Chapter 280: A Flow of Inspiration (3)
This silver-eyed book is Finder's travel guide. Its ability to investigate relics has always been reliable and has never failed. Since entering the wilderness, everyone has encountered a series of dizzying battles, but this book has only now had the opportunity to appear.
Chu Hengkong first knocked the fat painter Kua Lu's painting on the page of the book, and the appraisal text immediately appeared:
【Mass production spore material】
【Rating: Bottom】
[Origin: Senluo Secret Realm - Jingsha City-State]
[Effect: Expression material generated using suggestive spores as a medium]
【Missing: None】
"Is this thing wrong?" Ji Huaisu questioned, "How can there be a relic without longing?"
What Ji Huaisu said was basic common sense in the world of Shendong. Even a low-ranking relic should contain a sense of longing, otherwise it would lack power. Although this painting had a rating, it lacked a sense of longing. This was something they had never heard of before.
"Perhaps it's something other than longing that makes it a relic." Chu Hengkong took out the mushroom again, "Let's take a look at the true appearance of the inspiration mushroom."
【Backflow type suggests spore-terminal】
【Rating: Level 3】
[Origin: Senluo Secret Realm - Jingsha City-State]
[Effect: Read the user's psionic fluctuations, retrieve information fragments in the spore library, and reversely output the expression materials that meet the requirements.
Each time you output a material, it is considered as completing a ritual.】
【Missing: You and I are willing, mutual benefit and win-win】
This appraisal document contained a considerable amount of information, so it took everyone a while to digest it. Poison Otter stared at the effect bar, brow furrowed. "Retrieving information fragments...?"
"If you haven't eaten mushrooms, it might be hard to understand, but the description is very vivid," Chu Hengkong said. "After you output your thoughts, the mushrooms will provide a large amount of small, fragmented information, which is reorganized into 'results' based on your thinking direction. When I talked about doggerel, I saw many scattered lines of poetry, but none of them were complete poems."
"But—how is it done?" Bang Bang Crucian Carp was astonished. "I mean, the mushroom grower can't know the user's needs in advance—that would be like predicting the future. And the amount of information a small mushroom can store is very limited—it's so small that it can only write a few words!"
[Store information in the mushroom's bloodline factor. The amount of biological information that bloodline factor can carry is immense. If it could be used as an "information carrier," a mushroom could easily hold an entire library.] Big Seal wrote, [Besides, it doesn't need to cram all the information into a mushroom. It's a terminal, and with a terminal comes an information library.]
"You mean it exchanges data through online transmission?" Vander followed his thoughts. "Then it needs a corresponding carrier. This thing is not a real machine and does not use electricity. The carrier it can use is..."
"Air, microorganisms, bio-force fields, pheromones..." Durumit stared at the mushroom in a daze. "There are so many possibilities. I have to go to the lab tonight—"
"My guess, Editor," a thin voice interjected, "is that it's pheromones."
The shop assistant who spoke poked his head out from the second-floor landing. He was a cute kitten with green fur reminiscent of young leaves. Chu Hengkong noticed that it was the shop assistant who had looked a little strange when discussing mushrooms. Its name was Miao Nu.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop..." Miao Nu stammered, "I was just sorting out the bookshelf... and I'm quite concerned about this topic..."
"Don't be nervous. The bookstore lobby is a public area. If there was anything inconvenient to spread, we would have already discussed it behind closed doors." The editor of Poison Otter said amiably, "Why do you think so?"
Miaonu licked the tip of his nose and said, "Because, I think I have seen that 'Ku'."
·
It all happened about two weeks ago, when Myo Nu was on vacation, exploring the landscape, hoping to find his ideal sunrise spot. He stumbled upon an ideal location: a valley facing the sea, nestled in the distance. Early in the morning, he could see the magnificent sunrise over the sea, its rays splattering across the flower fields in the valley.
"I originally went there for the sun, but the flowers there were beautiful too. They were an almost transparent pale blue, and under the sun they looked like a dreamy flock of butterflies," Miao Nu said. "So I stayed there a little longer and memorized the scent of the flowers. Later, I smelled the fragrance again, and realized it came from the mushroom stall in the market. Every inspiration mushroom I've ever seen has the same scent."
"Are there any mushrooms around the flower field?" Chu Hengkong asked.
"Absolutely not. It wouldn't be pretty if there were a bunch of mushrooms growing on it."
Chu Hengkong temporarily shut down the communication crystal, and the valley appeared before his eyes. Unlike Miao Nu's description, the valley at night was quiet and deserted, and the translucent flowers glowed faintly, looking as eerie as will-o'-the-wisp.
Ji Huaisu had already put on his jade armor and was preparing for the event. This time, everyone was working hard, because the creation itself was no longer the primary concern; the "ritual" was.
"It's a very, very clever technique," says Vander. "The very act of creating something with mushrooms—whatever the underlying meaning—necessarily speaks to the maker's personal philosophy. Mushrooms themselves don't involve power, but the more enthusiastic the response to them, the more it demonstrates that the creator's 'philosophy' is shared by everyone."
"Does this constitute a ceremony?" Chu Hengkong asked.
"Rituals, like transactions, are all about giving and receiving. A classic example is the demon-possessed individuals you're familiar with, who give their bodies in exchange for the demon's power," explained Vander. "The ritual of the inspiration mushroom is more abstract. The creator gives the mushroom, and the consumer's creative act itself is the reward. The transaction is fair on an informational level and harmless on a practical level; it's a classic example of mutual benefit and win-win."
"I think you are more amazing because you can think of so many things in just one sentence." Ji Huaisu said.
"I've told you so many times that I'm a top student in the library. All these years of study weren't in vain." Vander muttered, "But this technique looks a little familiar..."
Chu Hengkong stepped into the flower field and plucked a translucent flower. The flower's roots were shallow and easily removed, leaving the pit empty. He blinked, and a blood-red hue filled his vision. From the perspective of the True Machine's energy, the previously empty pit was filled with a colorful "bubble."
He poked the bubble with his wrist and his expression became quite strange.
"It's raining in Macondo," he said.
"What?" Vander stared.
He turned on the communication crystal, and the editor of Poison Otter had a different perspective: "I didn't expect you've read One Hundred Years of Solitude."
"It's very easy to be indifferent to everything during the day, but it's a different story at night," Chu Hengkong said again.
"The Sun Also Rises." Dudu Otter identified the source. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. I haven't read this book. This sentence just popped into my mind naturally." Chu Hengkong pulled his hand away. "Let me say a few more words for you to listen to..."
He delivered a few brilliant lines, taken from "Gone with the Wind" and several other classics from the Shendong world. Then he delivered a few lines that were full of chuunibyou vibes, which the store manager, Big Seal, recognized as coming from an old Shura Island comic. He hummed a tune—the Jingsha-based "Chongluo Chong Grand Ensemble"—and at the end, he even began to describe an oil painting with his words. Bangbangji thought it resembled a lesser-known work from the last century.
"Are the world's famous books holding a meeting in the ground?" Gulibo's confused voice came from the crystal, and the noise was later drowned out by the otter editor's low roar.
"Oh, Godly Tree. How could they do this? This is despicable, this is extremely shameless!!"
"Mmm!" the big seal agreed.
"What do you mean?" Ji Huaisu was confused.
"Information database," said Vander. "Underneath this flower field is a massive mental database. You can imagine it as an invisible library filled with famous works from around the world. Inspiration mushrooms use the consumer's emotional fluctuations as 'keywords' to retrieve information from this invisible database."
Its expression grew increasingly grim as it spoke. "It can search hundreds of thousands, even millions, of books simultaneously, extracting fragments of text as 'fragments' that meet its needs. These fragments are then packaged by the mushrooms and output in reverse, becoming brand new works..."
Ji Huaisu reacted: "Fuck, this is not even a-"
A whistling sound pierced the night. Ji Huaisu backhandedly threw out a shield of light to block the attack. The hidden weapon fluttered down, drifting into the dim light of the flower field. It was just two fragile leaves, but they struck the shield with a loud sound like metal.
"Which friend are you? Tell me your name!" Ji Huaisu said lazily.
A vast shadow swept across the flower field, like a hawk with an astonishing wingspan descending from the sky. The attacker folded her wings and landed in the center of the field, nodding to the two men. Her smile seemed vibrant even at night.
She had ankle-length white hair, braided into two long, pigtails, and wore a rather old-fashioned red beret. Judging by her appearance alone, she looked like a bookish, sophisticated girl, suited to being the monitor of a prestigious class in a high school or university. However, she also wielded a slender wooden spear and sported a pair of enormous wings, woven from brambles and deadwood. Each wing, when outstretched, stretched over three meters. This single feature was her most direct identification.
The path to unity is particle 4, the air-supporting wing.
"Good evening, good evening. I'm Li Ke, a freelancer." She carried the wooden spear on her shoulder. "Congratulations on discovering the old man's little secret, but if you continue to investigate, I will be sorry for the commission--"
Ji Huaisu raised the shadow blade and said, "Why, do you want to silence me?"
Rico stared at her in shock.
"...Are you calling for war and killing?! It's really not worth it just to do a few mushrooms, right?"
Ji Huaisu cleared her throat forcefully, realizing once again that she wasn't in the Despair Wilderness anymore. Most battles didn't require desperate efforts. But having already spoken harshly, she simply continued to provoke: "What do you want, little girl?"
Li Ke flipped her hand and took out a small flashlight-like object.
"After all, I have confidentiality obligations here... Could you three please have amnesia for a short while?"
(Thanks to Earthbound Spirit for tipping another Silver Alliance! Boom boom boom!)
(End of this chapter)
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