[Novice Quest (V)]
[Forge 15 Curios (26/15) (✓)]
[Forge 1 1-Star Curio (6/1) (✓)]
[Complete 10 Miracle Check-ins (12/10) (✓)]
[Increase Profession Level to Lv. 4 (✓)]
[Increase Fame to Lv. 3 (Lv. 2: 157/200)]
"All that's left now is Fame… Looking at this progress, one more big stunt should just about do it." Seeing that his Novice Quest was finally on the verge of completion, Chen Li was in a rather cheerful mood.
Forging the 1-Star Curio, [Mengyin Shen], had cost him 90 Crystals.
It could be said that this was, without a doubt, the most expensive Curio Chen Li had forged since obtaining the [Elation] Entry, mainly because it had no obvious side effects.
It possessed meme-level propagation, granted a pseudo-invincibility attribute to those who transformed into Yingyings after being infected, and was, in all respects, quite outstanding.
Most importantly, this Curio also had an Overlimit Mode.
Once the Overlimit Mode was activated, the Curio would change its fundamental logic, transforming into a true Mengyin Virus that would turn all infected beings into Yingyings, irreversibly.
It could totally give the entire Star Rail world a little Yingying-style shock!
However, since this Overlimit Mode required spending Crystals, Chen Li felt he would probably never use this function in his lifetime.
After forging this Curio, since he had not yet handed it over to the Xianzhou Alliance, Chen Li had yet to receive any returns.
His Fame had increased by 80 points compared to two days ago, mainly because he had been letting himself run too wild in the Star Rail world, even chewing a chunk out of the Aeon of Nihility that caused irreparable physical damage. Coupled with his frequent "passive" spreading of his reputation as a Genius Society member, his name had traveled far and wide.
In a world like Star Rail with its vast worldview that even transcended planetary boundaries, pulling off a big stunt would have a much better effect! Chen Li loved it!
Once the Xianzhou's Mengyin Day was successfully held, Chen Li hoped to use the opportunity to raise his Fame to Lv. 3 and complete the Novice Quest.
Therefore, Chen Li would stop at nothing for Mengyin Day!
"Jiejiejie, Jing Yuan, don't blame me for this!"
As for what kind of fixed impression this would create when word spread to other worlds, Chen Li didn't care. As long as he got the Fame, that was all that mattered!
"Speaking of which, Chen Li, you seem to have never mentioned what kind of abilities you gained after becoming an Emanator of Equilibrium," Herta said, interrupting Chen Li's villainous cackling.
Herta knew that whenever Chen Li laughed like that, someone was bound to have a bad day. But Herta figured it wouldn't be her, so she paid it no mind.
"I thought you could suppress your curiosity until tomorrow."
"Because HooH the Equilibrium and its Adjudicators are simply too mysterious, more mysterious than mystery itself, I'm very curious," Herta said.
"The power of this Emanator seems immense, and in fact, it is immense."
"…Get to the point."
"This Emanator's power might not be as miraculous as a Curio, but it has certainly brought me a lot of convenience. The first is called the Trial of Equilibrium."
"I've heard of this. It seems the Adjudicators of Equilibrium offer Trials of Equilibrium to certain Pathstriders. The strong will gain opportunities, while the weak will have a chance to breathe. After passing the trial, one will face stronger opponents, more difficult puzzles, and richer rewards," said the erudite Herta.
The Adjudicators revere the ideals of HooH, praising its eternal focus and patience. But universal laws can hardly transcend time and space, so mortals can only pursue the aesthetic of [Equilibrium] in the secular world, sparing no effort to erase the world's extremes: beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow, good and evil, love and hate—countless opposing concepts are created and interpreted, merely to satisfy the Adjudicators' obsession with a [Zero-Sum] universe.
But the Trial of Equilibrium doesn't mean the sum of the gains of the strong and the losses of the weak is zero, because every existence in the universe has different adaptive strategies and survival mechanisms.
The higher the Equilibrium Level, the stronger the enemies and the harder the puzzles, but at the same time, one will receive more rewards—material, spiritual, countable, and uncountable… The gains will match the power you possess.
"So… want to give it a try?" Chen Li invited.
"No thanks. I have no use for it," Herta said, shaking her head.
Adjudicators might be mistaken for gods in some worlds, but to Herta, they were still too green.
For Herta, an Emanator of Erudition, the Equilibrium Level could no longer restrain her.
She already stood at the apex of this universe, second only to the Aeons.
So… surely there wouldn't be some Memokeepers from the Garden of Recollection, who seem to have a screw loose, running over to peek at the memories of the Emanator of Erudition Herta having an audience with the Aeon of Erudition, right?
"Not every Adjudicator is an Emanator of Equilibrium, just as not every member of the Genius Society is an Emanator of Erudition. The Equilibrium Level I can apply to you should be able to affect you. Are you sure you don't want to try?"
"No. I'm still annoyed by that woman who messes with my experiments every day," Herta said irritably.
"Oh, and that's the second aspect. You can now call out the Silent Lord's name as you please. Because when it comes to manipulating the chain of causality, the Aeon of Equilibrium is the true expert. It manipulates the causality of the entire universe… According to the rule that subordinates are not allowed to talk back to their superiors, the Silent Lord cannot affect the causal chain near me, so naturally, she cannot freely manifest along it or hear us talking about her."
"Really?"
"Of course," Chen Li said.
"Polka Kakamot is a bitch! Phew, that feels much better."
"However, the Aeon of Equilibrium is very stingy. It only gave me the ability to counter the influence of the causal chain, not the ability to control it."
"So what? Just forge one yourself, can't you?"
"That's what I was thinking. I've always wanted to forge a Curio that could slap someone through the internet cable, but on second thought, it would be better to forge a Curio that can slap someone through the chain of causality," Chen Li nodded.
He could spare a little of this power of Equilibrium to forge a Curio.
"Let me borrow it once you've made it," Herta's eyes lit up.
"No problem."
"No wonder you said the power the Aeon of Equilibrium gave you might not be as miraculous as a Curio. These two conveniences are… okay, but not great."
"That's how granted power is. It's nowhere near as good as going out and 'eating' it yourself. But the power of Equilibrium has a third convenience: I can see the connections between things and balance them," Chen Li said.
"Balance them? For example?"
"Dad once said that balance isn't important; connection is. Do you know what the hardest part of using [Myriad Phenomena Severance] is? It's not the difficulty of cutting the thread or the cost of splicing it. It's finding that thread. For example, right now, I can see the connection between Sirin and the Imaginary Tree," Chen Li said, looking over at Sirin, who was sulking because Little Chen Li was gone.
"This has already surpassed the limits of an Emanator of Equilibrium. HooH the Equilibrium treats you pretty well, huh?"
"Don't misunderstand. I got this from eating the Aeon of Equilibrium's gaze. I hit the jackpot on the first try. My luck is pretty good."
The ability to see [Connection] was what Chen Li ate; the ability to [Balance Connections] was a gift from HooH. But the two were a perfect match.
Chen Li had always felt that the Aeon of Equilibrium had "seen" him eat the gaze of Ouroboros, the Aeon of Voracity, a hundred years ago, and had therefore deliberately sent its own gaze for Chen Li to eat this time. This was the proof.
Chen Li declared that HooH the Equilibrium was his true best bro! IX the Nihility was a close second!
"Right! The gaze! After you ate the gaze of the Aeon of Equilibrium, can it still gaze at other people?"
"Because this time, as I was eating the gaze, I thought to myself that I didn't want the Aeon of Equilibrium to lose that part of its sight, so it can recover. I used the [Then I Ask You] Miracle Card to check. The 'can cause irreversible damage to the consumed part of a god' effect of [God of Cookery] is an optional choice, not a mandatory one."
"Oh. Then can you cut the connection between Sirin and the Imaginary Tree and graft it onto me or an Aeon?" Herta suddenly asked.
"I can, but what are you planning to do?"
"I want to cultivate this connection, make it thicker, and then return it to Sirin. Do you know what Sirin's biggest problem is?"
"What?"
"She's illiterate."
"…"
No arguments there.
But Sirin hadn't even graduated from elementary school. It wouldn't be right to push her too hard.
"Your idea is good, but don't think about it anymore. In fact, the connection between Sirin and the Imaginary Tree is much more stable than you imagine. She just doesn't know how to use it," Chen Li said.
Although the version of the Honkai Impact 3rd world was very outdated, every Herrscher Core was essentially a mechanical monster.
Take Seele, the first limited 5-star character in the early days of Honkai: Star Rail. Although her stats seem a bit weak in today's power-crept environment, her "Resurgence" mechanic—taking another action immediately after defeating an enemy—is still top-tier even now.
"Fine. I'll add some more details to my plan on how to cultivate Sirin," Herta nodded.
Herta would absolutely not give up on the Sirin NTR plan! It was just too effective.
She also had no intention of having Chen Li forge a Curio that could directly connect to the Imaginary Tree, as that would be meaningless for her research on Aeons.
Besides, if she truly solved all her problems by relying on someone else's power, that would be the biggest problem of all for Herta.
"Stop adding details. Want to come spy on the Silent Lord with me?" Chen Li asked.
"Huh?"
"In places you don't know about, the Silent Lord's connection to you is very close. She has used this connection countless times to stop you whenever you were about to leap out of your circle of knowledge. And now, we can turn the tables and spy on the Silent Lord," Chen Li said.
"Good brother! You don't forget to call me for the good stuff! Let's go!" Herta was visibly delighted.
"Of course, we're sworn brothers, the closest of friends," Chen Li said, conveniently neglecting to mention that borrowing Herta's "signal connection" would inevitably force Herta to watch on the same screen as him.
And so, after receiving Herta's order to collect all the snacks distributed by the researchers who had turned into Yingyings throughout the entire space station, Asta pushed open the door to report and saw a scene: Herta and Chen Li, huddled closely together, occasionally letting out a laugh.
This time, Asta could no longer convince herself that this was just a hallucination caused by her own excessive stress, because she had just relieved that stress.
"Ms. Herta… she must be in a relationship. Has the day finally come?" Asta sighed.
Otherwise, Asta couldn't explain how Herta and Chen Li would smile so genuinely from the bottom of their hearts just by looking at each other.
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