[Toying with the Vassals at the Beacons]: For toying with the fate of an entire civilization for one's own amusement, I, King You of Zhou, declare you the strongest!
Effect 1: Freely manipulate a civilization's timeline—accelerate, decelerate, pause, or rewind. You can even create simulated parallel timelines to observe the civilization's development under different choices. (Using this effect consumes Civilization Value).
Effect 2: Awaken the collective consciousness of a civilization to better control its development. (This effect consumes a large amount of Civilization Value). It also grants the user the trait of being "super effective" against the collective consciousness. As long as the user lives, the collective consciousness will forever remain the crown prince!
Effect 3: Can be used to forge Curios. (Civilization Value: Replenished by interfering with or directing key nodes in a civilization's historical events).
[Fictional Historian]: Edit history, fabricate history, create history!
Effect 1: By consuming Fiction Value, you can cause a past fragment of an object/person to re-manifest, restoring their former abilities, injuries, illnesses, hobbies, moods, etc.
Effect 2: By gazing at any object/person, you can read their "historical film" to obtain memory fragments. With enough fragments, you can piece together a complete historical event. (Consumes Fiction Value and requires you to enter the target's heart... but how you enter is not specified. Beating your way in also works).
Effect 3: Can be used to forge Curios. (Fiction Value: Obtained by fabricating language, events, civilizational progress, etc.).
All in all, Chen Li had obtained two rather excellent Miracle Cards. Perhaps because his recent actions had perfectly matched the definition of a "miracle," both cards granted him a full 40 Crystals each. Whether it was severing history or creating a parallel world, neither seemed to be a small feat, so receiving so many Crystals was reasonable.
Moreover, both Miracle Cards were extremely practical. Although Effect 2 of [Fictional Historian] didn't specify what a "complete historical event" could be used for, it was likely meant for the [What If] Curio.
And the very first thing Chen Li did after getting 80 Crystals was, of course, to buy back [Broken Soul]. Although the card was of little use to him at the moment, what if? Besides, if he bought it back now, he could just mortgage it again later if he ran out of money, right? The [Advance Consumption] trait didn't charge any interest on loans anyway.
After all that, Chen Li's balance returned to 61 Crystals.
Now, all that remained for Starter Mission Five was to raise his Fame level.
When forging the [What If] Curio, Chen Li had spent 50 Crystals, naturally gaining 50 EXP, plus another 25 EXP from [Good Review Cashback]. This successfully raised his Curio Forger level to Lv. 4 (64/400).
As for the Fame issue... he'd just have to stir up more trouble in other worlds. At the very least, pulling off that huge stunt in the Honkai world had already increased his Fame by 40 points.
All things considered, his gains were substantial. Although he had lost the [Fictional Historian] Entry, he had gained a [Fictional Historian] Miracle Card, which was hardly a loss.
And... Chen Li glanced above his head. A new Entry was already being extracted.
[Fictional Cosmologist] Entry (Miracle Card) extraction in progress... Progress: 1/3 (Progress can be increased by creating parallel worlds with different historical processes)
This was the first time Chen Li had seen a progress bar for obtaining a Miracle Card. He wasn't sure what effects this card would have, but anything related to a "world" was bound to be powerful.
---o---
"Um... Chen Li, don't you have anything you want to explain?" Kaguya Houraisan, who had been staring intently at him for a while, finally asked.
"Ah, explain what?"
"Like, for example, why I suddenly have another roommate."
"Eh, what's the big deal? My house is huge, anyway," Chen Li said with an indifferent wave of his hand.
"But this new roommate is looking at me strangely. And she's looking at you even more strangely."
"You're seeing things. She's just not used to her healthy body yet."
"Are you serious?" Kaguya wasn't sure if Chen Li was the problem or if she was.
Are you sure the way that purple-haired girl sitting across from us is looking at us is normal?
"Of course. Now then, as the senior resident of this house, you need to teach Sirin how to use all the furniture," Chen Li said casually.
"But I don't know how to use it either," Kaguya said with a shrug.
Since moving into Chen Li's house, aside from touring his room, she had spent all her time in her own room and rarely came out, except perhaps to eat.
"You can learn, can't you?"
"Learn it so I can teach her for you? You're such a hypocrite," Kaguya said, rolling her eyes at him.
"Sirin is just a child."
"..." Kaguya wanted to argue, but she felt that Chen Li wasn't exactly wrong.
Deciding that Chen Li was a lost cause, Kaguya realized she would have to handle relations with the new roommate herself. She began to size up Sirin.
Sirin was currently hugging a Benares doll, crouched on the sofa and staring at Chen Li and Kaguya, who were sitting on the long couch opposite her.
Kaguya quickly sifted through all the information she had on Sirin in her mind.
Sirin, the Herrscher born during the Second Eruption, but also a victim. Personality inflates easily, earning her the nickname 'Pufferfish.' Desperately lacks motherly love.
Kaguya had no idea what to do. She had just grabbed a drink from the fridge and was passing by Chen Li's room when she saw him lead a small, purple-haired girl out by the hand. Then, he had simply announced that this was her new roommate.
The arrival of the new roommate was so abrupt it had caught Kaguya completely off guard. Of course, she didn't object; she was just a tenant herself, after all.
Kaguya knew this was Sirin, but Chen Li hadn't told her which version of Sirin this was.
"Um... hello," Kaguya said, taking the initiative.
"Mm, hello." Sirin nodded politely before her gaze returned to staring intently at Chen Li and Kaguya.
"Hey, Chen Li, which version of Sirin did you bring back?" Kaguya, feeling a bit uncomfortable under Sirin's stare, couldn't help but lean closer to Chen Li and whisper in his ear.
"Can't you see I'm trying to avoid this question right now? Could you please not talk to me?" Chen Li whispered back.
"Wow, I can't believe you just said you're avoiding the problem with such a straight face!" Kaguya was incredulous.
"If you can't face it, you can only run away."
"But you have to give me some information."
"Ugh, how do I put this... basically, after I transmigrated into the Second Eruption, I appeared right in front of Sirin as she was facing the Taixu Sword God. I thought about it for half a second and decided to infiltrate the Honkai faction, so I chose to block the sword for her..." Chen Li began to recount the events involving Sirin in great detail. Perhaps Kaguya, being a girl herself, could better help the currently silent Sirin open up.
"So you're saying, you appeared and immediately blocked the Taixu Sword God for her. Even though you failed, you tricked her into liking you and gained her initial trust, and then..."
"Stop, Kaguya. You don't need to repeat everything I just told you. Just tell me what you want to ask," Chen Li cut off Kaguya, who was chattering in his ear.
"What I want to ask is, after doing all that, you created a parallel world where she could find happiness, told her she would forget everything about you, live happily in that world, and never see you again?" Kaguya asked in an indescribable tone.
"Your logic is flawed. I created that world, so why wouldn't I send her there? I started this chain of cause and effect with Sirin, so I have to see it through to the end," Chen Li said with a shrug.
Because he wanted to obtain the [Second Eruption] Entry, asking Sirin for her past experiences was the "cause," and feeling a pang of compassion was the "effect." On top of that, by staying by her side, he had successfully grinded his proficiency with the Herrscher of the Void authority model to 100%... Of course Chen Li had to find a way to resolve this causal link. Plus, he was certain that a Miracle Card that could create parallel worlds would earn him way more Crystals from many more clients. So he went all in.
"..." Kaguya just stared at him silently.
She suspected that Chen Li knew everything and was just trying to dump the task of breaking the ice with Sirin onto her, but she had no proof.
Fine, fine, you want me to break the ice? Then you just wait!
Looking at Sirin again, Kaguya finally understood the look she had been giving them. It was a look of scrutiny, an attempt to judge the relationship between the two of them. It was the wary look of someone who felt something they wanted was about to be snatched away.
With that, how to break the ice became obvious.
Kaguya leaned back on the couch, then draped her arm over Chen Li's neck, resting it on his far shoulder in a show of great intimacy.
She could see Sirin's gaze become even more scrutinizing, even more guarded, but Kaguya wasn't worried at all.
Because in the next moment, all of Sirin's firepower would be drawn to Chen Li.
"By the way, Chen Li, how is your other 'Your Majesty' doing? Have you made her completely inseparable from you yet?" The expression on Kaguya's face was one of pure delight.
"???" - by Sirin.
"!!!" - by Chen Li.
Chen Li: Kaguya, you're despicable!
Kaguya: Don't worry about whether it's despicable or not. Just tell me, did I or did I not get the conversation started?
"You... have another 'Your Majesty'?"
Clutching the doll in her arms, Sirin, for the first time since arriving, actively asked a question.
---o---