"F-Fuck!"
Kyuren had honestly lost how many times now he had been killed, but at the very least he was starting to get the hang of things. It was now the next day and Kyuren had decided to start training in regard to the two synchronizations he had been given after completing the previous quest.
The system gave him the option to train against the synchronizers he had unlocked, training as in it allowed him to enter into a pocket dimension of sorts to fight against the selected character. Considering Kyuren's lack of combat experience though, he had easily been killed over fifty times now.
At the present time, Kyuren was inside of a white dimensional void fighting against Genji, though fighting may be a loose term since he had yet to even manage to land a single hit. Kyuren had martial arts experience, but Genji's supernatural combat prowess on top of his abilities just completely outclassed him.
However, the deaths may not be in vain as this training seemed to be more than just simple combat. As time went by, Kyuren could feel himself beginning to understand Genji's movements along with gaining understanding of the ninja's powers and techniques.
Perhaps it was just a passive effect of this dimension, he wasn't entirely sure.
Nonetheless, this nonstop training was definitely starting to get much easier over time as Kyuren was finding it much easier to keep track of Genji's position. Not that he could fully keep track, just well enough that he could at least react when he was attacked.
This was just Genji as well, he still had his training he was going to try and do with Hanzo. He had yet to begin that training though, Kyuren just figured that first getting himself comfortable fighting against Genji could help him greatly when he started training against Hanzo.
"Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!"
"Oh shit...!"
Kyuren instinctively rose both arms in front of himself as a single eastern emerald dragon flew through his body, he could feel his energy literally being sucked from him as his entire body felt as if it was being electrocuted on the outside.
The ultimate abilities belonging to both Genji and Hanzo didn't appear to actually cause physical damage, instead opting to attack the target's spiritual self. Meaning even if you had the strongest physical defence, it wouldn't really matter at all.
As soon as the entire dragon passed through him, Kyuren stumbled on his feet before he began falling forwards. The dragon returned to Genji before seemingly being absorbed and changed into a dense aura that coated Genji's entire body.
Before Kyuren could even react, Genji had dashed forwards and slashed his head right off his shoulders.
『Synchronization lost』
『Retry? (Yes/No)』
Once Kyuren was revived, he stumbled again but managed to catch himself as he shook his head to help clear his mind. Getting killed the first time was honestly terrifying, but eventually started to get used to it, not really sure if that was a good thing or not though.
"I need a break..." Kyuren sighed before tapping onto the 'No' option. Immediately after doing so, he found himself standing inside of his bedroom in the house the system had provided him. Kyuren the collapsed onto the bed. "Fuck, I'm exhausted...!"
Taking a deep breath, Kyuren summoned his laptop before opening it.
.
『Synchronizers』
● Genji - [Synchronicity: 12%] [TRAIN]
● Hanzo - [Synchronicity: 0%] [TRAIN]
.
"Only twelve percent, and I was in there getting killed for over four hours..." Kyuren sighed heavily upon seeing the rather disappointing number. "Whatever, maybe it'll increase faster the better I get at handling Genji's ridiculous capabilities. At least it's pretty decent progress for the first time..."
While Kyuren wouldn't necessarily say that he was desperate to get stronger, he at least wanted some assurance if he ever decided to go out of the city, or just in case he found himself into a dangerous situation.
●●●●●●●●●●●
Just like how he had planned, Kyuren played the cinematic once again during the morning. Just like the previous viewing, a number of people came over to watch it again despite either having seen it once or even twice already.
He wasn't sure just how popular the cinematic would be when he first released it, but he was pretty surprised by how well-received it was. Whenever he would walk around town, he'd hear some people talking about it, along with some who recognised him before rushing over and asking numerous questions.
"Excuse me, do you know if the adventurer's guild is around here?"
During this time, Kyuren had been trying to locate the booth area where he could sign up to be an adventurer. Becoming one wasn't only to have a way of getting a flow of Mora, but also because he could practice his synchronisations while earning money at the same time.
He remembered the general area of where the guild was here in the harbor from the game, but with how much bigger and different this real-life variation of the city was, it was proving rather difficult for him to track it down. In the end, he'd best off just asking someone.
Anyway, the person he had stopped appeared to be a tall man with long brown hair that was tied into a long ponytail. His attire consisted of a fancy brown attire with various silver, yellow and orange colourations. When Kyuren looked up at the man's face, he saw the most exotic looking red eyeliner he had probably ever seen on someone in real-life.
'Wait, Zhongli?!' Kyuren didn't really pay attention to the person he had stopped; he just asked the next person who was walking past him. The person he had so happened to stop was Zhongli, or better known to players, the persona of Rex Lapis himself. 'The fucking chances...'
"The adventurer's guild? Of course, you'll find it if you keep walking ahead. Once you reach the end of the street, turn left and you'll see it." Zhongli explained in his ever-so lovable voice. "This may sound strange, but are you perhaps Kyuren?"
"What? Um... yes, that's me."
"I see, it's a pleasure to meet. You may call me Zhongli." Upon hearing Kyuren's response, Zhongli gave a nod before introducing himself. "I've heard of you and your recent endeavours, and Director Hu has especially informed me about a recent event she had seen. I believe she was referring to it being called... Overwatch."
'Wait, Hu Tao was one of the recent viewers?' Kyuren blinked upon hearing this. He didn't recall seeing her in the audience, then again, he didn't exactly pay attention to the specific members within the audience. 'In any case, I'm glad there are so many people wanting to watch.'
It wasn't just the civilians, he had noticed an increase in millelith around the area he was doing business. Kyuren wasn't stupid, he knew they weren't just there to enjoy some good old cinematics of your neighbourhood Japanese dragon bois.
He was pretty confident that someone had stationed more millelith guards to keep a watch on him, and he wasn't exactly surprised by this. He was an anomaly, one with origins shrouded in mystery and with the ability to make floating screens appear out of nowhere.
If he were to hazard a guess, it was most likely due to Keqing.
The girl was pretty forward about how much she questioned him before, not that it was anything unexpected, she was one of the governing figures here in the city after all. While she didn't particularly hold responsibility for the millelith, she was still a member of the Qixing.
"If it's Overwatch, then it's probably me. Do you need me for something?"
"Nothing in particular." Zhongli gave a smile before shaking his head. "Director Hu has been pestering me about coming to see this showing of yours. It sounded quite interesting, so do you perhaps know when you'll be presenting it again?"
"It'll be this afternoon over in Chihu Rock." Kyuren answered calmly, though he was inwardly quite surprised. 'So, Zhongli himself is interested in my business. Can't lie, I'm feeling quite the strange sense of pride knowing this.'
"Then I shall be there, I look forward to seeing what you have to offer."
"And I hope you won't be disappointed."
●●●●●●●●●●●
After saying farewell to the husbando himself, Kyuren quickly made his way over to the guild to register himself to become an adventurer. Thankfully, just like in the game, there was no fee required for registering, so the process was both quick and simple.
He couldn't lie, talking with Katheryne wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when he knew for a fact that she was puppet, probably belonging to that one Fatui Harbinger chick. Nonetheless, the registration process worked out just fine and here he was.
The commission he had decided to take on was to deal with a local hilichurl camp that was somewhat near the city. According to the information given to him, it was only a twenty or so minute walk from the city gate, which in itself was a bit concerning.
What the hell were the millelith doing that they allowed a camp like that to be built so close to the city?
In any case, he had just arrived at the location, though he had yet to enter in. Right now, he positioned himself on top of a small, elevated cliff area that was looking down at the camp. He was laying stomach-first on the ground, so they had yet to notice his presence.
'Doesn't look to be a big camp, though I can understand why the guild wanted it dealt with. Considering how close it is to the city, it'd be best to rid of it before it can develop.' Kyuren voiced to himself as he looked down. 'Only five hilichurls, this shouldn't be too hard.'
Kyuren quickly assessed the situation, taking into account that there were two archer towers along with a single campfire. Two of the hilichurls were standing on the towers, and the remaining three were standing or sitting around the campfire.
If he was being honest, he was actually pretty impressed with these hilichurls. While they certainly weren't as intelligent as humans, the fact alone that they could accomplish what they have thus far was pretty impressive. Then again, he wasn't certain what their origins were.
'Alright, better get this done quick.'
Kyuren then silently stood up from his position, his eyes slowly closing as well. His eyes then snapped open, revealing a pair of glowing green eyes, void of any pupils, just pure green. Unconsciously, he gave a small war cry, catching the hilichurls attention.
The hilichurls were about to either charge or fire at him, but flinched back when a strange emerald cocoon-like crystal surrounded Kyuren's body. The crystal was constantly rotating while expanding slowly, and it didn't take long before it suddenly imploded upon itself as it seemingly shrunk, crushing Kyuren who was present within it.
When this happened, the cocoon exploded into a show of multiple rays of green light, the light being so intense that the hilichurls had no choice but to cover their eyes. Once the light dispersed, the hilichurls turned back, only to give off cries of concern and confusion upon seeing the figure staring down at them.
Unlike before, Kyuren now stood tall atop of the cliff he was on, fully donning Genji's cybernetic armour in all its glory. Even Genji's mechanical limbs seemed to have been replicated and replaced Kyuren's natural ones, giving him the full appearance, although shorter, of Genji.
『Synchronization Complete: Genji』
After managing to somewhat snap out of their stupor, the hilichurls all gave hostile cries before attacking. The archers were the first to attack as they both fired flaming arrows towards Kyuren's location, Kyuren didn't move from his position though.
Underneath his mask, Kyuren narrowed his eyes before twisting his body as the arrows flew past him. He didn't waste time though, he quickly began rushing towards the enemies with a trail of green light forming behind him as he dashed.
He then jumped up onto one of the towers and swinging his sword at the neck of the hilichurl that was present on the tower, the blade easily sliced through the hilichurl's flesh, disconnecting its head from the rest of its body.
Kyuren quickly bounded over to the other tower before doing the same thing to the other archer, who was only able to step back in fright as the sword soon decapitated him. With the archers both dealt with, Kyuren jumped down, landing in front of the remaining three.
With a small swing of his sword, the blood that stained its blade splashed onto the ground.
The remaining hilichurls were obviously taken back upon witnessing how easily Kyuren had dispatched both their archers, so they were now obviously much more cautious, and without a doubt, more frightened.
'This feeling's more incredible than I first thought, it feels natural yet so unreal.' Kyuren inwardly snorted int amusement as his right fist clenched a few times. 'However, controlling this new body is proving to be a bit of a hassle. It's going to take some getting used to...'
The cries of the three hilichurls brought his attention back to them, to which he watched as the three all began charging at him at the same time. This at least showed that these creatures did indeed possess a considerable amount of intelligence, they obviously knew there were strength in numbers.
If he were a normal human right now, then this situation would definitely not be favourable. Even the weakest of hilichurls were probably stronger than your average human, and without a doubt these ones he was facing were probably on the lower end of the spectrum.
Therefore, the outcome of this battle was clear as glass.