The Artifact Forger from the Beginning of Collapse

Jibril looked as if she had lost her parents, while Rick, standing next to her, suddenly brightened up.

If this mandatory gold coin trading system becomes the rule of the game, making it inviolable by everyone, then...

"The Gluttonous Star God's [Taste] is really useful. Child, you must have been terrified, right?" Chen Li smiled and patted Jibril's head.

The strange creature called Gourmet Cells isn't scary at all.

"The Gluttonous Star God?"

"A divine species from another world... or rather, an existence far surpassing divine species. But it's difficult to compare them due to different worldviews. Because I've eaten it, I can imitate its scent, or rather, its aura." Chen Li shook his head, not elaborating further.

"..." As for Chen Li's explanation, Jibril did not feel relaxed at all because she knew that the other party's aura was imitation; on the contrary, she became even more nervous.

After all, he had even eaten the thing called the Gluttonous Star God, which meant that the other party's true strength must be much greater!

If Sky Strike is the only named attack of the Skywing race, and also their strongest offensive method, then Divine Strike is the all-out attack unleashed by Arteshu, the creator of the Skywing race and the strongest god-race, using them as the medium. It is essentially a divine version of Sky Strike. Its power is said to be able to pierce through multiple planets in a single line.

As the strongest war god, Altshu could easily have won the great battle if he had wanted to, but he didn't.

Judging solely from this level of power, the God of War seems somewhat insignificant compared to the gluttonous Star God who treats devouring planets as mere playthings. However, as the "strongest" God of War, if something even stronger appears in this world, then the God of War will also become stronger...

Therefore, Chen Li will not make any comparisons.

If a Star God were to come to this world and actually turn the God of War into a Star God, that would be quite interesting... although Chen Li felt it probably wouldn't be that exaggerated.

“Well…” Rick was about to say something, but he shut his mouth when he saw Jibril.

"Snap!" Chen Li snapped his fingers, and Jibril's body, which had been transformed into a child, instantly returned to normal.

Surprised to find she had recovered, Jibril looked at Chen Li with ill intent...

"Don't look at me like that, or I won't mind having a meal of stewed mushrooms with Jibril. Besides, your recovery is temporary. If I want, you can become helpless again at any time. Go outside and get me some spirit remains. Now that I'm in this world, I want to taste the saltiness of black ash. Remember, don't do anything sneaky, and don't hurt anyone," Chen Li ordered Jibril.

“Okay.” Because of the forced trading of gold coins, Jibril had to obey Chen Li’s orders whenever it involved food.

If you prevent the other party from engaging in underhanded tactics, they won't be able to do so.

Chen Li could even order Jibril to bring him the God of War, because in Chen Li's eyes, gods are also food.

However, this was clearly sending Jibril to her death.

"You can eat black ash too?" Rick couldn't help but ask.

Elf races rank 3rd out of 16 races. Elves are the power source for most magic, while powerful destructive magic can directly lead to their death.

It can be considered a kind of living "magic".

Most elves are concentrated in their erogenous zones, for example... the wings of the Skywing species.

But what Chen Li just ate was a living elf.

The remains, also known as black ash, are the remnants left behind after the death of elves.

This substance is an extremely deadly poison with strong corrosive properties, but most races other than humans have innate methods of dealing with it.

This thing has another characteristic—because it is the product of the death of elves, and all spells require elves, it can block the detection of spells.

For example, the reason Rick suffered extensive burns all over his body and was almost unable to use his left arm and left eye was because he smeared black ash on his body.

Humans cannot detect the presence of elves, so they can only resort to this clumsy method to prevent others from seeing through their "schemes."

Rick even inhaled it into his body; if it weren't for Shuvi, a Machine Race member, pouring the antidote into Rick's mouth, Rick would have died long ago.

That's why Rick asked that question.

"Anything that enters my body through my mouth will be eaten by me and will not cause me any harm."

"Thank you so much for your help. If it weren't for you, Hugh might have..." Rick expressed his gratitude to Chen Li after Jibril left.

"Don't mention it. It's fate that we met. And even if Hughie dies, it's no big deal, because I have a resurrection artifact here."

Rick felt conflicted upon hearing the first part of the sentence, but his feelings became even more complicated upon hearing the second part.

Rick felt like he had struck gold.

That's not quite right; it's more like Bao found himself.

“But your wife doesn’t seem very happy,” Chen Li said.

"Maybe it's because Shubi said she shared her feelings for me as a precious example with the entire machine race..." Rick said helplessly.

The Machine Race is a race that is closely integrated with reality yet is exceptionally advanced. Information received by a single machine will be transmitted to the Command Body, the Link Body, and the All-Link Command Body Einzshi, and then shared with all Machine Races.

Originally, Shubi was trying to understand the human heart, but due to theoretical flaws, many contradictions arose, and she was eventually disconnected from the "Connection"—and was abandoned.

But because Shubi felt she wouldn't live to see Riku, she shared her feelings (her research on "heart") with the entire Machina race, hoping they would help Riku fulfill his wish to end the war.

If Shubi were dead, everything she did would have meaning, but Shubi is still alive.

She feels like she's done something horrible to herself.

Because when all the Machine Races accept Shiro's feelings for Riku, it means that all the Machine Races have fallen in love with Riku.

Of course, Hugh didn't know that this was called n*r.

“But that’s not important. I remember you told me at the beginning that you had a plan to restore humanity’s sight from the shadows?” Rick asked.

“There’s more than one plan now. Here, take this Abundance Divine Object. It will continuously heal your body. By the time we finish chatting, you’ll be almost fully healed.” Chen Li handed the Abundance Divine Object to Rick.

The God of Abundance did indeed help Chen Li a lot.

Rick is in much better condition than Hugh had been, so he can be cured without using the Abundant Grain.

"Thank you," Rick said again.

The moment Rick received the ear of wheat, he felt a slight itch in his previously blind left eye...

"You're welcome."

"So, what you meant by 'more than one plan' is...?"

“Originally, I planned to create a wondrous object called the Spirit... Honkai Sphere, to grant humanity the ability to capture other races using the Honkai Sphere. This was an object I intended to create for other worlds, but I think you wouldn't mind sharing it.”

“Yes.” Rick nodded.

Let's not even talk about sharing or not. Chen Li was able to save Shubi, so Rick will give Chen Li whatever he wants.

"Given the unique resilience of the human race, this plan is entirely capable of success. If we also use a magical artifact to awaken the collective consciousness of the human race and use that collective consciousness to protect the human race, the human race should be able to thrive after the war ends," Chen Li said.

"What is collective consciousness?" he immediately asked.

"It's like... a special deity formed by the collective subconsciousness of all living beings in a certain civilization. It protects the growth of this race and possesses various magical abilities."

"A divine species?"

"It does seem somewhat similar... but collective consciousness doesn't have any obvious combat abilities. However, if this were in this world, it might actually be possible to generate a god-like species... or to allow a god-like species with rudiments to appear." Chen Li said, glancing at the chess set on the table in Rick's room.

From Chen Li's perspective, on the opposite side of the chessboard, there was a blurry human figure sitting there, seemingly waiting for the game to begin.

Above the other person's head was a shining word.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be the yet-to-be-born god of games—Tetu.

A god worshipped only by Rick and Shubi.

In this world, the divine race is a race that manifests itself according to desires. They are born from the concept of planets and are born by obtaining 'divine essence' through desires and prayers.

Chen Li could perhaps combine the two somewhat...

However, doing so is not a good thing for either humans or the divine race.

Humans cannot accept having a creator or manager above them, and the divine species cannot accept being responsible for cleaning up human pets' poop every day.

Mutual dislike.

There's no problem with collective consciousness.

After Chen Li explained the specifics of the collective consciousness, Rick seemed to have some new ideas.

"Can this collective consciousness change the rules of the world?" he immediately asked.

“If you’re trying to create a world where games determine the winners and losers, then you still need the Star Cup. Collective consciousness isn’t omnipotent,” Chen Li shook his head.

Well, the main problem is that Chen Li doesn't have enough civilization points.

Otherwise... out of curiosity, Chen Li used the Miracle Card "Then I Ask You" on the Miracle Card "[Beacon Fire Plays with the Lords]", and received an answer that surprised him.

The highest level of collective consciousness that Chen Li can awaken is called... Heaven's Will.

To use one's own heart to represent the heart of Heaven.

The collective consciousness of a particular civilization replaces the right to manage the "world" within the territory encompassed by that civilization.

To achieve a different kind of consciousness of an artificial world.

It is the "Heavenly Way" under the "Great Way".

This level of collective consciousness, besides interfering with conceptual things like fate and cause and effect, can also launch a powerful attack on the material world.

However, Chen Li's civilization points were simply insufficient.

"Do you also know about the Star Cup? Did that Winged One tell you?" Rick asked curiously.

"That's not important. We can discuss this in more detail later. All you need to know is that collective consciousness can help a race survive better, and you might need it."

"Is there any way to increase the survival ability of the human race? After all, even if the war ends, humans are still too vulnerable in the hands of those races," Rick asked.

Rick no longer wanted to see the human race, or even any human being, die.