Watching Jie's momentarily stunned expression through the chat group screen, Anthony couldn't help letting out a couple of quiet laughs — then went back to typing.
[AAA City Female Ghost: What do you mean? Did anything new happen after you cut the livestream?]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: What exactly have you all been up to while I was gone?]
[Let Night City Burn: Mr. Anthony always manages to do something inexplicably bizarre.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Ahem. Well, how to put it — the Sui-Year Bureau came knocking.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Since this body still needs to operate in this world going forward, I figured I might as well have Wang help out and get this identity registered as a newly awakened Agent... He agreed. Just finished the audience with the True Dragon, so that's how things stand now.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: So... you've become the thirteenth Agent of the Sui family?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Yep.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: ...Alright, I think I more or less follow. Not that it's a problem, really — it just feels a little surreal.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: Anyway, I've got the gist of it. Next time I'm back, I'll have a word with Second Brother — agreeing to things this casually isn't great. The friends in this group are fine, and you had your reasons... but with people on the outside, he still needs to be careful.]
Reading Jie's string of messages, Anthony felt as though he could already see, with perfect clarity, the future that awaited Wang after Jie's resurrection.
A wave of barely-contained secondhand suffering washed over him. He found himself offering Wang a sincere, heartfelt moment of silence.
Except the moment of silence slowly, inevitably gave way to a mournful, helpless laugh.
Ahem... rein it in.
It took a good while, but Anthony finally managed to wrestle the corners of his mouth back under control.
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: Oh, by the way — one more thing. @Lord of the White Holy Throne]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Hm? What is it?]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: The resurrection conditions on my end — what was a full row of question marks has changed. One of the lines is now visible.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Oh? There's actually been progress?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What does it say specifically?]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: It requires me to have my image restored to the memories of the people. You might want to check your own resurrection conditions — they may have updated too.]
Reading Jie's message, Anthony rubbed his chin and turned the thought over in his mind.
Restored to the memories of the people... That made sense, honestly. When Jie died, her concept had returned to the Sui Beast, and people's memories of her had gradually faded into nothing. For her image to be restored was, at its core, simply a matter of making the world remember her again.
But what about himself?
With mild curiosity, Anthony opened his own Soul Ability Tree and looked at the resurrection conditions listed at the very top.
And then his vision went dark.
Not that there hadn't been progress — there had, in fact, been progress.
But the progress itself... just looking at it made Anthony feel helpless.
[Currently Revealed Resurrection Condition (1): Cause the memes associated with your concept to spread across the myriad worlds, thereby fulfilling the 'Memory' condition required for Perfect Resurrection.]
...I give up.
In a sense, his resurrection condition was broadly the same type as Jie's — but the gap in difficulty was absolutely astronomical.
Come on, then. Someone tell me — how exactly am I supposed to spread my memes across the myriad worlds?
What, am I supposed to turn myself into some kind of Hakimi music edit?
He sighed. His own resurrection really was a horizon that kept receding. Still — at least one condition had been unlocked. No matter what, he had to find a way to come back... and going forward, he supposed he'd have to look into collecting a few alternative resurrection methods as backup options. Always good to have contingencies.
Anthony shook his head, slumped back against the couch, and settled in to wait.
Before long, he heard a knock at the door from outside.
Then the door opened, and a figure robed in black walked in. Anthony spotted the insignia marking them as a member of the Sui-Year Bureau — and in their hands, they carried a hammer.
A Candlebearer, clearly.
"It has been retrieved as you requested."
The Candlebearer said so, and Anthony nodded, reaching out to take the hammer from them. As he did, a small slip of paper fell from it. He picked it up with mild surprise and gave it a once-over.
[Second Brother tells me we've somehow gained another little brother out of nowhere? Ah, I don't really understand the details of it all... But since they say I should give a greeting gift, I'll give you this craftsman's hammer.]
[Come film a movie with us sometime when you're free.]
So Nian had heard about the situation and left this note specifically for him. Which also meant — Wang had actually gone ahead and told his brothers and sisters that he, Anthony, was genuinely part of the Sui family?
Acting all standoffish on the surface, but still going out of his way to handle the matter seriously. Anthony really did owe Wang some gratitude for that.
Thinking it over with a quiet sense of appreciation, Anthony set the note off to one side without another glance at it.
Ahem. As for what the note actually said — that could stay right where it was. Anthony had absolutely no intention of going to film some movie and destroying his entire spotless reputation in one go.
Because Nian's movies... anyone who knew, knew.
A one-hundred-percent bad film rate was just the upper bound of probability. It was nowhere near the upper bound of what Nian herself was capable of.
"What does Mr. Po need this object for?"
"Mm... consider it a simple verification of my Authority. You can step outside for now — once I've finished, I'll fulfill my responsibilities according to my own Authority."
Anthony waved a hand. The Candlebearer seemed to hesitate for a moment, but ultimately did as told, giving a brief nod before walking out of the room.
With that, Anthony fished out of his pocket the few black chess pieces he had swiped from Wang before leaving — and looked again at the craftsman's hammer Nian had sent. He fell into quiet contemplation.
Then the chat group panel materialized before him.
[1,000 Points Spent.]
[You have unlocked Spirit Application · Soul Flame.]
Anthony glanced over the Soul Flame description and moved on. The ability was straightforward enough — expend a certain amount of soul energy, convert it into a soul flame capable of Soul Forging and dealing damage. Simple.
The real main event was still ahead.
He looked at the black chess pieces and the craftsman's hammer in his hands, and a thought began to turn in his mind.
The Artificer's spirit application only required one item as a catalyst. But what if he used two?
The idea flashed through his head in an instant — and he decided to try it.
He pressed the submit button. In the next second, a cascade of text began streaming across the chat group panel.
[Prerequisites detected as fulfilled... Prerequisites detected as exceeded.]
[You have unlocked Spirit Application · The Artificer.]
[Additional unlock: Crafting Blueprint · Shrine of Offerings.]
[Artificer Ability Tree unlocked. Ability unlocked · Soul Forging.]
[Soul Forging]
[Effect: You may use soul power to perform Soul Forging. Based on existing Crafting Blueprints, by providing a sufficient number of Points and materials, you can forge the corresponding item.]
[Available Crafting Blueprint: Shrine of Offerings.]
Oh? New content, just as expected.
Anthony gave a satisfied nod, then went to browse the Artificer Ability Tree.
The tree was filled with crafting blueprints of all kinds. The Points required to unlock them were nothing to sneeze at — starting in the thousands, with some going up into the hundreds of thousands.
He turned his attention to the single blueprint he currently possessed, and read through its effect with some anticipation.
[Shrine of Offerings]
[Effect: Under the attachment of soul power, an object capable of stimulating the dispersion of soul energy — typically taking the form of a shrine — through offerings made before it, causes the concentration of surrounding soul energy to increase. Furthermore, the stimulation of soul energy will, to a certain degree, enhance the fortune and spiritual power of those who make offerings.]
[Crafting Cost: 1,000 Points.]
Hm?
Anthony paused for a moment.
This thing looked, on the surface, like something that improved the surrounding environment and provided a passive buff. Not bad — but taken purely on its own, its direct use to Anthony seemed fairly limited...
And then his gaze landed on the line about increasing the concentration of surrounding soul energy — and something clicked.
He looked toward another ability he had unlocked a little while back and promptly shelved in storage to gather dust.
[Soul Circuit]
[Effect: Upon acquiring this ability, your soul will contain a Soul Circuit, accelerating the flow of soul power within you, and enabling you to absorb dispersed soul energy present in the surrounding environment, storing it within the Soul Circuit.]
...Oh.
After carefully comparing the two abilities side by side, Anthony immediately got to his feet and walked out the door.
He knew, now, what his Authority was supposed to be.
He'd just figured it out.
Without a moment's hesitation, he pushed through the door in front of him, found the Candlebearer standing guard at the entrance, and spoke immediately:
"Would you mind taking me to see Second Brother? The two of us meeting — that should be alright, shouldn't it?"
......
"The hell do you want?"
A short while later, after having the surrounding Candlebearers stand down, Wang listened as Anthony laid out his plan. When Anthony finished speaking, Wang's eyes narrowed and he spoke with a guarded edge in his voice.
"What exactly are you planning to do to my family?!"
____
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