Chapter 64: The Heroic Soul Arrives in a New Era

Li En turned his head and indeed saw the presence from his memory.

It sat on the edge of his bed, with a pile of books already stacked beside it, clearly well-read.

It was a metallic humanoid assembled from colorful parts—more accurately, a doll figurine under thirty centimeters tall.

Yet it was a one-to-one scale reproduction of a dog-man proportion—well, just the proportion; this handsome mechanical dog-man design was clearly retouched.

“This… feels a bit like Iron Godzilla.”

The more he looked, the more Li En noticed that the enhanced steel dog-man doll had too many Godzilla-like cute design elements.

“.Uh, why do I think Godzilla is cute? But its tail, those scales, those beastly eyes, the way it leaps to smash King Kong—so sexy, so cute, so lively.”

Li En closed his eyes. He felt his mind had been polluted; his once-beautiful memories now suffered severe aesthetic distortion!

Why did he find Godzilla sexy?!

No, not just this time.

Back at the mansion, he’d also thought Snake’s tail and scales were too cute—he’d wanted to touch them, especially that sexy tail tip!

Li En snapped to his senses and bolted away; in a way, he was saving his own human sense of aesthetics.

Even if you’re admiring beauty, at least look above the waist!

“Gaga, even the bad Dragon Knight has some taste… You noticed, right? This is Iron Kusula!!”

“Great design, isn’t it? Kuku is a design genius! Kuku once sold plenty back then! Too bad no one bought them.” The metal Kusula fell into inexplicable despair as it spoke.

Alright, now he knew where this mental pollution came from.

Li En felt numb. When he’d been the “Righteous Superman,” he’d even looked down on it—but now, looking back, it was far better than being a lizard freak.

I really don’t want to become a curry man anymore! At least hold onto my vow, preserve humanity’s bottom line.

Facing the smug Kuku, he took a deep breath and calmly assessed his current state.

A slight aesthetic deviation isn’t necessarily bad—it means the Heroic Soul Catalog is functioning normally.

The Heroic Soul Kuku had indeed merged into his body, subtly altering his worldview.

But what is this thing before him? How did it emerge?

Li En’s memory was clear—he remembered crafting this doll himself.

Yesterday’s “Kuku.Li En” had carelessly hammered together various metal parts and components from the mansion while fooling around.

During breaks teasing the maids, he’d also assembled this metal doll and transformed it into a familiar.

Summoning a familiar is a signature spell of spellcasters—it allows summoning and binding a small creature with a degree of mental connection.

Back in the cave battle, the serpent that delivered critical intelligence was Sallyman’s familiar—in areas too dangerous or inaccessible for spellcasters, familiars serve as excellent proxies.

But why did Kuku’s personality—the soul meant to fuse with his own—appear on this “familiar,” overriding its natural self?

And why, even seeing the Heroic Soul outside, did he still feel its influence within him?

Could it have split itself into two parts, escaping one?

But that makes no sense—it’s just a memory, software data. Even if it escaped, how could it run without this hardware?

“Dumb, dumb, big guy doesn’t even check the panel!”

Reminded by the subject himself, Li En quickly pulled out the Heroic Soul Catalog.

“There’s such an absurd soul ability?!”

Then he understood.

Indeed, things that defy logic are often caused by even more illogical soul abilities.

【Soul Ability: Kuku’s Brain Splitting Surgery (Gold): In one sentence—advanced multiple personality disorder, but deliberately induced and controllable. It can simultaneously split into three thought streams to process matters in parallel.】

【Ha, holding a circle in one hand and a square in the other? What’s that? Kuku can brew medicine, cast spells, and sleep all at once! In my prime, I could chat with twenty ‘friends’ simultaneously!】

【.They all said I was insane. Uh, they were right! —Still, it’s the dog-man Kuku.】

“Damn, it’s really insane!”

This isn’t ordinary dissociative identity disorder—no amount of brute force can fix this level of fragmentation.

But Li En seriously considered: this computer-like parallel thought streams would be incredibly useful for spellcasters needing calculation, focus, and micro-control.

Just imagining its battlefield performance made him shudder—spellcasters have too many things requiring divided attention.

Even if it couldn’t cast multiple spells simultaneously (which is extremely difficult), in learning and accumulation, it could function as a threefold efficiency cheat.

With this piece of information, Li En could now use his limited magical knowledge to understand what had happened.

The real Kuku was merely a memory-based virtual heroic soul, merging with his own spirit.

But it had split off an independent thought stream, linking directly via the familiar’s soul contract.

Thus, while the real Kuku remained inside Li En, a remote “Virtual Kuku” was created as its external representative.

As for how it achieved this—how it made the familiar contract, meant for magical beasts, work on a metal humanoid, how it performed remote control—better not ask Li En.

In truth, understanding this far was already the result of “Kuku’s Heroic Soul” doing the reasoning and calculation for him.

Li En clearly felt his thoughts moving faster and sharper—though always inexplicably off-track!

【Compatibility: 35%, Satisfaction: -25%】

Compatibility was surprisingly high; satisfaction had slightly risen after yesterday’s chaos.

At this moment, Li En, having opened the panel, was genuinely envious.

【Temporary Class Levels: Rank 1 Alchemist Master, Rank 1 Sage, Rank 1 Dragon Tongue Mage (these temporary classes will vanish in 14 days, 16 hours)】

Li En didn’t know exactly what these classes meant, but clearly they were high-tier spellcaster professions.

Even retaining only fragments of their abilities made them terrifyingly powerful.

The list of temporary low-level spells was absurdly long—yet all were uncastable, since Li En lacked the ability to cast them himself; he needed practice and mastery.

If this mage leaked even a little, Li En could instantly soar.

Originally, seeing him had made Li En angry—he couldn’t face Sallyman anytime soon.

Since Kuku had appeared, he’d planned to settle scores with him.

But now, Li En only wanted to ask:

“Um, Lord Kuku, how do I raise your satisfaction?!” It seemed his sense of decency had also fled with Su Er’s heroic soul.

Twenty minutes later, Li En sat dazed in a restaurant in Nanmen District, the table piled high with meat dishes.

This much food—even a giant couldn’t finish it.

“Eat! Eat fast!! Kuku is hungry!”

The mechanical Kusula dog-man kicked him hard under the table.

Li En grimaced but forced himself to take a bite.

“Uh… delicious.” Li En praised.

“So delicious!” Kuku underneath echoed.

Though the meal was cheap, Li En felt genuine inner satisfaction.

Clearly, this hunger and craving were also Kuku’s influence—he craved delicious meat and new dishes.

On the ground, Kusula happily patted its metal belly, its steel jaws chewing air, its expression as if it were truly eating.

This indirectly confirmed: the real Kuku Heroic Soul remained inside Li En; the outside one was merely a remote machine or humanoid interface.

【Current Satisfaction: -23%】

Uh… it actually went up.

Li En rejoiced and ate even harder.

By the time he leaned against the wall to leave, satisfaction had risen to -19%.

Looks like this guy’s satisfaction is easy to raise?

“Kuku wants nothing. Kuku wants nothing at all. Kuku’s life is perfect, perfect.”

Watching Kuku repeatedly insist he had no regrets, Li En felt something odd.

In his memory, people who lacked something always insisted they had nothing missing.

He’d seen Kuku’s origin—even just the beginning—and the future looked grim… Fine, you say so.

Soon, Li En realized he’d been too optimistic—how could an ancient heroic soul be so easily satisfied?

“What’s that?!” He pointed excitedly at a steam locomotive slowly moving along the tracks.

Clearly, such a thing didn’t exist in Kuku’s era.

Li En had once mocked it too—this era’s technological tree was strangely skewed.

Steam engines did exist, but were prohibitively expensive luxuries, utterly impractical.

Supposedly, the core that boiled water was “magic”—full name: Magic-Powered Steam Car. At the time, Li En had no idea how to react.

Thus, high costs made widespread adoption impossible; they were used only on fixed freight routes, while most people still relied on beast-drawn and horse-drawn carts.

“I want one! Give me one!” Kuku blurted out something utterly impossible to fulfill.

“.Uh.” Kuku didn’t wait for Li En’s reply—the man’s expression was too obviously troubled.

“Oh, can’t afford it?”

“Actually, it’s not for sale at all—the gnomes and dwarven craftsmen treat them like treasures.”

“Ah. Technology is priceless. Kuku understands.” The mechanical Kusula nodded, as if recognizing a kindred spirit.

Li En exhaled in relief—this heroic soul who could move beside him seemed relatively approachable, reasonable.

“Snap!” But he was too quick to rejoice—the mechanical Kusula instantly bolted off, moving at lightning speed!

Kusula dashed onto the rails, flipped under the train’s undercarriage, and in two swift motions slipped inside the magic-powered steam locomotive.

“Clank!” A series of strange noises erupted from within the once-stable locomotive.

Before it had even moved two steps, the wheels flew off, the undercarriage dropped, and the steam boiler clattered chaotically.

"Thankfully, the core didn't fall," Li En acted quickly, trying to stop this ancient hero from causing more chaos.

"Boom!" The furnace didn't fall—it exploded into the sky!

"Interesting, very interesting!" Kuku appeared before Li En, holding a device, looking thoroughly satisfied.

"Is this... the magic engine of that motorcycle?" The device seemed extremely heavy; Kuku struggled to hold it now.

So he simply tossed it to Li En.

"Take it back, dismantle it, dismantle it!"

"No!!"

Before Li En could explain, police from Nanmen District arrived, blowing their whistles.

They swiftly surrounded the scene, but Kusla had already vanished without a trace.

All the officers' eyes turned to the fragments of the magic engine in Li En's hand!

"I swear, it has nothing to do with me—do you believe me?"

Half an hour later, Li En returned to the police station again.

It felt as familiar as going home!

An hour later, Saliman received another notification and came to retrieve him.

"Uh, can I explain?" Looking at the snake woman he thought he wouldn't see for a long time, her face puffed with anger, Li En sighed helplessly and looked up at the sky.

(End of Chapter)