message, asking if he could pay a visit to the Revolutionary Army and turn all the corrupt individuals within it into Slimes.
She argued that with "bad elements among the masses," their work couldn't proceed.
She even said that Chen Li's arrival was perfectly timed. If she hadn't heard about the attack on the Minister and decided to stay behind out of concern for the assassination mission, she would have already returned to the Revolutionary Army's headquarters yesterday. In that case, she might have missed the opportunity to gain true insight through the Friends Circle.
Chen Li wasn't sure exactly how many days Sayo and Ieyasu were tortured by Aria's noble family in the original story, but he imagined it wasn't a short time. After all, in the original plot, the protagonist Tatsumi was taken back to Night Raid's headquarters after the raid on the nobles, and Najenda only returned from the Revolutionary Army's base sometime after that.
But Chen Li knew one thing for sure: the Revolutionary Army was now in for a world of hurt.
"Trading the Empire's peace for Teigu... Is that an equivalent exchange?" Chen Li pondered.
He could just as easily go and steal the Teigu himself, and it might even be faster. But considering that creating a different outcome might earn him a Miracle Card, he decided to compromise.
Whatever, it's just a matter of cleaning things up along the way, he thought. Using his tools to purge the Revolutionary Army would also earn him Merit. As long as their Sin Values were high enough, he wouldn't be at a loss.
There were good people in the Revolutionary Army; that was undeniable. However, Chen Li didn't believe for a second that their rise was without support from within the Empire. Every reshuffling of power, every rise of a new dynasty, was often inextricably linked to the great powers of the old one.
In this game of thrones, from beginning to end, the only ones who truly suffered were the common people.
The Empire in the world of Akame ga Kill! had stood for a thousand years, yet the Revolutionary Army managed to conquer it in just a few short years. To say they had no backing from Imperial officials or nobles? Not even a dog would believe that.
So, Najenda should also know that using the Revolutionary Army to reshuffle the deck wouldn't result in a thorough enough cleansing.
But now, an outlander had arrived.
It didn't matter if this outlander was despicable or not; the fact that he could bring about a more complete reshuffling was a good thing. At the very least, it was better than collaborating with the northern tribes. A Revolutionary Army that colluded with the northern tribes would naturally have to cede land as payment, which would in turn fuel the northern tribes' growth, guaranteeing a future war.
Damn it, I don't have invincible power, so I have to compromise. But if I did have invincible power and still had to compromise, what would be the point of having that power?
Ha! Go forth, you despicable outlander! Let those self-righteous monsters witness your invincible power! Use your ferocious magnetic field rotation to obliterate every piece of trash in your way! Make them tremble in fear and wail in despair! Crush them, tear them apart, and let them know—who the true master of this world is!
Go fight! Go kill! Go destroy! Hahahaha!
"Alright! I'm fired up!"
"What the—why am I literally on fire? Where did this fire come from?"
Staring at his already scorching room, Chen Li looked dumbfounded at the flame hovering in the air not far away.
[Heavenly Drop] Entry extraction in progress... Progress: 3/5
[Violence], [Destruction], [Desire], [Fire], [Burning], [Out of Control], [Psychological Mapping]...
After touching the flame and seeing the Entries listed on it, Chen Li's brain short-circuited for a moment.
"See, I knew it. How could a peace-loving person like me possibly think about using overwhelming power to oppress everyone? It must have been this flame of the mind that made me so irritable."
Chen Li quite naturally accepted the "friend fee" delivered by the world for the day.
However, the fact that his ceiling wasn't smashed or pierced through today felt a little strange. He was almost getting used to it.
Summoning his forging table with a wave of his hand, Chen Li tossed the flame into the Miracle Forge.
As he grabbed it, the flame shot out two smaller wisps of fire, like two tiny fists pummelling his palm, but they failed to cause him any harm. Clearly, the little thing couldn't break through his shield of friendship and bonds.
Seeing the 800 Starstones credited to his account, Chen Li wasn't surprised at all. This thing was probably another one of those seeds that could destroy the world in the future.
But wasn't this world a bit too disaster-prone? Did everyone who showed up want to stomp all over it?
The moment Chen Li seized the flame and instantly refined it, the scorched room began to rapidly return to normal.
Chen Li felt more and more that he couldn't live without Kaguya Houraisan in his house. Just getting emotionally fired up was enough to cause this much damage to the room. If this thing were allowed to grow, what kind of disaster would it become?
"Wait, hold on a second!"
Suddenly remembering something, Chen Li immediately plunged his hand back into the Miracle Forge and yanked the flame out. He watched as the faint Source Text, which had begun to form within the forge, started to dissipate as the flame was removed.
"I just remembered, this thing is a god-tier barbecue tool! What a waste, it's a real shame!"
Chen Li had long been vexed by the lack of a suitable flame for grilling food, but the friend fee from this world had easily solved his problem. More importantly, he didn't have any spare crystals to store these new Entries.
He hadn't had a single commission in days. It was only yesterday that he got 10 crystals from beating up the protagonist team of Akame ga Kill!. And that wasn't because he was strong, but because his Curios had created a miracle by completely overwhelming the supposedly invincible Teigu of that world.
He now had only 111 crystals left, just enough to craft a single one-star Curio.
Looking at the flame before him, which pulsed and contracted as if it were alive, its very essence screaming defiance, Chen Li suddenly picked up The Guide to Forging Curios and gave it a good "smack."
Getting cheeky, are we?
Since the Miracle Forge was already lit, Chen Li had no intention of extinguishing it right away. He needed to forge at least two Curios today anyway, so he figured he might as well burn off some energy first.
A pair of scissors as tall as a person was tossed directly into the flames.
This time, Chen Li was forging the Curio meant for Sirin.
He then threw [Cutter of Creation: Extase] into the Miracle Forge. As he watched the [Sever] Entry glow brighter under the forge's heat, gradually separating from the scissors, he hesitated, wondering if he should take out the Herrscher of the Void material card.
But using the [Space] Entry from the Herrscher of the Void card to forge a Curio for Sirin... wasn't that a bit too dark?
Ah, whatever. If it's dark, it's dark, he thought. The Herrscher of the Void herself hasn't complained.
And so, the [Space] Entry rose into the air.
It was followed by the [Reincarnation] Entry from the Shikon Jewel.
The sound of hammering once again echoed through Chen Li's home. Kaguya Houraisan, living on the floor above him, naturally heard it but paid it no mind. As long as Chen Li didn't forge a Curio that could send her home, she was fine with it.
Kaguya had come to terms with things. She could choose not to return to Gensokyo.
It wasn't that she didn't miss Eirin Yagokoro. The main issue was that yesterday, when she had asked Eirin to extract some [Lucky] Entries from Tewi at Chen Li's request, Eirin had solemnly sworn that once Kaguya returned to Eientei, she would make sure Kaguya lived a healthy life—no more precarious existence, no more all-nighters...
How could that be acceptable?
Telling me not to stay up all night? You might as well just kill me! I have never met such a malicious person!
Anyway, the pain of longing had been resolved through video calls and holographic projections. All that was left was the rebellious phase of a teenage girl!
Eirin! I have found a place even more wonderful than the Hall of Heavenly Peace! You don't have to worry about me anymore.
---o---
Clang!
As Chen Li brought down the final hammer strike, the scissors on the forging table instantly erupted in a dazzling light.
The Curio was complete.
[Myriad Phenomena Severance] (1-Star): Severing all phenomena, one thought to create emptiness, one thought to create eternity.
That's right, it was a one-star Curio. Chen Li had invested 70 crystals into it, and since the materials used were of exceptionally high quality, he was able to forge a one-star Curio at a relatively low cost.
The [Elation's 20-Sided Die] was different; it was a natural-born troll, capable of letting Chen Li laugh at others and letting others laugh at him. Its side effects were significant, which was why its cost was low.
This new Curio, however, had only one effect: to cut anything.
When cutting, it offered two options: Severance and Splicing.
Anything severed by these scissors could be spliced back together by them, and you could choose the method of splicing according to your will.
It sounded abstract, and it was abstract, because that's exactly what the description said. It seemed that to truly understand these scissors, he would have to ask them himself.
"Why do all these Curios that cost less than 100 crystals have their own little quirks?" Chen Li scratched his head, perplexed.
The [Gourmet Cells] Curio was so simple, convenient, and powerful. It required no brainpower at all—just eat, eat, eat. It was the difference between a well-behaved child and a problem child.
"Is this the price of getting a discount?"
You get a powerful Curio, it costs few crystals, has no side effects, and even has its effects clearly explained to you? How could there be such a good deal in this world?
Still, the Severance and Splicing effects of this Curio were surprisingly suitable as a tool of the trade for a designer.
Damn it, that girl Sirin was getting a good deal!
Fortunately, though, there was no rule stating that a Curio forged for someone had to be given to that person.
Besides, Sirin hadn't even paid the forging fee.
The only reason Chen Li was willing to spend so much on this Curio was purely because he had a use for it himself in the near future.
The thought of what he was about to do in the Current Era of Honkai Impact 3rd made him want to laugh.
[You there?]
Chen Li slowly typed out a single message.
---o---