Chapter 7: The more capable you are, the more work you will do
In the huge study, Beichen and his replica Xiangying sat facing each other on the sofas on both sides, while Yagard stood behind Beichen silently.
"So, Master, what you're saying is that I'm just a strange creature that was copied to replace Xiang Ying, and the copying failed?"
The replica lowered its eyes to Ying and spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.
"Well, it's my responsibility. You can hate me."
When Beichen said this, Yagard, who was standing behind her, showed a look of surprise and wanted to say something, but Beichen seemed to have anticipated it and just stretched out her hand to interrupt him.
"No wonder you all look at me so strangely. No wonder I can't fit in with you, no matter how hard I try. ... And what's the point of relying on memories that don't belong to me? No wonder I always feel ridiculous when I reminisce, because those things are things I wouldn't do with my personality."
The replica said to the shadow, looking down at his hands with a wry smile.
"Then what am I? My body is a copy of someone else's, my memories are a copy of someone else's, my name is a copy of someone else's... do I have anything that belongs to me?"
"Of course."
Beichen nodded to him seriously.
"Otherwise, why would you feel that your memories don't match you? You have your own personality. In the past, you were bound by Xiang Ying's memories because of my mistake, but at least your future will be free. I choose to tell you everything now, hoping that you can be yourself again without being controlled by these memories."
The replica tilted its head, and the corner of its mouth curled up in a mocking manner:
"Is that so? Aren't you afraid that my feelings for you will bother you? Master... no, Your Majesty Beichen. Then you will say that my feelings for all of you are caused by memories and are false, right?"
"..." Beichen was silent for a few seconds, "I admit it. Now if you can separate Xiangying's memories, you should be able to find that you don't have any feelings for us, right?"
The replica didn't answer.
Beichen sighed:
"Have you ever thought about a name for yourself?"
Shrugging, the replica snorted nonchalantly at himself, a bitterness in the laughter that was hard to ignore.
"The name Feibai is now vacant. Let me use it. Feibai means Ying. Xiangying is your shadow, and I can only be Xiangying's shadow."
"……you……"
"Well, it's settled. From now on, my name is Changjian Feibai Six-Star Quantified."
Seeing that he was so determined, Beichen stopped trying to stop him and just softened his voice and said:
"Then I'll call you Feibai. What are your plans next? I owe you something, so I'll naturally do my best to compensate you. Although compensation afterward is a bit hypocritical, I still hope you can live happily as a new individual. After all, the gentleness you carry is the same as Xiangying's. I can feel it."
"Thanks."
Fei Bai lowered his head and pulled his hair.
"But I still don't know what I'm going to do in the future. The impact of my memories won't go away anytime soon. Will you allow me to stay here until I make a decision?"
"Of course. Anything else?"
Fei Bai turned to look at Yagad: "I want to transform my body. First, I want to change my appearance, so that you won't feel uncomfortable seeing this face. Second... I want to make myself stronger. To do this, it doesn't matter if I replace some body parts. It's difficult for me to survive here with my fighting power, right?"
Beichen and Yagard looked at each other.
"Okay. Yagad, let Mingxi take him to your current base."
Yagad nodded and called Mingxi over through the telepathic communication channel. Mingxi responded to the call and appeared. Then he looked at Beichen with a complicated expression, stared at Feibai for a few seconds, and finally said "Let's go" and opened the door and walked out.
"Well, I'll be leaving now. ... Your Majesty... Beichen. ... See you another day."
Feibai looked at Beichen with a gentle and slightly sad expression, then followed Mingxi out of the door slowly - until the door creaked shut, Beichen relaxed his shoulders and collapsed on the sofa.
"Miss Beichen."
Yagard walked to the front of the sofa and was about to kneel down, but Beichen grabbed his hand, pulled him onto the sofa, and made him sit next to him.
"You're so stubborn. No matter what I say, you've been kneeling for two years. I'm almost used to it. It's true that you're so much taller than me. If you half-kneel, I can actually get closer to you. I could pat your shoulder or something. But if there's a sofa, you should sit on it."
"but……"
"I can accept the worship of my subjects. But there is absolutely no custom for family members to bow and kneel to each other, right, Yagad?"
family?
Hearing Beichen say this, Yagard was stunned for a few seconds in surprise, and then his expression once again revealed an exaggerated look of pious ecstasy. He reached out to touch Beichen, but finally stopped.
"Ms. Beichen," the knight finally said in a low voice with a slight tremor, "Why did you tell Feibai that it was your fault? This was clearly my fault."
"I still remember what we said when we formed an alliance. Since I enjoy the benefits you bring, I must also bear the responsibilities you bring. Moreover, it was indeed me who asked you to rescue Xiang Ying. You were merely my sword, faithfully carrying out my wishes."
Beichen sighed as he spoke.
"For the past two years, I have also been recruiting and training the army belonging to Elytheon, but the backbone of Elytheon is still your Night Troopers. My talent in this area is far inferior to yours. Without you, I would never have made it this far."
"No, Miss Beichen."
Yagad shook his head.
"I merely prepared the Night Cavalry's manpower, military, and financial resources, and assembled the army. But it was you who earned their loyalty and gave them their souls. ――That... is impossible for me to do."
"I'm still too naive. Every time I go to your base, I find this out." Beichen twitched his lips. "It's not hard for me to understand why Mingxi hates me so much."
"If Miss Beichen doesn't like being disliked, I can—"
"No." Beichen shook his hands weakly. "I can't possibly get rid of everyone who hates me, right? If you're worried they might hurt me, then Yagad can just protect me."
"Of course, Miss Beichen."
Yagard carefully pulled Beichen's hand and touched her fingertips with his lips.
“This is the only reason I live.”
Beichen blushed, then frowned strangely.
"I think I've asked this several times, but Agaard hasn't answered once. Even if you knew you were my knight from birth, there's no need to be so loyal to me, right? I'm glad you're so kind to me, but don't you really want to think about yourself?"
The knight thought silently for a long time, then shook his head.
"My existence as an individual seems to have no meaning. Only with your existence do I have room to play and move."
"...What can I say about you..."
Beichen helplessly supported his forehead with the hand that was not held.
"However," Yagard let go of Beichen's hand, and then looked at his palm with a slightly nostalgic look, "Miss Beichen, shouldn't you go to Xiangying now? Why..."
Beichen shook his head, stood up from the sofa, walked to the desk and sat down, opened a half-read book, and played with the top page.
"Yagad has seen it too, right? Now, I have not only Xiang Ying and the twins by my side, but also Xifeng Yaye and Atlas. I didn't reject them from entering my life back then. If I abandon them now, it would be too presumptuous. So, since I have decided to accept them to stay by my side──."
She bit the ribbon on the bookmark gently with her mouth.
"If Xiang Ying comes back and I immediately stick to him, will Hei Huo and Su Jie be disappointed? Will Xi Feng be angry and sad? Will Ya Ye be disappointed? Will Atlas feel wronged? After all, none of them have paid less for me than Xiang Ying.
I think Xiang Ying must have noticed this, so he said he wanted to get together with his brothers, implicitly trying to get me out. Besides, I've accumulated quite a bit of resentment over the past two years. Forgiveness is one thing, but punishment still needs to be meted out.
"Is that why Miss Beichen allowed them to reminisce about the past?"
Yagad nodded, as if he understood something.
"I understand. Let them deal with their own problems first. I will be responsible for accompanying Miss Beichen. I wonder if they have said how long they will be gone?"
"I think it's a week? It's in the capital area," Beichen said, touching his forehead. "Xiang Ying's contract has been renewed. The summoning range is about the same as the Twin Zephyrs, so there's no problem."
"Oh, speaking of this... Xiang Ying's level is over 1,700. Miss Beichen has a contract with him. Can she control him?"
"No problem." She clenched her fists and said, "I am at least a level six martial emperor. It seems that there are no restrictions on the contract anymore."
"That's good. Xiang Ying's transformation is something none of us could have imagined. If possible, I'd like to collect some of his blood and other experimental data—breaking the level cap. If this technology succeeds, it will be another revolution for combat machines."
Beichen twitched the corner of his mouth.
"You can research this technology just in case, but you must ensure it's kept confidential. I don't want this to spark a war between humans and weapons."
"I understand. I'll be careful." Yagad nodded respectfully. "However, please allow me to temporarily suspend my work for this week to accompany Miss Beichen."
"Yes. Although Yagad has been running around for me all the time, it's rare for him to stay with me for such a long time."
"Indeed. I think I'll need a detailed itinerary to plan my actions for this week. And..."
As the knight said this, a subtle expression that could not be explained in words flashed across his brow.
"Miss Beichen is quite experienced now. So there should be no problem for her to enjoy my bedtime service. Please rest assured that I will do my best to make her feel happy."
Boom!
Hearing this, Beichen slid directly from his seat under the desk!
"A-Agad... You haven't forgotten what I said two years ago."
"Of course. How could I possibly forget something so important? May I ask, what method does Miss Beichen prefer? Do you need any props? Do you prefer a rough or gentle one—"
"Eat grapes and don't spit out the skins. If you don't eat grapes, you'll still spit out the skins. There are no roads in this world. When more people walk on them, the road becomes blue. Rich people have wine and meat, while the poor people freeze to death on the other side of the road. What I'm complaining about is not my complaints, but my loneliness!!"
As a result, because he was too embarrassed and shy, Beichen started mumbling incoherently under the table.
"Miss Beichen?"
The colorless demon didn't seem to understand the reason for Beichen's confusion. He also squatted down, bent his huge body, and crawled under the big desk.
"Miss Beichen, did you drop something on the ground? Do you need me to pick it up?"
"I...I'm looking for the shattered pieces of my conscience."
"Hmm? Miss Beichen, it doesn't matter if you don't have a conscience. I burned it and weathered it long ago."
“…”
"By the way, continuing with the previous topic, I heard from Hei Huo and Su Jie that Miss Bei Chen seems to be more interested in [Beep──] and [Beep──]? Do you need me to help you now──"
“No no no no no no no no!! I…I this…that that…that’s right! I, I’m having my period!! Hahahaha, hahaha!”
Unexpectedly, the knight's face changed immediately. He stood up suddenly and overturned the huge desk that weighed nearly one ton. Beichen was so scared that his face turned green.
"Miss Beichen!! What's going on?! Is it because of your recent mood swings?! Isn't your period supposed to be around eleven days away?!"
"...Agad... Do you even know the degree of my left and right eyesight?"
"Hmm? If you're talking about eyesight, then I know. Now's not the time to talk about that, Miss Beichen. Regarding your menstrual issues..."
Beichen's face has turned from green to blue.
"...I'm sorry, Agard, I lied! I was just using that as an excuse!"
"Excuse? Ah──Miss Beichen, don't you like [beep──]? It doesn't matter, you can change it to [beep──]. But Miss Beichen, you never have to apologize to me. If you like lying, even if you say the sun rises from the west──then I will go and beat the sun that rises in the east to the west!"
"That's too scary!" Beichen's mouth twitched, but he laughed again the next second, "But...how should I put it, I feel more and more that Yagard looks cute like this."
"cute?"
The knight frowned in confusion.
"Miss Beichen, are you talking about 'cute'? Then I need to get some animal ears and tails and transplant them onto my body—"
"No, no, no, no, I was wrong. Yagad is handsome! Handsome! Yagad and the like are not cute at all! Yagad is the most handsome!"
The witch was so frightened that she sat among the messy books on the floor and danced around, while the knight half-knelt in front of her, with a smile that seemed a little happy because of the praise.
Although the scene was a bit strange, since no one saw it, let's just ignore it for now.
On the other side, in a construction site near the imperial palace in the capital city, a group of people were walking under all kinds of gazes - it was a team consisting of Gemini, Xifeng, Yaye, Atlas and Xiangying.
"……here it is?"
Walking in the middle of the team, Xiang Ying looked around with a hint of excitement on his face.
"It's the arena that's about to be built. We are a nation that values martial arts, so naturally, we have competitions—"
As Hei Huo spoke, he turned and looked at Xiang Ying with a malicious smile on his face.
"But construction has been a bit slow lately. Look, the location of the arena is a great one, isn't it? Unfortunately, one corner is taken up by crystal pillars, which ruins the view. Those crystal pillars are sturdy, and we need to clear them away before we can continue—"
"I see. Is it very hard?"
Xiang Ying walked over and touched the crystal pillar.
"It's very high. I can only remove a small amount with my acid bombs," Xifeng said. "Such a hard material would be great for defensive walls and armor, and it's not very heavy, so it would be a shame to destroy it."
"I see."
Xiang Ying thought for a while, then a white crystal sword appeared in his hand, and he chopped hard at the base of the crystal column!
clang!
The crystal column made a loud noise and sparks were emitted when it collided with hard objects. When everyone came to their senses, they found that there was a large cut on the place where it was cut!
The crowd of onlookers suddenly became agitated, and many people were cheering, "Continue, continue."
After Xiang Ying obtained Xifeng's consent with his eyes, he called out six secondary swords. At once, seven sharp blades slashed towards the gap. Not long after, the huge crystal pillar fell to the ground with a loud bang.
"It's truly a natural barrier in the master's territory. It's so strong it's several times harder than metal!"
Xiang Ying wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed with pride.
The twins laughed secretly and high-fived each other. Xifeng patted Xiangying's shoulder in praise, while Yaye nodded in appreciation:
"Well, we found some good material. Let's take it to the Quartermaster General's Office and have it made into armor."
Black Fate started making faces again: "But it's so big, how can we transport it?"
Yaye pretended to be distressed and said, "Go and ask them to stop the work at hand and come to move it."
"No, no." Xiang Ying immediately smiled and waved her hand. "Everyone is already very tired, so don't add extra work to them. Let me do it."
As he spoke, he directed the six secondary swords to fly to the bottom of the crystal pillar, dividing it into six evenly distributed force points, and thus lifted the crystal pillar steadily.
"Okay, Senior Yaye, please lead the way."
"Hey, that's really useful." Yaye bared his fangs curiously. "What are those six swords? Is it your son?"
Xiang Ying corrected seriously:
"Of course not. How could I allow myself to have a son? I only need a master. This is an energy manifestation composed of star power. I wanted to have some long-range attack and enemy detection methods, so I created them."
"You can make the star power materialize. The concentration of star power in your body must be so high."
Xifeng raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Then why don't you try making something else with them for your own convenience?"
“Yes.”
Xiang Ying waved happily and called out a set of tableware floating in the air:
"This is tableware made for the owner. It has purification capabilities, so it can detect whether there is poison in the food."
“…”
Everyone's mouth twitched.
Then Xiang Ying called out a bed floating in the air:
"This is a bed with all-round defense capabilities. Once the owner sleeps on it, anyone approaching from outside will be attacked by sharp blades made of stellar spiritual power."
The twins staggered at the same time, and then Black Disaster looked up with a dry laugh:
"...What about sharpening the blade? Are you planning to let Little Loach become a nun?"
“…”
Xiang Ying's eyes drifted away, he coughed dryly, put the bed in, and then called out... a chamber pot.
"How about this! The owner won't have to worry about constipation when traveling outdoors!!"
"Why don't you just buy something like that and put it in your storage space? Why do you need to use star power to make it, you bastard!"
"Are you showing off your abundant star power? You chamber pot!"
"Well, how about this? This is a poker table and matching poker cards! Everyone still remembers the poker game that the master told us about in Feinheim, right? With this, once the master gets the cards, he can see the other party's cards—"
Before Xiang Ying finished speaking, Yaye slapped Xiang Ying hard on the back of the head:
"Don't you dare be any more stupid? What's the fun in playing like that?"
"Uh, what about this? I made this by imitating the beautiful flowers I saw on the roadside. I want to give it to the master—"
"Why don't you just pick it and put it in the storage space? You're definitely showing off your abundant star power, right?!"
"Uh, no, Brother Su Jie, it's just that after I gained the physique of the resonance force reverse flow, hunting alone will always cause the star spirit power to overflow. If I don't release it, it's easy to be in danger of life..."
"This is just showing off, damn it!!!"
"Brother Black Fate, don't be angry... I've prepared something good for you too. Look, this is a spring-loaded mechanism. When combined with the hook form, it can perform crossbow-style sneak attacks on distant objects. It has 20 rounds in total, and can be used directly without my control."
Xiang Ying said as he stuffed a pair of beautiful small hidden blade mechanisms into the hands of Hei Huo and Su Jie.
"This is an automatic defense spirit crystal for Xifeng. Xifeng has trouble with close combat, so take this out when you're ambushing or sniping. One crystal can automatically block three attacks for you. I've tried it, and it can even block my own attacks."
Xifeng took the few spirit crystals handed to him by Xiangying, muttered a few words, and stuffed them into the storage space.
"Senior Yaye, you're worried about keeping the blood fresh for food, right?" Xiang Ying took out another set of bottles. "Using these can completely guarantee the freshness of the food. I've tried it with a dead mouse."
"...At least choose something else to experiment with, idiot!"
Yaye yelled in annoyance, but then put the bottle away and patted Xiangying on the head.
"That brat is really good at winning people over."
Xiang Ying lowered his head and smiled bitterly:
"For the past two years, I've been wondering how you would forgive me after I came back, so I've been constantly thinking about these gifts... I scrapped and remade them several times before I was satisfied... I'm already very happy that you're willing to accept them."
The advancing team suddenly became quiet for a few seconds. Atlas, who was watching the noise obediently, didn't seem to understand why everyone suddenly became quiet, so he rubbed against Xiang Ying.
"Nothing for me?"
"Ah, yes." Xiang Ying came back to his senses from his memories and handed a wristband to Atlas. After thinking for a moment, he handed another to Yaye. "Here, Atlas and Senior Yaye can't communicate with the master immediately right now. With this, we can do that. It can send your voices directly into the mind communication channel of the contract combat device through me."
"Well, thank you." Atlas put on the wristband happily and flicked his tail. "Xiang Ying is such an idiot."
“…”
“…”
“…”
Everyone's eyes shifted a few inches at the same time.
Atlas, not knowing the truth, tilted his head:
"Am I wrong? That, Xiang Ying is an awesome tech geek."
Black Fate: "Wait, what is that?"
Su Jie: "Although I don't understand it, I feel like it's not a compliment..."
Zephyr: "To some extent, that's true, but if every tech geek in Feinheim had this much combat power, the world would have perished long ago."
Yaye: "Although I appreciate your gift, but besides hunting and leveling up like crazy, have you been doing these handicrafts to pass the time these past two years, stupid night pot? That's too miserable."
Xiang Ying: "Of course not. I still silently recite the name of Master 1000 times every day, and I have copied many sword tassels given by Master."
Atlas: "I see, I was wrong. Xiang Ying is a real pervert."
Xiang Ying: “…”
While they were talking, they arrived at the quartermaster's office. Xiang Ying placed the crystal column on the open space in front of the door, wiped the sweat off his forehead again, and looked around.
"We saw many Holy Spirit Warriors along the way. As expected of our master's country, the warriors are all very brave."
"Of course," Black Fate said with a grin, "By the way, there are still a lot of glass dragons in the cafeteria that haven't been skinned yet. I'm worried that if we don't have enough manpower, the food will go to waste—"
"Oh! It's okay!" Xiang Ying nodded vigorously, "I'll go help!"
So the group rushed to the cafeteria again.
"Alright, it's done! As expected of the master's country, they can actually use dragons as food!! So impressive!!"
"Although I'd like to say it's not actually a dragon, just a winged animal... well," Xifeng said somewhat weakly, "then, the Lingwu Division has a few tough quests piled up that no one's taking. Do you want to go take a look?"
"Of course!"
So we moved to the union and spent two days there.
"Well, that's about it. Let's go report to the employer. As expected of the master's country, such a difficult task actually occurred. It truly is a country of the strong!!"
"Well, actually, that was just a trap set up by another multinational union to pick a fight—" Black Disaster raised his hand. "Oh, I forgot. Brother Rabid Dog Glen She has been having a headache these days. The elders are coming after him again, wanting to propose to Little Loach. Should we go scare the elders away and save the poor rabid dog?"
So the Turing Tribe Embassy was in chaos for a whole day.
"Finally, they've left. Lord Glenshe, now you don't have to worry about anyone interfering in your marriage! ... As expected of the master's country, even the elders of Tuling have come to propose marriage!"
"Wait a minute, Tu Ling and we have always had a very close relationship." Su Jie slapped his forehead, "Speaking of which, the cat that woman Li Ye raised recently disappeared. Let's help find it, otherwise Little Loach will be harassed by a bunch of pretty boys that woman let in──"
Suddenly, the entire capital was filled with unidentified small beads flying all over the sky (used to observe and find cats).
"Found it! Penny, don't run around like that, your master will get worried. ...Come to think of it, this is the master's country, even cats get lost!"
"... Your feelings are getting weirder and weirder."
"And don't just name a cat Penny! You're the one named Penny, and your whole family is named Penny! It's obviously a tom!"
So, although the new First Weapon looked like a handsome man with unparalleled strength and extraordinary bravery, he was actually a workaholic, a dismemberment fetishist, a terrifying counterintelligence expert, a twisted person who couldn't stand lovers getting married, and he also had a hobby of indiscriminate voyeurism - such rumors spread like wildfire in the capital of Elytheon within a week.
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