Chapter 64: Heroic Souls Arriving in a New Era

Li En turned his head and indeed saw the entity from his memories.

It sat on the head of his bed, with a pile of books already stacked beside it, looking as though it had been flipping through them for a long time.

It was a metal humanoid figure pieced together from multicolored parts; to be precise, a doll or figurine less than thirty centimeters tall.

Yet it was a one-to-one scale reproduction of a dog-headed man's proportions; well, just the proportions, for this handsome dog-headed man's mechanical design had clearly been beautified.

"This... why does it feel a bit like Steel Godzilla?"

The more Li En looked, the more he felt the beautified steel doll dog-headed man bore far too many cute designs resembling Godzilla.

"Uh, why would I think Godzilla is cute? But its tail, those scales, those beastly eyes, and that posture of leaping up to smash King Kong's gorilla form—it's sexy, cute, and lively."

Li En closed his eyes; he felt he had suffered mental pollution, and his past beautiful memories had developed a severe aesthetic distortion!

Why would he find Godzillas sexy?!

No, it wasn't just this time.

Earlier, while at the great mansion, he had also felt the snake's tail and scales were too cute, wanting to touch them and test their texture, especially that sexy tail tip!

Li En snapped out of it and bolted; in a sense, this was also saving his human aesthetic standards.

Even if you want to admire a beauty, you should at least look from the waist up!

"Gaga, the bad Dragon Knight does have some eye for detail... You figured it out, right? This is Steel Kusra!!"

"Great design, right! Kuku is a design genius! Kuku even released quite a few back in the day! Pity no one bought them." As Metal Kusra spoke, it sank into inexplicable depression.

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

Li En felt a bit numb; earlier, when he became the "Justice Superman," he had been somewhat disdainful, but looking back now, it was far better than being a lizard freak.

I really don't want to be a curry person! At least keep the oath and preserve the lower limit of humanity.

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

A slight deviation in aesthetic taste is actually not a bad thing; it means the Heroic Soul Codex is operating normally.

The Heroic Soul Kuku had indeed possessed his body, causing subtle shifts in his worldview.

But what is this thing before me? How did it get out?

Li En's memory was clear; he distinctly remembered crafting this doll with his own hands.

Yesterday's "Kuku Li En," while messing around, had casually hammered together various metals and parts from the great mansion.

In the intervals of teasing those maids, he had also casually assembled this metal doll and transformed it into a magical pet.

Summoning a magical pet is a signature spell for spellcasters; it can summon and designate a small creature to establish a certain degree of mental connection with the caster.

During the death match in the cave earlier, that great snake which delivered the crucial intelligence was Miss Shaliman's magical pet; in many areas unreachable or unsafe for spellcasters, magical pets serve as quite excellent proxies.

But why is Kuku's personality, that soul which should have merged with his own, appearing on this "magical pet," even overriding the self-aware personality the magical pet should possess?

And yet, upon seeing the Heroic Soul outside, he could still feel the Heroic Soul's influence within himself?

Could it be that it split itself, becoming two parts, with one part escaping?

But that makes no sense either; it is merely a memory. Even if the software data runs away, without me as the hardware, how can it operate...

"Stupid, stupid, you big lump don't even know to check the panel!"

This, being reminded by the person directly involved, Li En hurriedly pulled out the Ancient Book of the Heroic Soul Codex.

"There's actually such an outrageous soul ability?!"

Thus, he suddenly understood.

Indeed, truly unreasonable matters are very likely caused by even more unreasonable soul abilities.

【Soul Ability: Kuku's Brain Splitting Surgery (Gold): To describe it in one sentence, it is late-stage multiple personality disorder, but voluntary and controllable. It can simultaneously split into three thought streams to process relevant matters in parallel.】

【Ha, what's so great about drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other? Kuku can brew medicine, cast spells, and sleep all at once! At my peak, I could chat with twenty "friends" simultaneously!】

【... They all said I was crazy; uh, they were right! — Still Kuku the dog-headed man.】

"Damn, he really is crazy!"

This was no longer ordinary dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities); even a heavy punch couldn't solve this level of split personality.

But Li En thought seriously and felt that these computer-like parallel thought streams should be quite useful for spellcasters who require calculation, focus, and micro-management.

Just imagining its performance on the battlefield felt terrifying; spellcasters have far too many things requiring divided attention.

Even if one cannot achieve simultaneous multiple casting (multiple casting is extremely difficult), in terms of learning and accumulation, it could surely be used as a three-times efficiency cheat tool.

Now, with this piece of information puzzle, Li En could use his modest magical knowledge to understand exactly what had happened.

The real Kuku was merely a memory-mimicked virtual Heroic Soul, currently merging with his own soul.

But it had split off an independently operating thought stream, linking directly via the magical pet's soul contract.

Thus, while the real Kuku remained inside Li En, it created a remote-controlled "Virtual Kuku" to serve as its representative existence.

As for how it achieved this, how it made the magical pet contract, which should apply to magical beasts or wild beasts, take effect on a metal humanoid, or how it performed remote control operations... better not ask Li En.

In fact, being able to understand this much was already "Kuku Heroic Soul" helping him with reasoning and calculation.

Li En clearly felt his thinking was faster and sharper, yet it always inexplicably went off track!

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

The compatibility was unexpectedly high, and satisfaction had risen slightly after being tormented by it all day yesterday.

At this moment, Li En, having opened the panel, was truly a bit envious.

【Temporary Class Levels: First-Rank Alchemy Master, First-Rank Sage, First-Rank Draconic Sorcerer (these temporary classes will disappear in 14 days and 16 hours)】

Li En was unclear on the specifics of these classes, but they were obviously high-tier classes among spellcasters.

Merely retaining partial abilities from these classes was terrifyingly powerful.

And that temporary list of low-level spells was excessively outrageous in length, though none could be cast yet; Li En himself lacked the casting ability in this regard and needed to practice and master them.

If this spell-lord leaked even a little, he would immediately take off!

Originally, when he saw him, Li En felt a bit annoyed; in the short term, he truly had no face to go to Miss Shaliman.

Since Kukku has come out, he intends to settle the score with him.

But now, Li En only wants to ask

"Um, Lord Kukku, how does one raise your satisfaction level?!" It seemed that integrity had departed along with Sul's heroic soul, choosing to run away instead.

Twenty minutes later, Li En sat dazed in a restaurant in the Nanmen District, and the table was already piled high with various meats.

This full table, even a giant couldn't finish it.

"Eat! Eat quickly!! Kukku is hungry!"

The mechanical Kusla dog-headed man, under the table, suddenly kicked him.

Li En twisted his mouth, but forced himself to take a bite.

"Uh, delicious." Li En praised.

"So delicious!" Kukku below echoed.

It was clearly a rather cheap meal, yet Li En felt satisfaction from the bottom of his heart.

It seemed this hunger and craving were also the influence of the heroic soul; Kukku craved delicious meat and new dishes.

Kusla on the ground happily patted his own metal big belly, his steel big mouth constantly chewing the air, his expression as if he were truly eating something.

This actually indirectly proved that the true Kukku heroic soul was inside Li En, while the outside was merely a remote-controlled machine, or a humanoid communication interface.

【Current Satisfaction -23%】

Uh, it really went up.

Li En was overjoyed, so he ate even harder.

Finally, when Li En leaned against the wall to leave, the satisfaction level had risen to -19%.

It seems this person's satisfaction level is easy to raise?

"What does Kukku want? Kukku wants nothing. Kukku's life is perfect, very perfect."

Watching Kukku repeatedly emphasize that he had no regrets, Li En felt a subtle sensation.

In his memory, generally, the more someone lacks, the more they like to emphasize that they lack nothing.

And he had seen his origin; although it was only the beginning, the subsequent development looked anything but promising. You say it is so, then so be it.

Soon, Li En knew he had rejoiced too early; how could a heroic soul from ancient times be so easily satisfied?

"Then, what is that?!" He, pointing at a steam locomotive slowly moving on the tracks, asked excitedly.

It seemed that in Kukku's era, this thing did not exist yet.

Li En had actually complained back then that the technology tree of this era was truly too subtle.

Steam engines indeed appeared, but they were overly expensive luxuries and not practical.

It was said that the internal core boiling water was actually "magic"; the full name was Mana Steam Car. At that time, Li En had absolutely no idea how to evaluate it.

Also because of this, the high cost made promotion difficult; they were used only for fixed-track cargo transport, while most people still used various beast carts and horse carts.

"I want it, give me one!" And Kukku directly spoke words completely impossible to respond to.

"Uh." Kukku didn't need to wait for Li En's answer; the difficulty on his face was too obvious.

"Oh, can't afford it?"

"Actually, there's nothing to buy; those gnomes and dwarf craftsmen treasure them."

"Oh. Technology is priceless; Kukku can understand." The mechanical Kusla nodded, as if seeing his own kind.

Li En breathed a sigh of relief; this heroic soul able to move around beside him seemed relatively easy to deal with, relatively reasonable.

"Click!" Yet he rejoiced too early; that mechanical Kusla suddenly ran away, and ran incredibly fast!

Kusla immediately ran onto the tracks, flipped the car bottom up, and in two moves drilled into the interior of the Mana Steam Car.

"Crack!" Thus, strange noises came from inside the normally running locomotive.

The car hadn't moved two steps before, under Li En's gaze, the wheels flew off! The car bottom fell off! The steam furnace cracked and roared wildly!

"Fortunately, the core didn't fall out." Li En hurriedly acted, trying to stop this ancient hero from continuing to cause chaos.

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

"Interesting, interesting!" And the satisfied Kukku, holding a device, appeared before Li En.

"This, could it be that locomotive's Mana Engine..." Seeming very heavy, the current Kukku found it a bit difficult to hold.

So, he directly threw it to Li En.

"Take it back, dismantle, dismantle!"

"Don't!!"

Before Li En could explain, the Nanmen District police, blowing whistles, had already arrived.

They quickly surrounded him, while Kusla had already vanished without a trace.

All the police's gazes turned to Li En... and the Mana Engine fragments in his hand!

"I say, it has nothing to do with me; do you believe me?"

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

It was truly as familiar as returning home!

One hour later, Miss Shaliman received another notice to come and bail him out.

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

(End of this chapter)