While waiting for Venti and the others, Chen Luo took out the Children's Funland and had an extremely bold idea.
Besides the ability mentioned in its description to help people maintain rationality, the Children's Funland itself can also store negative emotions. So what would happen if he absorbed the negative emotions from the entirety of Mondstadt, not just the people in the square, and when his mind was greatly impacted, threw all those residues into the Children's Funland?
Of course, Chen Luo was just thinking about it; he didn't dare to actually try.
Actually, heart demons themselves grow by absorbing negative emotions, so those residues can also temper mental power besides impacting the mind.
And that's exactly what Chen Luo's talent panel does—the one Crystal spent isn't to discard the residues, but to purify them and use them to strengthen mental power.
But if he really went through the trouble of absorbing those residues, one could only say the effort wouldn't be worth the reward.
He'd be better off spending that time absorbing other negative emotions and negative energy instead.
"Then the question arises again: since the talent panel can remove all negative mental influences, if I absorb this 50,000 years of darkness, is it possible for my mental power to instantly increase dramatically?" Once this thought appeared in Chen Luo's mind, it stuck like a stubborn worm, impossible to shake off.
"Yuanfang,[1] what do you think?" Chen Luo called out his talent panel.
[It is indeed possible to spend Primogems or Crystals to remove negative mental influences of any degree. Absorbing the 50,000 years of darkness from the Children's Funland would indeed bring explosive growth to mental power.]
"Really? That's great!"
[But while bringing explosive growth to mental power, your head would also explode.]
"..."
Ah, this...
"Wait, don't I have a resurrection ability?"
[After the resurrection ability activates, besides absorbing excessive Honkai energy, your age will also regress slightly. When your physical age regresses, your physical qualities will weaken. With weakened physical qualities, you'll be even less able to withstand explosive mental power growth.]
"Speak human language."
[Would you like to learn about fertilized egg explosion fun?]
"..."
[After complete death, the bound fried egg will automatically take effect, reverting your life state to before you absorbed the darkness.]
"So you mean, if I absorb all that darkness, not only will I enjoy the pain of dying and exploding countless times, dying back to a fertilized egg, but I'll also lose a fried egg, and at the same time, that darkness will have no effect whatsoever. Is that right?" After hearing the talent panel's explanation, Chen Luo was dumbfounded.
You can't play it like this, right?
This isn't just losing the bride and the soldiers—this is losing everything!
This is damn similar to betting your entire fortune on the national soccer team winning!
Whoever bets is an idiot.
"Omnipotent talent panel, do you have any good methods to handle and resolve this?" Chen Luo ultimately turned to the talent panel for help.
A super nourishing supplement of 50,000 years is right in front of him, yet he can't eat it or even touch it.
Touch it and you immediately get overwhelmed into an idiot—who could withstand that?
Chen Luo has a premonition that if this 50,000+ years of darkness were truly converted into corresponding nutrients and supplied to him, it would be very beneficial.
And Chen Luo is also thinking about the Herrscher of Sentience; she's very interested in this darkness too.
Although it might still be more profitable to purchase the Herrscher of Sentience's ability after she upgrading her talent to SS-rank, since if Chen Luo absorbs and evolves it himself, he'd need to use Primogems and Crystals to relieve the suffering if he doesn't want to endure it.
But the problem is, even if Chen Luo purchases the SS-rank Herrscher of Sentience authority, his mental power won't increase that much.
Obtaining a talent doesn't bring much of the original owner's strength.
The original strength of the talent owner comes at an additional price.
The mental power growth Chen Luo got after purchasing the S-rank Herrscher of Sentience authority wasn't much either.
Chen Luo wants to purchase it now so he can use negative energy and negative emotions to improve his mental power sooner.
Because the stronger the mental power, the greater the accuracy and power when using magic, and the faster mana generation will be.
[Ding! Would you like to spend 180 Crystals to separate and purify 5,000 years of darkness?]
"Huh? Explain in detail." Chen Luo frowned, feeling that things weren't simple.
[You can spend Crystals to separate and purify the accumulated 50,000 years of darkness in the Children's Funland into an edible state. After purification is complete, this darkness can be consumed in portions.]
"That sounds... quite interesting." Chen Luo couldn't help but stroke his chin as he looked at the talent panel's display.
Because they're in a discount period, and Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact are in the same world, the Honkai Impact 3rd discount can be applied in the Genshin Impact world.
According to this discount, separating 50,000 years of darkness should cost 2,000 Crystals. With a 10% discount, that's 1,800 Crystals.
As for whether it's worth it...
"Let's start with 5,000 years first." Chen Luo said to the talent panel.
* * *
"Sigh, as expected, we didn't succeed." Venti sighed as he walked out of the Favonius Cathedral.
"Did you know it wouldn't succeed all along?" Lumine asked.
"I just thought it was very likely, not certain."
"Then why did we even go ask?" Paimon complained from the side.
"To confirm whether the Holy Lyre is in the Cathedral, of course! And if you ask me, the sisters in this Cathedral are too rigid. The hero conveniently takes the village's famous precious sword... isn't that a perfect story for ballads? And they actually wouldn't lend the Holy Lyre to you. So they don't value you, the Honorary Knight, enough."
"Hmph, your analogy feels quite rude, bard." Paimon said.
"Ah, you misunderstand me. This is disappointment in Mondstadt—being stingy with the sword when facing the hero." Venti explained.
"So what should we do now?"
"Since borrowing openly doesn't work, we can only acquire it skillfully. Hey, A'Luo, over here!" Venti suddenly waved towards Eula and Chen Luo, who were approaching from afar.
"Eh, A'Luo, what are you eating? Can I have one?" When Venti saw Chen Luo approaching, he asked curiously.
"That's pocky, right? Chocolate sticks." Lumine said after seeing the snack in Chen Luo's mouth.
"Can I have one? It looks really delicious." Venti said to Chen Luo.
"Huh? Want to eat this..." Chen Luo raised the half-eaten chocolate stick and asked.
"Yeah, yeah, it looks quite tasty." Venti nodded.
"Sure, of course, why not? But... there's no problem giving it to you, but what if you don't want to eat it and waste it?"
"How could I waste it?" Venti shook his head.
"Alright then, I'll give you 1/4 first. If you can finish it, I'll give you the remaining 3/4. But if you can't even finish 1/4, you have to promise me one thing." A slight smile appeared at the corner of Chen Luo's mouth.
"What if I can finish it?" Venti suddenly became interested.
You probably have some misunderstanding about the Anemo Archon's diet. There's nothing in this world that I, Venti, can't eat.
"Then I won't bother you with commissions for three days—no, two days."
Chen Luo originally wanted to say three days, but considering the loss over three days would be too big if he lost the bet, he changed it to two days.
"Deal!" Venti decisively agreed.
"But I want to eat half of the remaining half in your hand." However, Venti immediately added.
Hmph, I, Venti, am not stupid. What if you specifically take out a disgusting chocolate stick? I want to eat the one from your mouth.
"Uh..." Chen Luo was stunned for a moment, then looked at the half-eaten chocolate stick in his hand.
You must have some issues.
"What? Is it not okay?" A sly smile appeared in Venti's eyes.
I knew there was a trick.
"This... alright then." Chen Luo reluctantly agreed, then wrapped the half-eaten chocolate stick in a tissue, broke off half of it, and handed it to Venti.
"Ahaha, how wonderful would it be to not be disturbed for two days?" Venti laughed as he tossed the chocolate stick, which was less than a finger long, into his mouth.
"!!!" But the moment Venti started chewing, his eyes instantly widened.
Eula, who was already somewhat shocked by Chen Luo and Venti sharing a chocolate stick, was even more shocked when she saw the expression on Venti's face.
Eula had never seen Venti with such a twisted expression.
That wasn't eating a chocolate stick; that was even more complex than the expression someone makes when eating surströmming.
Under everyone's gaze, Venti, who couldn't back down now, forced himself to swallow the chocolate stick.
"Wow, quite brave. Really impressive." Chen Luo gave him a thumbs-up, then tossed the remaining 1/4 chocolate stick into his own mouth.
"Now you need to eat another 3/4 of a chocolate stick." As he spoke, Chen Luo took out another chocolate stick, removed 1/4 of it, and handed it to Venti.
"Ugh!" Watching the slowly approaching chocolate stick, Venti took a step back in terror, tightly covering his mouth.
Venti hurriedly ran to the side, and then Chen Luo and the others heard several retching sounds.
But the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate stick gave him no chance to regret—the taste of the rapidly melted chocolate stick lingered in Venti's mouth, unforgettable.
"What is this disgusting thing? How can you even eat this?" After frantically swallowing several mouthfuls of the milk tea Chen Luo had handed him earlier, Venti kept his distance from Chen Luo.
"Cold, damp, dark, disgusting, hatred, anger, destruction... Is this really something humans can eat?"
"Hey, Venti, let's not talk about that for now. You still have 3/4 left to eat." After tossing the 1/4 chocolate stick into his mouth, Chen Luo said to Venti.
"No more, I'd rather die than eat more. I admit defeat, okay? I surrender!"
As the mighty Anemo Archon, there's nothing I haven't eaten—but this thing, I really haven't eaten before.
Calling this thing anti-human would be praising it.
In Venti's mind, that chocolate stick he just ate was the most disgusting thing he's ever tasted, with the second most disgusting being the Judgment Time.
This sufficiently shows how unbelievable the taste of that chocolate stick was.
Hearing Venti say this, Paimon couldn't help but become curious about the chocolate stick in Chen Luo's hand.
What kind of food could make even Venti find it hard to swallow?
"Paimon, you seem quite curious. Do you want to try a bite?"
"No, no, no, I don't!" Paimon shook her head frantically.
Although Paimon is a foodie, she knows what can and cannot be eaten. Something even Venti can't stomach is naturally not edible.
"What exactly is this thing of yours?" Finally, Venti asked this soul-searching question.
"Well, how should I put it? This is a type of negative emotion. To put it this way: locking a person in a pitch-black, cramped, completely lightless small room for a year would only produce one such chocolate stick. This thing can be said to be the darkest and most terrifying thing in the world. Well, except for heart demons." As he spoke, Chen Luo put the remaining 3/4 chocolate stick into his mouth but didn't chew it, just held it there.
Even Chen Luo doesn't dare to eat this thing quickly.
But when Chen Luo looked at everyone, he noticed they were looking at him somewhat strangely.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. It's not like I'm the one who locked people in small rooms. I just accidentally obtained this thing." Feeling misunderstood, Chen Luo quickly explained.
"Sigh, I originally thought your claim that you can cook anything was just an exaggeration, but I never expected you could even turn negative emotions into dishes. That's truly terrifying." Venti admitted he'd never been in awe of anything before, but now he was starting to feel reverence towards Chen Luo.
Is it possible that Chen Luo could really use me as a cocktail ingredient to mix a glass of Anemo Archon wine?
The more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes.
"Huh? Turn into dishes..." When Chen Luo heard Venti's words, he instantly fell into deep thought.
Turn into dishes...
Dishes...
Chocolate sticks...
Negative emotions...
Culinary Grandmaster...
Right! Since my culinary skills in the bar have been elevated to Culinary Grandmaster, capable of turning anything into dishes, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to turn negative emotions into chocolate sticks.
Although I don't have any recipes right now, wouldn't I be able to figure out recipes by eating enough of them?
After all, I'm providing the ingredients myself...
Chen Luo shifted his gaze to the remaining 4,997 black chocolate sticks in his inventory.
He spent 180 Crystals to separate 5,000 years of darkness, and that darkness was then made into 5,000 black chocolate sticks.
The taste of these chocolate sticks is simply the most difficult thing to swallow in the world for non-heart demons, but for Chen Luo and the Herrscher of Sentience, they're just slightly bitter, with a hint of sweetness after the bitterness—a fairly good snack.
Of course, you can't eat too many.
Eating too many sweets can cause cavities; eating too many of these dark chocolate sticks can cause headaches.
There's no reason the talent panel can make dark chocolate sticks but Chen Luo can't, especially since he's a Culinary Grandmaster.
If I eat 5,000 dark chocolate sticks, wouldn't I be able to figure out the recipe?
50,000 years of darkness would cost 2,000 Crystals; with a 10% discount, that's 1,800 Crystals. But if I make them myself, I'd save 1,800 Crystals.
And the 180 Crystals already spent can be considered tuition fees.
"Venti, you're simply a genius." Chen Luo couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
"Huh?" Venti looked completely bewildered.
TL Note:
[1]: "Yuanfang" (元芳) is a reference to a famous meme from Chinese internet. The meme became viral around 2012 when people started parodying this phrase to humorously seek opinions on various topics, often in absurd or trivial contexts.