"Chen Li, what's wrong with you? Chen Li! Don't scare me!"
"Why? Why were you perfectly fine when I left, but now that I'm back, we're separated by the veil of life and death? Sob, sob."
"Stop crying, stop crying. Your crying isn't the least bit convincing, Elysia," Chen Li said melancholically.
"But you look awfully pale. Weren't you able to finish forging the weapons? Or did something sad happen? You can tell me all about it," Elysia said, looking genuinely worried as she saw Chen Li sitting on the sofa, holding a teacup with a vacant stare.
"Oh, the weapons are all forged. You can have someone come and pick them up anytime."
"You finished forging 10,000 standard-issue weapons in just seven days? Your forging hammer must have been striking sparks, right? Oh, wait, forging produces sparks anyway," Elysia said, expressing timely surprise.
"When I'm forging weapons I've already made before, I only need a certain amount of energy, like Honkai crystals, to synthesize them quickly. While the quality isn't as good as hand-forged items, it's not bad," Chen Li explained nonchalantly.
Besides a forging table, Chen Li also had a synthesis table.
But weapons made on the synthesis table had no soul.
In layman's terms, crafting weapons this way provided very little personal enhancement for Chen Li; the enhancement from similar types of weapons would even diminish over time. Furthermore, it didn't increase his Curio Forger profession experience or the experience for his "Forging" life skill.
Hand-forging Curio Embryos didn't increase his profession experience either, but it did increase his Forging skill experience and provided a considerable amount of physical enhancement.
Thanks to these 100 Curio Embryos, Chen Li's forging experience increased by 300, leveling up his Forging skill to Lv. 7 (130/700).
After forging one Curio and 100 Curio Embryos, Chen Li felt like he could now take on two of his pre-transmigration self.
At the same time, synthesized weapons only had a roughly 0.1% chance of having a special effect. The final result was that Chen Li had forged 11 special weapons.
He didn't set them aside. Instead, he wanted to see what kind of Entries these 11 special weapons would condense after falling into the hands of others and being tempered by time.
"Then what do you have to be sad about? Is it because you haven't seen me for seven days? If you say that, I'll be very happy," Elysia said with a wink.
"Elysia, have you ever heard a saying?"
"What is it? Is it that Elysia's beauty is unparalleled in this world?" Elysia asked with great interest.
She was very fond of that phrase.
"No. It's 'Gacha will leave three generations poor, pay-to-win will ruin your life.'" Chen Li felt that the resentment radiating from him at that moment could drown the entirety of the Flame-Chasers... or at least one room within it.
So, he decided to build his happiness upon the suffering of others.
"What does that mean?"
"It means... want to try your luck?" Chen Li pulled out several purple Star Stones, holding them in his palm and tempting Elysia, whose eyes were glued to their mesmerizing appearance.
---o---
"You're saying you can spend these Star Stones to get a chance to acquire forging materials from different worlds? But the outcome is highly uncertain?" Elysia asked, unable to stop fiddling with the Star Stone, which was as beautiful as a purple, starry sky.
In terms of pure appearance, Star Stones were top-tier.
They were alluring enough to trick a naive young girl into following you home.
Their temptation for Elysia was self-evident.
"Mhm. I just spent 10 Star Stones and got two items. Both of their effects were... abstract," Chen Li nodded.
A book of ghost stories that would reappear by your side no matter where you threw it, and a Desert Eagle with infinite ammunition.
This was The Guide to Forging Curios's [Stellar Sea Treasure] function, which allowed him to use Spacetime Crystals to randomly obtain items.
The items you received would be equivalent in value to the number of Star Stones you invested, and they were guaranteed to contain sufficient traces of "Time, Space, and Fate."
This function complemented the Curio Forger profession perfectly.
Besides completely random acquisition, he could also set limitations.
Chen Li could specify that he wanted to obtain specialty items from worlds where he had established a Miracle Beacon.
However, the Honkai world was vast, and since Chen Li needed all sorts of Entries at the moment, he didn't need to limit himself. That's why he had tried two completely random pulls from the Stellar Sea Treasure first.
"Is this thing very precious?" Elysia asked.
"Very."
Because Spacetime Energy regenerated automatically, Chen Li could only obtain one Star Stone per day. It sounded like a lot, but that was only 365 Star Stones a year.
Perhaps it was because the Honkai world was special, or maybe it was just because he was in another world, but Chen Li could now acquire 10 Star Stones every seven days.
"I see," Elysia said in a small voice.
"Want some?"
"Mhm, mhm." Elysia nodded repeatedly.
"I can give you 20."
"Really?"
"But these 20 stones are the budget for forging your Curio. You can choose to spend them on the gacha, or you can choose to keep them all," Chen Li said with a smile.
"Little Li, why does your smile look so wicked?"
"Not at all. I just want you to experience the same agonizing dilemma I did. So, my question is, are you going to pull, or are you going to save them?" Chen Li placed a small pouch of Star Stones in her hand.
He glanced at his balance after gifting them to Elysia.
Star Stones: 110 (+50)
The "+50" represented the temporal disturbance caused by the act of giving the Star Stones to Elysia, but it hadn't been added to his total yet.
At some point in the future, one of these stones might prove to be of great use.
So, this gift was a net gain.
"What a vicious lottery," Elysia said, her hand trembling.
"So you don't want them?"
"I do!" Elysia nodded.
"Then let's begin," Chen Li gestured.
He felt this was a pretty good model. Let people who aren't sure what kind of Curio they want pull for their own materials, preventing him from getting tilted by his own bad luck.
The prerequisite was that they had to pay the forging fee.
"How many Star Stones should I use for my first time?" Elysia asked directly.
As for being worried?
No need to worry! How could a beautiful girl's luck possibly be bad?
"The quality of the Stellar Sea Treasure you get is proportional to the Star Stones you invest. Any amount is fine. I used 5 for my first time," Chen Li said.
"Then..." Elysia picked out 10 Star Stones, preparing to crush them all at once.
"But then again, to forge a Curio, one material isn't enough. You need at least two or three," Chen Li suddenly reminded her.
"Could you please say everything at once next time?" Elysia complained, then crushed 5 Star Stones in her hand.
With Chen Li's permission, the once-unbreakable stones burst like foam in her palm.
A magical, black-hole-like opening appeared in front of her.
"Reach in and take out what's inside," Chen Li prompted.
"Oh." Elysia nodded and eagerly reached her hand into the black hole.
When she finally pulled the item out with some effort, she and Chen Li stared at each other.
"What is this? A bolt of cloth?" Elysia tilted her head.
"This... seems to be Heavenly Cloth," Chen Li said after a glance.
He could identify the basic information of any treasure freshly pulled from the Stellar Sea.
"Heavenly Cloth?"
"Mhm, as in seamless. Clothes made from this cloth have no seams."
"Can you use it?"
"It can be used to forge a Curio, either by extracting its Entries or using it as a carrier. While I don't know how to sew clothes with Heavenly Cloth, I can spend 1 Crystal to make it automatically adapt," Chen Li explained.
"So it's a grand prize?"
"Mhm, a grand prize. Keep going."
"I knew it. Cute girls are omnipotent."
Elysia was full of confidence. Elysia crushed another five Star Stones. Elysia went all in!
---o---
"What kind of Curio can you even forge with all these items?" Elysia, left with only two Star Stones, couldn't help but ask as she looked at the items before her.
She finally understood why Chen Li had been so melancholic earlier.
Because she was on the verge of depression herself.
Gacha truly was something that made you feel love and hate in equal measure.
"Heavenly Cloth, a broken Gale Sword, a book titled A Guide to Conquering the Love-Addled, and a lock of gorgeous golden hair cut from some princess?" Chen Li scratched his head as he looked over the items.
This was why Elysia couldn't hold back her question—could these things really be used to create a magical item?
"Yes, it's not a big problem. I already have a preliminary idea," Chen Li said after a moment of thought.
"Then I'll be counting on you."
"So, Elysia, do you want me to forge a bow? Or an outfit?" Chen Li asked.
"An outfit is an option too?"
"Mhm, the item is just a carrier," Chen Li nodded.
The so-called Curio Embryos were primarily a preparation to compensate for the lack of attack power in function-oriented Curios.
And Elysia clearly had no shortage of offensive capabilities.
"An outfit it is, then."
"Do you have any requests for the style?"
"Anything is fine. Don't you think I look good in everything?" Elysia tilted her head.
"Alright then. Wait here for 30 minutes," Chen Li said, accepting her request and leaving with the items.
Returning to the workshop, Chen Li ignited the furnace and threw everything except the Heavenly Cloth inside.
As the items gradually dimmed, Entries of varying brightness began to appear within the flames.
[Extreme Speed], [Wind Control], [Hatred], [Love], [Obsession], [Magnificence], [Imprisonment]...
These were all items "with a story," and while the source Entries extracted from them weren't as bright as those from a Relic, they were still usable.
Looking at these Entries, Chen Li hesitated for a moment, then plunged his hand deep into the Flames of Miracle. A drop of blood seeped from his fingertip and was subsequently melted by the flames.
Everything was for the sake of acquiring more Crystals!
[Time], [Space], [Fate]
Three new Entries floated up from within the fire.
Chen Li raised the Miracle Hammer high.
The forging began.