Chapter 108: All Kinds of Things Exist

"Large-scale search mode? What is this?"

In Li En's consistent impression, his Heroic Soul Codex has always been quite "aloof."

Unless you ask it something touching a keyword, it simply ignores you.

【This search mode will expand the search range and lower the selection criteria to a certain extent; therefore, the number of candidates under this mode will very likely exceed the user's expectation. The user can manually eliminate them and erase their short-term memory.】

And since this involves the functionality of his Heroic Soul Codex, it directly threw out a huge pile of explanations.

This expanded search is actually designed for cases where the first search fails. Considering some Heroic Souls' personalities and abilities are too bizarre, it is normal not to find a qualified successor.

And the expanded selection naturally brings too many unqualified choices; under this mode, Li En can also manually eliminate a candidate's eligibility.

Actually, this is possible even normally; after all, the Hall of Inheritance is ultimately Li En's dream, so he just needs to add them to the blacklist to keep them out.

But the active elimination under this mode is not only permanent but also comes with the function of erasing short-term memory.

"Quite thorough, avoids information leakage."

Li En pondered for a moment; perhaps it was indeed time to activate it. He looked at Kukku and asked.

"Kukku, who do you think your candidates will be? What qualities of yours will they inherit?" Using this mode for the first time, Li En intended to be cautious.

The Hall of Heroic Souls might be Li En's foundation; if he really brought in a bunch of chaotic people and lost control of the situation, he could not accept it.

Su Er's inheritance was probably that "will," that uncompromising justice.

But Kukku... was simply too free; Li En couldn't be sure.

If he couldn't be sure about him, naturally he couldn't be sure about his successor standards either.

Putting down the notes in hand, Kukku tilted his head and pondered for a moment.

"Gaga, my candidates? Smart! Wise! Handsome! Just like me..."

Alright, I shouldn't have asked a kobold; this confidence is invincible as always.

"... They are ordinary people! But unwilling to be ordinary! Craving change, even a little bit!"

The second half of the sentence made Li En fall silent.

Being ordinary but unwilling to accept it, trying to make a change—is this requirement high? If we don't add the final condition that there must be actual change, then it is truly not high at all.

But this should not be the only condition.

Li En had already noticed that the previous Larry, Dai Niya, and Dimon were all young people with boundless potential; they had the possibility of becoming "Heroic Souls," and the threshold of the Heroic Soul Codex was not low.

Yet even with this limitation, there should still be many qualified candidates; heroes can be found among the common folk.

Or looking at it from another angle, before encountering the events and pain that make them heroes, heroes are just common folk.

"Looks like we need to prepare to eliminate the unqualified."

Li En did not rush to start; the night was not yet deep. He planned to use it around two or three in the morning to maximize the search possibilities.

He played cards with Kukku for a while, continuing his journey as a card player who always lost; the gap between them seemed no longer something luck could bridge.

He also chatted a bit with the anxious Miss Shaliman, helping to ease her increasingly anxious emotions... It was laughable; when they first met, he thought she was a glamorous and cunning mature woman, but now she just looked like a little girl pretending to be mature, forced onto the stage by fate.

He felt a bit more pity for her.

It was merely affection, not romantic love between men and women.

Li En himself knew that this fondness for cute little ones might stem from Su Er's and Kukku's personalities.

But this kind of senior's attention to a junior didn't seem to be anything bad.

It just gave Li En a subtle illusion that he hadn't even married yet, but was already widowed and retired.

"Next, we might have to keep pushing you onto the stage." He glanced at Miss Shaliman, who was still anxious and depressed, and continued playing cards.

Li En sympathized for two seconds, then without hesitation pushed Miss Shaliman back onto the hot seat... This time, the "backdoor and runner-up slot" was yours, little snake.

There was no choice; Li En couldn't go report to Dai Niya himself, and there were many things Miss Shaliman couldn't tell Li En.

"That's enough... Let's start."

Returning to his room at night, Li En read a book, and only after confirming that most people in the temporary embassy had fallen asleep did he activate this "Dream Training Mode."

【Synchronization rate exceeds 20%, Dream Training Mode activated... Expanding search.】

The first to return to that silent place were still Li En and Kukku.

And this time, standing before Li En was not the comical and cheerful Kusla, but Kukku Kudraken, dressed in the white robes of a sage.

Li En had checked through the Mage Tower; Kukku did leave some records in history, though perhaps not in the way he wanted.

And now, this former Grand Sage stood before Li En.

The small kobold silently stirred the large pot before him, then took out some orange-yellow liquid and bottled it.

"Done! Done! Take it."

Li En took it; this, this was the test question Kukku gave him.

To activate the Dream Training Mode, one must gain the Heroic Soul's approval.

Is it to analyze it? Or to perfect this potion? It seems I can't do either right now, but I can work on it slowly later.

"Drink it."

Li En did not hesitate; he tilted his head and gulped it down.

"Er, orange-flavored... Not bad, sweet but not greasy." Li En felt it tasted good; Kukku's seasoning skills were truly excellent.

"What effect does it have? Can I get feedback in my current state?" Li En waited for several seconds; it seemed the potion gave no feedback.

"Huh? This is just orange-flavored carbonated soda! Tasty, right? It's a recipe I just perfected! I'm giving it to you to drink!"

Li En froze. Er, where is the test question?

"This is it! You passed. I've written the recipe and put it in the spatial bag; remember to send it to Dimon's side; they should be able to produce it. The materials are cheap! Tasty! Healthy! People can drink a lot of it."

Speaking thus, the dream began to shatter.

The former Grand Sage gradually became blurred.

This was probably destined to be the simplest Heroic Soul trial.

Perhaps it was also Li En's most mundane, most unforgettable trial.

"Truly a memorable Lord Lord Kuku the Great Sage."

"Ah, you called me?"

The sudden voice made Li En freeze; when he looked up again, he could only laugh and groan.

He had already returned to the Hall of Heroic Souls, and the figure above him—wasn't it still the Great Sage Lord Lord Kuku? Under the premise of a split-body operation, Li En had naturally been kicked down below.

Looks like we'll be able to coexist for a few more days.

Li En glanced left and right; the familiar hall and starry sky showed no difference, except for the Great Sage Kudraken above, who drew all eyes.

After all, a dog-headed creature wearing a white robe larger than his body, dragging a giant cauldron, standing right at the hall's focal point—how could that not look absurd?

Li En walked over silently; perhaps, unlike other Heroic Souls, Lord Lord Kuku needed a bit of help from him.

After the Dream Hall opened, Li En had also casually joined the "backdoor candidates," while waiting for new Heroic Soul candidates to arrive.

But it seemed some mechanism had been triggered—the first arrivals were still old acquaintances.

"Finally opened again! This time, it's definitely me!! Definitely!"

The first to leap in was the unhesitating "Dragon Hunter" Young Lady.

She was as confident as ever, just like the dog-headed creature—but the next moment, upon seeing the real dog-headed creature above, she froze in shock.

She had completely forgotten there was a dog-headed creature among the Heroic Souls. And yet—he wore a Sage's robe!

After all, that title and that robe were not casually bestowed; only those whose wisdom reached the pinnacle of their age had any chance of earning them.

A Sage is not merely a profession—it is an honorific title granted through evaluation, requiring at least two major races to nominate and at least four races to recognize.

For example, nominated by the Beast-Touched and the Dark Elves, and recognized by the Dwarves, Giants, and others—just imagining the difficulty seems nearly impossible.

These are races, not clans; it requires recognition from most nations and kings within a race, and the nominee must have made contributions acknowledged by all, achieving feats that transcend races or even worlds.

Each Sage is rare, and nearly all are recorded in history.

"Dog-headed Sage. Great Sage. Am I dreaming?" Dai Niya could not recall any dog-headed Sage at all—her memory held nothing of the sort, and yet this was a Great Sage.

White with gold trim marked a Sage's attire; the star-ring adornment at the neck, the sun-and-moon bands along the sleeves and hem—these were exclusive to a Great Sage.

A Sage was already the pinnacle of scholarly titles; a Great Sage was almost always conferred posthumously, as an honorary title added to a Sage whose contributions were so absurdly great there was nothing left to award.

The most recent Sage was the Giant Sage who once foretold the coming of the Magic Tide.

Given his somewhat dubious reputation, a Great Sage posthumous title was out of the question—it required recognition from the majority of the continent's wise races.

A living Great Sage belonged only on a divine altar; now here he was, before her, stirring medicine—and he was a dog-headed creature? Dai Niya felt she must still be dreaming; perhaps the Hall of Heroic Souls had not opened at all, and this was merely a dream.

"This is the Great Sage Kudraken," Li En explained.

"I'm Lord Lord Kuku! Lord Lord Kuku!" The dog-headed creature instantly exploded.

It seemed he still disliked his Draconic name as always; Lord Lord Kuku still held some attachment to his true name.

He turned around, revealing beneath his hood a comically shaped red triangular dog head, paired with the oversized Great Sage robe—like a child wearing adult clothes, making one want to laugh.

"Pfft, what is that!" Someone actually dared to laugh.

Miss Shaliman, who had just entered, hadn't yet grasped what was happening—she burst out laughing immediately.

"Smack!" Then she was struck by her own superior.

"This is the Great Sage! Show respect!" Dai Niya had no memory of either name for Lord Lord Kuku, but she had to show respect to a Great Sage.

"Uh… Princess, wasn't I in the Underworld?" Miss Shaliman remained utterly dazed.

Then she was pulled aside by the Princess and taught some "common sense," along with being instructed to activate her beginner's protection.

Li En had deliberately withheld the mist of beginner's protection from Miss Shaliman, to skip the probing time and get them to meet sooner.

The next to enter were also old acquaintances—the knight squad.

Dimon, Larry, and Talia S—just as they entered, the Princess pulled them together. Sure enough, this girl still formed her little clique.

As they chatted, they pointed upward at Li En—it seemed they had already guessed.

Li En didn't care; the real drama was about to begin.

But the first true candidate to enter made Li En immediately activate the purge mode.

"Ah, delicious brains, delicious thoughts—I sense your minds are so delicious!" An octopus-faced Mind Flayer walked right in!

And was instantly kicked out by Li En.

The next one was even more horrifying—the Mind Flayer's Elder Brain, a monster formed from countless piled Mind Flayer brains, appeared!

"Purge!" Li En feared he might be too slow.

This damned Underworld actually had such things?! Li En only hoped the memory purge would be clean, and cause less trouble.

The third to enter was an Orc—Li En breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the stable arrival zone aboveground had been reached.

But then, each subsequent arrival grew stranger.

A rust-covered robot slowly walked in.

He or she had only one arm and one leg, yet still advanced slowly, supported by cables.

"This is the Machine Race. Are there Machine Race ruins here?" Lord Lord Kuku was curious, seemingly quite interested in the mechanical humanoid.

Two Dark Elves entered one after the other, wary and alert—this was their city, so it made sense.

A Mushroom Person walked in. Li En had heard of a Mushroom Person tribe here; he'd just accept it as plausible.

Then a skull and a Lich entered!

Li En's Paladin radar screamed alarms—and he kicked them out instantly.

Lord Lord Kuku, who accepted all without discrimination, truly didn't care at all.

And this Underworld truly had everything.

Finally, when all stabilized, there were seven—record-breaking, even after Li En had purged several absurd candidates.

Yet among them, only two were Beast-Touched.

"Hehe, very good, very good!" Yet Kukuk himself was quite satisfied.

(End of this chapter)