"I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"The... the bad news, I guess?"
"You're screwed. You ate the Divine Item of Abundance, and while it cured the poison in your body, it will eventually cause you to lose your sanity and transform into a monster."
"What?!" The young man sitting opposite Chen Li instantly panicked.
"Then what's the good news, sir?" The young woman sitting beside him, now washed and neatly dressed, looked at Chen Li with a serious expression.
But Chen Li couldn't shake the feeling that the way she was looking at him was a little... off.
"The good news is that you have to wait 1000 years for it to happen."
"Ah? Do you mean that 1000 years after I die, my corpse will turn into a monster and bring chaos to the world?" the young man asked, stunned.
"No, I mean you'll live for 1000 years, and then you'll lose your mind."
"...That's great! Sayo, did you hear what this divine being said? I can live for 1000 years!" Ieyasu said excitedly to his companion.
"I heard. Hurry up and thank the gentleman," she said.
"Thank you, Divine Being! If I can live for 1000 years, I'd be willing to eat delicacies every single day!" the energetic young man said gratefully to Chen Li.
"...You sure have some nice dreams. But the reality is that you'll most likely spend those 1000 years eating chaff and wild vegetables in poverty and hardship," Chen Li said casually.
"Emmm..." Ieyasu thought about it and felt that what he said seemed to make some sense.
A long life apparently wasn't as wonderful as he had imagined.
If you wanted to live a long and comfortable life, you needed a certain material foundation.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Mr. Chen. Speaking of which... what about them?" After thanking Chen Li once more, Sayo turned her head to look at the blonde girl who was pinned to the ground by a long needle piercing her abdomen, still screaming incessantly.
Although she was rescued early and hadn't seen the girl's truly twisted face, Sayo's body still ached faintly even after her physical injuries had been healed. And no matter how naive she was, after seeing the shocking sights in that warehouse, she naturally knew she had entered a lion's den.
"Leave her for now, I have a use for her. Do you two have a problem with that?"
"No."
"Then remember to abide by the contract. You will work for me for one-tenth of your lifespan," Chen Li reminded them.
This was a deal Chen Li had made with them after saving them, seeing that they were being far too polite and desperately wanted to repay him.
"Yes, sir. We will not forget your kindness."
"There's no need to keep bringing it up," Chen Li said, shaking his head and tossing the die in his hand.
Chen Li now had 7 Elation Points. Seeing the boy named Ieyasu's mental state rise and fall dramatically because of his words had granted him an extra point.
"If Qingque can consider 'being unable to win a hand' as her trouble and use the Elation Die to solve it for her... then if I don't know how to handle this world right now, can I also use the Elation Die?"
Watching the iridescent colors reflected off the pink-glowing die under the light, Chen Li caught it as it fell back into his hand, held it tight, and then threw it.
He had 7 Elation Points. Even if his luck was so bad that he rolled a 1 and got a critical failure, he could still nudge it back up to 8. While that would still cause some trouble, it might not be a bad thing.
According to the passive effect of [Vortex of Fate]—the more trouble, the greater the reward—if he became unlucky, a corresponding reward would naturally follow.
In other words, if Chen Li used this die and succeeded, he could solve the problem more easily. If he failed, he could reap greater rewards from the trouble.
So... friends, this is a gamble!
The sound of the die landing echoed, and the result appeared before Chen Li.
[15]
Seeing this number, Chen Li was satisfied, but not satisfied enough. He used his "golden finger" to start nudging the die.
[16]
[17]
"Hmm?" Chen Li had originally intended to push it to 20 to see what effect it would have, but he discovered that while moving it from 15 to 16 only cost one point, moving it from 16 to 17 cost two points.
And to go from 17 to 18 would require 4 points.
"Oh... so using Elation Points to increase the die's number isn't a one-to-one increase?" Chen Li was taken aback for a moment.
He checked the Curio's description and indeed saw no mention of "one-to-one."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Li tried again, this time nudging the number back down.
He found that adjusting it from 15 down to 9 only required one Elation Point per number, but going from 9 to 8 required two points.
"I get it. Once you cross the threshold of '10' that divides luck and misfortune, the consumption of Elation Points increases exponentially. The first time costs one point, the second time two, the third time four."
This also meant that if Chen Li wanted to push the number to 20, he would have to roll at least a 17.
Because the accumulation limit for Elation Points was 10.
"Excellent. As expected of a 1-Star Curio forged with only forty crystals, it's got a rebellious streak. But I like it," Chen Li didn't dwell on the matter.
This 1-Star Curio cost only 40 crystals and even gave him a safety net mechanism. What more could he ask for?
It was like Dr. Ratio, a five-star character. Even if his kit was underwhelming, he was given away for free, so what could you really complain about?
Besides, Dr. Ratio wasn't even weak.
In the end, Chen Li spent 7 points to fix the die's final number at [18].
"Elation Die, let me see your limits!" Chen Li looked at the number 18, his heart surging.
Although it wasn't a critical success of [20], it was close.
[Mutation: Ice]
A line of Source Text appeared before Chen Li.
"Hmm? Mutation? Ice? What's this?" Chen Li was momentarily confused.
Just as he was trying to make sense of it, the four words suddenly disintegrated into countless points of light and surged towards him.
Chen Li initially thought the light points were coming for him, but he didn't expect a Miracle Card to leap out and absorb all of them.
"Let's see... The Cleaner?" Chen Li discovered that the card that had absorbed the light points was [The Cleaner].
Holding it in his hand, Chen Li noticed that in the card's original Effect 1—[Every act of cleansing filth shall be transformed into your merit. Merit can be used to initiate judgment upon beings of filth, and depending on their crimes, transform them into Slime Janitors to devour the filth of the world.]—the word "Slime" was now highlighted in red.
Tapping on it, an additional note popped up.
PS: When used in the current world, you may choose to transform Slime Janitors into Ice Slime Janitors. They possess absolute resistance to the ice attribute, can store a large amount of ice-attribute power, and can transform cold energy into a shield. They will not take damage until the shield is broken.
"Miracle Cards can have synergy effects? This..." Chen Li was stunned for a moment, and an image formed in his mind.
When facing an enemy, he would first use his Friends Circle to rely on the bonds with his friends to temporarily block the opponent's attacks. Then, countless Miracle Cards would appear before him, and he would begin to Fuse, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Link, Pendulum...
Three minutes later, he successfully summons Exodia and wins unconditionally!
"Oh, so I'm a Yu-Gi-Oh! player! I just realized!" Chen Li had an epiphany.
So this is how you're supposed to play with Miracle Cards? I get it now.
"...the hell I do!" Chen Li slammed the Elation Die on the ground.
Then, the Elation Die obediently bounced back into his hand.
"Speaking of which, isn't this Slime effect a bit too much of a hard counter to a certain Teigu user in this world? Or rather, it's a mutation that seems to have occurred specifically to counter her. So, the key to breaking this deadlock is actually Esdeath?" Chen Li rubbed his chin and began to ponder the hint given by the Elation Die.
As janitors, the Slimes already possessed a rule-like immortality; even if completely crushed, they would reform after a long period of time.
It was especially noteworthy that the recovery time did not count towards their sentence.
Crying? Crying counts as time served.jpg
If you added immunity to ice and the ability to gain an ice shield, they would be even more ridiculously overpowered.
"What are you two's opinions of Esdeath?" Chen Li turned his head to ask the two local country folk, Sayo and Ieyasu.
"General Esdeath? I heard about her when I first arrived in the Capital. They say General Esdeath is a rare good person, very kind to her subordinates and the common people. And she's won every battle she's fought; she's the Empire's strongest general! When the shopkeepers on the streets of the Capital heard we wanted to join the army to save our village, they all told me to learn from General Esdeath," Sayo said excitedly.
Sayo, Ieyasu, and this world's protagonist, Tatsumi, had originally come to the Imperial Capital hoping to make a career in the army, get ahead in life, and save their village from its plight.
As one of the rare female generals in the Imperial Army, every female soldier who enlisted naturally aimed to be like Esdeath and strove for self-improvement.
"Then if General Esdeath wanted to be the Emperor, would you support her?" Chen Li asked.
"I guess it's not really about support or not... I just feel like, at the very least, it couldn't be worse than it is now," Sayo said after thinking for a moment.
"And what's your opinion of Esdeath?" Chen Li turned his head to ask the noble lord, a member of the local privileged class.
"How should I put it? She's something of an anomaly within Minister Honest's faction. Not only does she never accept bribes, but she also distributes all the rewards bestowed by the Emperor or gifts from the Minister to her subordinates. I've heard that in the army, she always eats with the common soldiers, and the morale of the army she leads is extremely high. She's considered one of the 'Twin Pillars of the Empire'."
"What? General Esdeath is also one of Minister Honest's lackeys?" Sayo looked at the noble lord in surprise.
Even country folk like Sayo who had only been in the Capital for a day had heard from passersby that the reason for the Empire's heavy taxes was the Minister pulling the strings behind the scenes.
"Not exactly... Esdeath's position is very unique..." The noble lord found it difficult to describe her.
"I pretty much get it. Then what if... we made Esdeath the ruler? Could you accept that?" Chen Li asked.
"Of course not! She can't help us line our pockets! That rigid woman... My apologies, Master," the noble lord, suddenly remembering his current status, hastily began to apologize.
"I'm in a good mood right now, so I can't be bothered to beat you. Very good. You officials and nobles don't want Esdeath to be the ruler. The Revolutionary Army certainly doesn't want Esdeath to be the ruler either. Isn't that just perfect? If you're not happy, then I'm happy," Chen Li suddenly chuckled upon hearing the noble lord's answer.
The most crucial point was that as common people, Sayo and Ieyasu didn't object.
Very good. I understand now. I'll just turn all the demons and monsters in the Imperial Capital into Ice Slimes, then go find Esdeath and start a rebellion!
Esdeath plus Ice Slimes would be invincible, okay?
Compared to ordinary human soldiers, Ice Slimes were far more suitable subordinates for Esdeath!
Moreover, it was said that Esdeath had a hidden secret technique called "Great General of the Ice Storm," which allowed her to create a large number of ice cavalry. Not only did they possess combat power that ordinary soldiers couldn't match, but they could also store the Teigu's energy for at least several days. Then, Esdeath could release all the stored energy at once during a decisive battle, creating a super-massive blizzard.
Who needs ice cavalry? Aren't Ice Slimes much better?
What? Esdeath doesn't agree? Then I'll just beat her to her knees with one punch. I'll have the Ice Slimes hang her up and whip her for three days and three nights, and then she'll agree.
Be good, and the Ice Slimes will be your most suitable subordinates.
Be disobedient, and the Ice Slimes will be your most troublesome enemies.
Chen Li never planned on negotiating with Esdeath.