"Are you leaving for another world already? We've only been home for two days." Li Changxi stood at the door, reluctantly tidying Chen Li's collar.
"I have no choice, I'm constantly being rushed. And we're really out of 'surplus grain'," Chen Li said helplessly.
As he said this, he glanced at the client communication interface on the floating Guide to Forging Curios.
Sunday: Did you forge a Curio yesterday? Did you collect any Miracle Power? Did you create happiness? The dream is not yet complete; we must continue to strive.
And Chen Li's interface already had two such messages.
Alright, fine. So you, Sunday, get to create a Paradise of Order to give everyone else a seven-day week of rest, but you're constantly hounding me to work?
You just wait, you little...!
---o---
The day before yesterday, after his parents came home and they had dinner, they each went to rest.
Yesterday, Chen Li spent the entire day squatting by a crosswalk at a traffic light, waiting to help old ladies cross the street.
He wasn't doing it for any other reason than to farm Merit.
Later, he discovered that in addition to helping old ladies, he could also gain Merit by putting recyclable trash that people had thrown next to the bin into the bin.
However, the Merit gained from these two methods was relatively small. It took several, sometimes even a dozen, of these acts to earn a single "Approbation of Sublime Morality."
He earned far more Merit by saving an unlucky high school student who was nearly sent to another world by a large truck driven by a drowsy driver.
It didn't matter whether the unlucky high school student could have dodged the truck on his own; the point was, Chen Li punched the kid out of the way, which counted as saving his life, and that meant Merit.
Farming Merit was admittedly a bit boring, but none of the commissions Chen Li had on hand could be completed immediately, so he had to find something to do.
---o---
"If we had known you could solve your transmigrator profession issue on your own, we wouldn't have used all our merits to raise our Personal Panel Levels. If we hadn't, we could have easily exchanged our merits for a few Relics from the Investigation Bureau," Chen Shi said, looking troubled.
"Speaking of which, honey, can't you just travel back in time to a dozen or so days ago, beat yourself up, and tell yourself not to exchange the merits?" Li Changxi suggested from the side.
"The last time you traded a broken glass bead with the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty—back when he was still a beggar—for that broken bowl in his hand, I got warned twice. If I dared to interfere with time like that, I'd probably attract dozens of hounds to hunt me down," Chen Shi said, shaking his head.
When an Archaeologist travels to the past to uncover secrets buried by history and clean up temporal pests, they inevitably commit some taboos. Therefore, each Archaeologist gets three warnings per trip.
An Archaeologist can bring one retainer to the past.
A Folklorist can bring one retainer to a Secret Realm.
And Chen Li's dad and mom were each other's retainers.
"Alright, alright, raising your Personal Panel Levels isn't a loss. So don't do anything that dangerous. You two should just go on your honeymoon. I'll call you when the Curios are ready," Chen Li said quickly.
The Personal Panel Level was different from the Professional Level. The higher the Personal Panel Level, the more functions were unlocked, and the more favor one received from the world, granting higher authority within it.
Moreover, the only way to raise one's Personal Panel Level was to gain experience by completing world quests.
However, 99% of the world's population would never even see the words [Personal Panel Level Unlocked].
A Personal Panel Level of 5, in theory, could even be exchanged for a three-month term as the [Governor of Earth].
"Okay. Oh, right, make your dad's first. I have this now." Li Changxi took out a vibrant green, delicious-looking leek.
"I've always felt that as a time-based ability user, I'm more suited for this leek," Chen Shi said, pushing up his glasses.
"Don't even think about it." Li Changxi immediately stored the leek in her personal inventory.
This was one of the perks of a higher Personal Panel Level.
This leek was one Chen Li had forged for Hatsune Miku.
[Leek Spin]: I want a delicious leek that I can never finish eating, and that I can also use to beat people up!
Issuer: Hatsune Miku
Reward: 15 Crystals
Risk: Low
The leek itself was a delicious one from a Secret Realm, provided by Chen Li's mom, and it could indeed be used to hit people.
The [Eternity] Entry was a friendly contribution from Kaguya Houraisan.
Forging this Curio had only cost two Crystals.
The method was simply to use the Miracle Flame to affix the Entry to the original item.
The only real significance of this Curio was that it counted as a Curio, which meant it could be used to establish a Friend relationship. So, Chen Li had temporarily lent it to his mom.
This way, if Li Changxi encountered danger, she could send Chen Li a message, and he could summon her true self to his side.
As for the Curio for his dad, it was the one requested by the noble girl from Akame ga Kill!.
[Torture Tool]: Forge a torture instrument that can make a person feel the most pain according to their unique traits.
Issuer: Aria (Akame ga Kill!)
Reward: 1 Crystal
Risk: Low
The base item was a needle, to which Chen Li added a [Pain] Entry, allowing it to inflict extreme agony. It also only cost two Crystals.
Although this Curio didn't quite meet the client's request and was a money-losing venture, Chen Li had no intention of giving it to her. Instead, he planned to use it to trick her into opening the gate to her world, and then use it on her.
Because of Chen Shi's earlier comment, and after some forceful reasoning from Li Changxi, this Curio was temporarily lent to Chen Shi, while she got the delicious leek. This made Chen Shi deeply regret his loose tongue.
---o---
"Alright, I'm leaving. You two go on your honeymoon." Chen Li waved to his parents, closed the door, went back inside, and chose to teleport.
Yep, his parents were locked outside.
"What do we do now? We can't just do nothing, can we?" Chen Shi looked at Li Changxi.
As parents, even though their son was successful enough that they could retire, they couldn't just let their child do all the work.
That's why Chen Shi felt it was inappropriate to let Chen Li run around other worlds just to forge Curios for the two of them.
"We may not have any Relics, but we can go 'borrow' some," Li Changxi said.
"You mean steal? Is that appropriate?" Chen Shi hesitated.
"Don't make me laugh. If I couldn't do whatever I wanted before my Personal Panel reached Level 5, and I still can't do whatever I want after it reached Level 5, then what was the point of leveling it up? Let's go. We'll find 'The Adjudicator,' get some files on some villains who have Relics, and collect a few while we travel the world. We'll give our precious son a big surprise when he gets back."
"If you're going to put it that way, why don't we go for something big? If things go wrong, we can just run away to another world with our son." Her husband looked up at the sky with an unreadable expression.
"Uh, you're a bit too extreme," Li Changxi commented.
She had told people before that she was definitely not the most extreme one in the family!
But no one ever believed her!