"What a surprise! To think there's still a blacksmith capable of forging Teigu in a place so far from the Imperial Capital. And to think our daughter would be the one to encounter this opportunity. Welcome, welcome!" A stout, white-haired noble with a constant, gentle smile on his face greeted Chen Li with great enthusiasm.
"To meet is to be bound by fate. I also never expected that using this Curio would allow me to contact the young lady of a noble house from a thousand miles away. Nor did I expect that Curios are known as Teigu in this country. Thank you for your hospitality, sir," Chen Li said, sitting at the dining table and looking at the delicious food before him. He exchanged pleasantries with Aria's father with great courtesy.
The glow from silver-plated candelabras illuminated the marbled texture of an unknown Danger Beast steak, and red wine shimmered with a dark luster in a crystal goblet.
Chen Li had successfully arrived in this world.
Deceiving Aria wasn't difficult. Chen Li only needed to make a few redactions to the information transmitted by the Curio Forger system, and she readily accepted his request to travel.
For instance, he deleted the description "from another world."
Once she received the basic information about a Curio Forger, he just had to let her misunderstand "Curio Forging" as the lost ancient art of Teigu forging during their chat.
The rest of the matter proceeded as a matter of course.
In the world of Akame ga Kill!, a world filled with blood and blades, the magical Teigu were like miracles.
To them, the only thing that could allow a person to cross thousands of miles from a remote region to the Imperial Capital was, naturally, a Teigu that had originated from the Capital itself.
And if it was a remote backwater village, it didn't seem impossible that they might still preserve the methods of forging Teigu that had been lost a thousand years ago.
After Chen Li applied to open the portal, Aria agreed to receive him quite readily and arranged for a lavish banquet at her home.
"Please, don't be so formal. As you said, to meet is to be bound by fate. As a Teigu user, with your skills, Mr. Chen Li, you could make a great name for yourself even in this historic Imperial Capital," Aria's father said.
"I see. Then I will have to trouble you, sir, to introduce me to the higher-ups of the Capital. In return, I will not charge any fee for the Teigu I forge for Miss Aria," Chen Li said with a nod.
"Really? That's wonderful!" Aria said with a pleasant surprise.
"How could we do that? Since you are a blacksmith, of course you must receive appropriate payment, especially for creating something as miraculous as a Teigu. We should be the ones to provide compensation. I wonder, Mr. Chen Li, could you show us the forged Teigu?" Aria's father said with a serious expression.
"Of course," Chen Li said, taking out a silver needle about the length of his palm.
"This is... a Teigu?"
"There is strength and weakness among Teigu. The best material for forging one is Orichalcum, but I do not have any on hand. Therefore, this Teigu's effect will be slightly weaker; it will only bring people extreme pain. However, it can change its size," Chen Li explained, manipulating the silver needle forged from Soul Steel to extend.
"How magical!" Aria clapped her hands from the side as she watched this scene.
"As long as Miss Aria likes it. This Curio was forged especially for you." Chen Li returned the silver needle to its palm-length size and placed it on the table.
"Alright, for now, let's eat first. We can talk in detail after dinner," Aria's mother, an impeccably maintained blonde woman, said with a smile.
"That's right. We went to great trouble to prepare this meal. It has the meat of a precious Danger Beast, and it's absolutely delicious. You mustn't let it go to waste!" Aria nodded repeatedly.
"Then you should eat too."
"There's no need. We've already had our dinner. This banquet was arranged specifically to welcome you," Aria said with a smile.
"Oh, then I won't be polite," Chen Li's eyes lit up.
He immediately picked up a massive piece of thigh meat the size of a human head and took a bite.
Power, it's surging up.
The meat of a Danger Beast could indeed provide Chen Li with a significant enhancement. Although the drug mixed within it somewhat ruined the meat's original flavor, from another perspective, it could be considered a unique taste.
It was a good opportunity to increase his resistance to drugs.
Although anything that entered his mouth would cause him no harm, he couldn't guard against someone poisoning him in other ways.
What if someone put poison on their tongue, licked his face, and shouted "This is the taste of a liar!" before knocking him out? What could he do then?
"The meat of a Danger Beast is certainly delicious, but why do I feel a little sleepy?" A long while later, after having cleaned the plate of the dish the noble lord had specifically pointed out was cooked with a precious Danger Beast, Chen Li looked a little puzzled, then swayed and slumped onto the table.
"This person said he could forge Teigu; I thought he was so impressive. Now it seems his abilities are just average. If he was so great, why didn't he forge a poison-proof Teigu for himself?" The originally sweet and lovely noble lady, Aria, revealed a cruel smile as she looked at Chen Li, who was motionless on the dining table.
Seeing the long needle that could inflict pain on others now in her grasp, Aria's smile grew wider, her fingers trembling with excitement as she held the silver needle.
"He managed to get his hands on a Teigu forging method that was passed down from the Capital a thousand years ago, and was lucky enough to obtain a Teigu that can forge other Teigu... even so, he's nothing more than an ignorant country bumpkin," The originally magnanimous and peaceful noble lord's words were now laced with sarcasm.
After a thousand years, no one knew what kind of Teigu existed among the total of 48.
"After all, we used the highest quality Danger Beast ingredients to mask the taste of the massive amount of drugs. Being able to eat something like this, his death is well-deserved. But our daughter is truly amazing. I heard not everyone can gain the recognition of a Teigu," the noblewoman said, her smile more restrained.
"Of course... Speaking of which, I thought you would want to introduce this Teigu-forging blacksmith to the high officials of the Empire, Father," Aria said with a proud smile.
"Scarcity creates value. And if everyone had a Teigu, especially if those low-life trash were given weapons that could defy fate, what would happen if they harmed people like us?" The noble lord waved his hand dismissively.
"What do we do next?"
"Of course... we search him for the Teigu that can forge Teigu. If we truly find it and present it to the Minister, we will surely win his favor," the noble lord said.
As for the problem that not everyone could use a Teigu? There was no need to worry.
With so many people in the Empire, were they afraid they couldn't find someone who could use it?
"Yay! After you find the Teigu, I want to personally use this Teigu that inflicts extreme pain on him," Aria cheered.
"Don't break him. The Minister might still have a use for him," the noble lord reminded her.
"I know!"
---o---
"Aaaaargh!" A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the noble estate.
There was no longing, no sobbing plea.
No technique, only pure emotion!
"The local nobility are so impolite!" Chen Li stepped on the noble lady Aria while savoring the delicacies before him.
He had to admit, the Imperial nobles were certainly wealthy. His house was still filled with a considerable amount of Danger Beast ingredients that looked priceless at a glance.
Although Chen Li could eat raw meat, he preferred not to if he could avoid it.
So, after knocking out the entire family with three punches, he found every servant in the house one by one. Through the method of "persuading them with reason and moving them with emotion," he had them process all the precious ingredients in the house into fine dishes and serve them at his table.
The specific method was to punch them in the stomach, beat them to their knees, then take out the [Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin] and ask if they were willing to sell their lives to him in exchange for not being punched again.
Those unwilling to sell their lives? Then they got another punch.
But the next one wouldn't be so light.
The [Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin] was indeed useful for bullying scrubs.
The noble house did indeed have a few strong individuals, but Chen Li hadn't eaten all those Honkai beasts yesterday for nothing.
In just one day, the attribute points he had gained far exceeded what he had accumulated over several years. Coupled with the sword style taught by Jingliu, Chen Li could easily crush everyone present.
There seemed to be no upper limit to the attribute points gained through the 1-Star Curio, [Gourmet Cells].
At least, there would be no limit before he reached the cap of a Level 3 Curio Forger's Position.
And when he reached the limit? Then he would use the [Allocation] ability to move the increased physical attributes elsewhere, and then continue increasing his physical attributes.
Although, Chen Li felt that the speed at which he was getting stronger couldn't keep up with the speed at which his Position was rising.
"Aaaaargh!" Aria was still screaming.
"Stop screaming, stop screaming. You're disturbing my dinner, you know that?" Chen Li pressed down with his foot and heard a distinct cracking of bone.
Aria's scream paused for a moment, then became even more shrill.
"Kids these days are so delicate, they can't even take a little pain. What do you think?" Chen Li turned his head to look to the side.
"You're right, you're right," the noble lord stood beside him, nodding repeatedly.
The noble lord's collar was straight, his posture immaculate... the only problem was that his body was somewhat transparent.
[Longbow of Peace] Effect 2: Soul Execution: Arrows will have the effect of directly striking the soul. After inflicting trauma on the soul, it will devour the target's soul, storing that part of the soul within the longbow, using pain and despair as a power source to provide energy for the weapon. If an enemy is successfully killed and a complete soul is obtained, it can be released when necessary to control the target against enemies.
Because there was only one needle, punishing two people would require stringing them up, which was a bit unsightly. So, for the three "demons" of this family, Chen Li used three different methods.
Aria was currently pinned to the floor by a meter-long needle while being stepped on by Chen Li to prevent her from struggling.
The noble lord had been sent by Chen Li to meet his maker.
The noblewoman... Chen Li didn't know where she was. He just had her confidant drag her to the torture chamber where she used to torment others, and then use every single torture device on her.
Chen Li was even worried she wouldn't last until every instrument had been used on her once, so he gave her an immortality pill.
With the power of eternity, she probably wouldn't die within three days.
After doing all this, Chen Li felt no psychological burden, because his Merit Coins had increased by several hundred.
For an ordinary person, an increase of several hundred merit points was already terrifying.
When Chen Li saved a high school student who was about to be hit by a truck and sent to another world, he only received a few [Approbation of Sublime Morality].
A golden scale was placed beside Chen Li.
On one side was the miserable state of the entire noble family. On the other were 327 [Approbation of Sublime Morality], with hundreds of transparent phantoms faintly visible above them, pressing their palms together in thanks.