Lord of Prayer - Chapter 248 180: Emotional Outburst

「The next day.」

The international auction ended at eleven in the morning. In the transaction hall, Antonio was signing the final sales agreement with the auction house. After the contract was signed and a swift but thorough verification process was complete, a staff member approached, carrying an alloy security case.

The staff member solemnly placed the security case on the table and opened it slowly and deliberately, revealing the auctioned item inside—a pair of fingerless combat gloves.

This was Forbidden Object C-011: Emotional Outburst.

The item had sparked fierce competition at the auction, and Antonio had ultimately won it by biting the bullet with a bid of fifty-eight million. The price was undoubtedly astronomical for him personally, but it was still acceptable when split among the other black market bosses.

Most importantly, purchasing a Forbidden Object for the tournament champion would serve as excellent publicity. The next Alchemy tournament would surely be even more popular, and the profits they could skim from it would also be much greater.

After confirming the auctioned item was correct, Antonio picked up the security case and left the international auction with his men.

「The parking lot.」

A young man wearing sunglasses and a white short-sleeved shirt was leaning against their car, sipping a caramel milk tea through a straw. Just as one of Antonio’s men was about to yell at him, Antonio quickly raised a hand to stop him. He hurried forward with the security case, a smile spreading across his face. “Mr. Zhou, why didn’t you let me know you were here?”

“I happened to be passing by, so I thought I’d come have a look.”

“We’ve got the item. Do you want to inspect it here?” Antonio asked, patting the alloy security case.

“Get in the car.”

The two settled into the spacious back seat. Antonio drew the car’s curtains, then entered the code and opened the security case.

“This cost fifty-eight million, but don’t worry, Mr. Zhou. We won’t ask you for a single cent. It’s the reward for the tournament champion,” Antonio said with a smile.

Zhou Chen nodded and picked up C-011: Emotional Outburst. A strong smell of disinfectant wafted from the fingerless gloves; they had clearly been sterilized.

He compared the gloves to his own palm and saw they were slightly too small. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to squeeze his hand into them, but according to the data on the Forbidden Object, “Emotional Outburst” had a self-adapting ability. It would change shape to automatically conform to the wearer’s hand.

“I’ll take them. I have other things to do, so I’m leaving now.” Zhou Chen stuffed the Emotional Outburst gloves into his pocket, then folded the accompanying Forbidden Object instruction manual and put it in his pocket as well. Without any further pleasantries, he prepared to leave.

“Mr. Zhou, our chairman has been wanting to meet with you…” Antonio said, hurriedly trying to make him stay. “A big deal! We have a big deal we’d like to partner with you on—the kind with profits in the hundreds of millions!”

“I’ll consider it.” With those calm words, Zhou Chen opened the car door, got out, closed it, and strode away.

Antonio sighed. He knew Zhou Chen was no ordinary man. In the language of the streets, he was a real heavy hitter from out of town. So, Antonio hadn’t held out much hope for a partnership in the first place. Still, watching a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

·

After obtaining the Forbidden Object, Zhou Chen scouted the area around Li Xiye’s house. He found it to be safe, with no hidden Star Association lookouts.

He thought for a moment, then snuck back into Li Xiye’s house. In a second-floor bedroom, he found the dog playing a video game. “Did anyone from the Star Association come by?”

The husky paused for a moment, then lifted a paw and began rapidly tapping on a special keyboard. The keys were spaced far apart—Li Xiye had probably had it custom-made. After all, a dog doesn’t have fingers and can’t accurately press individual keys. A single paw-slap would hit countless wrong ones, but this custom keyboard solved that problem, allowing the dog to type with perfect accuracy.

It typed incredibly fast.

Zhou Chen read the words that appeared on the screen: Late last night, Li Xiye called me. She said she awakened and will be at the Star Association for a few days. She also mentioned someone would come to the house to investigate. Twenty minutes later, two Star Association Investigators showed up. They took one look around the house and left. I scanned with my equipment; they didn’t plant any cameras or bugs.

‘They just took one look and left…’ Zhou Chen scratched his head. ‘It seems like the Star Association isn’t taking me very seriously.’

‘Hmm… I’m a mysterious Ascender and Alchemist, yet the Star Association isn’t concerned? Do they trust my character, or have they just… seen too many people like me?’

‘Back in Jinzhu City, whenever an unfamiliar Ascender showed up, Jiang Che would have launched a formal investigation.’

‘But Hong City is different. It’s a true Extraordinary metropolis with numerous factions and countless Ascenders lurking in the shadows. Just look at the black market—so many of them operate without any issues. Every Alchemy tournament is a massive event, and you always see new faces competing. If this was Jinzhu, Jiang Che would have brought his people and shut it all down long ago!’

‘Perhaps in the eyes of the Hong City Star Gathering, a mysterious Ascender like me doesn’t even count as a “major incident.”‘

‘They’d rather deal with the Blood Race and the Abyss Church than waste resources investigating me.’

This was undoubtedly a good thing for Zhou Chen, as it allowed him to keep a low profile.

“You can keep playing.”

Zhou Chen left the dog’s room and went into the bedroom he had been using. He closed the door, pulled Forbidden Object C-011: Emotional Outburst and its instruction manual from his pocket, and began to read.

Forbidden Object C-011: Emotional Outburst.

Ability: Emotion Manifestation.

Detailed Description:

When wearing Emotional Outburst, the user can manifest one of their own emotions at random. The manifestation lasts for three minutes.

The power of the Emotion Avatar is influenced by the “emotion” itself and is not stable; it fluctuates based on the nature of the emotion. For example, emotions like sloth or laziness, when manifested, will likely exhibit no desire to fight, resulting in a very weak avatar.

Emotions such as Warlike, Anger, or Justice will produce an intense desire to fight, making the resulting Emotion Avatar exceptionally powerful.

Side Effects:

1. Each time Emotional Outburst is used, one of the user’s emotions will be randomly amplified one hour later.

2. A manifested Emotion Avatar cannot be recalled. It must either disappear on its own after three minutes or be killed. Therefore, manifesting an Emotion Avatar that likes to cause trouble is disadvantageous for the user, as certain avatars can easily do things that will cause the user embarrassment.

They are singular emotions and have no concept of restraint—with the exception, of course, of “Restraint” itself.

3. Emotion Manifestation can be used a maximum of five times per day. Exceeding this limit will inflict Mental Damage on the user with each additional use.

Containment Conditions:

After putting on the Emotional Outburst Gloves, the user must perform one hundred pull-ups, one hundred push-ups, and one hundred sit-ups, and play one song on a guitar, all within thirty minutes.

Forbidden Object C-011: Emotional Outburst could manifest the user’s emotions!

This was equivalent to gaining a powerful Clone. For any Ascender, this was an absolute Divine Artifact.

If he was lucky enough to get a “good emotion,” the summoned Clone could potentially have more than sixty percent of his own combat power. Fighting side-by-side, their combined strength would be terrifying.

Of course, it would be a pain if he got a “bad emotion”—like apathy, sloth, depression, or withdrawal—which would be completely useless in a fight.

But as luck would have it, probability was something Zhou Chen was very fond of.

To him, even a 0.000001% chance, as long as it wasn’t absolute zero, was as good as 100%.

‘The containment conditions are pretty simple, so I won’t need to waste any Wish Points… I practiced a bit of guitar in college, and I have the King of Music’s blessing in the Art Realm. Besides, it doesn’t say I have to play a specific song. Any simple tune should work…’

Zhou Chen went to Li Xiye’s storage room and dug a guitar out from a cluttered corner. As a fan of both motorcycles and gardening, Li Xiye was the type of girl who yearned for a life of art and adventure; she had almost certainly decided to learn guitar on a whim at some point.

As for whether she succeeded… the fact that the instrument was gathering dust in storage said it all.

After tuning the guitar, Zhou Chen took it out to the back garden and used Alchemy to conjure a pull-up bar.

Everything was ready.

Zhou Chen slid his left hand into a fingerless glove. It automatically resized, fitting onto his hand without any effort.

Next, Zhou Chen performed one hundred pull-ups, one hundred push-ups, and one hundred sit-ups in order—for an Ascender, such a workout was nothing.

Finally, he picked up the guitar and played a simple rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

The moment he finished, he felt a stable Soul Link form between himself and Emotional Outburst. He had successfully contained it.

‘Time for a test run…’

Zhou Chen rubbed his hands together, eagerly infusing Essence into the glove to activate the Forbidden Object.

A second later, a flash of light appeared, and a figure identical to Zhou Chen materialized before him.

“Am I really this handsome?” the Emotion Avatar asked, stroking its chin as it studied Zhou Chen.

“Wow, the more I look, the better-looking I get. Absolutely divine. Dashing, debonair, suave, magnificent… How can I be this handsome? Why is my physique this perfect…?” the Emotion Avatar exclaimed sincerely, circling Zhou Chen to admire him from every angle.

“…”

Zhou Chen was speechless. ‘It’s “Narcissism”!’

He focused on the sensation. It was as if his consciousness had been split in two. His original self felt completely normal, but the Clone’s side was purely emotional, filled with an intense sense of vanity. It was a bizarre feeling, yet he felt no discomfort or dissonance.

With a thought, Zhou Chen sent a mental command to gauge the Clone’s strength. “Narcissism” was surprisingly cooperative. It ceased its preening, clenched a fist, and reported, “I have about seventy percent of the original’s Power. I can use Extraordinary Abilities and Alchemy, but I can’t use Essence Weapons. My Mana Bar is only half of the original’s.”

As it spoke, the Clone walked over to the pull-up bar and used Alchemy to destroy it.

‘Seventy percent…’ Zhou Chen was very satisfied. That was already quite powerful, and the fact that the Clone could also use Alchemy, on top of their shared telepathic link, meant an immense boost to his overall combat strength.