The flames on the Miracle Forging Platform blazed.
A beautiful metal ring was tossed into the fire by Chen Li.
"Is this the true form of the Friends Circle?" Elysia asked, curiously examining the metal circle.
"It is," Chen Li nodded.
He was about to begin his first Curio reforging.
The [Friends Circle], a Curio that had cost him a fair few crystals and which he had once considered to be perfect, could no longer keep up with the times. Well, the main issue was that its item delivery fees were far too expensive.
However, not all of his novice-tier Curios had failed to keep pace with his progress. The Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin was still perfectly suited for dealing with his current opponents. After all, under normal circumstances, there really weren't any enemies in his novice-level instance, the [Honkai World], that were powerful enough to escape its control. But that couldn't account for Chen Li's habit of running off to the Honkai: Star Rail world to court death.
The Scales of Merit was even less outdated; what was important wasn't the Scales itself, but the merit it generated. Even if Chen Li were to strengthen it, it would likely just increase the channels through which he could gain the approval of sublime morality. For example, if he added the [Elation] Entry, perhaps he could gain merit from watching others have fun? But considering [Elation] wasn't a great match for Merit and Abundance, it could lead to some rather ridiculous chemical reactions. For instance... could he use merit to offset the karma from dark jokes?
"Although this Friends Circle Curio is very effective, my needs for it are growing by the day. Watch closely, I'm only demonstrating this once. How much you can learn is up to you," Chen Li said, gesturing to Vill-V.
"...I'm thinking that even if I completely understood your forging method, I still wouldn't be able to create a Curio, right?" Vill-V retorted.
After learning some of the principles behind Chen Li's Curio forging, Vill-V no longer believed she could create such miraculous items herself. So, she was now more interested in analyzing the Synthesis Platform. Vill-V felt that replicating the Synthesis Platform had a small, but non-zero, chance of success.
"You can't say that. Who said being a Curio was so inconvenient? Later, I can just forge a Curio that lets you forge Curios, wouldn't that solve it?"
"Huh?" Vill-V was stunned. Are you even listening to yourself? Is being a Curio really that convenient?
But while Vill-V was still dazed, Chen Li had already begun rebuilding the [Friends Circle], no longer hearing a single one of her retorts.
Handfuls of crystals were thrown into the Miracle Fire. Though it pained him to see them go, Chen Li knew it was a necessary sacrifice. As old Entries were strengthened and new ones were added, the [Friends Circle] began to glow ever brighter in the flames.
---o---
[Friends Circle] (1-Star): All within the Four Seas are brothers! To have met is to know, to know is to be friends, and friends help each other block a hit on the Friends Circle!
A familiar description, a familiar effect. Under Chen Li's all-out enhancement, every function of the [Friends Circle] had been strengthened.
Effect 1: Communication. Not only was the time limit on simulated projection communication gone, but one could now spend 5 Star Stones for same-world teleportation, or 30 Star Stones for cross-world teleportation. Or... one could teleport at the cost of clearing their entire chat history.
Effect 2: Delivery. The delivery fee item had been removed. Or rather, the delivery fee had been transformed into another kind of payment—you could now pay using your chat history in the Friends Circle. Curios are miraculous, aren't they? Now, "communication" itself had become a currency.
Effect 3: Friends. This received a wave of enhancements but saw no fundamental changes. It still involved consuming friends to block attacks. Here, Chen Li needed to make a special clarification: it wasn't that he didn't cherish his friends, nor was he being stingy with his crystals. It was simply that doing this was incredibly cost-effective. I mean, come on, is there anything more precious (or inexpensive) than a friend?
The newly added Effect 4 was the reason Effects 2 and 3 underwent a qualitative change.
[Barrage Loading...]: "Communication" itself holds "value." Every line of chat history consumed by a friend will be fired as a bullet from a barrage at the Friends Circle's enemies. The [Barrage] from different friends, in addition to its base attack power, carries different effects influenced by the friend's own power.
Because of this fourth effect, every member of the Friends Circle could now see their "Friendship Points," which represented the number of chat logs they possessed. When their Friendship Points reached a certain amount, they could open the Friendship Points Shop. In the shop, you could buy various items... such as cool avatar frames, special entrance effects for the Friends Circle, unique fonts, and so on.
"I can't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu from these 'Friendship Points.' The word 'friend' (朋友 - péngyǒu) starts with a P, so let's just call them P-Coins. Simple and clear."
Because of this fourth effect, the [Friends Circle] had now also become a progression-type Curio, growing stronger as the Friends Circle became more active and as Chen Li's number of friends increased. Thankfully, the core of the Curio hadn't fundamentally changed, so the old chat logs were still there, giving the newly upgraded [Friends Circle] a basic level of combat power right from the start.
"I originally thought that adding the [Tsukkomi] Entry to the Friends Circle would give me something like a defensive comment barrage while livestreaming, or maybe I'd receive energy feedback the more the audience roasted me. I didn't expect it to be used here..." Chen Li scratched his head, looking at the effects of the new Curio.
That's right, he had added [Tsukkomi]. And he had even gone to the trouble of learning some formulas for creating entertaining livestreams from Elysia, all for nothing.
But in all fairness, he felt that using chat logs as a delivery fee, and even as ammunition for a barrage, was a pretty good effect, so Chen Li had no plans to dismantle and remake the Curio. In short, the [Tsukkomi] Entry from Kyon had been utilized by Chen Li in a reasonable and effective manner.
"Looks like the Friends Circle got a huge update," Elysia said, holding her terminal and reading the announcement Chen Li had just sent.
"It certainly is a huge update, so you all can take your time looking through it. I have to go save the world," Chen Li said after a long stretch.
"So what's this 'saving the world' you keep talking about?" Vill-V, who had just received her Friends Circle terminal, was equally curious.
"I can't tell you. At least, not right now, or it won't work," Chen Li said, shaking his head.
"By the way, Sakura, make sure those higher-ups record and refine all my ideas for the fabricated history. Even if I disappear for a while, you are all to continue this process and see it through to the end," Chen Li commanded Sakura just before his departure.
"Understood, my lord." Sakura nodded, accepting the order. As an underling who had also been sold to Chen Li by the Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin, she would execute his commands without reservation, as would the higher-ups who received their orders from her.
[Fictional Historian] Entry extraction in progress... Progress: 1/100 (Progress is increased as the fabricated history is remembered by the civilization)
The fabrication of the civilization's history was already underway. Chen Li wasn't worried at all about whether he could obtain this Entry, because he was about to head to the Current Era to challenge the Herrscher of the Void. If the Entry hadn't been successfully extracted by the time he got there, he would just travel back and have those higher-ups strung up and tortured for three days and three nights! Then, he would make some slight adjustments to the fabrication plan.
Chen Li would create a world that had a Fictional Historian!
"Farewell, everyone. I am about to set sail on a long journey. Is there anything you wish to say to me?" Chen Li asked the three of them—Vill-V, Sakura, and Elysia.
"I don't know what you're going to do, but it sounds like something big. Shouldn't you go say goodbye to Mobius?" Elysia suggested.
"Hmm, you have a point. I've been feeling like Mobius has been completely addicted to those resurrection ads lately. She's definitely not doing her experiments seriously. If she doesn't do her experiments, how can I collect my patent fees? No, I have to go rush her for an update." Elysia's reminder jogged Chen Li's memory.
"That's not the kind of 'goodbye' I meant!"
"In any case, you have a point. By the way, Sakura, go check for me if the Homu costume I had the higher-ups make for me out of Soulium is ready yet," Chen Li said to Sakura.
"Understood." Sakura nodded and turned to leave. Ever since Chen Li became the father of the Flame-Chasers, he no longer had to worry about Soulium consumption.
"Vill-V, I'm lending you this Synthesis Platform for now. However, it can only forge a maximum of 200,000 more weapons before it temporarily shuts down, so you'll need to choose the weapon types carefully."
"No problem, but I can't help but feel your tone is a bit like you're entrusting your final affairs... This isn't our last goodbye, is it?" Vill-V said, hesitating.
"From the perspective of a civilization, yes. But from my perspective, I'll be back in a while," Chen Li said.
"That's cryptic. So, did you prepare any gifts for me? Like a Curio that can attract a constant stream of beautiful girls to my side. For all my hard work, I should at least get a farewell gift. I'll miss you," Elysia said, raising her hand.
"...Is there any chance that the 'hard work' you did was actually the cryptic part? I can't help but feel that those livestreaming tips you gave me weren't exactly proper," Chen Li said, squinting at Elysia.
Things like fabricating an identity, for example: ["Right now, I'm the Heavenly Hound banished to the mortal realm. Type 'chew the sofa' in the comments and I'll perform wrecking the house."] Or using cringey skits for educational purposes, like: ["Suddenly receiving a 'Qin Shi Huang needs money' phone call: 'Yo? This is Jing Ke! I've got that nuke map you wanted. V me 50 to unlock the assassination DLC.'"] And so on...
None of them seemed like proper livestreaming techniques.
Chen Li had no idea what kind of strange knowledge Elysia had been absorbing from the group members in the Curio group while he was trying to build his own empire!
"Those are the absolute best livestream entertainment ideas that I racked my brains to come up with, okay? If you don't get it, don't talk nonsense."
"I feel like that sentence itself is the real entertainment...算了, if you really want a gift, I'll give you admin privileges in the Curio group."
"That sounds kind of useless... what can I do as an admin?"
"Does being able to forcibly change Mobius's nickname at any time count?"
"Now this is good stuff!" Elysia's face instantly lit up with a smile, as if she had just come up with a brilliant idea.
"Then you have fun with that. I'm going to send some more snacks to my Queen. After all, there's no telling how long I'll be gone this time." As he spoke, Chen Li took out the tablecloth.
Let's start with twenty tablecloths' worth of food! Let her eat her fill!
---o---