"I'm back! What were you two talking about?" Elysia asked upon her return, having dealt with the shopkeeper who came over because of the commotion and paid for the table that Jingliu had left a deep palm print on.
"We were talking about forging a Heroic Spirit Curio," Chen Li said.
"A Heroic Spirit Curio... that sounds very interesting."
"Heroic Spirits are the souls of deceased heroes who are remembered by people for leaving behind their own unique legends or traces in history. In a certain special world, there's a Throne of Heroes where these deceased heroes reside, waiting to be summoned to save the world when it's in crisis. It's a classic setting, so I plan to plagiarize it," Chen Li explained.
"Then there must be a lot of cute girls in the Throne of Heroes, right?"
"...Indeed." After a moment's pause, Chen Li nodded.
"I really want to see the Throne of Heroes..." Elysia's heart filled with yearning.
"...You might not believe this, but I actually had a [Heroic Spirit] Entry on hand. The reason I had Master Jingliu collect the relevant materials herself when we weren't very familiar with each other was because I planned to save that Entry for the Previous Era," Chen Li said.
"Hmm? Why?" Elysia was taken aback.
"Because back then, I felt like I couldn't do anything on my own..."
"Password correct," Elysia suddenly interrupted.
"Huh?"
"Please continue."
"So at the time, I was thinking, why not build a Throne of Heroes? That way, if I couldn't save the Previous Era, I could at least use it as a backup plan to preserve some of the important souls," Chen Li said. It was understandable that the Chen Li of the past, who had only forged a single "Pale Justice," knew nothing of the true power of Miracles.
"It's not too late now. But I think a Throne of Heroes isn't good enough," Elysia said.
"Oh? Do you have another idea?"
"Li-bao, can you forge a Civilization Shrine?" Elysia had a brilliant idea.
"Hmm?"
"Because I feel that even ordinary people, even if they aren't remembered by history, have value worth preserving as long as they once fought for civilization. Whether they were on the front lines or on the battlefield known as logistics, they should all be recorded."
As she spoke, Elysia thought of the soldiers in her own civilization who had given their lives to resist the Honkai. Although she hadn't been with the Flame-Chasers for long, she had always seen the soldiers training relentlessly. And even without her future memories, she knew that these unsung soldiers were forgotten by history after the Finality descended. The only ones whose songs were sung were the "heroes" who had made outstanding contributions.
It was unfair. The glory of a civilization should not be monopolized by a few or a dozen people, but should belong to everyone within that civilization who fought for it.
[Civilization]: Forge a Curio for Elysia capable of bearing a civilization. Issuer: Elysia Reward: 50-150 Crystals Risk: Low-High
"Is this Curio expensive to make? What materials does it need? I can go collect them myself," Elysia asked, her eyes filled with a moving anticipation as she looked at Chen Li. It was the kind of look that said, Please, I'll do anything if you can just forge this Curio.
It turned out that while Elysia loved to admire cute girls, she didn't only love cute girls. Her eyes also held humanity, and civilization. Even for a civilization that wasn't her own, or one she might never see, Elysia was willing to put in her own effort. Just like in the future, and just like now.
"Holy crap, Elysia, you're glowing!" Chen Li was about to say something when he saw Elysia's entire body begin to radiate a pink light.
"Huh?" Clearly, Elysia herself was caught off guard by the situation.
"Let me see... Oh my, my Trial of Pure Beauty is complete," Elysia quickly figured out the problem.
"What did you do to complete the trial? Weren't you supposed to appreciate beautiful scenery to increase your Pure Beauty Value? Don't tell me I'm so handsome that even the Aeon of Pure Beauty acknowledges it?" Chen Li couldn't help but fall into a state of bashfulness.
"..." Elysia blinked innocently.
Although she didn't know why she had completed the Trial of Pure Beauty, it probably had nothing to do with Chen Li's good looks. But it probably had something to do with Chen Li.
When Chen Li saw that the pink light emanating from Elysia not only didn't subside with time but grew even more dazzling, and was also firmly attracting the gazes of everyone around them, he knew things wouldn't end so simply.
He immediately threw the "metal sphere," formed by countless rapidly spinning metal rings, at Elysia. The moment the Friends Circle touched her, it instantly expanded, enveloping her entire body within it.
"What are you doing?" Elysia asked, puzzled.
"Here you go!" Chen Li got up and delivered a swift kick, viciously striking the metal sphere.
A ferocious power was unleashed upon the Friends Circle, causing its surface to flash with a golden light. At the same time, the Friends Circle, along with Elysia inside, was sent flying, turning into a shooting star across the horizon.
Evidently, after tasting three Aeons, a full-power kick from Chen Li was terrifyingly potent, especially since he had also used his [Allocation] ability to put all his points into strength... In other words, if tasting an Aeon couldn't make Chen Li stronger, then the Gourmet Cells wouldn't be worthy of being rated as a 1-Star Curio.
"I'll be baaaack!" Elysia's voice faded into the distance. But judging by her full-throated cry, the Friends Circle was clearly protecting her well.
Only after the pink-glowing Elysia disappeared over the horizon were the firmly captivated "gazes" of the surrounding people finally released.
"That power... your final shortcoming has been shored up, Rebellious Disciple," Jingliu's tone remained calm, despite the fierce wind kicked up by Elysia flying past her.
"I don't know why you're still calling me that, but anyway, we should go now."
"The tea..."
"We can drink tea slowly later. I'll get you whatever tea you want. Even though we're both wearing disguise glasses, Elysia caused quite a commotion."
Chen Li casually tossed down a bag of Strale, then stuffed the entire table into his inventory, hoisted the tea-sipping Jingliu onto his shoulder, and ran. The reason he took the whole table was to prevent the Cloud Knights from using a Diting to track down the troublemakers. Besides, the palm print Jingliu had left on the table might have let the Cloud Knights know that things weren't so simple.
Jingliu remained calm, holding her teacup and sipping her tea as if she wasn't the one being carried on her rebellious disciple's shoulder.
---o---
Chen Li looked up at the pink "sun" in the sky, thoroughly impressed with his own quick thinking. If he had let Elysia stay on the Xianzhou, who knew what kind of chaos she would have caused. When Big Herta had her audience with the Aeon of Erudition, she had to evacuate the entire space station to prevent the brains of those "mediocrities" from being fried. And now that Elysia had passed the Trial of Pure Beauty, she would receive the blessing of its Path, which would naturally cause a huge stir as well.
To avoid affecting others, Chen Li could only choose to let Elysia affect the Xianzhou. If she stayed on the ground, the area of effect would be small, but the impact on individuals would be great. If she floated in the sky, the area of effect would be large, but the impact on individuals would be small.
"I'm angry now, the kind that can't be coaxed!" In a pink virtual screen before Chen Li, the light spoke.
"Elysia, where are you?" Chen Li frowned at the pink screen. Where was she? Had she become light? Perhaps the price of gaining the recognition of the Path of Pure Beauty was that "Elysia became light." But at least she wasn't turned into soup.
"I'm right here. Can't you see me?"
"Not at all. Just treat this as a voice chat."
"Anyway, I'm angry now, the kind that can't be coaxed!"
"Oh, if you can't be coaxed, then I won't coax you. I'll just get a new Elysia," Chen Li said, giving the screen a thumbs-up. Although he couldn't see Elysia's expression, she could see his screen.
"How many other Elysias do you have?!"
"I will create a world with an Elysia who can be coaxed. You can go in peace."
"I'm not at peace at all! So, Little Li, what do you think of my idea for a Civilization Shrine? And don't worry, I can afford the payment."
"What kind of payment can you offer?" Chen Li was a little curious. If Elysia could really find suitable Entries, combined with his own clever design, making a huge profit from this commission would be no problem. Every time his Curio Forger level increased, he gained two additional Crystal-level initial Entry slots, so his forging costs were getting lower and lower. But he couldn't imagine what kind of extra payment Elysia could offer that he didn't already know about.
"How much do you think I'm worth?" Elysia gave a reply that utterly astonished him.
"Huh?"
"You didn't forget that I'm a projection, did you? The projection disappearing has no effect on the main body. So, see if you can use me to forge the Civilization Shrine. I should be considered half an Emanator of Pure Beauty now," Elysia asked.
"That really won't be necessary," Chen Li waved his hands frantically.
"Oh, is it not enough?"
"It's not that it's not enough, it's that I don't want it!"
Besides, the Path of Pure Beauty was completely useless for building a Civilization Shrine. It was less useful than a single "Remembrance" Entry, or even "Elation." Although "Elation" and "Civilization" weren't exactly a professional match, Elation could effectively hold things back. In Curio forging, holding things back was an essential step.
And using Elysia to forge a Curio was just too twisted, wasn't it? Even if she was just a projection, it was still wrong.
You might as well give the projection to me! At least I can use it as a pillow. No joke, using the Herta puppet as a pillow really is a bit lumpy.