Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

That's fine.

A moment later, the three fragments, washed by the seawater of the Sea of ​​Consciousness, lost their original color spectrum and turned grayish, presenting a simple texture.

Qi Ji looked at the three fragments again. From the system's perspective, these three fragments had changed from being displayed as [Echoing Fragments] to—

Building Materials (General)

That's right. Echoers hunt down remnants in the Sea of ​​Consciousness in order to obtain Echo Fragments of their corresponding lineage, which depends heavily on luck.

Therefore, most Echoers will use the seawater of the Sea of ​​Consciousness to "wash" the fragments they hunt that are not suitable for their absorption, removing the imprint of their specific lineage and transforming them into attribute-free, pure "building materials".

The primary purpose of these building materials is to construct the "Mental Palace," which can only be built after a player reaches Tier 3 Echoes.

Of course, all of this happens after you become a third-order Echoer.

Fortunately, Sakiji currently has somewhere to use his building materials—

That was his "Miracle" boat.

Qi Ji immediately switched to the "Transportation" page and fed all three building material fragments into it.

Miracle Lv1

[Required to upgrade to Lv2: 3/100]

"Are we still missing 97 fragments? It doesn't seem that difficult."

Saki is quite looking forward to seeing what the Miracle will look like after its upgrade.

After all, this little boat is actually a bit too small, especially for two people; it's a bit too crowded.

He can't even lie down anymore.

Moreover, the upgrade increases the speed of the small boat, which also improves Qiji's efficiency in sourcing goods in the Sea of ​​Consciousness.

Overall, it's a significant improvement.

……

After waiting a while longer, Su Shi finally finished absorbing the Echo Fragments.

The girl opened her eyes, and the flickering flames in her vision vanished in an instant.

Su Shiwei sensed it briefly and immediately understood—

After she absorbs this fragment of the Flame Spectrum, the energy consumption will be reduced by five percent when she uses Fire Echoes in the future!

Don't underestimate this five percent, because this is only her first enhancement!

After losing to Saki, Su Shi kept thinking about how he could beat that bastard.

The opponent possesses an almost shameless "instantaneous blur" and ridiculously fast movement and speed...

The answer that Su Shi arrived at after careful consideration was—

To defeat your opponent, you must master a continuous, wide-range, and high-damage killing move!

If her fire rain had lasted longer, and if she had unleashed more waves...

So even if we can't win, we can at least cause him trouble!

Unfortunately, the Fire Rain drained her energy too much, so she could only tough it out and unleash a burst of attacks...

Therefore, before absorbing this fragment, what she had always hoped for was that the fragment could provide her with the "reduction" attribute she needed most.

Unexpectedly, it came true!

Today is simply her lucky day!

She finally saw her long-awaited brother and obtained the perfect fragment...

If things continue like this, it's not impossible for us to beat that guy in next month's academy competition!

Moreover, after absorbing this fragment, Su Shi also clearly sensed that she was one step closer to the third rank!

It's like a stroke of good luck!

Everything started to go according to plan!

It felt like I'd been smuggled from hell to heaven!

Su Shi originally thought that entering the sea of ​​consciousness would be a certain death for her.

The reason he agreed to the family's offer was partly due to a "what's the use" mentality.

So you're really trying to force me to my death, aren't you?

Fine! Then I'll die right here in front of you!

However, things have now developed in a way that is completely beyond her expectations!

Not only did she not die, but she also absorbed a "superior" quality fragment of the Flame Spectrum when she first entered the Sea of ​​Consciousness!

This is something that even many third-order echoers would find difficult to do easily!

It's important to understand that the Sea of ​​Consciousness is mysterious and vast. For a newbie who enters for the first time, being able to survive and safely evacuate is already a one in a hundred chance.

Even obtaining a single absorbable, ordinary white fragment would be a cause for celebration!

Calling them exceptionally gifted and incredibly lucky is no exaggeration!

Therefore, Su Shi truly did not expect that her first time would go so smoothly...

Of course, all of the above pales in comparison to "Brother".

The greatest gain for Su Shi from this trip to the Sea of ​​Consciousness was undoubtedly that she was finally able to see her brother again!

Saki Sakumi finally finished absorbing the information and immediately stepped forward:

"So, are we ready to go?"

Su Shi nodded, but then shook his head.

"My vital energy has only recovered to 30%."

Brother, let's stay here a little longer.

I still have so much to tell you.

For Su Shi, exploring the sea of ​​consciousness was nothing compared to spending time with her brother, talking and chatting.

She wanted to convey all the longing she had felt over the years to her brother in one go!

Oh, and I also need to tell my brother!

There's a really bad jerk out there who imitates my brother every day!

Upon hearing this, Qi Ji spoke up:

"It's alright, you can recover on the way. Let's go, we'll go to the next island."

"Huh? Resume on the way?"

Does it mean recovering cardiac energy while swimming?

How could such a thing be possible?

Just as Su Shi was filled with doubt, Qi Ji grabbed her by the collar, pulled her along, and leaped back to the small boat moored on the shore.

No, it's that gesture of grabbing my collar...

Why does this look so familiar?

The thought flashed through Su Shi's mind, but then her attention was immediately drawn to the small boat beneath her feet.

It was only then that she suddenly remembered—

When my brother first appeared, he arrived on a small boat, braving the wind and waves!

So, what exactly is going on with this little boat?

The Thousand Faces family has a history spanning thousands of years, so they naturally have a deep understanding of the sea of ​​consciousness.

She had been well-versed in her family's classic texts since childhood, but she had never heard of anyone being able to navigate a ship in the sea of ​​consciousness...

Fortunately, Su Shi was quick-witted and immediately figured it out herself—

understood!

It must be because my brother is a "guardian spirit"!

Unlike them, the ordinary echoers!

If we round it up, my brother should be considered a "local" in the Sea of ​​Consciousness!

Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable for them to have certain privileges!

Su Shi then stopped dwelling on these matters.

Instead, she hugged Qi Ji's arm, rested her little head on it, tilted her face up, and stared intently at Qi Ji's profile without blinking.

It was as if they were afraid the other person would disappear in the blink of an eye.

"Brother, where are we going next?"

Saki glanced at the map, then at the remaining time.

Because it was Su Shi's first time absorbing echo fragments, he wasn't very skilled, so it took him a little longer.

They only have about an hour and forty minutes left to remain in the sea of ​​consciousness.

It's important to know that there's a time limit for each Echoer to enter the Sea of ​​Consciousness.

If they cannot find an "evacuation point" and return to reality within the specified time, their spirits will be noticed by the sea of ​​consciousness due to "timeout" and subsequently erased.

Of course, Echoers of the third rank and above already possess the most basic "immortal" characteristic in their spirit bodies.

Therefore, even if one is "erased" and returns to reality, one can gradually recover after a long period of rest.

But below the third rank, it won't work.

The erasure of a spirit means death in the real world.

Of course, since Qi Ji had the [Thousand Faces] card to take the damage for him, he didn't care.

However, he obviously still had to consider the matter of the lawsuit.

This is also part of what he needs to consider to play the role of "older brother" well and improve the fit of the Thousand Faces card.

Saki planned the route briefly, and estimated the time based on the speed of the small boat and the distance to the nearest evacuation point.

"We'll explore two more islands, then we'll leave."

"Huh? But we still don't know where the evacuation point is... By the way, brother, we didn't explore that island properly. Maybe there's an evacuation point on it."

Based on the experience passed down through the ages by the Thousand Faces family—

Once you enter the Sea of ​​Consciousness, the first thing to do is get ashore, and then find an evacuation point.

The most prudent approach is to wait until the exact location of the evacuation point is known before planning the exploration area based on the remaining time.

"That island is a deserted island; there's nothing on it."

Qi Ji replied casually, based on the information he saw on the system map.

"Huh?"

Su Shi was stunned for a moment, and was about to ask her brother how he knew, but then she quickly understood.

My brother is my brother!

As an all-powerful older brother, isn't it normal for him to know these things?

……

The subsequent exploration went very smoothly.

Most of the time was spent traveling.

Qi Ji led Su Shi straight to the island marked with a treasure chest icon.

In order to be efficient, Qi Ji skipped all the scattered monsters along the way and avoided them whenever possible.

After all, the drop rate had already been tested before, and the returns were too low.

Qi Ji led Su Shi straight to the core area of ​​the island.

This is the location of the so-called treasure chest.