[Slacking Off] Entry Extraction in progress.
Progress: 18/64 (Progress increases by witnessing Qingque slack off after completing her duties.)
"Oh..." Qingque, who had been on the verge of making an effort, instantly gave up the struggle.
Fine, I guess I'm better suited to being a salted fish.
Self-motivation? It doesn't exist.
"Chen Li, you have to take responsibility for me."
"What nonsense are you spouting now?" Chen Li didn't even turn his head from his forging.
"I was finally about to work hard and get serious, but you knocked me right back to square one with a single sentence. Isn't that a big enough blow to my morale?"
"Hah, fine. I can take responsibility for you."
"Uh, I thought of you as a brother in slacking, but you're actually after my body?" Qingque subconsciously covered her chest with her hands.
"Qingque... do you know who'd be arrested first if we were seen walking down the street holding hands?"
"You, the wanted criminal, obviously. Who else could it be?" Qingque said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Of course it would be you, for dating a minor. It wouldn't be me, the wanted criminal, now would it?" Chen Li retorted.
"...You have a point."
"So you should be the one taking responsibility for me."
"Ah? How about we just drop this topic? How's the Curio forging coming along? Let me see!" Feeling she couldn't win the argument and worried she might actually be talked into taking responsibility for him, Qingque quickly changed the subject.
Qingque's verbal skills were strong, but the line "I'm a minor" was an argument-ender on par with the legendary non-sequitur, "Have you ever been beaten by a monkey?" The laws protecting minors on the Xianzhou were extremely strict.
Qingque sidled up to Chen Li, watching as his hammer fell, sending sparks of miraculous fire flying. The Curio was taking a more complete shape.
"Even after seeing the process, it's hard to believe something so magical can be created so casually. I thought your forging process would be much grander," she commented.
"The first time I forged a Curio in this world was indeed quite grand. Tens of thousands of people staring at you in silence, with Nous itself spying on you from above... It might even be spying on me right now." Chen Li looked up suspiciously, but saw nothing.
His [Appraisal] ability allowed him to observe the Entries on any living or non-living thing, but he couldn't defend against over-the-horizon surveillance. To appraise an Entry, he had to "see" it first.
"If Nous is watching you, does that mean It sees me standing next to you? What if It discovers my exceptional talent and recruits me into the Genius Society?" Qingque worried for a moment.
"Don't try to change the subject. Remember to take responsibility for me."
"You really only think about yourself!" Qingque huffed, annoyed that her diversion had failed.
"Ah, the Curio is done."
"What's it do?" Qingque curiously eyed the pair of glasses Chen Li picked up from the forge.
[Mystic Eye Killers]: Can be used to suppress special abilities in the area covered by the glasses.
That's right, the reason it was called "Mystic Eye Killers" was because, as a pair of glasses, it could only conveniently cover the eyes. It was a rather roundabout way to save on "costs."
This Curio was incredibly cheap on crystals, costing only five, and it used just a single Entry—[Suppression], which came from a talisman from the Inuyasha world. While five crystals might sound low and the [Suppression] Entry wasn't particularly bright, the old saying still applied: if a novice Curio can't fight the world, can't it at least fight you?
"Hey, Chen Li, what do you think would happen if the Lady Diviner put these glasses on her Third Eye?" Qingque asked, a curious thought striking her after hearing the description.
"???" Chen Li gave her a surprised look, then fell into deep thought.
Does the Third Eye... count as an eye? It should, right? It should work.
"If nothing unexpected happens, and Fu Xuan were to wear these glasses, her Third Eye would lose its divination ability and could only be used as a charging port," Chen Li mused.
"A charging port?"
"Never mind what I said. Do you want to try them on? If not, I'm delivering them to the client," Chen Li said.
"No, thanks. By the way, Chen Li, is the profit margin really that high for you to be putting so much effort into forging these Curios?" Qingque finally asked the question that had been on her mind.
"A Curio Forger's job is to forge Curios, give them to users, and let the users create miracles. The miracles they create are then fed back to me as Miracle Crystals. Strictly speaking, even if the client doesn't pay a forging fee, I can still make a profit," Chen Li explained as he prepared the glasses for delivery. "But since I'm forging them anyway, of course I'll forge for the highest bidder, right?"
"Pretty much. Unless they're the first guide I meet in a new world. In that case, the Curio is basically a half-price giveaway, to open up the market."
"Like me?"
"Exactly. So you're lucky. You're not the first guide I've met, but the one before you got one-shotted by the Aeon of the Hunt. So you get this 50% off coupon," Chen Li nodded.
Robin and Sunday? They counted too, but on the Xianzhou, Qingque was his only guide. The Xianzhou was a great place, with an abundance of Entries.
Although Chen Li hadn't negotiated the reward for the Mara-suppressing Curio with Jing Yuan, this was one of the little tricks he had learned for maximizing profit after countless troubles as a transmigrator.
Agreeing on a reward beforehand is a transaction, and the payment is fixed. Saying nothing and letting the other party decide on the reward afterward? Not only will they give you more, but they'll thank you for it and owe you a favor. In that situation, they'll really bring out their best stuff.
In Xianzhou terms, that would mean gifting him at least eight or ten Alliance Jade Abacuses.
The best things in life are free!
However, the minimum requirement for this method was having a fist big enough to cause immense destruction if you were displeased.
I can refuse it, but you MUST offer it.jpg
If Chen Li could forge a Curio that suppressed the Mara, it wouldn't be surprising if he could also forge one that could instantly detonate it. As a smart man, Jing Yuan had clearly realized this, which was why he had sent Chen Li the Amber of the Divine Body before he had even done anything.
People who become leaders of a faction might be evil, but they are never stupid. Just like this morning, Screwllum had "complained" to Chen Li that the Interastral Peace Corporation had visited him five times in a single morning, trying to get Chen Li's contact information. They spouted incomprehensible things like, "We'll do anything if you just forge one Curio for the IPC."
Chen Li felt that the IPC, who had no idea what his Curios even did, was just looking for an excuse to throw money at him and establish a connection.
"So, besides that, do you have any other sources of income?" Qingque asked.
"I do. As a transmigrator, I can get Star Jades just by creating ripples in this world that wouldn't have existed otherwise," Chen Li nodded.
"So only ripples you create directly generate Star Jades? Can't you use indirect methods? Like, you influence me, and I influence the world, thereby bringing you profit?" Qingque pressed on.
"That's possible. For example, when I give a Curio to someone, I usually get a bonus of Star Jades," Chen Li confirmed.
"In that case, I have a plan..." Qingque held up a single finger.
"Put away your little plan. That's my line," Chen Li deadpanned.
"???"
"Ahem, please continue."
"Chen Li, have you ever considered creating a hiring system within the Friends Circle?" Qingque asked.
"A hiring system?"
"That's right. Your friends in the circle are just sitting around idle anyway. You could use some form of currency to pay them to influence the world, which would earn you Star Jades. Wouldn't that be making money from home?"
"Qingque, are you some kind of genius?"
"And once you've issued a currency, you can let other members of the Friends Circle trade with each other. For example, if someone urgently needs help, they can use that currency to hire someone else. Even though you wouldn't be directly causing the ripple, as the middleman, you should still get some Star Jades," Qingque continued, adding fuel to the fire when she saw Chen Li was tempted.
"You're right. And if the two of them aren't from the same world, then as the provider of the Friends Circle platform, I should earn even more Star Jades," Chen Li nodded repeatedly.
"Furthermore, if the currency you issue is something with actual value, like Star Jades, you might earn even more, because the Star Jades themselves are part of your influence," Qingque added.
"Makes sense. So what is it you really want?"
"Lend me a couple of coins." Qingque held out her hand.
"Huh?" Chen Li was taken aback.
"I want to use Star Jades for gacha pulls."
"How did you get hooked on gacha?" Chen Li was confused.
"I wasn't interested at first. Until I used the 10 Star Jades you gave me to do a ten-pull and got this." As she spoke, Qingque carefully took out a treasured item.
"A Celestial Jade tile?" Chen Li recognized it.
"Correct, but this is no ordinary tile. This is the most ancient type of Celestial Jade tile. Ah, look at the weather-beaten surface, the fine texture, the ancient craftsmanship! This isn't a tile, it's an antique!" Qingque said excitedly.
"So?"
"So, since I'm the one who gave you this brilliant idea, I'm a hero, right? There's an old Xianzhou saying: 'buy a horse's bones for a thousand gold.' Even if it's just to motivate everyone else in the Friends Circle, you should reward me with some Star Jades, right? Sooner or later, I'm going to pull a complete set of antique Celestial Jade tiles!" Qingque said with excitement.
"But Qingque, have you considered why the payment system is the first one I plan to build for the Friends Circle?" Chen Li asked with a smile.
"Eh?" Qingque froze.
"But you're right about buying the horse's bones... I can give you 100 Star Jades," Chen Li said.
"Really? Chen Li, I love you so much!"
"But I really don't recommend you spend all 100 on gacha pulls. Heaven knows how long it'll take you to pull a full set of those tiles," Chen Li reminded her as he handed them over.
"My friend, this is a high-stakes gamble," Qingque gave him a thumbs-up.
"You just wait until you lose everything," Chen Li flicked her on the forehead.
You really never learn, do you?
---o---
"My friend, I lost everything!" Qingque knelt on the floor, hands planted on the ground, as if her entire world had turned to grayscale.
"...I wouldn't say you lost everything," Chen Li, the one who had just told her not to gamble, didn't dare say much this time. Instead, he tried to console her.
It wasn't that he was worried Qingque would do something irrational out of desperation. It was because he felt that this wave of luck from her was simply insane.
The [Star Sea Treasure] function allowed one to obtain random items using Star Jades. The number of Star Jades invested determined the lower limit of the "time, space, and fate" traces on the item, but not the upper limit. So, in theory, a single pull could indeed produce a miracle.
Just as it's possible to find the 'Heart of Africa' in a 'bird's nest.'
The antique Celestial Jade tiles Qingque wanted weren't actually that rare; she just personally liked them. So, investing one Star Jade per pull was enough. But on the theoretical basis that none of these 100 pulls should have yielded a grand prize, Chen Li found himself staring in disbelief at the chess piece she had casually tossed aside.
You pull a one-Jade item and you get a Gnosis?
[Electro], [Divine], [Magical Power]...
The Entries on the Gnosis, inherited over hundreds of years, were dazzling. While not on the level of an Aeon's blessing, it was still an exceptionally rare treasure.
"Qingque, are you the God of Gamblers?" Chen Li couldn't help but ask.
---o---