Chapter 45: A Fatal Question

Alpha Princess began her research as Ye Chao suggested.

She took out the F91, put it back, took it out, put it back again—back and forth, in and out…

As she did this, Alpha Princess sighed dramatically: Amazing, amazing, amazing—if it goes on like this, wouldn’t this imaginary space become a real spatial pouch? And it’s not just any pouch, but a whole building she can carry with her—this is absolutely protagonist-level treatment!

However, after playing with it for a while, her excitement faded and she suddenly fell silent, her expression darkening.

[Affinity -404]

Once again, because she hadn’t specified a target, the malice of the world deducted points.

If Ye Chao is the protagonist, then what am I? A wise old master who tags along? Or a pet summoned beast? At most, that’s all I get to be, isn’t it?

How infuriating! Someone as young and beautiful as I am, radiant as a blooming flower, should not be confined to such a role. How can I possibly accept this?

Alpha Princess’s inner monologue made Ye Chao pause, though only for a moment. “Try putting other things inside,” he suggested.

“I’m not doing this because you ordered me to! I simply want to know for myself!” Alpha Princess declared haughtily as she tried to store the books, papers, and pens on the table. All attempts failed without exception, though she did manage to store a few more USB drives without issue.

“So it’s not a true personal space, then?”

At the same time, Ye Chao tried it himself.

He found that he could store and retrieve any of the USB drives he had marked, but F91 could only be taken out, not put back in.

“So, only the weapons I’ve successfully imprinted with my power, or purely imagined constructs like F91, can be stored in the space. And I can only store the former, while you can store both kinds. The permissions for taking things out, however, are the same.”

“In other words, the relationship between you, me, and this imaginary space is similar to that of user, computer system, and storage, isn’t it…”

Ye Chao is the user, Alpha Princess is the operating system, and the imaginary space is the storage.

If one wanted to operate directly in the imaginary space and had the ability to write the underlying code, it could be done—such as with the USB drives he’d marked. Otherwise, everything had to go through Alpha Princess.

As the system, she had a natural advantage when performing any operation.

But she wasn’t a perfectly obedient mouse and keyboard—she had her own likes, dislikes, and a personality of her own.

For example, upon hearing Ye Chao’s analogy, she smiled coquettishly, her charm overflowing: “So, you’re Ash and I’m Pikachu? You’re Xiao Yan and I’m Yao Lao? You’re the Summoner and I’m the King’s Canyon?”

This was a question designed not to be answered, but to endanger one’s life.

Emmm…

Ye Chao glanced at Alpha Princess. “I don’t really understand what you’re talking about. If I had to compare, our relationship is more like… I’m Shinji Ikari and you’re Eva Unit 01.”

This answer took Alpha Princess by surprise. After thinking it over, she felt secretly pleased: deep down, is Ye Chao actually afraid of me?

Because you keep going berserk, and I can’t control you—it’s not as cute as Pikachu… Though that’s what he was thinking, Ye Chao, ever socially awkward, wisely kept it to himself.

“You always say games are dull, anime is boring, and variety shows are pointless, yet you know Shinji Ikari and Eva Unit 01?”

“Because Evangelion is a classic!”

“…Alright then. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask: you keep mentioning fire-seed weapons, fantasy manifestation, imprinting… What do those things actually mean?” In a rare good mood, Alpha Princess changed the subject.

“All these concepts are actually related to the classification of abilities in this era,” Ye Chao began to explain.

“Zero Star—that’s the Awakening Phase. Basically, it’s the stage of an ordinary person.”

“You have abilities, but they’re unstable. You’re still exploring and can’t use them skillfully.”

Before the Age of Calamity, even such people were rare, so they were classified separately. As the new humans grew up and a consensus was reached, everyone born after 2027 was considered to have abilities, so this category lost its significance.

“One Star—the Fire-Seed Phase.”

“At this point, you can use your abilities steadily, and you begin to fight with the aid of various real-world objects.”

“Weapons are like kindling, and ability is the spark. Once ignited, a single spark can set the prairie ablaze! That’s where the term ‘fire-seed weapon’ comes from.”

For instance, someone might use an immersion heater, an electric fan, superglue, or a gas canister.

For Ye Chao, it was USB drives.

Of course, he’d chosen poorly.

But that was common enough. Fire-seed weapons aren’t innate. First, you have to awaken and understand your ability—whether you lean toward electrical heat, light, sound, wind, electrodynamics, oil-based power, chemistry, pressure, and so on—then choose a matching weapon.

Each item represents a unique path of cultivation.

Ye Chao’s case was like choosing the wrong major in college—essentially a waste of time and life.

“Two Star—the Imprinting Phase.”

“This is where you become more familiar with your fire-seed weapon. Use inevitably causes wear, which you then repair with your ability.”

During this process, your weapon is imprinted with your power, gradually becoming something between reality and imagination—part spirit, part matter. This process is called imprinting; when a weapon is suffused with your power, that state is called fantasy manifestation.

Ye Chao picked up a USB drive, examining, scrutinizing, and stroking it as if caressing a lover, even giving it a few licks—flamboyantly eccentric.

“Of course, you also have to remember every detail of the weapon—size, structure, performance, features… Eventually, you should be able to recall every detail with your eyes closed, and just by sensing, know where damage has occurred and how to fix it.”

Ye Chao put the USB drive down and quickly sketched on a piece of paper.

In moments, a lifelike USB drive appeared on the page, complete with wiring diagrams and circuit layouts.

“That’s about the right level.”

Three Star—the Manifestation Phase.

A fire-seed weapon begins to transcend its physical form, achieving complete fantasy manifestation.

From then on, it can be remote-controlled, repaired rapidly, and specifically enhanced through fantasy transformation, becoming stronger and stronger.

Ye Chao felt that he had reached this stage, but unfortunately, his real strength lay in signal processing, not hardware manipulation, so he was at best at the Two Star level. He’d already tested this, and the deputy teachers helped him check on the way back to the city.

Signals, after all, don’t have a physical form, so repair, enhancement, or remote control… were as pointless as putting a condom on yourself.

Four Star—the Confluence Phase.

This is the legendary state of unity between man and weapon.

When weapon modification reaches an extreme, the wielder’s twisted will gives the weapon power beyond common sense.

Here, “beyond common sense” means not just physical enhancements from the Manifestation Phase, but even attributes like size and number cease to be fixed, changing according to the user’s will.

Thus, weapons at this stage have another name: Life-Bound Arms.

Beyond that lies Five Star—Indestructible, Six Star—Transcendent, and even higher realms that Ye Chao could not begin to imagine.

However, these classifications and concepts weren’t important. The real revolution was the new function of the imaginary space—it would change everything!