Their commission was suspicious.

[Ding! Control-type ability detected, automatically canceled, costing one crystal.]

"...He told you not to use the precepts too often," Chen Luo said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.

"Yes, that's something he often mentions." To everyone's surprise, Aponia actually nodded seriously.

If my future self often brings this up, will you still use it?

Well, it's probably because of habit that I can't change it.

It could also be because the ability is not yet fully developed and controlled after it has just been awakened.

"What about me? What about me?" Alicia asked curiously, holding a teardrop-shaped crystal in each hand.

"Hmm, could you give me those two crystal teardrops you have? They're the only things my future self left me," Chen Luo said, pointing to the crystal teardrops in Alicia's hand.

Since the letter says so, it means that only these two items in the whole box belong to Chen Luo, and the rest belong to Pado.

Poor Padma.

Hmm, I'll buy more of their stuff later.

"Well, how about this, we make a trade. You show me that letter, and I'll give you these two teardrops, okay?" After thinking for a moment, Alicia held the two teardrops in her hand.

It was obvious that Alicia was very interested in the letter in Chen Luo's hand.

Chen Luo glanced at the letter, which he could no longer read even after the power of time dissipated, and nodded decisively.

Chen Luo finally understood why his future self used this special method to write letters to himself—it was to protect himself from Alicia.

Alicia, Alicia, I predicted your prediction.

“I agree. Now give me those two Soul Teardrops,” Chen Luo said.

“No, what if you change your mind?” Alicia shook her head and refused.

"Then you can make a wish," Chen Luo reminded him.

“That makes sense.” Alicia nodded, then stared intently at Chen Luo.

[Ding! You have a new request!]

【exchange】

Reward: 30 Primogems

Difficulty: One star

Sigh, it seems the stronger you are, the more rewards you get for the commissions you issue. Even a simple honest exchange of items between two parties can earn you 30 Primogems.

Moreover, this method is quite good. Now Chen Luo doesn't need to take advantage of the other party anymore. He just needs to remind the other party, and the other party will take advantage of themselves.

This is a good method and it's worth promoting.

"Here you go." After confirming that Chen Luo had accepted the wish, Alicia handed over the two Soul Tears in her hand with considerable peace of mind. In Alicia's experience, Chen Luo would accept any wish as long as it came from the heart and wasn't too unreasonable.

After accepting this wish, Chen Luo rarely failed to fulfill it.

That's why Alicia was able to confidently give the two Soul Teardrops to the other party, and Chen Luo, having received the two Soul Teardrops, did not betray Alicia's trust and directly gave the letter in his hand to the other party.

Anyway, the other party definitely won't see anything, so let's just give it to them.

Upon seeing Alicia receive the letter, Aponia walked over to her. Clearly, Aponia was also very curious about it, but hadn't said anything earlier.

Because Chen Luo said not to use the precepts too frequently.

Moreover, the ability to enforce discipline is ineffective against Chen Luo, whether he is the present Chen Luo or the future Chen Luo.

After obtaining the two items called Soul Teardrops, Chen Luo began to examine them.

This thing is called Soul Teardrop because its shape really resembles a teardrop. It is crystal clear and flawless, which is why Alicia took it in her hand immediately.

Chen Luo recognized this Soul Tear. He knew it even before he saw it, because it existed in the Puppeteer's lineage.

The puppeteer's professional certificate doesn't just give you the profession of puppeteer. There's also a booklet that records a lot of things and traditions, including the Soul Tear.

Chen Luo is currently learning Soul Tear, because Soul Tear is one of the few items that only proficient puppeteers can learn, as it involves souls.

The effect is to perfectly integrate a soul into the doll.

These dolls are not limited to any material; they can be made of wood, dolls, or even real human bodies.

Perhaps it is precisely because Chen Luo is currently learning and is already able to make it that his future self can give this thing to Chen Luo.

Of course, Chen Luo is currently unable to create a soul teardrop that is almost textbook perfect, but as long as he works hard, he can still create a soul teardrop that is similar.

In a sense, this doesn't necessarily violate the paradox of time and space.

If Chen Luo wasn't mistaken, the soul teardrop was made using a chocolate bar.

In the puppeteer's tradition, almost all materials involving the soul contain soul dust, but Chen Luo doesn't have any soul dust, so he can only use chocolate bars as a substitute.

In some ways, chocolate bars are truly a versatile ingredient.

Therefore, the Soul Tear in front of us is something that Chen Luo possesses both the technology and the materials for. The future Chen Luo simply saved the modern Chen Luo this step.

But Chen Luo doesn't know what this thing can be used for.

Even if the future Chen Luo hadn't reminded him, Chen Luo still wouldn't have used this thing on Yvette.

Because Yvette's problem is something that Soul Dust simply cannot solve.

Chen Luo needs to turn Yvette into a puppet before he can revive her. Otherwise, what's the point? Keep her around to be betrayed?

"Lolo! I'm angry!" Alicia stood in front of Chen Luo with her hands on her hips.

"What's wrong?" Chen Luo asked Alicia after putting the two Soul Tears into his backpack.

"What's wrong? How could you ask such a question? What's the content? What's the point of giving me a blank piece of paper?" Alicia almost stuck the letter to Chen Luo's forehead.

"I can't help it. I'm not very good at using the time element. What happened just now was obviously just a temporary trial card. Even if you asked me to imbue you with the time element now, I'm afraid I might accidentally hurt your beautiful, star-like eyes," Chen Luo said helplessly.

"Emmm..." Although Alicia was angry that she couldn't read the letter, Chen Luo praised himself.

"Fine, what can I do? Alicia is the most considerate girl in the world. I'll forgive you this time," Alicia said helplessly.

I used to always make others lose their temper, but now I've finally met someone who makes me lose my temper too.

"Alright, we should go now. By the way, Aponia, would you like to leave the Deeper Abyss with me?" Chen Luo, having taken back the letter from Alicia and picked up the pet egg again, extended an invitation to Aponia.

"Hmm, let's go out and take a look. Ellie said that Ling appeared in the Land of the Dead, so..."

Aponia didn't finish her sentence, but Chen Luo and Alicia both sensed a hint of guilt in her voice.

At least in the Herrscher of Corruption incident, Aponia was not innocent.

Now that the Herrscher of Corruption has been successfully saved by Chen Luo, Aponia should naturally go out and meet her.

Chen Luo had only casually extended the invitation, but since the other party had accepted, Chen Luo naturally led them out of the deepest place.

"We're about to return to the Hall of Paradise from the Deepest Abyss. Oh, we're about to depart. Please hold on tight to Alicia's waist." Alicia took out her little flag again.

"..." Chen Luo paused for a moment, then glanced at the Paradise Pass in his backpack.

After Chen Luo illuminated the map of the deepest part of the Paradise of the Past, he could travel freely there, but...

Only a fool would use a pass now.

A pass? What's that? I don't know.

And so, Chen Luo and Alicia safely returned to the hall from the deepest part of the Paradise of the Past, and brought someone back with them.

After returning to the lobby, Chen Luo went to the lounge next door, looked at his still slightly warm cup of tea, picked it up, and began to contemplate life.

As for greeting Aponia? Aponia has been here for so many years, isn't she much more familiar with the place than Chen Luo?

Fortunately, Thousand Calamities isn't here right now, otherwise he might have gotten into a fight with Aponia if he saw her.

Although Ling is now in the Paradise of the Past and seems to be living quite well, to Qianjie, a sinner is still a sinner.

Aponia is not going to shirk responsibility for Ling's situation.

As for what Chen Luo was thinking about... it was, of course, the problem of Aponia.

"Should I buy the Discipline ability as a package deal or just the Fate Thread ability separately?" Chen Luo pondered.

Looking up at Su sitting opposite him, Chen Luo wanted to ask for her opinion, but buying power was a private matter, and it was clear that asking for help was not a good option.

The power of the Threads of Fate is Aponia's precognitive ability, which sounds impressive, but is actually quite a rip-off.

This ability only allows Aponia to learn about a person's life by touching the threads of fate, but it cannot change the person's fate.

In other words, those who are destined to die will still die, those who are destined to be killed will still be killed, and those who are destined to perish will still perish.

So the question arises: what's the use of such a predictive ability that can't change the future?

Are we just going to stare blankly at each other?

Chapter 285 Who says the threads of fate aren't threads?

Aponia's situation is somewhat special; her innate ability is called [Discipline], which originally cost 15,000 crystals but is now discounted to 7500 crystals.

Aponia's discipline ability actually includes two aspects: one is the precognitive ability called the Threads of Fate, and the other is a discipline ability similar to the power of words.

Although Chen Luo didn't know why both the general term and the individual skill were called Discipline, it didn't matter.

The important thing is that these two skills together cost 15,000 crystals, but if sold separately, each one is worth 1 crystals, but the total price is 2 crystals.

"Talent panel, talent panel, can you explain why this is?" Chen Luo looked at the talent panel with some confusion.

Your talent panel should at least serve some purpose besides accepting commissions and participating in lotteries. Stop being a complete slacker all the time, okay?

Because the two abilities within Aponia's Discipline are intertwined, each individual ability contains elements of the other to varying degrees.

"Oh, you finally spoke! So that's what happened." Surprised by the long-absent display of subtitles on the talent panel, Chen Luo finally got the answer he had been seeking.

Beneath the [Discipline] lies both Discipline and Destiny; these two abilities intertwine to form [Discipline], which is Aponia's true power.

In addition, since the two supporting capabilities are sold bundled together, they will naturally be discounted.

Hmm, that's somewhat like the relationship between a ping-pong ball and a ping-pong paddle.

The [Discipline] ability costs 15,000 crystals, which is equivalent to the pinnacle of S-rank talents.

Without this bundled discount, the original Discipline ability might have been even more expensive, perhaps even exceeding that price. The minimum price for an SS-tier talent is 15,000 Primogems.

Both of the Discipline's abilities, when considered separately, are S-rank talents.

If her ability to predict fate is like that of Remilia Scarlett, the young lady of Gensokyo, and not just limited to precognition, then it would be at an even higher level.

Unfortunately, the ability to predict fate is only worth 1 crystals, which is considered an S-level talent, and that might even be an overestimation.

“Generally speaking, when you buy someone else’s S-rank talent, you’ll modify it to some extent. Will Aponia’s talent be modified? I can’t bring myself to use it if it’s not modified.” Chen Luo discussed with the talent panel with some difficulty.

Just like Chen Luo's three Herrscher powers, no, now there are five. After becoming Chen Luo's talents, the five Herrscher powers underwent some conceptual modifications.

If these five powers are made more suitable for use in countless worlds, then what about Aponia's abilities?

Chen Luo had also purchased the abilities of other fusion warriors, such as Mebius's.

However, Mebius's ability is quite simple: resurrection. There's nothing to change.

Yes. Unless it's a very basic talent, more complex talents will undergo conceptualization and customized modifications.

The talent panel replied.

The "basic" talent mentioned in the talent panel clearly refers to Snake's resurrection ability.

This is resurrection; what can you change it? Can you change it to not resurrect?

Furthermore, the power of the Threads of Fate is fundamentally insufficient to fully support an S-rank talent, as it is only predictable and cannot be altered. Therefore, after the price of 1 crystals, it will undergo customized modifications.

"How do we modify it?" Chen Luo asked hurriedly.

If it could be modified to be more impressive, Chen Luo would buy it immediately.

After all, this is a destiny ability.

If you ask what the most powerful ability is in anime, novels, and games, it's either time, space, fate, or cause and effect. What else could it be?

Uh, hypnosis?

[Looking at you.]

"...You mean I can change it however I want?" Chen Luo was overjoyed.