The captivating sound of smithing echoed throughout the Artisanship Commission, a sound that made the hearts of the artisans yearn. It wasn't until the sound ceased that the artisans of the Artisanship Commission snapped back to their senses. They glanced towards a particular forge room, imagining what such an elegant, melodious, and artistic hammer fall could possibly mean.
"As expected of the General's honored guest. He certainly has some skill when it comes to forging artifacts. A pity he's a short-life species…" After a few words of sentiment, the artisans of the Artisanship Commission dispersed, returning to their own work.
In the mouths of the Xianzhou artisans, the words "short-life species" were not a derogatory term. The knowledge within the Artisanship Commission was as vast as a sea of stars, and a human's short hundred years were completely insufficient to master it all.
---o---
"No matter how many times I see it, the shock of watching a Curio being forged never diminishes. I still don't understand it, but it feels incredible," Vill-V remarked from the side.
"Speaking of which, Vill-V, you've already become an Emanator of Elation. Why haven't you caused any trouble yet? You're making me nervous. I feel like you're planning something big." Chen Li put down the Miracle Hammer, reached into the Miracle Fire, and pulled out the newly forged Curio.
"Why must I cause trouble?" Vill-V tilted her head.
"Because my stereotype of the Masked Fools is that they cause trouble and go for the big score," Chen Li said.
"Well, your stereotype is spot on. Here, this is my masterpiece." Vill-V shot Chen Li a smug smile and produced a mask.
"This is…" Chen Li could see a faint light emanating from the mask in Vill-V's hand, indicating its extraordinary nature.
There must be a lot of great Entries on that!
"A Persona Mask."
"???"
"A mask that can grant any existence an additional personality. If worn by a person, it will create a dual personality. If placed on an inanimate object, it will grant the object a consciousness and personality, even bringing it to life."
"You scared me. For a second, I thought it was a Persona Mask from that goddess-smelling weird series that lets you summon a Stand-like entity… Wait, this thing is even more dangerous than a Persona Mask. What are you going to do with it?" When Chen Li realized the effects of this Persona Mask were a bit heaven-defying, he couldn't help but ask.
The item's effect was rather unremarkable compared to a Curio, but for an ordinary Pathstrider, it was a bit too advanced.
"Chen Li, you know this, but the moment I first saw you, I fell deeply in love with you…"
"???"
"…'s forge."
"…"
"But I've discovered that there are limits to human power. Without the help of special abilities, forging an item similar to a Curio is as difficult as ascending to heaven. However, the arrival of the Aeon of Elation and the power they provided have given me many more possibilities," Vill-V said eloquently.
"How is that possible?"
"I briefly read through this world's history. The Aeon of Erudition was originally a computer designed to solve all things, and Genius Society Member Emperor Rupert was also a self-aware computer. This proves that in this world, the potential of machines is immeasurable. Allowing a non-conscious entity to transcend its individual limits might be one way to achieve godhood."
"Vill-V, calm down. The two examples you just gave are not replicable," Chen Li reminded her.
"You're right. In my subsequent experiments, I also discovered that even though this mask—forged by fusing one of my blank personalities with the entirety of an Elation Emanator's power—does indeed have the ability to grant consciousness and personality to inanimate objects, the personalities are too weak. Though pure, they can't even control their own bodies smoothly. The 'signal' is too weak, so even moving is difficult," Vill-V said, shaking her head in regret.
"It'd be strange if it worked… Wait a minute, did you just say something incredible?" Chen Li froze.
"Are you referring to the entirety of an Elation Emanator's power? I figured that given the Aeon of Elation's reputation, He might reclaim this power at any time, so I never considered it my own," Vill-V said with a wave of her hand.
"Not that. I mean you just said this mask was fused with one of your blank personalities?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
"There is something wrong, something very wrong. Are you insane?" Chen Li couldn't help but press his forehead.
Honestly, when Chen Li first met Vill-V and saw that she hadn't built some world-creating mecha, he had assumed this supposedly ridiculous Emanator of Elation was actually the most well-behaved one. He never expected that Vill-V was secretly cooking up something this massive!
"You're worried about me, aren't you?"
"Nonsense!"
"It feels really nice to be cared for. But what if I told you that this blank personality was provided by a certain god with many faces who happened to glance at me?" A sly smile appeared on Vill-V's lips.
"Huh?"
"It's like this. You know I have multiple personalities…" Vill-V said quite bluntly.
Since Chen Li, who had seen the story, already knew this secret, Vill-V no longer treated it as one.
"And then?"
"The story you provided was indeed helpful, because it made me realize my own talents… Although my original self refuses to face reality, the current two personalities of mine are quite capable of facing it. So, after we successfully used different methods to switch personalities and reached an agreement for each personality to work for a period, an Aeon glanced at me. I think it was the Aeon of Harmony mentioned in the history books."
"Well… that's an unexpected path, but it seems very reasonable," Chen Li scratched his head.
Cooperation between different personalities… does that count as Harmony?
[The acts of 'Understanding,' 'Support,' and 'Cooperation' are manifestations of the Path of [Harmony].]
The little sprite offered a friendly reminder.
Alright, that was very reasonable.
In other words, the future Vill-V, with her eight equal personalities, was indeed very similar to Xipe, the Thousand-Faced, One-Body.
And Vill-V's original personality didn't mind being just one part instead of the main entity.
That was incredibly harmonious.
"So you've embarked on the Path of Harmony?"
"More or less, but also not quite. The moment we reached a mutual agreement, we did indeed step onto the Path of Harmony. And for some reason, the Path of Harmony gifted us a Unifying Platform, allowing my original self and other personalities to communicate normally, cooperate, and improve together…"
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"In theory, it's great. But my original self found us too noisy. Combined with the idea that 'Vill-V is not just Vill-V, but also only Vill-V,' and with the timely help of the Path of Elation, we 'took out' this Unifying Platform and put it inside this mask," Vill-V explained.
"…" Chen Li roughly understood.
What Vill-V needed was purity.
Even if Vill-V split into eight, or even hundreds of personalities, all those personalities were still Vill-V. But this Unifying Platform was not.
In Vill-V's view, this Unifying Platform could also be considered a personality. So, the different Vill-Vs held a vote and "voted out" the Unifying Platform.
What did that even count as?
"And this Unifying Platform arrived at the perfect time. As I mentioned, after this Persona Mask grants a personality to an inanimate object, the consciousness and personality born from it are extremely pure and weak. Pure means they have no opinions of their own, and weak means they lack potential."
"But what if, after the mask is removed, the personality and consciousness of the inanimate object remain within this mask and are unified through this platform… Even if each individual is pathetic on its own, it's a different story when they are gathered together. With enough conscious strength, this Persona Mask could control whatever it wants to control. For example, the Xianzhou beneath our feet." Vill-V stomped her foot.
A single drop of water has limited power, but when countless streams gather, they form an ocean!
"And I also discovered that the personalities retained this way will also preserve and utilize some of their original body's abilities in their new form. For instance, the personality of an ordinary stone can make an object harder. Although these abilities are rudimentary, it's a different story when they are combined."
"As long as this mask isn't destroyed and is passed down, with the support of countless pure and weak personalities, sooner or later, this mask will be able to grant a behemoth like the Xianzhou its own personality and allow it to fully control its own body. It might even evolve into a galactic giant, who knows," Vill-V said with great interest.
"…Jing Yuan, I've wronged you," Chen Li sighed deeply.
I'm sorry. It was I who sent three 'bombs' to the Xianzhou.
Luckily, none of them have gone off.
"What does this have to do with Jing Yuan?" Vill-V tilted her head, confused.
"Nothing. I was just wondering, since you've created this, did the Aeon of Erudition not even glance at you?" Chen Li retorted.
"What does this have to do with the Aeon of Erudition? This mask is still very weak, and it's just a tool. It doesn't fully reflect my genius at all," Vill-V shook her head.
"I can barely accept that reason, but why didn't Harmony give you a look either… oh, you melted down Harmony's blessing." Realizing this, Chen Li almost lost his composure.
Perhaps it was because Vill-V had only shown the madness of a genius without displaying her other virtues that she hadn't been invited by the Aeon of Erudition.
And because there were barely any consciousnesses in the mask yet, and the blessing of Harmony was no longer on Vill-V but on the mask itself, the Aeon of Harmony had not extended an olive branch to her either.
So, a genius who was perfectly suited for Harmony ended up becoming an Emanator of Elation…
That was just too much Elation.
[Perhaps the Aeon of Elation used his power to shield this Persona Mask. He wants to set up a big show!]
"…" Chen Li thought about it and felt it was possible that Aha was behind this.
Perhaps for Aha, the fun gained from letting someone who wasn't a genius into the Genius Society was no greater than the fun of preventing a true genius from getting in.
What kind of fun isn't fun?
Damn you, Aha!
"By the way, Vill-V, have you named this mask? And have you installed any countermeasures?" Chen Li asked.
"The name of the mask… Let's call it [Legacy]. As for countermeasures, of course, I have. You know, what kind of forger doesn't leave a backdoor in their own creations?" Vill-V nodded.
"What backdoor?"
"Every personality in this Persona Mask is very weak. Their strength comes from the collective, and how the collective acts is communicated and integrated by the Unifying Platform. And the Unifying Platform is mine… You can think of the Unifying Platform as the mask's brain." Vill-V shrugged, not elaborating further.
"…Is your Unifying Platform big enough?"
"Don't worry. Every personality born from the Persona Mask will be connected to the Unifying Platform at its purest moment. Each personality is both using the platform and shouldering its burden, so it will never collapse," Vill-V said.
"Alright, as long as you know what you're doing," said Chen Li, feeling that the risks of this Persona Mask were relatively manageable.
Although this Persona Mask could grant pure personalities to inanimate objects, although these pure personalities would retain some of their original body's traits and abilities, and although these personalities with various skills would work together under the influence of the collective, allowing the mask to control larger and larger objects and perform more complex actions…
But the Aeon of Harmony was still watching over this Persona Mask. It couldn't get out of hand.
At worst, the Luofu Xianzhou would form the head, the Yaoqing Xianzhou would form the torso… and the Xianzhou Alliance would combine into a single entity.
[The Xianzhou Alliance is attacking!]
[Which Xianzhou Alliance? The Yaoqing or the Luofu?]
[Just... the Xianzhou Alliance.]
"…" Chen Li almost lost it.
["The Xianzhou Alliance" versus the Xianzhou "Alliance"... I can't help but chuckle!]
"Crap, you don't even have a wind-up anymore!" Chen Li completely lost his composure.
"What's wrong?" Vill-V asked, seeing the expression on Chen Li's face.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the happy smile on Jingliu's face when she uses this summoning talisman to call forth Baiheng, and it makes me want to smile too!" Chen Li quickly came up with an excuse.