Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 64 Heroic Souls Arrive in the New Era
Rean turned his head and, sure enough, saw the person from his memories.

It sat on the edge of its bed, surrounded by a pile of books that it looked like it had been reading for a long time.

It was a metal humanoid figure pieced together from colorful parts; to be precise, it was a doll-like figurine less than thirty centimeters tall.

It is a 1:1 replica of the kobold proportions. Well, just proportions; this cool kobold mechanical design is clearly beautified.

"This...it feels a bit like Iron Godzilla."

The more Rean looked at it, the more he felt that the beautified Iron Doll Doghead had too many cute designs similar to Godzilla.

"Uh, how come I find Godzilla cute? But its tail, those scales, those beastly eyes, and the way it jumps up and smashes King Kong into a gorilla—it's sexy, cute, and lively all at the same time."

Rean closed his eyes, feeling as if he had been mentally polluted, his beautiful memories of the past now severely distorted in terms of aesthetics!

Why do I find Mr. Ge sexy?!
No, not just this time.

Back when he was at the mansion, he also felt that the snake's tail and scales were so cute that he wanted to touch them and try to feel them, especially the sexy tip of the tail!

Once Rean regained consciousness, he took off running, which in a sense was also a way of saving his own aesthetic sense as a human being.

Even if you want to appreciate a beautiful woman, you should start from the waist up!
"Heh heh heh, the Bad Dragon Knight does have some eyesight. You recognized it, didn't you? This is Steel Kuzra!!"

“What a great design! Kuku is a design genius! Kuku even sold quite a few back then! It’s a pity nobody bought them.” Metal Kukusra said, then fell into inexplicable frustration.

Okay, now I know where this mental pollution comes from.

Rean was a little numb. He used to be a bit disgusted when he became "Superman of Justice", but now, looking back, it was much better than being a lizard lover.

I really don't want to be a curry person anymore! At least keep your oath and maintain the basic human decency.

Facing the smug Kuku, he took a deep breath and calmly considered the current situation.

A slight deviation in aesthetic judgment is not necessarily a bad thing; it means that the Heroic Spirit Encyclopedia is functioning normally.

The spirit of the hero Kuku did indeed possess his body, causing a subtle change in his values.

But what is this thing in front of us? How did it come about?

Rean's memory was very clear; he clearly remembered that he had personally crafted this doll.

How did "Kuku Rean" manage to casually knock off various metal parts and components from the mansion while fooling around yesterday?

While entertaining the maids, he also casually assembled this metal doll and transformed it into a magical pet.

Summoning a summoned creature is a signature spell of spellcasters, allowing them to summon or designate a small creature that can establish a certain degree of mental connection with the spellcaster.

During the fierce battle in the cave, the giant snake that delivered crucial information was Suliman's magical pet. In many unsafe areas inaccessible to spellcasters, magical pets are excellent agents.

However, why is Kuku's personality, the soul that should be integrated with itself, present in this "magical pet," even overriding the self-personality that a magical pet should possess?

And yet, even though he saw the spirits of the heroes outside, he could still feel their influence on his inner self.

Could it be that it split itself into two parts, and one part escaped?

But that doesn't make sense either. It's just a memory. Even if the software data is lost, how can the hardware function without itself?
"Idiot, idiot, even the big guy doesn't know to check the control panel!"

This was all pointed out by the person involved, and Rean quickly took out the ancient book of the Heroic Spirit Compendium.

"Such an outrageous mind-body ability?!"

Then it dawned on him.

Indeed, things that are truly utterly illogical are most likely caused by even more illogical mental and spiritual abilities.

[Heart and Soul. Kuku's Brain Splitting Surgery (Gold): In short, it describes late-stage multiple personality disorder that is proactive and controllable. It can simultaneously split into three thought lines, processing related matters in parallel.]

[Ha, one hand round and one hand square, so what? Kuku can brew medicine, cast spells, and sleep all at the same time! At my peak, I could chat with twenty "friends" simultaneously!]

They all say I'm crazy, and they're right! —Kuku the kobold.

"Holy crap, this is insane!"

This is no longer a typical dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder); even the strongest measures cannot resolve this level of schizophrenia.

But after careful consideration, Rean felt that this parallel thought process, like that of a computer, should be quite useful for spellcasters who need to calculate, focus, and micromanage.

Just imagining its performance on the battlefield is terrifying; spellcasters would have too many distractions.

Even if it can't perform multiple spells simultaneously (multiple spells are extremely difficult), it can still be used as a cheat code for learning and accumulating knowledge, making it three times more efficient.

Now, with this piece of information, Rean was able to use his limited magical knowledge to understand what had happened.

The real Kuku is merely a virtual spirit created from memories, and it is merging with his own soul.

However, it has separated an independent line of thought, which is directly linked by the soul contract of the magical pet.

Therefore, while the real Kuku remained inside Rean, a remotely controlled "virtual Kuku" was created as its representative.

As for how he did it, how he made the magical beast or wild beast contract take effect on the metal humanoid, and how he remotely controlled it, let's not ask Rean.

In fact, the fact that he could understand to this extent meant that "Kuku's spirit" was already helping him with reasoning and calculations.

Rean clearly felt that his thinking was becoming faster and sharper, but he always inexplicably went astray!
[Compatibility: 35%, Satisfaction: -25%]

The compatibility was surprisingly high, and my satisfaction level increased slightly after a whole day of dealing with things yesterday.

At this moment, Rean, who had opened the panel, was genuinely envious.

[Temporary Job Levels: Tier 1 Alchemist Master, Tier 1 Sage, Tier 1 Dragon Speaker (These temporary jobs will disappear after 14 days and 16 hours)]

Rean wasn't sure what these professions were exactly, but they were clearly high-level professions among spellcasters.

Even with only some of the abilities of these professions retained, they are still terrifyingly powerful.

The temporary list of low-level spells was ridiculously long, though none of them could be cast. Rean himself lacked the ability to cast them; he needed to practice and master them. If this mage slipped up even a little, he could immediately take off!
When Rean first saw him, he was a little annoyed, and he really didn't have the face to go to Suliman's place for a while.

Now that Kuku has come out, he intends to settle accounts with him.

But right now, Rean just wants to ask...
"Um, Lord Kuku, how do I increase your satisfaction level?!" It seems that integrity, along with the departing spirit of Suer, has chosen to run away.

Twenty minutes later, Rean sat in a restaurant in the South Gate District, looking completely bewildered. The table was piled high with all kinds of meat.

This table is so full, even a giant couldn't eat it all.

"Eat! Eat up!! Kuku's hungry!"

The mechanical kobold, hiding under the table, kicked him hard.

Rean grimaced, but gritted his teeth and took a bite.

"Uh, delicious," Rean exclaimed.

"It's so delicious!" Kuku below chimed in.

Despite the rather inexpensive food, Rean felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

It seems that this hunger and longing is also influenced by the spirit of the hero. Kuku is craving delicious meat and new dishes.

Kusla on the ground was also happily patting its huge metal belly, its steel mouth constantly chewing the air, as if it were really eating something.

This actually proves that the real Kuku's spirit is inside Rean's body, and what's outside is just a remote-controlled machine or a humanoid communication interface.

Current satisfaction rate -23%

Well, it really has gone up.

Rean was overjoyed and ate even more heartily.

Finally, when Rean clung to the wall and went outside, his satisfaction level had dropped to -19%.

It seems like this person's satisfaction rating is easy to manipulate?
"What does Kuku want? Kuku doesn't want anything. Kuku's life is perfect, perfect."

Looking at Kuku, who repeatedly emphasized that he had no regrets, Rean felt a little uneasy.

In his memory, people who lack something usually like to emphasize that they lack nothing.

I've read its origin story, and although it's just the beginning, the subsequent developments don't look good at all. You agree, right?

Soon, Rean realized he had been too happy. How could a heroic spirit from ancient times be so easily satisfied?

"What is that?!" he asked excitedly, pointing to a steam locomotive slowly moving along the tracks.

It seems that this thing didn't exist in Kukuta's time.

Rean had actually complained about it back then, saying that the technology tree of this era was just too subtle.

Steam engines did indeed appear, but they were too expensive luxury items and not practical.

It is said that the core of its internal water-boiling mechanism is actually "magic." Its full name is Magic Steam Car, and at the time, Rean had no idea how to evaluate it.

This is why the high cost made it difficult to promote; that is, it was used for fixed-track freight transport, and most people still used various animal-drawn carts and horse-drawn carriages.

"I want one, give me one!" Kuku said, uttering words that were completely unanswerable.

“...Uh.” Kuku didn’t need to wait for Rean’s reply; the difficulty on his face was too obvious.

"Oh, you can't afford it?"

"Actually, there's nothing to buy; those dwarf and short-statured craftsmen treasure it."

“Oh. Technology is priceless, Kuku understands.” Mechanical Kusla nodded, as if seeing one of its kind.

Rean breathed a sigh of relief. This spirit who could move around by his side seemed to be relatively easy to deal with and reasonable.

"Bang!" But he was too happy too soon. The mechanical Kusla ran away in an instant, and it ran away very fast!

Kusla immediately ran to the tracks, flipped the car over, and quickly crawled into the interior of the magic steam car.

"Crack!" Then, a series of strange noises came from inside the locomotive, which was running smoothly.

Before the car had even moved two steps, right before Rean's eyes, the wheels flew off! The floorboards fell off! The steam engine rattled and clattered!
"Fortunately, the core wasn't lost." Rean acted quickly, trying to stop the ancient hero from continuing his reckless actions.

"Boom!" The furnace didn't fall, it exploded into the sky!
"Interesting, very interesting!" A satisfied Kuku appeared in front of Rean, holding a device.

"This... could it be the magic engine of that motorcycle?" It seemed quite heavy, and Kuku was having some difficulty lifting it.

So he simply tossed it to Rean.

"Take it back, dismantle it, dismantle it!"

"Don't!!"

Before Rean could explain, the South Gate District police officers, blowing their whistles, had already arrived.

They quickly surrounded them, but Kusla had already vanished without a trace.

All the police officers' eyes were on the magic engine fragment in Rean's hand!
"If I said it had nothing to do with me, would you believe me?"

Half an hour later, Rean went to the police station again.

It felt so familiar there, like home!

An hour later, Sallyman received another call to come and bail her out.

"Uh, can I explain?" Looking at the snake woman's puffed-up face, whom he thought he wouldn't see for a long time, Rean sighed helplessly and looked up at the sky.

(End of this chapter)