Chapter 47: It Was Bound to Happen Eventually

"That's quite the archery skill, Sir Nolan."

After flying around in a circle, the night raven Oz had completed his task and said in slight surprise.

"No no, it was all thanks to Bennett's elemental burst boost." Nolan didn't take the credit, after all, without Bennett he wouldn't have been able to accomplish this.

"Not bad, just slightly below this Princess."

Fischl looked at Nolan, her words full of approval.

Slightly below? Before raising his level, Nolan's "Hunter's Archery" was at Level 3. If it was slightly below, could Amy's archery be at Level 4 or 5?

To be honest, even if Nolan's archery skill gained some kind of "extraordinary" characteristics at max level, it probably wouldn't be able to compare to Fischl's. After all, she had the Vision.

With the Vision, even if her archery skills were just beginner level, as long as she imbued elemental power, the might contained within could not simply be matched by techniques alone.

Unless he used Pyro-infused shots or some other specialty arrows.

This was the advantage of possessing the Vision. Unfortunately, according to the original story, "External living beings do not belong to Teyvat's people, and often can only watch from afar."

In other words, Nolan is the same as the traveler who doesn't know where he is.

No matter how "lofty" the "wish" or "intense" the "longing", with the gods' gaze fixed upon him twenty-four hours a day, living beings that don't belong to Teyvat could never obtain the Vision.

This was probably some kind of rule. Nolan thought helplessly.

Of course, the Traveler didn't need a Vision either, and he himself had the character status panel, so he wasn't envious.

"Hehe, I only helped out a bit." Bennett revealed a sincere smile, then continued, "Let's go, now that the seal on the chest is undone, let's go see what's inside."

With his "misfortune" constitution, he had never gotten a treasure chest so smoothly before.

"Mn, let's go."

Fischl turned around and leapt into the pit where the chest was, her whole body started descending, and her golden hair also blew upwards. Suddenly, with a sound like an umbrella opening, a pair of wind gliders appeared on her back.

Using air resistance, Fischl slowly glided towards the treasure chest location.

Then Bennett likewise jumped and opened his wind glider to glide down. Nolan watched on slightly enviously.

Compared to them, even if Nolan bought a wind glider, he couldn't put it into the Vision. He could only carry it on him, which was rather inconvenient since he already had a lot to bring around.

It seemed he would need to get a gadget to easily store items in the future. Something like the "Domain of the adepti" arts could probably do it.

Nolan shook his head. He was thinking too far ahead.

His gaze looked towards the bottom of the pit. It wasn't too high either. Relying on his excellent physique, Nolan directly jumped.

Under the effects of gravity, the dull air seemed to turn into a fierce updraft, blowing against his face. The next second, Nolan landed on the ground mixed with mud and debris, leaving a pair of shallow footprints.

After shaking the slight numbness in his feet, he walked with Fischl and Bennett to the front of the treasure chest.

The exquisite chest was the same as he remembered, edged with iron pieces, the inside was wooden, and there were some decorative patterns on the front.

"Let this Princess take a look at what nice things are inside."

A smile appeared on Fischl's fair face. Her right hand, wearing a semi-translucent black glove that revealed her fingers, pressed on the chest's lid.

Nolan stared at that snowy white hand, also feeling some anticipation. This was the first time he had come across a treasure chest.

With a sound like a rupturing stone transmitting from the chest... rupturing stone?!

Nolan looked at Fischl's still unmoving hand, when suddenly a crack split open from the chest's base, then swiftly expanded!

"Crap, the ground is collapsing!"

"Miss, be careful!"

"..." Nolan was speechless for a moment.

How could the ground collapse for no reason? The earlier fight didn't make much noise either. As expected of you Bennett, one can't let their guard down before truly obtaining the treasure!

The ground completely shattered. The three of them and the huge broken stone chunks from the ground's fissure fell down together.

Like a feather floating in the air, Nolan had no foothold to control his body. If this continues, it will be no surprise that they will directly smash into the unknown depth of the lower ground.

"Grab on to me!" At this critical moment, Bennett reached out to Nolan.

Having experienced similar sudden situations many times, Bennett reflexively activated his wind glider to stop himself in mid-air.

Nolan reacted swiftly and grabbed Bennett's hand, temporarily resolving the crisis. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the still unopened exquisite chest falling down beside him.

Nolan hugged it with his free right hand.

Then he swiftly looked for Fischl, finally spotting her slightly above and further away. Fischl had also deployed her wind glider, with Oz by her side. Looks like they were both fine.

Now they could only slowly descend like this.

Soon, the sound of rocks hitting the ground came from below, stirring up clouds of dust. The environment was also very dark, unable to see the surroundings clearly.

But judging by the direction of the sounds, it probably wasn't too high.

After a long while, the swirling dust settled. Nolan and the others landed on the ground of this layer. Beneath and around them were the shattered rocks that fell from above.

"Hmm hmm, so it's like this."

Fischl's right foot in an exquisite black short boot stepped on a huge boulder, her left foot was at a slightly lower position, in a stride stance.

She covered her eyes with her right hand, and spoke in a quirky tone:

"Destiny descends here. This is the stray path of the wandering years!"

"The young miss says this is probably a hidden passage." Oz fluently interpreted.

Nolan observed their surroundings carefully. It really did seem like they were back inside a passage with the same architectural style as when they first entered. The environment was very dark, with only faint rays of light coming down from the opened-up hole above.

"I'm sorry, I think it's probably because of me affecting you all," Bennett said dejectedly with his hands hanging down.

He was now thinking of the various mishaps that occurred during his adventures, and this time was probably the same kind of situation.

"Oh?" Oz was slightly surprised. "Why do you say that, Sir Bennett?"

"It's like this..."

Bennett told them about his terrible luck, using examples from past adventures.

"My, what a persevering lad!" The night raven Oz exclaimed.

"Hmph, no need for self-blame!" Fischl stood slightly on her tiptoes, leaning against her left knee, striking another very cool-looking pose, and said, "As my servant, even your misfortune shall kneel before my magnificence!"

"As expected of the Princess!"

Nolan first made an admiring remark, then also said to Bennett:

"That's right. The more perilous the road towards the destination, the more the will that is honed will shine with its inherent radiance. What you've experienced is probably the tempering on your way to becoming a great adventurer."

"Being able to experience this together, I can probably boast about it in the future."

(End of Chapter)