"Ah, it's so hot! Chen Li, what did you put in my cup?" Little Herta cupped her face, her normally inorganic, cool expression instantly flushing crimson.
"Hot water," Chen Li said, his face expressionless.
"Oh..."
"Judgment: So this is a machine spirit? I recall that Herta did not install a food-intake module in her puppets. And under normal circumstances, a Herta puppet would not blush." Observing this scene, Screwllum fell into deep thought.
Effortlessly doing what was previously impossible—this was the power of a machine spirit.
That was the answer Chen Li had given. For instance, things like firing 35 bullets from a 25-round magazine were trivial.
"You saw it just now. Since the machine spirit virus is an 'outsider' to Herta, and Herta herself, as a puppet, can smoothly accommodate this outsider, a very special situation has formed. I can use the Miracle Fire to burn and extract the [Machine Spirit] Entry. After spending some Miracle Fire to increase the Entry's brightness, I can then stuff it back into her body. This can be considered another form of forging a Curio, and it will raise Little Herta's upper limit," Chen Li explained from the side.
This was an experiment of his. Because, in the words of the little sprite, how could a Curio be such an inconvenient thing? Besides, who ever decreed that a Curio had to be an object?
In the past, Chen Li had stored an Entry in a Crystal and could then simply use the Entry's ability by holding the Crystal. But increasing an Entry's brightness and then, instead of storing it, returning it to its original owner was another path entirely.
While this path was a bit unconventional, it was like how unofficial histories aren't necessarily completely unbelievable...
For example, Chen Li had once heard a wild rumor that Pom-Pom was the child of Aha and Akivili before they became gods. Later, Akivili became the Aeon of Trailblaze and abandoned his partner. An enraged Aha killed Akivili in one blow. Afterwards, he looked at Pom-Pom cowering in the corner and said, "Why so serious?" and then ascended to become the Aeon of Elation. As for Pom-Pom... he stayed on the train that held the memories of his parents, constantly sweeping up Akivili's ashes.
Theoretically, this wild history wasn't very reliable, but what if it was true?
And now, Chen Li had proven that the path of his experiment was a success. But it also had its drawbacks and limitations.
First, the Entry in question was best as an "outsider" to its owner. If the Entry involved the owner's origin or core essence, rashly increasing its brightness could lead to a series of chemical reactions. For example, both coal and diamonds are carbon, but the difference between them is vast. Increasing the proportion of a certain fundamental aspect of a being could lead to a very special, fundamental change.
And because of the above limitation, another drawback and limitation arose. The enhanced Entry should preferably be a neutral one, not a positive or negative one like 'good' or 'evil', otherwise it might cause a drastic change in the owner's temperament.
Little Herta perfectly met both of the above conditions. The [Machine Spirit] Entry was both an outsider and a neutral term.
But even so, Chen Li only spent three Crystals to strengthen the [Machine Spirit] Entry. This was partly out of reluctance and partly out of fear. The reluctance was easy to understand; the fear was because Chen Li worried Little Herta might reach her limit and explode. And he didn't know if the function of Crystals to increase a Curio's Entry capacity could be used on a living being... A Curio couldn't bear an Entry stronger than its capacity, and the same was true for a living being.
However, through this, Chen Li discovered the benefit of the [Machine Spirit] Entry. After being enhanced with Crystals, the metaphysical properties of the machine spirit were greatly strengthened, which produced a strange phenomenon.
The machine spirit was strengthened, taking up more of Little Herta's Entry capacity limit. But the machine spirit also had metaphysical properties. When Little Herta didn't believe she had reached her limit, the machine spirit kicked in and made "Little Herta has not reached her limit" a reality.
The stronger the machine spirit, the stronger Little Herta. The stronger Little Herta, the greater the machine spirit strength she could accommodate. The greater the machine spirit strength, the stronger Little Herta became... It was an insidious feedback loop! More insidious than stagnant water!
Of course, there was a limit. But as Crystals were the manifestation of miracle power, just one Crystal's worth of enhancement was enough to bring about a world-altering change in a being's life.
"Little Herta, you've been enhanced," Chen Li said, patting her head.
"Mhm, I've been enhanced! I can feel the power welling up inside me!" Herta said, looking at her own, unchanged little fists.
The next moment, a hazy purple aura began to emanate from her body, making her look incredibly cool.
"..." Chen Li hadn't expected the phrase "power welling up" to be so literal. So this is a machine spirit? It's amazing.
[This isn't a machine spirit at all, is it?]
"Herta, you must remember..." Chen Li spoke up at the right moment.
"Remember what?"
"The height of a fountain cannot exceed its source. The power of a machine spirit will never exceed the conviction in their heart. In other words, as long as your conviction is strong enough, you can do anything."
"I understand!" Little Herta's fighting spirit was ignited. "I will surpass Big Herta! I will create the Path of Herta!"
"You don't have to set your goals quite so high..." Chen Li said with a smile, patting Little Herta's head like a dog.
"Don't interfere with my grand ambitions. Hmph, men really will only slow down the speed of me drawing my sword," Little Herta said, annoyed, and swatted away Chen Li's hand.
"Ahem." Chen Li tossed a Crystal in his hand.
"But a Curio Forger won't. A Curio Forger will only help me buy a better sword!" Seeing the Crystal, a brilliant smile instantly appeared on Little Herta's face.
"That's more like it," Chen Li nodded with satisfaction.
Because of the Curio Forger's passive attribute that made him almost immune to the negative effects of any Curio used against him, and because he was the one who had enhanced Little Herta's [Machine Spirit] Entry with Miracle Fire, Chen Li now had absolute suppressive power over her. It was like a child who had gone off to save worlds, but upon returning home, still had to face the music if they accidentally broke all the bowls in the cabinet.
"But speaking of which... improving a being's strength by dangerously enhancing an Entry isn't much different from forging a Curio. And because I have no experience in enhancing a being, I have to be extremely careful, afraid of making a single misstep... It feels less efficient than forging a Curio," Chen Li said, feeling that something was off the more he thought about it.
Igniting the Miracle Fire, increasing an Entry's brightness... wasn't this the same process as forging a Curio? And directly enhancing a being's Entry wasn't cost-effective at all, since the Crystal cost was the same.
"Logic: Some individuals possess an innate distrust of external forces, believing that true power belongs to the self, that only power held firmly in one's own hands is one's own. Any external object can be lost," Screwllum offered his own perspective on Chen Li's statement. "Conclusion: Your experiment was not a waste of effort. Some people would indeed prefer this method of obtaining power. However, whether to continue experiments in this area requires verification of whether enhancing another's origin Entry will yield a Crystal reward equivalent to forging a Curio for them."
"Indeed. Little Herta, it's all up to you. If you really do create a Path of Herta in the future, remember to V me 50 Miracle Crystals."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you're enshrined as an Aeon! Just wait to go down in history with Big Herta. Like Zandar!" Little Herta patted her chest and promised.
"I'll be waiting. By the way, want to go to the Herta Space Station together later?"
"Of course! This emperor shall conquer a vast territory for you!"
"...Speaking of which, Haruhi Suzumiya will also be at the space station today." Chen Li looked at Little Herta, then thought of Haruhi.
Haruhi had the ability to make wishes come true, while Little Herta, due to her enhanced [Machine Spirit] Entry, now had very strong metaphysical abilities. In a sense, Little Herta was a weaker, personal version of Haruhi. Haruhi's abilities could affect the world, while Little Herta's could only affect herself. Plus, both Haruhi and Little Herta seemed to be quite "unreasonable"... the former due to her personality, the latter due to her Unreasonable Module.
"Little Herta, if you and Haruhi were to clash in the metaphysical domain, who do you think would win?"
"That little girl with the wish-granting ability? Guaranteed win, bro," Little Herta said confidently.
Herta was a native puppet of the space station and had received a machine spirit enhancement. Her power level was a solid 800,000! That other girl was from another world. Even if her upper limit was that of a creator god, when she came to the Herta Space Station, she had to play by the rules! Her power level was 600,000 at most! 800,000 against 600,000, the advantage is mine!
"I'm not so sure. But the chemical reaction that occurs when an ordinary sample combines with an item from another world is truly fascinating. If you were to receive some other enhancements, becoming an Aeon would certainly be a future prospect," Chen Li's gaze couldn't help but fall upon the [Heavenly Drop] Entry.
Because Herta was a puppet, she could be equipped with some strange things, like the power core of an entertainment-use All-Purpose Angel from a certain Heaven's Lost Property world.
A Heaven's Lost Property joke—"entertainment-use."
Every world's specialty had its merits. For example, the "free personal panel" benefit from Chen Li's home world had given Little Herta her own personal panel. Her profession was [Puppet], and through it, she gained the initial trait—[Link].
Big Herta had countless puppets under her command. If he equipped Little Herta with something similar to the Misaka Network, and then used a propagation-type Curio to transmit the machine spirit to every Herta puppet and "link" them... The holy Khala connects every one of us puppets!
[Sparkle]: Mornin'!
Just as Chen Li was about to invite Screwllum to the space station and wake up Sirin, Sparkle, whom he hadn't seen in days, suddenly sent him a message.
[Dad]: 'Good morning'? Look at the time... Oh, it is morning. What have you been up to these past few days? How did you get so pathetic after just a few days?
[Sparkle]: Don't even mention it. My mask was stolen by a colleague a few days ago, so I went to the Mourning Actors' ship to steal a new one. I just got out.
[Dad]: You've had it rough.
[Sparkle]: By the way, Mr. Famous Curio Forger, can you help me modify my mask? I don't really like the style of this one.
[Dad]: No problem. But remember to pay up.
[Sparkle]: Right, you should probably add a binding function to the mask too.
[Dad]: No problem, but remember to add to the payment.
[Sparkle]: I know, I know. By the way, can I pay the forging fee with pretty girl pictures? Like Robin's.
[Dad]: Huh?
[Sparkle]: I'll transform into her myself. Guaranteed likeness.
[Dad]: Got my hopes up for nothing. No!
[Sparkle]: Fine, fine. Let me draw up a design diagram for you first.
[Dad]: No need. Just transfer the mask directly to me.
[Sparkle]: No way. Without a design diagram, how can you forge a mask that's the same as my original one?
[Dad]: You just transfer the mask. Leave the 'how' to Dad. The mask will be in my hands. You think I won't know what it looks like?
[Sparkle]: I know you're eager, but don't be.
[Dad]: ...Don't listen to Dad, and you'll suffer later. Why doesn't this kid understand?
---o---