Chapter 7: The Whisper

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***

The Ley Lines weaving through the underground world acted as Teyvat's blood vessels. They were connected to a heart somewhere, perhaps the core of the world. Orion speculated, lying on the grassy ground of a cave. The faint heartbeat in the depths of the world resonated with him, or one of his roots.

'Wisdom, Void, Heart? Or all of them?'

He couldn't pinpoint the origin of this sensation. He reactivated the 'Sentimental Ocean' talent and closed his eyes.

The heartbeat steadily grew stronger, reaching a point he couldn't discern if it was the world's heart or his own. Feelings of an anonymous person reached him, filling his chest with more pain than the time he suffocated in the ocean. That person was bleeding out in a frightful dark corner under the ground. Then, a resentment, thicker than the darkness, drowned all of those emotions. Orion had murderous thoughts before, even so, this person seemed like they had lost everything and just wanted revenge.

Orion forcefully cut off the empathy before he lost his mind. The entity lurking underneath had tremendous bloodlust for whoever wronged them.

Orion sat up and tossed another stick into the fire. Makoto was lying beside him in the warmth of the fire. He traced his finger on the violet marks burned into his flesh.

'It consumed the slime's Cryo elemental energy… devour?'

The Void element and its ability weighed on his mind. Regardless of its potency, the Void element stood against everything in Teyvat. The seven elements were the roots of Teyvat, with all seven nations flourishing under their unique elements. His ability to negate or consume the elemental energy broke the laws of Teyvat.

'I'm a potential world enemy in the first volume.'

Orion chuckled and laid down with his hands behind his head. He saw a full moon through a gap in the cave, which was unmistakably closer in this world.

"There are too many stars."

Some stars were far, some were close. Looking closely, he found the sparkling stars were faint in the center while the stars around were bright, forming a strange pattern similar to the canopy of an umbrella.

Then it happened, he saw numerous flashes of light dance across the sky.

'May my tomorrow be better than my last.'

He quietly said his wish to the meteor shower, even though he was an atheist at its finest.

Orion manifested the book given by his aunt and flipped to the first page, which only had one sentence written on it.

[Tomorrow will be your first day in Teyvat, so my dear nephew, sleep!]

Orion got through the entire book without finding one word. His aunt clearly didn't want him to read the book right now.

"Is this a magic item or something?"

Confused and curious, Orion closed his eyes. The bed of grass wasn't as comfortable as a traditional bed, but it was better than spending the night in Diluc's house when Diluc clearly suspected him.

***

Orion woke up with Makoto licking his face. She was acting like his natural alarm, nothing unusual. After scratching Makoto's chin for minutes, he opened the book again.

[Morning already… let me sleep…]

"..."

The golden text vanished from the page before new lines appeared.

[Orion, I have imbued this archive with a part of my consciousness. This book carries secrets that most in Teyvat don't know about. Just think of a question, and this book will bring it up quickly.]

She finally told him about the function of this book. Since the book carried a part of Lydia's consciousness, the texts that appeared came straight from her.

'The Goddess of Teaching should be wiser than the Ley Lines… Aunt, please explain spiritual energy.'

[The energy that flows through every being with sentience. Just think of it as the pathway that connects you and the elemental energy in the world. There is a limit to spiritual energy someone can generate, depending on a person's soul. Yours is exceptionally high for you are in the rank of ascended ones.]

Orion would be disappointed if Lydia told him his spiritual energy was meager like every other person in Teyvat.

'What's the Void element? What can it do?'

[Void… the element of sin flowing endlessly in the Abyss and the territory beyond the boundaries of Teyvat. Yes, the Void is considered evil by human standards since it differs from the Seven Elements. Celestia despises it for its corrosive and corruptive nature. That's all I could find as the librarian of Celestia.]

Orion sighed in frustration. Even a goddess couldn't divulge the true nature of the Void element, which had become a part of him.

"Vanity of the Void."

Void Root - Voice of the Void God

Talents unlocked:

Vanity of the Void - The aloof Void God sits on the throne as he craves the flames of life for fulfillment.

The cryptic lines possibly indicated towards Void God's lust to mingle with others, but his arrogance got in his way.

'Or it's pure gibberish.'

[You should try channeling your spiritual energy and chant 'Dark Flames of the Abyss, incinerate my foes with your wrath!']

Orion shuddered in cringe. His aunt seemed to have developed the so-called Chuunibyou Syndrome in Celestia.

[You can't prove me wrong without trying.]

He reached for the energy flowing through his veins and tried to control it. His spiritual energy surged. In all honesty, he wasn't sure what he was doing. He just followed his instincts and succeeded in using spiritual energy.

"Pyro." Instead of chanting a whole lot of gibberish, he uttered the name of the flame element of Teyvat. The void marks on his hands throbbed, triggering a dark purple fire that soon consumed his hands.

[Talent: A Whisper from the Abyss unlocked.]

A glance at the fire, and Orion realized why Celestia despised the Void element. The grass underneath him had shriveled, its essence sucked dry.

A fire that existed not to burn him but to burn life itself. He cut off the supply of spiritual energy, effectively putting a rest to the flames.

"A Whisper from the Abyss."

A Whisper from the Abyss - Silence is the best companion of the Void God. Even so, he was often fascinated by the denizens outside of its domain. When the Void God uttered his first word, the boundaries trembled.

Your whispers and your hands manifest your wisdom from nothing. Every use consumes your spiritual energy.

'It's not just pyro. I can do a lot more.'

Channeling his spiritual energy, he extended his hand towards the sunsettia fruit on the tree. "Telekinesis."

The fruit didn't budge an inch.

"Makes sense. I don't fully understand the concept of telekinesis. Vacuum."

His hands generated a vacuum that yanked the fruit. As the fruit neared his hand, it slowly aged until it lost all of its vivid orange colors.

Except for the corrosion, the new talent was a broken ability since it could bring his knowledge into reality.

He channeled his spiritual energy, finding the flow lighter than before. He had consumed nearly a quarter of his spiritual energy with just the flames and the vacuum.

'I can probably mimic other elements with this method.'

Elated with the new discovery, he strolled to the shore and splashed some water on his face. In the reflection, he spotted the new crimson streak in his hair.

"It looks so odd. Argh, whatever."

Orion was more worried about the void marks. The marks were even brighter in the light. It looked as if real snakes were writhing under his skin.

'I need a damn good excuse for this.'

He yoinked a fish out of the water and before the black-scaled fish reached his hand, he cut off the spiritual energy supply.

Makoto meowed, drooling at the sight of fresh fish. Orion fed his beloved cat until she was full before he set out for Diluc manor.

On his path, a small red pillar caught his eyes. The pillar's bottom part was shaped like a goblet while the upper part resembled a trident with a crimson triangle inside it.

'Teleport waypoint.'

The network was used by the players to travel around Teyvat. He touched the teleport waypoint, hoping his hands could make them blue. Alas, he wasn't Aether or Lumine, the sibling gods from another world.

Like Orion was scrutinizing the teleport waypoint, a figure scrutinized him from behind. Orion frowned and turned around, finding a person standing under the cliff.