You sent [xiaochou.name] to the rite presided over by Iman. It brought the gold and silver offerings you arranged, earning a place in the front row.

The city’s nobles, eager to beg blessings for themselves and their kin, gathered—what a spectacle! The priests praised the Purist while loudly chanting the names of donors alongside their offerings—an invisible contest of wealth, with some scrambling to add more after hearing others’ sums. The high priest, of course, took it all in stride.

At last, Iman appeared, commanding all to kneel in reverence—and to witness, in a flash of light, the offerings vanish. Sins, sickness, and calamities, all purified by the Purist through these sacrifices.

[xiaochou.name] returned unimpressed, seeing through the trick: the offerings were merely whisked away elsewhere. "So this is waste? Born from humans’ hunger for self-deception? How ironic... and how useful."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Iman
• Not Slot #2 Has Tag (Cultist) = 1

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Magic) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000707): Add 1

You sent [xiaochou.name] to meet Nayla, armed with funds to indulge in the extravagance of shopping. Soon, your gold coins was spent—[xiaochou.name] now wore a scarf threaded with gold, a wilderness-style gemstone belt, and an amber bracelet... while Nayla had bought an exorbitant dress, its fabric touted as one-of-a-kind.

Yet, the true lesson in waste had not yet come... until Nayla spotted another noblewoman wearing the same fabric! What followed was a fiery spectacle: she dragged [xiaochou.name] into a shouting match with the merchant, then publicly set the "vulgar, worthless scrap of cloth" ablaze—the very dress she had adored moments before.

A vivid lesson indeed, leaving [xiaochou.name] deeply impressed.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Nayla

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Charisma) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

You sent [xiaochou.name] to Mahir’s workshop. She was researching a material that could more efficiently channel Aether radiance—a breakthrough that might birth an entirely new lighting system, one requiring only a drop of ether to illuminate entire halls, nearly forever.

Of course, inventors dream in gold, but what [xiaochou.name] witnessed was far less glorious: costly alloys fed one by one into the magic forge, only to be reduced to ash. By nightfall, her own stockpile and the gold [xiaochou.name] had brought were nothing but worthless slag.

"What did you gain?" [xiaochou.name] asked. Mahir’s reply was the most extravagant waste the Mirror had ever heard: "I learned seventeen alloys that cannot withstand aether’s glow."

So this was true waste, [xiaochou.name] mused—humans hurling wealth into the void of trial and failure, chasing the one right path forward. What stubborn creatures they were!

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Mahir

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

In this game, you’ve spent time, gold coins, even the lives of others—and, of course, your own morals and dignity. [xiaochou.name] sneered at the absurdity.

Was that not the greatest waste of all? To pour the essence of one—no, countless—into the bottomless maw of a monarch? Did [xiaochou.name] not see the folly of human in this? Was [player.name] not the finest proof of humanity’s pitiful squandering of the world?

You mocked yourself… yet [xiaochou.name] spied the fire in your heart: "Ah, but you still sought something to fill him—no, to burst him, tear him, pierce him through, did you not? My master, you strove on. Show me more of this delightful spectacle!"

With those words of encouragement, [xiaochou.name] produced two pouches of gold coins—one from you, the other a mirrored copy, as if such paltry sums could offer solace…

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Tag (Protagonist) = 1

Result:

• Coins: 10
• Counter (7000707): Add 1

Lately, guests have been whispering that [player.name]’s household employs the most clever servants! Of course, no such thing is true.

Later, as you lingered at home, you noticed guests speaking to thin air—while in the mirrors, a handsome footman or a sharp-witted maid kept them company, trading pleasantries and tending to every whim. You sensed [xiaochou.name]’s power had grown—now it could toy with many mortals at once. Still, it brought you coins and reputations.

Result:

• Counter (7100004): Add 1
• Counter (7100002): Add 1
• Coins: 8
• Adjust Tag (Charisma) of Slot #1: Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: The Fourth Question from a Wise Man on Starting a Small-Scale Project