Yomite gazed at Ningguang from the sidelines and curiosity got the best of him.
'I want to know.'
———————
Name: Ningguang
Age: 24
Title: Lady of the Jade Chamber
Occupation: Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing
Hobby: Liyue Millennial (Custom Chess)
Likes: Chicken Soup
Dislikes: ?
Dream: ?
Current mood: Calm
Relationship Level: 1/10 - Curiosity
State of Relationship: Aware of your existence
———————
'What does "Aware of your existence" even mean in this context...this is the first time something like this popped up...does she like know me based on my accomplishments from Mondstadt? Or is it something else entirely?'
Just as Yomite finished reading her status, he noted that her eyes met his for a brief moment before they darted away.
'...I doubt she even knows how I look in the first place, but the fact that we looked at each other isn't that great...She seems like the scheming type...'
He didn't ponder about it further and instead took a look at Iris, who was currently munching on snacks she stole from Paimon just now.
'Come to think of it...I never checked her profile after she transformed into a humanoid form from the dragon...I might as well try it out now since nothing is really happening... I want to know.'
———————
Name: Iris (Former - Dvalin )
Age: 1 (Former - 2000 )
Title: ████████████████
Stage of Transformation: 2
Occupation: None (Former - Dragon of the East)
Hobby: Eating, Sleeping
Likes: Food, Master
Dislikes: People, showering, wearing clothes
Dream: None Current mood: Hungry/Bored
Relationship Level: 9/10 - Adoration
State of Relationship: Master
Status Effect :
Dissonance of Memories - The user's old memories are not properly linked to their current physical body, causing personality changes based on the memories recalled.
Insatiable hunger - The user always requires sustenance for future development.
Perfect Immunity - The user is immune to all diseases, toxins, poisons, venoms, drugs.
Perfect Body of a God - The user's body is divinely beautiful.
Evolution - The user is capable of evolving and developing new abilities after having gained a certain degree of knowledge from the world around them without any stated limit.
Longevity of a God - The user's lifespan is nearly infinite.
———————
'...'
Yomite furrowed his eyebrows and stared blankly at the screen in front of him.
'Oi...This isn't normal. What the hell is this status!?'
He shook his head and turned back to look at Iris, still munching away on snacks.
'Haaah...I don't even know what to do with you...I guess I'll just leave it at that. It will work out somehow...I need to figure out a way to fix her memories too...'
He soon felt a tug at his sleeve and looked down to see Lumine standing there with an uncharacteristic pout on her face.
"Um...I want to tell you that I've learned a few new abilities...when I was exploring the Liyue." Lumine said softly, staring intently at Yomite.
Her voice had a sort of pleading tone behind it, or maybe she just felt left out and wanted some attention from him?
Whatever the reason was, Yomite couldn't help but soften a little and ruffle her hair. "Ey? My little protagonist cheat got another overpowered ability? Great!"
She immediately perked up, her face lighting up brightly. "I found out that if I link my will with the Statue of the Seven archons, I can borrow their element for myself...So far, I only linked with Anemo and Geo...I linked with Geo earlier before meeting Zhongli, hence why I was a bit embarrassed when we met him..." She trailed off sheepishly, glancing at Yomite nervously. "Borrowing a power without a permission..."
"Yeah, I honestly have no idea how that works at all, but I doubt Zhongli would even care about you doing something like that...especially considering what you did to him before...I would say he has a lot of...patience...In any case, it's great that you found yourself new powers just like me. My current goal after we're done in here is to return to Mondstadt and ask Lisa to teach me how to use the Anemo Vision properly, you can also join me in training later. What do you say?"
Lumine nodded happily, "Of course."
***
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*
**
***
A lone and exhausted figure of a woman with "hairpins" sticking out of her head could be seen sitting on a bench of the Yujing Terrace, fiddling with her hair and sighing quietly.
Usually, at the time like this, Ganyu would be either working or sound asleep, but she decided to make an exception this time around, as it was a special occasion.
The Rite of Descension was about to begin any minute now. It's been a long time since she'd seen Rex Lapis in person. The last time she saw him was a couple of decades ago.
But that wasn't the only reason she came.
"Yomite said he would probably be here."
Looking around, there were many people already gathering in the streets, ready to witness the descent of the Geo God.
Not only the residents, but also people who came from different places were all eager to be the ones who were able to get a chance to meet the true founder of the Liyue.
As she was looking around, she finally found the man she was looking for, but it seemed that he was in a heated argument at the moment...
"Paimon, I told you...if you eat any more sweets, you will get fat! I am not joking! Like I get it, sweets are nice and all, I like them too, but you could have left some for us as well!"
"And Paimon told you, Paimon has six stomachs and that Paimon would be fine! Stop calling Paimon fat, or else Paimon will take radical means against you!"
"That's just a figure of speech and you know it! Do you know how huge a stomach is? How would six of them fit into you!? Or are fairies different from humans other than their size of course!?"
"Hmpf, Paimon doesn't need to say anything to you! When you are dumb, not even a hammer would help you, Ugly Tattoo!"
"This little brat!?"
Ganyu looked over, amused by their banter.
It was Yomite with a group of people, having fun. She sensed no hostility or ill intent coming from them, so their argument was more of a teasing rather than something serious.
Sometimes, Ganyu wished to enjoy something like this too, though that wasn't really possible. Her job was tiresome and she barely had time for anything, but the biggest hurdle was socializing.
As far as Ganyu was concerned, the only time she ever interacted with other people was during working hours. If she needed something to be clarified, she would often ask Keqing or Ningguang, but that was the only interaction she ever got.
She knew how lonely it made her feel sometimes, feeling like no one appreciated her existence and no one tried to approach her to talk to her.
No one asked her how she was feeling because they all assumed she was fine.
All of this was just because she didn't share anything in common with the residents of Liyue.
The mortal way of enjoyment was beyond her. Many people and colleagues told her she was simply not 'normal' for a human being. That she didn't think like a human being would.
It bothered her.
Very much so.
Trying to fit in with humans was hard. Even for someone like Ganyu who had lived longer than many other living beings and for someone who possessed many unique talents, it was difficult.
There were times where she almost considered giving up...and simply ignoring everything unrelated to work altogether...
As soon as she thought of this, she started feeling sad.
'Rex Lapis…Whatever should I do...?'
It didn't take much thinking for her to arrive at a conclusion.
'I am...lonely.'
At once, the feelings of loneliness and solitude washed over her and she sighed again, hugging herself while gazing at the ground.
Even though she tried not to let anyone see it, she was beginning to become more and more depressed whenever she thought about her lack of friends or any human contact whatsoever.
She got along with other adepti well, but none of them were humans...
The closest person she could regard as a family was a figure called Cloud Retainer. An adeptus who was like a mother to her.
Yet she was hell bent on traditions and was constantly telling Ganyu to find a "partner to mate with and settle down" as she was of that age for a while now...when in reality, Ganyu had problems even talking to someone, much less finding someone important for life...
All of this led to Ganyu unwilling to visit Cloud Retainer often, as she was bombarded with weird questions and requests...
Simply said, her life was full of problems and responsibilities that weighed down on her shoulders.
Leaning back her head and closing her eyes with a heavy sigh, she suddenly noticed a faint aura of warmth surrounding her and felt her surroundings slowly relaxing.
"Hey, is everything alright over there?"
A voice rang out and Ganyu flinched slightly at the sudden intrusion. Opening her eyes, she blinked in bewilderment when she saw a familiar figure walking up to her.
"Yo! Nice to see you again! You seem distracted, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Yomite asked curiously, sitting down next to her.
That question, was what she needed to hear, since many years ago...
Are you okay?
Ganyu hesitated for a second before shaking her head lightly. "No, nothing happened. I am fine, but thank you. You're kind for asking." She shyly giggled, playing with the ends of her hair, as she spoke up.
The Rite of Descension was officially beginning...