Shock Of Keqing

Keqing wasn't nearly arrogant enough to say that she had never lost at anything, but she found it utterly despairing that she had just experienced such a crushing defeat. She had lost in things in the past, but never had those losses ever been so one-sided.

She now realized that Isamu wasn't at all overly arrogant before, she literally had no hope of winning if what he had just recently told her was true. Though, that really did beg the question, just what monstrous brain did Isamu have to do such a thing?

To be able to determine all possibilities on the chess board the moment she made her move, as well as being able to come up with multiple strategies in less than a second required someone with brain power far beyond anything she knew was even possible.

At the present time, Isamu just watched as Keqing now had her forehead firmly placed on the table as an illusory cloud of depression hovered above her. Smiling wryly, Isamu just held up one hand before a box designed just like the one on his desk appeared in his hand.

"Cheer up, here's your Game Box as promised."

"I still can't accept this in my heart..." Keqing muttered as her head tilted upwards to look at the box that had just been placed on the table. With a big sigh, Keqing pushed herself back up into a proper sitting position. "I feel like I'm being pitied."

"If you want, just think of it as my compensation for being so arrogant before." Hearing this, Keqing could only twitch her eye as that 'arrogance' she had insulted before was more than well-placed. The outcome of their game was evidence of that. "You still need to prove my shop's authenticity, right? Go ahead."

While it definitely hurts her pride quite a bit since she lost, Keqing knew that her duties had to come first. True, she could've bought the Bronze Box, but five thousand Mora just wasn't a high enough value for her to truly authenticate this shop.

Looking down at the box in front of her, Keqing began to feel rather nervous. As her hand reached forwards towards it, she hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. Taking a small breath, Keqing lightly gripped the top of the box before slowly opening it.

As soon as the lid opened, the inside of the box seemed to release a burst of dense light before slowly dying down. Since the light released wasn't too powerful, Keqing had no need to look away as she closely watched as something materialized while hovering above the now open box.

When the item fully revealed itself, it appeared to be a strange glowing white pentagon-shaped plate only around three or so centimeters thick. Looking at the item, Keqing looked confused, and Isamu was as well before he soon received an explanation in the form of a system notification.

.

『Pathstrider's Blessing』

● Origin: Honkai Star Rail

● Grade: Gold

● Description: If recognized by one of the Aeons, the one who gazes into this plate shall walk upon a new path from here on. By gazing into this plate, the recognized individual will be blessed by one of the Aeons and gain a newfound power upon the dawn of the next day

.

Upon seeing this, Isamu widened his eyes a bit after quickly reading the information. Essentially, the Keqing had just obtained was a free ticket to obtaining the ability to resonate with one of the Aeons and their paths.

Isamu was aware of Honkai Star Rail, it was Mihoyo's newest game, and the very same creators who created the world that he was now living in. In his opinion, the ability to resonate with the Aeons was greater than the power of Visions.

"It seems that you're quite lucky, Keqing. Although it's an item attainable from the Gold Box, it's quite the treasure still."

"This is...?" Keqing turned the strange plate around multiple times with a small frown on her face. As she spoke, her tone had an obvious trace of suspicion and doubt in it. "This doesn't look like anything worth much..."

'Oh, you have no idea...' Isamu thought to himself as he inwardly chuckled at her understandable ignorance. "That plate is worth much more than you think. That item right there allows you to become a Pathstrider."

"Path...strider?"

"Explaining it is easier said than done. I'll have to first tell you about Aeons." Isamu crossed his arms as he spoke. "For you to understand the position of Aeons, you can think of them as far stronger Archons. Beings of great power, each ruling over their own respective Path."

"Th-That's ridiculous!" Keqing exclaimed as she stared at Isamu with widened eyes. "The Archons are literla gods! To say that there are beings beyond them..."

Keqing may not like the fact that humans like herself depended so much on gods and adepti, but she herself knew that it was foolish for a mortal to try and raise their hands against them. As much as she hated to admit it, the distance between gods, immortals, and humans was immense.

With how Isamu was now saying that these Aeons surpassed the seven Archons, the top dog deities in this world was just utter nonsense in her ears. Hearing her yell though, Isamu didn't at all react, instead calmly closing his eyes.

"You don't have to believe me, but just knew that it's the truth." Isamu replied simply as he then continued. "Moving on though. Aeons are like gods, and they hold order over their own respective Paths. What are Paths? You can say they're similar to the seven elements, in which they are concepts that individuals can resonate with. By resonating with an Aeon's Path, you can become greater, you can become... a Pathstrider."

Isamu finished it with that as he waited patiently for all of that information to be digested by Keqing. He observed as the girl gave him doubtful looks as she alternated her gaze between the item in her hands and his eyes.

"Say I believe you... how would I go about using this?"

While Keqing had no doubt in her heart that Isamu was probably tricking her, if by the smallest possible chance he was telling the truth, this item that can supposedly make her this Pathstrider thing was honestly a priceless treasure!

"Just stare into the plate, focus yourself."

Seeing Isamu's relaxed expression, Keqing did as told, albeit with a bit of hesitation in her movements. As she began gazing into the blank white surface of the item, Keqing's gaze hardened as something seemed to shift on its surface.

Gradually widening her eyes, Keqing soon watched as the white colour began to shift constantly between many others. Curiously, Isamu walked over to see just what it was that was happening.

They both watched as the rotation of colours soon came to a halt, stopping as the previously white-coloured plate was now a gradient mixed colour of both purple and blue shades. Soon after, a figure began to show itself within these new colours.

As the figure became clear, they were shown to be a humanoid entity with a blue body covered in black platings on the chest and arms. Strangely enough, this figure had front legs similar to that of a horse and with back 'legs' represented as detached circles of energy.

However, the most eye-catching thing was no doubt the luminescent bow that the figure held high up to the sky. Shining with dazzling light where the figure gripped tightly, shining as if it were a literal rainbow star.

"The Archer Lord of Fate, huh?"

If there were two paths that Isamu would have placed Keqing into based on personality, then it would either be The Hunt or The Erudition. So seeing that Keqing had resonated with the Aeon Lan was not too surprising for him.

Keqing was stunned as she stared at the figure, but hearing Isamu's words seemed to cause her to unconsciously turn her attention as bit over to him. "Archer Lord of Fate?"

"Otherwise known as Lan, the Aeon representing the Path of The Hunt." Isamu explained simply. "They are also called the Reignbow Arbiter, the one who shot the legendary Lux Arrow. It may be bold of me to say, but I think this Path suits you perfectly."

"..." Keqing was silent after hearing these words from Isamu's mouth. He used a number of new terms that she was unfamiliar with, so she was understandably a bit lost. "I don't feel any different, did it really do anything?"

"Maybe? Maybe not?" Isamu chuckled. "We'll have to wait for tomorrow to see."

"Tomorrow...?"

Keqing frowned slightly at this, which meant she was going to have to hold off her verification of this shop until tomorrow. Though, she was quite surprised when the plate suddenly shattered into particles of light that were soon absorbed into her body.

"W-Was that supposed to happen...?"

"..."

Isamu wasn't really sure how to respond, so he could only give her a shrug, which obviously earned an annoyed sigh from the girl. In any case, Keqing was going to be patient and wait for tomorrow to come, then she'll know whether or not this shop is really some black shop or not.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

After leaving the shop, Keqing decided to focus on her work for the day, pushing aside any thoughts she had about the shop and the events that had recently transpired. Of course, there were moments that she couldn't help but be curious about tomorrow, would she really experience some miraculous change?

Whatever the case, the day went by rather quickly as Keqing got all of the work she could get done for the day before quickly heading home. It was now dark out as Keqing had gotten herself comfortable in her bed, ready to drift off into her sleep.

〖???: ...〗

Suddenly, Keqing felt a massive chill as she snapped open her eyes. What greeted her was not the pillow she had her head resting on, instead she found herself hovering in an endless black void with all kinds of lights flashing in the endless distance.

"What is-!"

Keqing felt her words completely stop as her eyes soon locked onto a particularly familiar figure behind her. Having turned around, Keqing now found herself staring wide-eyed at a being larger than anything she had ever seen, bigger than any mountain, and bigger than perhaps even all of Liyue itself!

Despite the fact that she could only see the being from who knows how many countless kilometers away, the sheer size of this being made it look as if they were only a few meters in front of her, she felt like she could reach out and touch them.

"Y-You're... Lan?!"

〖Lan: ...〗

The Aeon did not react to Keqing saying its name, instead disappearing with unprecedented speed as all that Keqing could see was the afterimage that too soon disappeared just as fast as the original. Immediately after, Keqing found herself forcefully awoken.

Immediately sitting up from her bed, Keqing began breathing heavily as sweat dripped down the sides of her face. Keqing didn't even blink as she tried to calm herself down, and after a few seconds, Keqing did somewhat calm down, though she did seem to be shaking.

'W-Was that really Lan? The Aeon of The Hunt?' After thinking back to the words she heard from Isamu, Keqing could only audibly gulp as she held both her shoulders. 'Was he telling the truth? That oppression... was far greater than Rex Lapis!'

Keqing had seen Rex Lapis on multiple occasions, all during previous Rites of Descension, and she had previously thought that the pressure Rex Lapis exuded was the pinnacle, but her experience just now...

She couldn't even describe it.