Welcome to Ability Store

This bizarre artifact has quite an arrogant disposition.

Chen Xuan signaled his two partners to lay Elorie flat on the forging platform, and then said in his mind, "I am ready."

This time, the hole was directly positioned at the top of the Little Angel’s head.

Chen Xuan extended his hand into the hole, once again connecting with the cosmos constructed by the soul.

However, he hesitated to take further action.

"Human, why haven’t you made a move?" N77 couldn’t help but ask.

"You can see the shape of the soul, right? Then help me check if the person lying on you has a discrepancy between her soul’s shape and body, causing incompatibility?"

"Short-sighted, the body is not a container, nor is the soul a deposit." It seemed to sneer at such a notion.

"Then what is the relationship between the soul and the body?" Chen Xuan humbly inquired.

"Incomprehensible, no need to ask." N77 replied emotionlessly.

Goodness... Should have brought Liuli along.

He realized that none of these bizarre artifacts were easy to deal with, except for Liuli, whose consciousness was almost human-like; N959 and N77 were quite different.

At first, N959 even thought of biting back at him, only to behave under the intimidation of Liuli.

All right... They really aren’t humans.

Nonetheless, Chen Xuan had his own way of handling things.

"I can’t figure it out, so I can’t make a move." He intentionally displayed a helpless expression, "Do you still want me to use you?"

"..." N77 remained silent.

And this silence was undoubtedly a response.

Chen Xuan inwardly chuckled, the longing to be used is the nature of these bizarre artifacts... Or perhaps their very reason for existence. This longing is unrelated to stability; once activated, it naturally manifests.

Liuli merely restrains herself under normal circumstances.

If granted an environment to indulge in massacre, she certainly wouldn’t choose to rest.

"The more I know, the more I will use; but if I’m only half-understanding, then I dare not use easily. After all, this involves delicate matters of the soul, and any mistakes would be hard to rectify." Chen Xuan withdrew his hand slightly, "What do you think?"

"Strange, human." N77 unexpectedly sighed.

"What’s strange about it?" Chen Xuan furrowed his brow.

"Humans are everywhere, what’s the big deal if there’s a mistake? In the past, the forge fires burned night and day, the sound of hammering never ceased. Back then, no one asked me how to rectify mistakes; only practice was the truth."

His heart skipped a beat.

Was this N77’s past experience?

He recalled Liuli mentioned that as a bizarre artifact, her existence has been extremely long, so long that she barely remembers the earliest occurrences.

Upon further reflection, the words from the soul forge were indeed rather eerie—humans using their own kind as raw material, endlessly forging, regardless of their purpose, the souls put into forging were certainly plentiful.

They cared neither for the raw material nor for the bizarre artifacts, both were just tools in their eyes.

"Forget it, human, cannot become a master."

Chen Xuan understood this sentence, it referred to himself when it spoke of "human."

However, just as he was about to rebut, a string of words echoed in his mind.

"Her soul indeed has been detached, but it doesn’t hinder forging into a coin; the body and soul influence each other, whereas a container and deposit do not; their relationship is akin to mud and water, corresponding proportion makes the individual."

This isn’t an answer one can understand!

Chen Xuan felt satisfied at once, "You explained it quite clearly, there’s nothing incomprehensible. And how does this relate to whether I can become a master? Shouldn’t a master seek others for advice?"

"Human, accepting mud and water, will not exceed oneself in insight. Mud and water is not the truth, merely a convenient answer. Because the soul has adapted to it." N77 patiently replied.

Chen Xuan pondered for a long while before he grasped its meaning—once he heard someone else’s answer, his soul would adapt and move towards that answer, thereby becoming further from the truth?

Cognition changes the soul, the soul influences shape... This was already beyond the realm of his usual knowledge.

Doesn’t this mean that if he learned some forbidden knowledge, he wouldn’t even retain his human shape?

Forget it, being a master blacksmith is out of the question.

"Regarding the earlier question... Where is my soul special, can you describe using the mud and water metaphor?"

"Incomprehensible, humans can’t even understand a metaphor." N77 buzzed.

Fine... Chen Xuan gave up further inquiry.

Having received confirmation from the other party, he now had a rough direction for awakening Elorie.

Her situation is different from Lin Qing’s; forging her soul and injecting it back into the body certainly won’t work—doing so is akin to mixing the same mud and water ratio, still yielding an unconscious Elorie.

Forcing an overlay like Rodiya is impossible.

Overwriting a soul could indeed reintegrate it with the body, but doing so amounts to killing the present Elorie. Although looking at results alone, there wouldn’t be any difference between the two Elories, Chen Xuan couldn’t get past his own mental barrier.

He needs to slightly adjust the mud and water ratio, allowing both to reach fullness anew.

"I’ve answered the human’s query, hurry and raise the hammer!" N77 urged.

The soul will transform into the shape imagined.

Chen Xuan mentally recited while searching through his memory; the material he decided to use wasn’t from Elorie, but from himself.

"Oh?" The bizarre artifact sensed his action, expressing some surprise.

The Elorie he imagined was deeply frightened by a fatal shot, shrunken significantly, resulting in a "valley" between her body and soul, and he needed to fill that gap, allowing them to fuse anew.

Chen Xuan happened to have a suitable memory.

It was the dream created by the Dream Maker for Elorie.

In the dream, the Little Angel was not shot but saved by him in the nick of time. Without sustaining heavy injury, there was no need for unconsciousness.

What is more precious is that Elorie herself possesses this memory, creating a perfect juncture between the two soul fragments.

Now... he only needs to slightly reverse them.

Make the memory of not being shot the reality.

And the memory of being shot... turns into a nightmare.

Thus, Elorie will remember everything... The valleys within her soul will be refilled, until the fusion with her body reaches fullness once more.

The hammer struck down forcefully, the entire cosmos resounded!

Chen Xuan opened his eyes, holding nothing extra.

On the forging platform, besides Elorie, there was nothing else.

Yet he knew he had completed the forging.

The soul he imagined was like a mass of Spiritual Qi, the gentlest and most dispersible substance, circulating through meridians and acupoints within, automatically supplementing Elorie’s missing parts. Besides, the Little Angel was lying on the forging platform, so there was no need to consider a means to carry the soul, hence he directly forged it inside her body.

"A splendid forging." N77 suddenly remarked.

Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow, surprised it would offer praise?

"Better than any you’ve seen before?"

"Ranking among the names." It snorted, "Soul entities don’t have high or low, suitability and balance are the key. I retract my previous statement, human, regular practice might lead you to become a master."

Gathering a heap of similar souls to practice with? Sounds far from being a promising career.

"Thanks, no need." Chen Xuan politely declined.

"Hmm..."

At this moment, a soft, weary moan arose beside him.

The three of them glanced over simultaneously, witnessing Elorie gradually open her eyes on the forging platform.