Chapter 61: The Gacha Guarantee Can't Be Rigged, Can It?

An unexpected development left Li En completely stunned.

"Wait, you can refuse? The Heroic Soul Codex can be refused?!"

Li En's astonishment received no response.

But this silence itself perhaps implied consent.

The Heroic Soul Codex is a simulated personality composed of memory; of course it can refuse, and can even ignore you entirely.

This is a rather magnificent hero codex; on it, a lion-man hero with red hair and a red beard stands firm against the erupting flames.

And the evil dragon occupies a corner of the Heroic Soul card alone, its erupted flames covering the entire field.

Yet the hero roars skyward within the ring of fire; he alone cleaves the flames, the sparks of his cleaving extending around the edges of the Heroic Soul card, becoming the card's decoration.

A quite handsome hero card; even through the paper, one can feel his unyielding spirit and anger. Behind him, who would not retreat, are silhouettes of children and elders.

And even though he has reached a desperate situation, the hero's eyes remain pure, his facial expression still confident and decisive, as if there is not a trace of fear.

Perhaps this is the passion and purity a fairy-tale hero should possess.

His sword, the dagger at his waist, even his crown—Li En is very familiar with them. If this face were not so similar to his own, Li En would be even more satisfied.

【Do not awaken me; please forget me—Lex Thorne】

But the other party's behavior was very direct: they simply did not want to deal with you, and tossed you three conditions.

With just one glance, Li En felt his scalp tingle.

【Complete any one of the next two tasks, and it will be counted as fulfilling the hero's commission and last wish, reaching the standard for forcibly linking with the Heroic Soul.】

【1. Investigate the truth behind the destruction of the kingdom's old capital.】

【2. Meet the kingdom's 'Princess'.】

【Note: In the current state, completing the commission will still increase the Heroic Soul's satisfaction, but it can only be tallied when the Heroic Soul possesses the body.】

These two tasks: the first is obviously a huge trap; isn't this plainly admitting that there is something fishy in the officially recognized "Great Kingdom Catastrophe (Great Dragon Calamity)"?

The second, finding the kingdom's princess, is doable; after all, Miss Shaliman seems to be the princess's person, and the princess seems to still be in this city.

Asking her to help arrange an audience should not be difficult, except...

"Is this princess really the current princess..."

This is the Heroic Soul's last wish; the current princess is apparently named Dai Niya, born half a year after the disaster, meaning she is a posthumous child. Theoretically, her father likely did not even know of her existence.

So does this princess refer to the current Queen Your Majesty? That is quite possible, after all, they were husband and wife.

But Li En still felt there was a trap; otherwise, why would this fellow refuse his link? Just look at his wife through him, wouldn't that work?

Maybe after a couple more glances, the satisfaction would shoot right up.

Is there a third condition? Yes, there is; Li En glanced at it and immediately gave up.

【If you do not complete the Heroic Soul commission and obtain its permission, you can still forcibly link against its will, but your body and soul strength must reach at least one-tenth of the Heroic Soul's peak state, otherwise severe loss of control will occur... Current detection fails; please continue to work hard.】

One-tenth? If the rumors of that hero who split a city wall with a single strike and stomped a giant dragon to death are true, even one-hundredth wouldn't be enough; better to give up directly.

"What exactly happened back then..." Li En estimated that if the princess were not the current princess Dai Niya, perhaps exploring the truth of the events back then would be more reliable.

Moreover, Li En himself was a bit curious about the events of those past years.

Before, he really didn't care much, but now, it seems he has become a party involved?!

"The first-generation hero, Lex..." Since arriving in this kingdom and this city, Li En has been repeatedly disturbed by this name, this title.

Many people in this city, while chatting, would bring up this person; it wasn't that they truly missed him, but rather they missed the prosperous proto-empire and those safe, stable good days when he was around.

One could say that with his fall as the dividing line, the kingdom has been on a downward slide ever since.

Afterwards, they cultivated the so-called second-generation hero... but judging by feedback from all sides, he cannot compare to the first-generation hero.

"His personal strength must have been top-tier on the continent; plus with these two items, he truly had the strength to fight even a god."

The Sword of Courage, in desperate situations, greatly increased his strength and luck; the "Blade of Seeking Death" marked the opponent's fatal weakness, allowing him to deliver a fatal strike.

"The Blade of Seeking Death even added a death countdown to himself; if he swung his sword at the very last second, facing a desperate situation with death at his door, who knows how far his enhancement could go."

Just based on these two pieces of equipment, Li En could glimpse how outrageous this hero was back then.

His own abilities must have been at least first-class on the continent; otherwise, how could the title "Continent's Hero" be matched? Plus, with infinite temporary combat power boosts against strong enemies, who could block that fatal strike in a desperate situation? Such a person dying so inexplicably looks problematic in every way.

"The battle where he became the hero also has some problems."

Information on this aspect is public; Li En couldn't avoid knowing it even if he wanted to.

Various bards in the streets and alleys, tavern ballads, flower-district songs—as long as one lives in this city, this heroic epic is unavoidable.

For the kingdom's residents, they also love the old poems and legends.

That is both praising the hero and missing the prosperity and wealth of the past.

"On the day the world was destroyed, the hero picked up the Sword of Courage, gathered the allied armies of all nations, successfully defeated the Demon King, and saved the world... Very classic, very cliché, but the more one looks, the more problems appear."

The hero defeating the Demon King is fine, but where did the Demon King come from? Does this world have a Demon Race? Asking yields no answers.

The hero's allied army is described in great detail: the elite legions of various nations, the Seven Heroes and Three Kings, the most brilliant sun, the invincible Continent's Hero Lex... yet from start to finish, there is no clear description of who exactly he defeated, what race, or specifically who.

"The opponent's specific details were deliberately blurred."

One can brag about one's own side however one likes; mention the opponent and it's just "Demon King" or "Demon Beasts" as substitutes; mention the Demon King's army and it's a sky-darkening horde of mammoth elephants.

"Deliberately blurring the information... could it be a 'Beast', an ancient beast that broke free from its bonds..."

Having just experienced those things, plus some basic intelligence on Beasts, Li En naturally made the connection.

A Beast in its complete state indeed has the power to destroy the world, and its information absolutely cannot be leaked.

The more Li En calculated, the more he felt it was possible; putting it this way, the matter of the proto-empire back then made sense.

"The Beast revived; nations were in crisis; hero Lex and the allied army joined the battle; finally, he successfully slew the Beast and obtained the title of Hero recognized by the entire continent... Ancient Beasts seem unkillable, so at least the Beast was sealed."

"Then, with the kingdom's natural prestige greatly increased, he leveraged this momentum to marry the princess, becoming the legitimate royal line of the kingdom. After securing the claim, he could attempt to merge several surrounding nations."

"At this point, declaring himself emperor and elevating the kingdom to an empire would be entirely possible. Except..."

The more Li En deduced, the more subtle it felt.

Standing from this angle, if Li En's malicious speculations were all true, then back in those days there must have been plenty of people who wanted Laikes dead — everyone had a motive.

If that's the case, then the incident back then was full of shady business; when the kingdom was weakening, it's quite possible that the surrounding smaller countries popped open the champagne right away.

This also explains why, after the old capital was destroyed and the Hero died, other nations disregarded the camaraderie of the allied forces and immediately added insult to injury.

Standing in their shoes, they probably truly wished that the kingdom which once threatened to swallow them up would be utterly finished.

But once he laid the fairy tale and the epic out in the open and analyzed them like this, Li En felt all the more that it was tragic.

"This Hero, looking at it, seems like nothing but a tool. Just waiting for beasts or whatever weird things to show up, then pushed out to be used up."

At this moment, Li En felt even more that he had to stay far away from the Hero's mess — this was a giant pit, through and through.

If you really got your hands on that kind of power, then probably the moment any problem cropped up anywhere, they'd ship you off as expendable ammunition.

No wonder the kingdom was in such a rush to find the second-generation Hero Laina — the Demon King could send another one at any time, and the "nuke" had gone missing.

"Sigh, looks like the Laikes card can't be rushed — treat it as a long-term mission and take it slow. Luckily this time Brother Su Er came through and gave me a second card."

If there were no second card, would the only option be to bite the bullet and crack the cipher? Li En asked, but the codex still gave no response.

But for now, no need to think about all that — believe in yourself.

"This time, it's definitely a mage, definitely a Heroic Spirit who's easy to get along with."

Li En muttered, getting ready to draw a card. Then he stopped — you mustn't draw when your hand is unlucky.

He went to the washroom, sat down and calmed himself, washed his face, then washed his hands three more times.

Finally, he sat back down and began the draw.

【Heroic Spirit summoning initiated. Randomization complete. Heroic Spirit 'The Most Humble of the Great' Kuku descends! Soul module activating.】

Huh? Why does that already sound a little off?

【Ah! It's a Holy Knight!! The most annoying tin can! Get lost! —Kuku】

No, no, please no!

At this moment, Li En truly understood just how lucky he had been the first time to draw Brother Su Er.

Brother Su Er, I really can't thank you enough! I was complaining before that you were killing me for fun, but looking back now, what was even that little bit of pain!

But this, this might just be the mage-type Heroic Spirit card Li En had always wanted!

In a messy room piled high with all sorts of strange Magical items, a short figure cloaked so its face couldn't be seen was gripping with two small pale-red claws a stick taller than itself, stirring something in a large cauldron.

And above its head, a blue stone, a flame crystal, and an ice pillar were orbiting.

This fit perfectly with the image of a mage in Li En's mind.

The more he wanted it, the more anxious he grew, afraid the other party would throw out another "refuse to connect," or even come up with three impossible demands.

【Heroic Spirit Kuku is displeased that you are a Holy Knight. Current satisfaction: -10%.】

Uh, this thing can even go negative?!

But Li En still breathed a sigh of relief — not refusing the link was already a great thing.

But he was still happy too soon.

【Dragon! Dragons are even worse!! The most annoying dragon! Bad dragon! —Kuku】

Li En really felt like crying.

Don't be like that — whatever you hate, I'll change it.

Can't change race? Uh, how about I put on a lizard act for you, super convincing, even the local police couldn't tell it's fake.

But luckily, perhaps Li En's humble self-deprecation moved this senior — even though he kept stepping on mines, the other party still didn't refuse the link. Maybe it's because the requirements to refuse the link are pretty high.

Thinking about it that way, that Hero my lord probably really was a bit sick in the head.

【Heroic Spirit Kuku is extremely displeased that you are dragon-blooded. Current satisfaction: -30%.】

At this moment, Li En was completely numb.

In any case, as long as the link isn't refused, that's a good thing.

He no longer expected to get anything from this mage lord who hated him — just hearing the way he talked felt off; better pass through to the next one as soon as possible.

【Confirm activation? Note: current satisfaction is -30%; unknown possibilities may occur. It may not be so friendly.】

But did Li En have a choice? These two lords today had really made him deeply miss Brother Su Er, who had just left.

He truly suspected there was some kind of newbie protection, letting him draw such a friendly Heroic Spirit brother as his very first pull.

But now, it seemed there was no choice.

Activate it. We're all Li Ensu, it shouldn't be too over the top, right.

In the days that followed, he regretted this decision countless times.

(End of chapter)