A voice clearly not Fu Xuan's came from within her, and as it begged for mercy, Fu Xuan herself began mocking it: "Weren't you supposed to be all-powerful? Come on, hang in there a bit longer!"
Keralum: "I was wrong!!"
Fu Xuan: "No you weren't! Here, go ahead, keep using my body."
Keralum: "!!!"
At that moment, Keralum completely abandoned Fu Xuan's body and the Savory Truefire from Pei Guang followed it out.
Once outside of Fu Xuan's body, Keralum realized it was still burning!
It was bizarre: it was an energy being by nature, and normally flames should be more like nourishment. But Pei Guang's fire? No matter what it did, it couldn't shake it off.
At this moment, Pei Guang was actually hesitating, wondering if he should stop. After all, based on some of the historical background he'd learned about the Luofu, Heliobus might actually be important to the Xianzhou Alliance.
If he really roasted it into food or materials, who knew what kind of ripple effects that might cause?
Just as Pei Guang was deep in thought, Fu Xuan's voice reached his ear: "Ah Guang, please go easy on him!"
Looking up at Keralum, still burning midair under the Savory Truefire, Pei Guang tilted his head and asked curiously, "Say… do you think this Heliobus, once roasted, would be edible?"
As he asked, the flames extinguished, and the very instant they did, Pei Guang saw a glowing spherical object trailing smoke as it plummeted from the air and hit the ground.
Pei Guang leaned in, intrigued, and as soon as he got closer, he found this Heliobus… rather interesting.
Looking at the Heliobus that had been one-shot by Pei Guang, Fu Xuan, now conscious again, turned toward it and said, "Hah, and here I was wondering what earth-shattering havoc this Heliobus would cause while inside my body. And it turns out, it couldn't even last a few minutes before getting one-shotted by Ah Guang."
Though Fu Xuan couldn't control her body, her will had remained present throughout: she'd been fully aware of everything Heliobus was doing, and of everything happening around her.
The moment she saw Pei Guang arrive, she already knew things were under control. From that point on, she was just curious how long this Heliobus could hold out.
Who would've thought the whole thing would be over in just a few minutes… it had nearly gotten roasted alive?!
That said, Pei Guang's Savory Truefire could roast even a Lord Ravager like Phantylia, and it packed elite-tier magical damage. A fire like this, which didn't even exist on a physical level, was basically the natural nemesis of Heliobus.
As for why she asked for mercy… it was mainly because Keralum's ability was rather special. For the future of the Luofu, it might turn out to be quite useful. With that in mind, a unique Heliobus like this one was worth keeping around.
But just as Fu Xuan was about to speak, she noticed Pei Guang squatting beside the wheezing, smoldering Keralum, poking it with his finger.
Seeing this, Fu Xuan asked curiously, "Is there… something wrong with it?"
Pei Guang continued poking the collapsed Keralum on the ground, deep in thought: "This thing's a pure energy lifeform. If I tweak it a bit, I might be able to turn it into something… very fun and useful."
He stared excitedly at a newly unlocked crafting recipe: this Heliobus could be made into things. And not just random things: interesting, useful ones.
One Heliobus could be used to craft a guardian spirit, essentially a 'stand.' It would retain a portion of that Heliobus's abilities: for example, Keralum's user could predict the next twelve seconds into the future.
Unlike King Crimson, though, a stand made from Keralum wouldn't be able to skip time.
Five Heliobi could be used to create a transformation wand: something that could let someone transform into a magical girl, a Kamen Rider, or even an Armor Hero. The transformed form would possess the combined strength of all five Heliobi, used for both offense and defense.
Ten Heliobi could be crafted into an Ultraman transformation device: allowing the user's body to grow and shrink at will, and granting the ability to fire energy beams.
And if one could collect 999 Heliobi? That would be incredible. According to the system's description, if their sapience was removed, it would be possible to directly craft a being akin to a Lighting Lord. Of course, the drawback was obvious: it would require a substantial energy source to keep such a being charged.
In Pei Guang's understanding, if he truly wanted to make a Lighting Lord, he'd probably need the support of an entire Path's power. Otherwise, even if he managed to build one, there'd be no energy to run it.
Though creations made from Heliobi were powerful, they also came with a limitation — they needed to be powered. This could be done using Path energy or even raw energy, but according to the system, the best fuel was emotional energy generated by human beings.
Under normal circumstances, when a Heliobus absorbed this kind of emotional energy, it would only bring misfortune to humans. But after Pei Guang's adjustments, the Heliobi could behave like Kyubey: harvesting emotional power from humans through mysterious means, and at a remarkably high conversion rate.
Once the Heliobi got to experience it themselves, they'd know just how efficient it was.
As for what kind of emotional power to harvest? That was something Pei Guang could configure. The despair of a young girl? Sure. The miracle-like energy of hope? Also doable.
Even something like Qingque's "I've already given up" energy could work!
As the creator, Pei Guang had full control over this setting. Of course, different emotions produced different energies, so when crafting, he would definitely choose the most efficient option.
Additionally, during the crafting process, he could choose whether or not to retain the Heliobus's consciousness.
For example, when crafting a five-in-one device, he could keep all five, none, or just the ones he liked. There were no restrictions. However, if a Heliobus volunteered to be crafted into one of these tools, Pei Guang would have to preserve its will.
This mechanic made sense to Pei Guang. It was reasonable enough: stitching that in wasn't a bad thing.
And it was precisely because of all these new system unlocks that Pei Guang was now squatting beside Keralum, poking it while thinking: should he turn this Heliobus into a stand? Save it up to make a transformation wand or device? Or maybe stockpile even more… and build an invincible Lighting Lord?