Ch 29

Simultaneously, a man descended from behind. Upon landing, the bow in his hand transformed into two dual blades. He charged into the encirclement of the Qixing forces and swiftly dismantled their defensive line with a rapid series of attacks. This dazzling sequence of movements happened in the blink of an eye. While the Traveler and Paimon were still in awe, the man made a gesture with his head.

"Follow me."

"It's actually him."

As soon as she saw the man appear, Ningguang recognized his identity. He was the Fatui's chief of the Fatui's Eleven Harbingers, Tartaglia, also known as Childe.

This situation was somewhat unexpected for Ningguang. Could it be that Childe was also present at the Rite of Parting? Was his involvement somehow related to the Archon's assassination? With various doubts in her mind, Ningguang continued to watch the unfolding plot.

...

After escaping the Qixing forces, they finally managed to elude the pursuit.

"Who are you, mister?" Paimon couldn't help asking.

"You can call me Childe."

"Wow, your personality is so terrible! You save us once, and now you treat us like servants?"

"Haha, I didn't mean it that way. 'Names' are just code names. It's like... you've seen 'the lady' back in Mondstadt, right?"

The Traveler and Paimon instantly became nervous. Because in Mondstadt, the Fatui Harbingers had already become synonymous with ruthless methods and unscrupulousness.

And Childe had anticipated this reaction.

"Could you please not think about 'immediately defeating this person'?"

Through his persuasive words, Childe explained the current situation. He admitted that he had secretly observed the Traveler during the Rite of Parting and knew that she was not the culprit. Therefore, Childe intended to help find the real killer.

The reason he was helping the Traveler was, in his own words, "The Fatui's envoys to the Nation of the Northland can't earn trust after such a major event. The seven stars that rule over Liyue always hold excessive suspicion toward us."

Finding the true culprit would also serve as a way to clear his own suspicion. In front of the Northland Bank, Childe handed the Traveler an artifact related to seeking the divine.

"Why do you want us to find an Adeptus?" Paimon asked.

"Heh, little one, how many reasons do you think people have for seeking immortality in this world? Some seek wealth, some seek healing, some seek love... and you are seeking justice."

"Justice?"

Childe chuckled and replied, "The Qixing have dispatched the Qianyan troops to find the assassin among the spectators."

"But could an ordinary person assassinate the God of War, who once swept through a thousand armies? The Geo Archon never abandoned his divine power."

"This crude response does not befit their usual standards and raises suspicion."

Following Childe's words, the Traveler speculated, "Could it be that the Seven are the real culprits, trying to shift the blame to someone else?"

"Heh, your thoughts are even more radical than mine, Honorary Knight."

"Now, the Northland Bank cannot indefinitely delay the Qianyan troops' search, but the divine beings have no such restrictions."

"Go find them, be faster than the Fatui's messenger, and deliver untwisted information to them."

The plot had become even more bewildering at this point. Judging from Childe's actions, he also seemed unaware of the true culprit behind the assassination of the Geo Archon. He used the Traveler to find the Adeptus in an attempt to clear himself of suspicion. There was even suspicion that the Liyue Qixing might be responsible for the assassination, which Ningguang found utterly absurd. However, based on this aspect alone, a temporary judgment could be made – it seemed that the Fatui Harbingers were not the true culprits of this event. So how exactly did the Archon fall? Could it be that he killed himself?

At the same time, Keqing's task had also progressed to this point. According to the plot's development, the next step was the journey to seek the Divine being in the Jade Chamber. Sensing Keqing's gaze, Ningguang knew that she harbored the same doubts.

Ningguang tapped her fingers lightly on the table. She wondered how she would act if she were to experience this incident. The assassination of the Geo Archon was undoubtedly a massive catastrophe in terms of faith for the people of Liyue. However, Ningguang considered the various impacts that this event would bring about, as well as the potential internal threats within Liyue – the Fatui Harbingers. If it were her, she would probably protect the Archon's body in secret, observe the subsequent developments while concealing the truth in plain sight. But besides the Fatui's reaction to this incident, there was another factor that she was deeply concerned about: Liyue's divine beings. Divine beings and the Seven had a history of conflicts, and in this era, those conflicts seemed to be intensifying. It was likely that after the Archon's assassination, these conflicts would escalate to the extreme. It might even lead to a full-scale war between mortals and Adeptus.

In the upcoming plot, the Traveler would visit Liyue's divine beings one by one. So, for now, let's take a look at the game. Let's see how the Adeptus would react if such an incident really happened.

...

"Lady, I don't understand what you're afraid of."

In a meeting room of the Northland Bank, Childe leaned back in his chair and spoke in a contemptuous tone.

"You won't even mention what happened in Mondstadt. Now, because of that 'Gamer's Paradise,' you're too scared to go there in person. Instead, you rely on your subordinates to infiltrate and gather information under the guise of ordinary players."

"We can only passively gather information here. It's ridiculous."

The lady's expression remained indifferent as she replied coldly, "I have my reasons. The owner of that Gamer's Paradise is far from ordinary, feel like he a God."

"Now, in Liyue, with both of us as envoys, we're still cowering like this. In such a case, how can we obtain Morax's divine core?"

The lady fell silent and cast a sharp gaze at Childe.

At the same time, the temperature in the room began to drop sharply.

"Are you suggesting a fight? Hehe, this isn't the right place for that."

"Never mind, you have your reasons, and I have mine."

Childe was about to leave the meeting room as he prepared to pull up the armrest. However, at the moment he touched it, a layer of ice instantly formed on the armrest.

"What do you mean?"

"Though I don't have much to say to you, as colleagues, there's a piece of information I need to share with you," the lady said, fixing her gaze on Childe. "Regarding the latest news about the 'Gamer's Paradise' – you, Tartaglia, will appear as a playable character in the game."

"They've made me a playable character?" Childe revealed an intrigued smile. "Interesting... It's worth my personal attention."

.....

In recent days, Takumi's Gamer's Paradise had completely opened up its market in Liyue. All 150 seats were consistently occupied, and it was only late at night that the crowd would thin out. Initially, some players merely wanted to experience this novelty, but once they got into the game, they were deeply drawn into it. Many players even exclaimed that the game was addictive.

Liyue was a place with accumulated wealth, attracting people from all directions, including those with exceptional gaming talents. Due to various factors and disparities in information, differences among players were still apparent. In the streets and alleys of Liyue, discussions about the content of the mobile game were everywhere. Among them, the most discussed topic was about choosing characters from the gacha pool.

Having a powerful character could provide an excellent gaming experience, enabling faster progress in the storyline and becoming the key to becoming a "pro" player. Whales were still a minority, and most players only made the first recharge. Although they also received primogems from quests, it wasn't enough to guarantee them all the characters.

In Liyue, the hottest character was undoubtedly the reigning star in the standard pool – Keqing. Without going into further details, just Keqing's identity was enough to make many players want her to join their teams. Not to mention that Keqing was also a 5-star DPS character, known for her elegant swordplay and versatile skills. She was highly functional and an excellent choice for exploring the vast world. Her popularity exceeded Takumi's expectations.

However, the standard pool didn't guarantee featured up characters. Whether one could pull Keqing was purely a matter of luck. Some people crazily spent money to get Keqing, and her value was almost refreshed every hour. The numbers were astonishing, to the point that Keqing was jokingly referred to as "Keking."

And just this morning, Takumi had opened a new limited character pool.

"Farewell to the City of Mondstadt, [Childe] Tartaglia, may your prayers be answered!" The accompanying weapon pool included [Skyward Harp] and [Sacrificial Bow].

The moment this character pool was opened, it immediately sent shockwaves through all the players! The current progress of the storyline was generally centered around Jean's missions in Mondstadt. Even "pro" players were busy challenging the Stormterror Dvalin.

It seemed that no one had officially initiated the storyline in Liyue. However, this didn't hinder the players' curiosity about this new character.

"Tartaglia... Why do I feel like I've seen this person somewhere before?"

"I know this guy; he's a diplomat from the nation of Snezhnaya visiting Liyue!"

"Judging by his appearance, he should also be a main DPS character, right?"

"I don't know if he's strong or not, but if he is, I must pull for him!"

"Why don't we just check out the character introduction video that Takumi released?"

Amidst the anticipation of numerous players, the video about Tartaglia began to play.

[Childe Tartaglia is one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers from the nation of Snezhnaya.]

[Tartaglia, who excels in various combat skills, can switch combat stances at will.]

[He fights using two completely different combat styles.]

[To overcome his lack of proficiency in archery, he chooses a bow as his weapon.]

"It seems that this guy named Dada-ya is pretty strong; after all, he's one of the Fatui's Harbingers."

"It's not Dada-ya; it's Tartaglia."

"He seems quite powerful, but I wonder how he'll perform in the game?"

"Greatswords are the strongest weapons; bows don't seem that strong."

"Water element characters should be in high demand for elemental reactions."

The voices of players discussing the character filled the air. Meanwhile, in a private room, Tartaglia removed his hood. Listening to the players' discussions about him, he couldn't help but feel curious.

How would the owner of this gaming paradise design his combat talents?

[When facing a formidable enemy, Tartaglia will reveal his true strength.]

[Releasing his Elemental Skill????? Autumn? Sza??? Listening to ???? can?]

[In this state, Tartaglia's normal attacks will be transformed into up to six consecutive Hydro slashes.]

Seeing the footage of himself, fluidly switching and wielding his weapons against his enemies, Tartaglia couldn't help but smile.

"Hmm, not a bad design. However, this is just one of the many combat styles I have."

"Besides the Elemental Skill, there's also an Elemental Burst, right? I wonder if this skill will reveal some of my true abilities?"

Tartaglia couldn't help but reach for his eyepatch. That... was his true trump card. The true form of his Foul Legacy transformation wasn't as simple as shown in the mobile game – just switching weapon forms. It was a complete release of the power within his eyepatch, a massive amplification of his vision power, even to the extent of altering his physical form to some degree.

It seemed that Takumi, despite having some information about him, didn't fully understand him.

In Tartaglia's view, this in-game version of himself, although well-designed in terms of movements, only showcased a small fraction of his true abilities.

"Unleash!" In the video, while in bow stance, he released a water-element arrow toward the enemy in front. "When Tartaglia unleashes his Elemental Burst, he will deliver different attacks to the enemy based on his current state."

"In melee stance, he performs a wide-range slash attack, dealing significant water-elemental damage to nearby enemies and triggering the Riptide effect."

"Exploiting a vulnerability that vanishes in an instant!" Seeing his Elemental Burst, Tartaglia couldn't help but smile. Although it was a good move, he had perhaps set his expectations too high, hoping to reveal some of his more potent abilities. His Foul Legacy transformation and the power of his Cetacean might were not showcased in this mobile game. This made Tartaglia feel somewhat "it's just like this."

However, since he had already become a featured character in the mobile game, Tartaglia naturally intended to pull for himself. Besides uncovering more information about his in-game character, he also planned to develop himself into the strongest DPS character. In both the game and reality, he aimed to be at the top!

However, before Tartaglia could start pulling for cards, the door to his private room suddenly knocked.

"Who is it?"

"[Childe], since you're here too, don't hide; why don't we have a chat?"

Tartaglia's eyes flickered. Was that the voice of Ningguang, the Tianquan of the Seven Stars?

Sure enough, even though he had concealed his whereabouts and appearance, he was discovered by the Seven Stars' surveillance. Since that was the case, Tartaglia had no reason to hide any longer. He walked out openly. After all, he had done nothing wrong; he had just come to experience the mobile game as a player.

"Tianquan Ningguang, oh, and Yuheng , Keqing, it's been a while."

Tartaglia greeted them with a smile. If someone didn't know better, they might think he was well-acquainted with Ningguang and Keqing.

"It's quite lively right now. I didn't expect that in the Liyue version, the first 5-star limited character to debut would be you," Keqing said.

"Hahaha, yeah, I didn't expect it either." Tartaglia appeared very amiable; if you didn't know any better, you'd think he and Ningguang and Keqing were old acquaintances.

"The owner of the mobile game paradise even named my character pool 'Farewell to the East.' I have to say it really suits the occasion."

Ningguang smiled faintly and said, "Since [Childe] is also interested in this character pool, why don't we make a wager?"

"Does Miss Ningguang want to make a bet with me? Well, that's nice. I wonder what the terms of the wager are?"

"It's very simple." A faint glint shone in Ningguang's crimson pupils. "If you can pull your in-game self to full constellation and obtain your signature weapon within 30 million Mora, then you win."

"On the other hand, if you lose..."

"If you win, I'll compensate for all the Mora you've spent."

"But if you lose, you'll bear the cost of all the Mora you've spent."

"I wonder if [Childe] has the courage to enter into this wager?"

.....

Hearing Ningguang propose such a wager, Tartaglia's face revealed a meaningful expression. 30 million Mora, when converted to in-game currency, meant having at least 300,000 Primogems. To pull a limited character to full constellation, one needed to summon that character seven times. However, Tartaglia was aware of a certain piece of information: this mobile game's limited character banner had a pity system! Even with the worst luck, you would get a 5-star character around the 80th pull. Although it might not be the current limited character, the next 5-star would surely be the limited character. This was what they called a soft pity and a hard pity.

The Foolish People had paid considerable attention to this mobile game and naturally knew about this unspoken rule in the character banner. They had even conducted related statistics. Basically, the range to pull a full constellation character was between 465 and 843 pulls. In other words, it would require a minimum of 74,400 Primogems and a maximum of 134,880 Primogems.

Tartaglia had firmly remembered this information because he had intended to pull himself to full constellation. Therefore, he needed to plan ahead. The so-called "signature weapon" should be the [Skyward Harp] in the weapon banner. There were no requirements for its refinement rank, so obtaining one copy would suffice. Ningguang's condition was 300,000 Primogems, which Tartaglia considered more than enough.

However, for an average person, they would definitely hesitate to accept this wager because they wouldn't understand the pity system in the character banner. While 300,000 Primogems was a considerable amount, facing unknown probabilities, they would inevitably be afraid. Childe, on the other hand, was different. He had the most detailed data analysis and knew the secrets of these 107 banners.

For Tartaglia, 30 million Mora was by no means a small sum. Now that someone was offering to cover the cost, he was more than willing to accept it.

Ningguang's audacious wager had already attracted the attention of many players. Many of them put down their phones and focused their gaze on Tartaglia. In the eyes of others, Ningguang was the shrewdest merchant in Liyue Harbor. How could she possibly enter into a losing bet? Surely, she wanted to see Tartaglia admit his misfortune. After all, they were not aware of the banner's mechanics. They could only make subjective judgments, and they believed that Ningguang would not make a disadvantageous move.

This fatui People executive named Tartaglia could easily refuse this wager. Although he might lose some face by doing so, after all, his opponent was Lady Ningguang. Admitting defeat wouldn't be shameful.