The Artifact Forger from the Beginning of Collapse

PS: Thank you all for your support; I haven't fallen off the click rankings. 4

Chapter 44 The Merit Contest officially begins today!

Chen Li was sitting cross-legged on his bed, resting his chin on one hand, deep in thought as he looked at the guide to forging rare artifacts.

"boom!"

"Chen Li, I found a folder called 'Study Materials' on your computer, but it's password protected. I want to see it..." Kaguya Houraisan didn't even knock before bursting into the room.

"Knock before you enter my room!" Chen Li threw the Strange Item Forging Guide directly at Houraisan Kaguya's face.

"Ouch." Kaguya Houraisan clutched her forehead and squatted down.

The Guide to Forging Rare Items is offensive; the more rare items in the Myriad Knowledge Repository, the greater its destructive power.

Although its book-like design slightly diminishes its offensive power, as a soul weapon, it naturally attacks the soul directly!

That's why it hurts so much when you hit someone with it!

Moreover, it is almost impossible to defend against.

—Because I was afraid that it wouldn't hurt if I hit someone, I put all my attribute points into pain value!

However, when fighting Kaguya of Houraisan, Chen Li only used the initial strength of the Strange Item Forging Guide.

"You'd better give me a proper reason, not just because you want to look at some study materials. Otherwise... I'm curious, can the people of Penglai eat noodles upside down?" Chen Li said, getting off the bed.

"Hiss, eating noodles upside down? Well, actually I came here because I missed you so much. It wasn't because of any study materials."

"Really?"

"Really. And in just 10 minutes, you seem even more handsome. It's making me a little smitten." Kaguya Houraisan gave a thumbs up.

"..."

"Hmm? Wait... Chen Li, what did you do? Why does your aura seem a bit different?" Kaguya Houraisan paused for a moment, then asked with some suspicion.

Hmm, could this guy have secretly changed his feelings towards him or something?

"Well, it's probably because of the upgrade?"

As Chen Li spoke, he looked at the profession level on the artifact forging guide that he had summoned back.

lv2 (4/200)

This is what Chen Li was doing in his room just now.

The crafting guide states that increasing the level will improve physical fitness, mental resilience, resistance to various elements, resistance to exotic energies, and the learning speed of skills below that level.

Immediately after the upgrade, Chen Li did feel a certain degree of enhancement in his basic physical attributes. However, he had not yet felt any enhancement in other aspects.

But what surprised Chen Li the most after the upgrade was the increase in the initial cost when forging rare items.

The cost has been increased from 10 points to 12 points.

This means that as long as Chen Li forges a slightly stronger artifact, he can save two crystals!

The more Chen Li forged rare items, the more he felt that his initial 10 points were really not enough.

Job level is great! I need to level up my job level! Level it up like crazy!

"Upgrade? I've upgraded so many times, why don't I feel anything?" Kaguya Houraisan asked, puzzled.

"Kaguya, have you ever heard this lyric?"

"What lyrics?"

Your childhood and my childhood were completely different~

"That's not right, shouldn't they all seem the same?"

"That's not important. What's important is that this is a special panel. So it has a lot of added attribute types," Chen Li said.

"Hmm, forget it, you don't even have a character panel anymore, why should I bother arguing with you?" Kaguya Houraisan thought for a moment and then felt relieved.

"No, what do you mean?"

What happened to my personal panel? I have the Oddity Forging Guide!

"Hehe!" Kaguya Houraisan stuck out her tongue and ran out of Chen Li's room.

But the next moment, Kaguya Houraisan pushed open the door and poked her head out.

"By the way, could you please send me the password for the study materials? Thank you."

"Eight eights. Alright, go play now." Chen Li waved his hand dismissively.

"Okay."

"...Forget it, I won't bother with this cute little guy. I feel like I have so much more energy after leveling up, I really want to forge something." Chen Li clenched his fist, feeling a bit itchy to do something.

Although the Oddity Forging Guide does not explicitly state that forging oddities requires stamina, no one is not tired after a day at work.

But after the upgrade, it seems that all that energy has been replenished.

"I'll ask the little sprite if it has any clues about the benefits of the upgrade, and also about that reputation system..."

While it may seem strange to use Pokémon as an encyclopedia, the weak are meant to be ruthlessly exploited by the strong for their remaining value!

As for the study materials that Kaguya Houraisan wanted to see?

"Damn it! What? It's actually study material?" Seeing all sorts of incomprehensible forging knowledge in the folder, Kaguya Houraisan was completely baffled.

"I will remember this grudge!"

……

(Miracle: I looked through the underlying code of the Wonder Forging Guide. From level 1 to level 10, it will gradually free up slots that originally belonged to the Wonder system. Slots are similar to buffs. The higher the slot, the stronger the resistance and the greater the attack and control bonus.)

Furthermore, their progress will be even faster before their strength reaches the upper limit of their rank. This includes, but is not limited to, the speed of progress in physical fitness, mental strength, and the learning speed of low-level skills.

However, note that rank does not definitively represent strength. If a human can't defeat a tiger, can't they defeat a newborn tiger cub?

Between levels 11 and 20, you can gradually shift your skill slots to the Oddity Forging Guide.

In this case, you retain your maximum slot limit while also freeing yourself from the constraints of the [Miracle Light] slot.

While this upgrade logic is indeed somewhat complicated, and theoretically it could allow you to ascend to the top in one step and instantly gain strength commensurate with your rank, it would only cause you to lose more, including your humanity and emotions.

Finally, I earnestly request that you vindicate the Light of Miracles. Prove that the Light of Miracles truly belongs to the Order, and is not some inherently evil "Uchiha brat (world destroyer)." This is the origin of the Reputation System, and can be considered the Light of Miracles's last wish.

"Did I get spoiled?" Chen Li scratched his head.

Things like rank removal usually only appear in the later stages of a profession, right?

Thinking about it this way, isn't the Strange Item Forging Guide incredibly thoughtful?

As for the reputation system...

Chen Li could only say that she would try her best to maintain her reputation.

Yeah, I'll try my best...

This note naturally comes from the new artifact forged by Chen Li, who cherishes it dearly.

[Merit Balance]: The merit competition officially begins today!

Effect: Performing any selfless, healing, altruistic, saving, or virtuous act will earn "high moral approval" (merit). It can be used to avert disasters, enhance good fortune, offset karmic consequences, bring misfortune to others... and even to do things that are morally unacceptable.

P.S.: The more lofty moral standards one holds, the more one can stand on a higher moral ground to criticize others!

"What does it mean to use something that is not morally permissible?" Chen Li was deeply shocked when he first saw this line of text.

This once again proves that the more unique items a character has, the more "stable" the item's effect will be!

This extraordinary object was crafted by Chen Li using the "merit" he gained from slaying demons in the Inuyasha world and a single ear of wheat blessed by Abundance.

The merits Chen Li obtains can be used or extracted from the entry "Merits".

Chen Li thought this thing was quite useful, so he wanted to turn it into a sustainable resource.

Adding an extra ear of abundant wheat is also to expand the channels for gaining merit.

The definitions of abundance and merit partially overlap, therefore the two are highly compatible.

As it turned out, Chen Li's idea was indeed correct, and he succeeded. However, due to the limited number of entries, the range of the strange item's effect could not be fixed, so the strange item also underwent a certain degree of random change.

My father always said: "Eight out of ten is almost certain."

But as my father also said: "A difference of a hair's breadth can lead to a huge error."

Because the quality of the original body forged from this artifact is very good, it is inherently regular and the brightness of the attributes is also very high, so there is no need to add extra brightness. Therefore, the extraction of the two attributes, [Merit] and [Abundance], only used 3 Miracle Crystals. However, the attribute capacity of the artifact needs to be increased by 5 points.

The higher the required vocabulary limit, the better the quality of the artifact. It's a pity that such a good artifact only adds 8 points of professional experience.

From this perspective, the increase in initial cost did save Chen Li crystals, but it also meant he lost two experience points each time.

But the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages. After all, if Chen Li wanted to, he could spend all the crystals on a single rare item.

"Alright, I've got the rare item to gain merit. Now let's gather some merit!" After putting away the palm-sized clump of merit left after forging the rare item, Chen Li pondered for a moment and opened the rare item forging guide.

Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. The real scapegoat, it seems, is always among the customers.