59 59. Going Back To Liyue Harbor
On that day, Ryūhei felt that Eni and Nibi were so imperfect because what they did was too simple, even though the system claimed they were multifunctional. Well, the exception is their combat prowess. He fought them for a bit and defeated them without using his Cursed Technique. If Ryūhei had not used his Infinity, he would have been beaten by them, possibly even losing by a narrow margin in a 1v1 duel. They're so strong, and their energy never seems to run out.
Coincidentally, after he fought them, he found a new thing added to the holographic interface. When Ryūhei tapped a new icon on the top of the holographic interface, it showed Eni and Nibi's status. Now, he understood the multifunctional things claimed by the system. Unfortunately, he couldn't see his own status. Well, it didn't make any difference for him anyway.
====
[Multifunctional Bionic Puppets]
— Can't betray the host
— Force deactivate if they do so
====
Name: Eni (A2)
Power Level: A (low)ⓗ
HP: 84%
EP: Unlimited
Off Combat Auto HP Regen: 10%/hour
Chipset: Basic Chip ▼[Switch]
Plug-in Chip: ▼[Select]
Pod Program: ▼[Select]
Weapon: Type-40 Blade ▼[Switch]
Unique Skill: Berserk
Skill: Special Evasion, Air Step
=====
Name: Nibi (2B)
Power Level: A (low)ⓗ
HP: 91%
EP: Unlimited
Off Combat Auto HP Regen: 10%/hour
Chipset: Basic Chip ▼[Switch]
Plug-in Chip: ▼[Select]
Pod Program: ▼[Select]
Weapon: Virtuous Contract ▼[Switch]
Unique Skill: Self Destruct
Skill: Special Evasion, Air Step
====
"Unlimited energy??" He thought he needed to recharge their energy or something. Regardless, the energy of something artificial must have a limit. But that's not the case for them. It was a good thing to know since he didn't need to bother with their energy reserves.
He tried to check the power level by pressing the ⓗ out of curiosity. From there, he got quite interesting information.
Power levels are divided into 8 tiers. Starting from the lowest, E, to the highest, SSS. And of the 8 tiers, there are sub-tiers, low, mid, and peak—summary, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.
"If their strength is A (low), it means my strength is around A (mid) or (high) when using the Infinity. Maybe Hollow Technique: Purple is an S-tier attack or higher because of its destructive power. So, I'm only a B tier if I don't use the Limitless, huh? However, I didn't think they used their Unique Skills against me. Perhaps those skills are too dangerous to be used, just like my techniques."
After understanding the power level, he checked their chipsets. When he tapped the navigation icon ▼ , which then collapsed, he didn't see any other chipsets to choose from. There was only a + sign which seemed to add the chipset manually. He just hit the + sign. Then, a notification popped up.
[Do you want to link your real-time connection with Eni? Including all your knowledge from your brain?]
[Yes/No]
Ryūhei understood now. It seems that the chipset is deliberately not provided because it will be created by itself based on the owner's knowledge. That's kinda nice to be honest.
Ryūhei didn't need to think that much and tapped [Yes].
The moment he tapped it, Eni fell unconscious as he grabbed her. The sensation from her body… Somehow, he felt that she wasn't an artificial human at all.
He shook his head to throw away any bad thoughts as he also heard another notification.
[Importing data from the host. Download starts. Downloading progress… 0%… 0.1%… 0.2%…]
"Looks like I still have to wait until the download is complete." Ryūhei muttered.
Since he still had time until tomorrow, he did the same to Nibi.
After that, he selected plug-in chips for those two. He chose Shockwave for Eni and Weapon Attack Up for Nibi. He didn't know much about the plug-in chips. The Shockwave plug-in chip was easier to understand since it might add a shockwave to each attack launched by Eni. As for the other one, it might add attack power to Nibi based on the weapon's attack power.
After choosing plug-in chips, he moved to pod programs. He also chose based on the name of the pods. He chose the Gravity pod program for Eni, then chose the Mirage pod program for Nibi. Based on their name, the Gravity pod program should give Eni to launch a gravity effect to the enemy, while the Mirage pod program might be related to illusions.
"Well, whatever. These will do."
He waited for them to finish downloading the data until PM. However, after the download was complete, initialization of the data took so long to finish. Thus, he decided to sleep early.
— — — —
The next day, Zhongli and Ryūhei packed up their belongings. Then, along with Jiu, Eni, and Nibi, they headed back to Liyue Harbor in the early morning.
They took a different path from when they set off with Zhongli leading the way.
Around 12 noon, they arrived at Liyue Harbor via a different route than they had departed. They took the road linked to Yujing Terrace in Liyue Harbor. It was a small road in the northwest of Yujing Terrace.
Since they happened to be passing by there, Ryūhei headed straight for the Yuehai Pavilion before heading to the Jade Chamber. They met Madame Ping, who was with Yaoyao, who then invited Zhongli to drink tea while glancing at Jiu because she felt strange when she saw the little girl.
Although her strength was sealed, her presence was kinda familiar to Madame Ping. Though, she didn't remember when she met the little girl. Since the Jade Chamber can only be accessed by authorized persons, Ryūhei cannot take Jiu and his two puppets with him. So he left them with Zhongli.
Ryūhei met Ningguang and told her that the incident was caused by an evil spirit… yada–yada…
Ningguang responded.
"I see. It's a good thing that you hired Zhongli to exorcist the evil spirit."
In any case, he couldn't tell the truth about Azhdaha's revival caused by Zhongli as he averted his gaze when the seal was broken due to his Adeptal energy.
"But, how come Kun Jun didn't remember everything after he arrived in Nantianmen?"
Since Ningguang asked that, Ryūhei just told her that it was because of the evil spirit. He told Uncle Dai that Kun Jun was exhausted because he didn't want him to worry because of the incident. Ningguang asked a lot of things after that, but luckily Ryūhei prepared the answer to avoid her suspicion.
"In that case, thanks for agreeing to my request. It's a shame that several lives were lost in this incident." Finally Ningguang finished with her questions.
"Can't be helped. We came too late after all." Ryūhei shook his head. "Well, then. According to our agreement, you have to buy all of the novels from my shop."
"You sure are straightforward. I'll send my people to buy them after this. Then again, what are your plans for performing at the festival later? You're going to play a musical instrument called the Keyboard, right?"
"Hmmm…" At first Ryūhei intended to play solo at the festival. However, knowing that his puppets already had all his knowledge, he might do something different.
"Well, perhaps more than that. You'll know later, Miss."
"Why so formal? Just call me Ningguang!"
Ryūhei chuckled.
"Hehe. I don't remember anyone except for the Liyue Qixing dares to call you by your name without honorifics. Does that mean you consider me as your suitor?"
"Ufufu. You seem to know how to joke around, little Ryūhei." Ningguang replied to him with a giggle. However, she does take an interest in him, albeit interested in how Ryūhei makes so much money from his manga alone.
"Indeed. Someone like you who prioritizes money over relationships, there's no way you'd think of me as your suitor."
Ryūhei's words were kinda on the mark. Due to her status, no ordinary people dared to approach her. Because of that, every suitor that approached her was from influential families.
Ningguang treats all her suitors with an equal measure of kindness and grace, but also keeps them at a distance, enough to keep them interested but not push them away. Little do people know that Ningguang has no love for finite things since she believes that love in a relationship will scatter eventually, and she will certainly not be bound by something that is finite. She isn't interested in relationships and sees them as a pointless endeavor. And more importantly, she doesn't believe in anyone. In her mind, it only takes one person to leak her secrets, and that is a risk she may never be willing to take.
The reason why she tried to win Ryūhei was because she wanted to take advantage of him. All in all, she just played her game as usual, trying to find the weaknesses of what she deemed as her opponents in business.
