Forge a path to success.

Chapter 280 A Flow of Inspiration (3)

This silver-eyed book is none other than Vande's travel guide, whose expertise in investigating the details of relics has always been reliable, never failing to prove its worth. Since heading to the wilderness, the group has faced a series of dazzling battles, and only now has this book finally had its chance to shine.

Chu Hengkong first tapped the painting by the fat painter Kua Lu onto the page of the book, and the appraisal text immediately appeared:

[Mass-produced spore material]

Rating: Bottom-tier

【Origin: The Secret Realm of Senluo - Jingsha City-State】

[Effect: Descriptive material generated using suggestive spores as a medium]

[Longing: None]

"Is this a mistake?" Ji Huaisu questioned. "Where would a relic come from if there were no longing or remembrance?"

What Ji Huaisu said was basic common sense in the world of Chen Dong: even the lowest-grade relics should contain longing, otherwise they would not be able to carry power. Although this painting had a rating, it had no longing, which was something they had never heard of before.

“Perhaps what made it a relic is something other than longing.” Chu Hengkong took out the mushroom again. “Let’s take another look at the true face of the Inspiration Mushroom.”

[Recirculation-type suggestive spores - terminal]

[Rating: Level 3]

【Origin: The Secret Realm of Senluo - Jingsha City-State】

【Effect: Reads the user's physical fluctuations, retrieves information fragments from the spore library, and outputs description materials that meet the requirements.】

Each output of material is considered a completion of a ritual.

[Longing: A mutual consent, a win-win situation]

This report contained a lot of information, so much so that everyone took some time to digest it. Poison Otter stared at the results panel, his brow furrowed: "Retrieved information fragments...?"

“If you’ve never eaten mushrooms, you might not understand, but this description is very vivid,” Chu Hengkong said. “After you output your thoughts, the mushrooms will provide a lot of fragmented pieces of information and reorganize them into ‘results’ based on your thinking. I’ve seen many scattered verses when I write doggerel, but none of them are complete poems.”

"But—how did it do that?" Bangbangji exclaimed in astonishment. "I mean, the person who grows the mushrooms can't possibly know the users' needs in advance—that would be precognition. And a small mushroom can only store a very small amount of information—something this small can only write a few words!"

[Store the information in the mushroom's bloodline factors. Bloodline factors can carry an enormous amount of biological information; if they can be used as "information carriers," a single mushroom could easily contain an entire library.] The Great Seal wrote, [Besides, it doesn't need to cram all the information into a mushroom; it's a terminal, and with a terminal comes an information database.]

"You mean it interacts with data via online transmission?" Van der followed up. "Then it needs a corresponding medium. This thing isn't a real machine; it doesn't need electricity. The medium it can use is..."

"Air, microorganisms, biofields, pheromones..." The Poison Otter stared intently at the mushroom. "There are so many possibilities. I'll have to make a trip to the lab tonight—"

“I guess, editor,” a soft voice interjected, “it’s probably pheromones.”

The shop assistant who spoke peeked out from the second-floor platform; it was an adorable little cat with green fur reminiscent of tender leaves. Chu Hengkong noticed that it was the same shop assistant who had looked off while discussing mushrooms; its name was Miaonu.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop..." Miao Nu stammered, "I was just organizing the bookshelf... and I was also quite interested in this topic..."

"Don't be nervous. The bookstore lobby is a public area. If there were anything that couldn't be discussed openly, we would have talked about it behind closed doors long ago," the editor, Poison Otter, said gently. "Why do you think that?"

Miaonu licked the tip of her nose: "Because, I think I should have seen that 'Ku' before."

·
The incident occurred about two weeks ago when Myo Nu was on vacation, searching for its ideal sunrise photography spot. It discovered a perfect location on the border of the Third Sequence: a valley facing the sea, where one could see the magnificent sunrise over the ocean in the early morning, with sunlight spilling onto the flower fields in the valley.

“I originally went there for the sun, but the flowers there were also very beautiful. They were a nearly transparent pale blue, and under the sun they looked like a dreamlike swarm of butterflies,” Miaonu said. “So I stayed there a little longer and remembered the scent of those flowers. Later I smelled the fragrance of flowers again, but I found that the scent came from the mushroom stalls in the market. Every Inspiration Mushroom I’ve ever seen has the same scent.”

"Are there mushrooms around the flower field?" Chu Hengkong asked.

"Absolutely not. It wouldn't be pretty if it had a bunch of mushrooms growing on it."

Chu Hengkong temporarily shut down the communication crystal, and the valley appeared before him. Unlike the scene described by Miao Nu, the valley was quiet and deserted at night, with translucent flowers glowing faintly, appearing eerie like will-o'-the-wisps.

Ji Huaisu had changed into his jade armor early and was preparing on the side. Everyone was putting in a lot of effort this time, because whether or not they were creating anything was no longer the primary issue; the "ritual" was.

“This is a very, very ingenious technique,” ​​Van Der said. “The very act of creating a work with mushrooms—regardless of its deeper meaning—inevitably confirms some kind of philosophy of the creator. Mushrooms themselves do not involve power, yet the more enthusiastic the reaction they evoke, the more it demonstrates that the creator’s ‘philosophy’ is recognized by the masses.” “So this constitutes a ritual?” Chu Hengkong asked.

“Rituals, like transactions, are essentially about ‘giving’ and ‘receiving.’ A typical example is the demon-possessed people you’re familiar with; they give up their physical bodies to receive power from the demons,” Vand explained. “The ritual of the Inspiration Mushroom is more abstract. The creator gives up the mushroom, and the act of creation itself is the reward. Transactions are fair on an informational level and harmless on a practical level; they are a standard win-win situation.”

“I think you’re even more amazing for being able to come up with so much from just one sentence,” Ji Huaisu said.

"I've told you countless times, we're library students; all those years of studying weren't for nothing," Vande muttered. "But this technique looks familiar..."

Chu Hengkong stepped into the flower field and plucked a translucent flower. The flower's roots weren't deep, and it was easily pulled out, leaving the pit empty. He blinked, causing crimson to fill his vision. Under the energy perspective of the true machine, the previously empty pit was now filled with a colorful "bubble."

He poked the bubble with his wrist, his expression turning rather strange.

“It’s raining in Macondo,” he said.

"What?" Vande stared wide-eyed.

He activated the communication crystal, and the editor, Poison Otter, had a unique perspective: "I didn't expect you to have read 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'."

“It’s extremely easy to be emotionless during the day, but it’s a different story at night,” Chu Hengkong added.

"The Sun Also Rises." The venomous otter recognized the source. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, I haven't read this book, but this sentence just naturally popped into my head." Chu Hengkong withdrew his hand. "Let me say a few more words for you to hear..."

He then uttered several brilliant lines, from "Gone with the Wind" and a few well-known works from the local anime and manga community. Afterward, he said a few lines with a distinctly chuunibyou (delusional) feel, which the shopkeeper, Big Seal, recognized as coming from an old comic book from Shura Island. He then hummed a little tune—the local Jing Sha song "The Great Ensemble of Insects"—and finally, he even began to describe an oil painting in words, which Bangbangji thought resembled a little-known work from the last century.

"Are all the world's classic works having a meeting in the ground?" Gulibo's confused voice came from the crystal, which was then drowned out by the otter editor's low growl.

"The sacred tree! How could they do this? It's despicable, utterly shameless!!"

“Mmm!” the sea seal agreed.

"What do you mean?" Ji Huaisu was dumbfounded.

“An information repository,” Vande said. “Beneath this flower field lies a massive spiritual information repository, which you can think of as an invisible library filled with famous works from all over the world. The Inspiration Mushroom uses the emotional fluctuations of the consumer as ‘keywords’ to retrieve information from this invisible database.”

Its expression grew increasingly grim as it spoke: "It can simultaneously search hundreds of thousands, even millions of books, extracting snippets as 'fragments' that meet its needs. These fragments are then packaged by the mushroom and output in reverse, becoming entirely new works..."

Ji Huaisu realized, "Holy crap, then what kind of situation is this—"

A whistling sound pierced the night, and Ji Huaisu drew her light shield to block the attack. The hidden weapons floated down lightly, drifting into the dim light of the flower field. They were nothing more than two delicate leaves, yet they struck the light shield with a resounding clang like metal striking metal.

"Who is it? State your name!" Ji Huaisu said lazily.

A large shadow swept across the flower field, as if a giant eagle with an astonishing wingspan had descended from the sky. The attacker folded her wings and landed in the center of the flower field, bowing to the two men. Her smile was vibrant even in the night.

She had long, white hair that reached her ankles, braided into two long plaits, and wore a slightly old-fashioned red beret. Judging by appearance alone, she was a sophisticated, scholarly girl, suitable to be the class monitor of an honors class in a high school or university. However, she also carried a long, thin wooden gun and possessed a pair of enormous wings, woven from thorns and driftwood, each over three meters long when outstretched. This feature was her most obvious identifier.

The Path to Unity, Point 4, Embracing the Sky Wing.

"Good evening, good evening. I'm Lico, a freelancer." She slung the wooden gun over her shoulder. "Congratulations on discovering the old man's little secret, but if you investigate any further, I'll have to pay the fee—"

Ji Huaisu slung the Shadow Blade over his shoulder: "What, trying to silence me?"

Lico stared at her in shock.

"...Is this...is this really a case of calling for war?! A few mushrooms can't possibly be this serious, can it?"

Ji Huaisu cleared her throat forcefully, realizing once again that she was no longer in the Despair Wilderness, and most battles wouldn't require her to fight desperately. But having already uttered the harsh words, she decided to continue her provocation: "What do you want, little girl?"

With a flick of her wrist, Lico revealed a small object that looked like a flashlight.

"After all, I also have a duty to maintain confidentiality... Could the three of you please experience amnesia for a short period of time?"

　(Thanks to Earthbound Spirit for another Silver Alliance donation! Knock knock knock!)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)