Timespace Dungeons
Before the chapter begins, regarding the social links. Liyue will have the most social links, mainly because it will be Ayato's main location out of the nations. Each of the other nations will probably have around two or three. Also, I'll probably just assign social links on characters at random, finding the correct personality is honestly annoying.
Speaking of social links, the last social link that will be made here in Liyue is in this chapter, so no more will be unlocked until Ayato leaves for other nations.
Also, just to avoid future comments about me rushing things like the Shadow Arcanas. If you look at the volume name, you can see that those Arcanas are just the first arc. I have much much more planned for the future, the Arcanas will become incredibly insignificant in the future. The Arcana Arc will probably last throughout the Mondstadt and Liyue sections, though I might extend it to Inazuma as well.
Finally, I have had a few people suggest I make something like a Patreon or something, as an optional thing, not a necessity for reading my story. I don't want to do that, I'm writing merely for the fun of it, I'm not looking to make cash off of something like this, especially since this is fanfiction, not an original novel.
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"Speech"
'Thoughts'
『System/Persona Speech』
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After the whole meeting with Ningguan, Ayato was more than elated to get something to eat. It had been three days now that he'd gotten anything in his stomach, so food was definitely his first priority before anything else. Fortunately, Keqing was kind enough to treat him to eat at the Xinyue Kiosk.
At the moment, both of them had already placed their orders and were now waiting for them to arrive. Ayato was a bit surprised honestly, Keqing had quite the reputation apparently and had even been given discount privileges in this place. Though, she was one of the Qixing, the apparent government of Liyue.
In fact, he had noticed quite a number of the other customers here at the restaurant looking in their direction. Ayato ultimately decided to ignore them though, it was uncomfortable being watched like this, but he'd rather try to ignore it than pay them any mind.
"Ganyu-san? She's the general secretary of the Qixing?"
"Indeed, she should currently be at the Yuehai Pavilion working through a number of documents that need to be completed. Since you'll be pretty much working with us from here on, she wants you to get to know a few of the other members a bit." Keqing explained as Ayato nodded in understanding as he took a small sip from his cup. "I'll lead you there, but I won't be staying. I... have something to do."
Though Ayato blinked before narrowing his eyes slightly at her words, she seemed a bit hesitant in the way she spoke those last few words. She even looked away a bit when she said them, something was definitely up. It didn't take a genius to know figure that out.
"Do you not get along with Ganyu-san?"
"W-Well, I wouldn't say that I don't get along with her..." Keqing seemed to reply in a bit of hesitation, though Ayato just narrowed his eyes a bit further. "Okay, maybe a little... But, if anything, I respect her quite a good deal. I just don't understand her..."
"Really? Mind telling?"
"It's just her devotion... I just can't seem to understand how she is so devoted to Rex Lapis." Keqing sighed as she leaned back in her chair. Ayato blinked in surprise, he was not expecting the Archon to be brought up. "He only descends every now and then, yet everyone looks up to him. They depend on him too much. Ganyu is just the top of that, she has far too much respect that it confuses me..."
"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" Ayato voiced as Keqing blinked at him. "If I understand what you're saying, you don't like the idea of how people are depending on Rex Lapis. I don't know much about the Geo Archon, but from what you're saying, he doesn't show his hand often. But, due to that, you're confused about why he gains so much respect, correct?"
"Exactly!"
"While I can see where you're coming from, I can also place myself in the view of those who respect him." Ayato voiced as he looked at Keqing. "It's not really about how much he's done, but what he has done for Liyue. Of course, he might have done quite a lot for Liyue as well. Tell me, do you hate Rex Lapis?"
"H-Hate him...?" Keqing asked in a rather surprised tone, she had not expected such a blunt and direct question like that. She looked down for a bit and seemed to be pondering, and after a few seconds, she looked back up. "No... I wouldn't say I hate him. Why the question...?"
"Just to help me understand, and I think I have." Ayato smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't dislike Rex Lapis himself, you just hate the fact that people rely on him too much. Let me guess, do you possibly believe that humans should be free from relying on gods and depend on themselves?"
"Th-That's exactly it! Humans should be the ones dealing with their problems, they rely too much on the Archons to do everything for them!" Keqing voiced out, Ayato didn't say anything and just calmly listened. "Humans should be independent... the more we rely on the Archons, I feel the more difficult it will be for us in the future."
"I see..." Ayato muttered as he closed his eyes for a bit as he pondered over those words. 'She reminds me of your old counterpart, Dagda.'
『...』
'You wanted independence for humans, take away the shackles that the gods had on us.'
『That indeed was my original self's views of the world and its status quo, while I disagree with his views, I could also understand them. My old self felt shackled, you know? He didn't believe we could change if we were forced to obey what was set for us, just as how my old self wanted freedom from -̵̘̐.̵͙̆-̷̞͊.̷̼́-̴͂͜-̵̘̐.̵͙̆- rule, for his path as a god was set in stone』
'That's true, he probably wanted an ideal world where everyone had their freedom to be and become what they wanted.' Ayato shook his head a bit as he opened his eyes again. "Dependency isn't bad, but it isn't good either. Therefore, I both agree yet disagree with your views, Keqing-san."
"What... do you mean?"
"Think of parents and their children. When a child grows up, that process requires the child to depend on their parents to take care of them. However, once the parents believe that their child can now live on their own, that is when the child is free from relying on them. That child, now an adult, can live a life of individuality."
"But, the people of Liyue-!"
"Have not shown that capability." Ayato interrupted her before she could say anything else. "I may be stepping out of bounds. However, it may be a case of the fact that the people of Liyue have yet to show their ability to live on without their Archon. It's possible that Rex Lapis has not seen the proof that he can leave the citizens of Liyue to their own devices, so he is reluctant to move on."
"..." Keqing went silent after hearing that. She looked down at her own cup, her eyes unblinking as she thought over the words. Ayato just smiled and went silent as he let her think. Now that she did think though, it was indeed true that the citizens haven't done anything that would prove to Rex Lapis that they don't need to depend on him.
Despite Ayato's words, she understood that he didn't mean it in the sense to insult the people of Liyue as children who can't take care of themselves. It was just that they hadn't proven themselves to be independent, constantly relying on Rex Lapis for support and to deal with Liyue's problems. Even for a number of small issues, they turn to the Geo Archon.
While Keqing was in her thoughts, there were more things that Ayato was thinking about himself. Through this conversation, he had learned quite a bit. From the type of character Keqing was, as well as Ganyu, and also a bit about the Geo Archon.
If what Dagda informed him about Zhongli was correct, and that he indeed was the Geo Archon, then he was sure quite the stir would happen around him. After all, with how much the people of Liyue seemed to devote themselves to him, he'd be swarmed if people knew it was him.
That probably meant that Zhongli was just a disguise. It wasn't uncommon in mythology for gods to blend themselves into the mortal world, for they wanted to experience mortal life. If that was the case for Rex Lapis in the form of Zhongli, he could only wonder why Rex Lapis was integrating himself into society.
For what reason is he going through the trouble of making a bit of a name for himself as Zhongli? Was it to observe his own people more thoroughly by joining their ranks? It was definitely a possible conclusion, though it also might just not be.
It was truly interesting to think about.
Speaking of things that he found interesting, his eyes were currently focused on one certain thing.
"Jii..."
"...What is it?"
"Jiiiiii..."
"...Why are you staring at my head?"
"Neko..."
"...Why do I suddenly want to punch you?"
『A mysterious voice rings in your head...』
『I am thou...thou art I...』
『Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Judgement Arcana...』
『The Keqing Social Link has reached level 2』
『Your powers to create Personas of the Judgement Arcana has grown』
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After having his fill of food, Keqing had taken him over towards the location in which Ganyu was supposedly working at. The building itself was quite large, and once Keqing had guided him here, she left just as she said she would. Though, she still looked to be pondering over his words.
He noticed a number of other people who were up and around the building as well, probably other workers here at this pavilion or whatever it was called. From what Keqing told him, Ganyu was working here, most likely filling out a few documents and all that, it was her assigned job after all regarding things like information and more.
Speaking of assigned jobs though, Ayato himself had one himself now. His accomplishment of defeating the Magician, even though he didn't remember it, had ended up getting him the job of becoming one of Liyue's main fighters, per se.
Ningguan had told him that his 'job' was basically watching over the protection of the harbor, investigating and dealing with potential threats around the city, and also training the millelith to better guard Liyue. He had seen the millelith, and they weren't exactly the greatest of fighters...
Ayato wasn't even that much of a fighter when he first came to this world, he only got as good as he was now thanks to Dagda's teachings. Though, if he does manage to get these guards into proper shape, it meant well for Liyue's future defense forces. Of course, he'd be paid for his services.
Anyway, his 'job' also included being called to help out with tasks that may prove too much for the millelith and also adventurers. Apparently, she had also been keeping watch on his record within the adventurer's guild, his performance in it far exceed any normal adventurer. His ability to quickly get jobs done, and also the number of commissions he's completed over a short period of time.
'I hope I'm not going to be disturbing her too much...' Ayato thought to himself as he slowly opened the doors leading inside the building. When he entered, he looked around to see the building itself looked more like a private office than anything else. 'Jeez, talk about a lot of books...'
Ayato looked around and could only flinch at the absurd number of papers and books stacked around the room, even more than there were in the Jade Chamber where Ningguan was. The sheer amount of books definitely spoke volumes of Ganyu's work ethic...
"Oh, Ayato!"
"Nice to see you again, Ganyu-san. I hope I'm not disturbing you."
"Not at all, I'm glad to see that you've awoken." Ganyu smiled as Ayato walked on over towards the desk she was sitting at. When he did, he looked at the numerous papers littered on the table and gave a nervous smile. "I'm just finishing reviewing a few of these documents, I don't have too many left."
"Not many, huh...?" Ayato deadpanned slightly as he looked at another 'small' stack of papers that were present beside the paper she was currently working through. "Are you sure you're going to be able to do this? Looks like a whole lot of work..."
"I'll be fine. this kind of workload is not uncommon." Ganyu stated simply as Ayato stared at her for a second in stunned silence. Ganyu tilted her head a bit at the action, Ayato then sighed a bit as he shook his head. He then looked at her with concern present in his eyes.
"Even so, just make sure you get enough rest. Too much work can really have a toll on someone."
"I'll... keep it in mind."
"Good, that's a start." Ayato could only shake his head when he saw the amount of work this girl was doing, and from what she was saying, it wasn't a new thing for her. Even though she didn't act like it, her eyes appeared pretty damn exhausted to him. "So, are you okay after the attack?"
"Y-Yes I am, I was mostly just exhausted than I was injured." Ganyu nodded her head and responded as she looked up at Ayato. Concern then made its way into her eyes. "I'm more concerned about you though, you were the one that was being targeted by it. Are you sure you should be up now?"
"Yeah, don't worry about me. I've been in bed for three whole days, that's more than enough time than I'd have liked." Ayato chuckled a bit as he waved his hand. "Before you ask, I'm not entirely sure where the markings on my arm came from. I just know that I have them now."
"If you say so..." Ganyu nodded slowly as she glanced her eyes down towards Ayato's left arm. While she couldn't see them now due to the new clothing he had on, she did remember those markings when they were on the battlefield. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. "In any case, feel free to come and ask me about anything if you're having trouble."
"Very well, thanks in advance then, Ganyu-san. In turn, just make sure you take care of yourself, don't overwork." He had noticed the girl's eyes closing every now and then, not in the form of blinking, but falling asleep. "I'll leave you to your duties then. See you another time, Ganyu-san."
"Farewell!"
With that, Ayato gave a small wave and left the room.
'Man, I really hope she gets some sleep. She may be an Adeptus, but that didn't excuse her from the fact that she needed sleep. Now that he thought about it, Xiao is an Adeptus, yet he's never seen the guy go off to sleep or anything. He's asked Xiao about if he was getting enough rest or sleep, yet the guy always seemed to dodge the question or just ignore him whenever he asked.
Whether it was because Xiao was embarrassed about such a thing, or he didn't want to hear Ayato's concerns about his health. Ayato had come to learn through the time he had spent with Xiao that the guy didn't want people to pity or feel concerned for him, whatever the reason, he didn't know.
『A mysterious voice rings in your head...』
『Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana...』
『You have established a new Social Link』
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Anyway, now that all of that was now out of the way, Ayato decided to just go back to doing what he has always been doing prior to the Magician incident. Right now, he was looking at the board of commissions near the area where Katheryne was currently manning the Adventurer's Guild booth.
It seemed that thanks to his recent accomplishment, the Qixing had even managed to increase his adventure rank, thus giving him access to more dangerous commissions. He wasn't going to complain, at least he could take on commissions that were supposedly 'difficult'.
Right now, he was out in the wilderness and now heading back towards Liyue. He had just finished up with a simple commission, so he didn't have much reason to stay out here anymore. There weren't enemies to fight either from what he could as of right now.
『Hey, kid. Have you checked your system menu yet?』
'Huh? Not really, why?'
『Pretty sure something interesting happened after you beat the Magician a few days ago, why don't you check it out? It might help you get stronger』
Ayato was a bit confused by the suggestion, but shrugged and decided to do so. If whatever Dagda was talking about helped him get stronger, then he was all for it. Who knows when something like the Magician would pop up again, he wanted to be as prepared as possible if it did.
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『Persona System』
● Character
● Social Links
● Personas
● Inventory
● Timespace Dungeons
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'Wait, what the heck is this?' Ayato blinked when he looked at the bottom to see that another option was now available to him. He knew for a fact that it wasn't there before. 'Dagda did say it happened after I beat the Magician, did the system add this when I fell unconscious?'
He wasn't entirely sure what these Timespace Dungeons were, but he might as well check it out. He knew of the concept of dungeons from both games as well as novels he read with The Gamer system, dungeons were typically a trope that helped the main character train. If this was the same thing, then he'd definitely abuse it as much as he possibly could.
'Why didn't you tell me this before?'
『I honestly forgot, thank yourself for being unconscious for three days』
'Bruh...'
Ayato deadpanned for a second before shaking his head, he then proceeded to focus on the Timespace Dungeons option. When he did, he was soon greeted with another screen, one that appeared to be a scroll-down list of sorts, and also another screen beside it with a bunch of words. From the looks of it, it was a bunch of information.
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『Timespace Dungeons Info』
● Timespace Dungeons are dungeons that allow the user to train themselves, and completing each dungeon grants the user different rewards. The higher the difficulty chosen, the better the rewards are that the user will receive upon completion.
● Each dungeon has Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties. Easy mode for each dungeon can only be challenged three times a day, Normal being one time a day, and Hard once a week.
● Timespace Dungeons can be unlocked either by accomplishing certain feats, completing certain events within the world, or through Shuffle Time.
● These dungeons all have a different theme/idea behind each one, and all range in a variety of difficulties, some being much harder than others. The dungeons are also not limited to a specific world concept, and can hold a theme from any kind of world out in the multiverse. They can be based either on a specific idea/individual, or even simulate certain world events.
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Even after reading all of that, he wouldn't say that he fully understood what it meant by holding themes, but he did know at least that the main purpose of these dungeons was to help him train. Evident from the very first dot point on the info screen. He certainly wasn't complaining.
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『Available Timespace Dungeons』
● Magician Arcana Dungeon [Difficulty Rank: 5] [Easy: 🟢🟢🟢] [Normal: 🟢] [Hard: 🟢]
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'So, only a dungeon for the Magician is currently available to me. Is it because I defeated the Magician that I was given this dungeon? That's most likely the case here...' Ayato looked at the middle screen to see that the only option available right now was indeed the Magician Arcana Dungeon.
That would also make some sense for one of the dot points from before, the one about how these dungeons are supposedly unlocked. Since that battle with the Magician may be considered an 'event', it is possible that he had unlocked the dungeon due to having defeated the shadow.
He hadn't exactly gotten a good training session in today, so he was more than happy to try this dungeon out right now. Seeing no other option, Ayato then focused on the only available dungeon as a new screen opened up with information regarding the dungeon. He was first asked to choose a difficulty though.
He thought about it for a bit, he had apparently killed the Magician easily once his Godslayer powers had been woken by Dagda. Dagda had informed him about how he absolutely shredded the Magician once that happened, so maybe going for normal wasn't too beneficial.
Though, he didn't exactly want to risk himself and overestimate his abilities just yet without making sure he was truly ready to take on the hardest difficulty. He could only challenge Hard mode once a week, so taking on Normal or Easy right now could help him test the waters. After all, waiting a day was far better than a whole week.
After thinking, he decided to go for Normal difficulty.
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『Magician Arcana Dungeon』
Dungeon Difficulty Rank: 5
Estimated Chance Of Success: 95%
Difficulty Mode: Normal
Objective: Defeat the Magician Arcana at the end of the dungeon
Rewards:
● Random Magician Arcana Persona [Level 10-25] [Rate: 20%]
● 5,000 Balance
『Enter』『Cancel』
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"Chance of success...?" Ayato muttered as he glanced over the information that he was provided. From what it was saying, it seemed to be giving him some sort of estimation on his chances of probably completing this dungeon. Thankfully, he seemed to have a very high chance. 'Even so, I should be careful...'
Just because it said that he had only a mere five percent chance of not being able to succeed, that five percent was still something he needed to take into consideration. He didn't know what these dungeons had in store for him, so that failure percentage might not even be because of the strength of the boss, but due to something about or in the dungeon.
If he were to assume that the strength of this Normal difficulty Magician was going to be the same as the one he fought before, then he shouldn't have much trouble now with his new Godslayer powers. Though that didn't mean he wasn't going to be wary, overconfidence could very well be his downfall. Any chance of failure, no matter how small, should be taken seriously.
Anyway, aside from that though, this seemed to also be a method of him being able to get more personas. He had to admit, the Shuffle Time was not ideal in getting new personas, it was a whole lot rarer to get a card with a persona on it than he thought. Though, maybe he's just unlucky.
If these dungeons could get him more personas under his belt, then that was just more reason for him to do them. He had been looking forward to using Igor's services with fusing his personas, but he just didn't have many to fuse as of yet, he literally only had four, and one was currently out of commission.
Now that he thought about it, how long would it take for Pixie to reconnect? It had been three days now, those being the days he was unconscious, yet she had yet to return to him. Well, really no point thinking about it, there wasn't anything he could do aside from wait and see.
For now...
"Alright, let's do this!" Ayato grinned as he tapped the enter button on the screen. He didn't remember defeating the Magician himself, it was almost as if his body did it autonomously. So, he didn't really get the pleasure of killing it with his own two hands. With this dungeon, he could do just that.
Soon after hitting the button, Ayato noticed a portal soon appear right next to him, and before he could say anything, the portal swept over and swallowed him. The transportation was instant, he blinked a few times before looking around to see his new surroundings.
He looked around to see that he had been teleported to an unfamiliar modern city, the city itself was not one he had ever seen before, both in fiction nor real life. However, he certainly didn't like it. It had a very dark atmosphere, and there was black sludge dripping all over the streets and also along the walls of the buildings.
"Another green moon..." Ayato muttered as he turned his gaze upwards towards the moon that illuminated the dark sky. True to his words, it was the very same green moon that occurred during the dark hour. 'Alright, no more wasting time. Time to kick this Magician's ass... again!'
With that, Ayato quickly sped off down the streets, avoiding the black sludge as he did so.
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『Current Personas』
● Dagda - [Arcana: The Fool] [Level: 13] [Inherit: Curse] [Resist: Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind] [Weak: Bless] [Strength: 20] [Magic: 16] [Endurance: 10] [Agility: 14] [Luck: 9] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢
● Pixie - [Arcana: The Lovers] [Level: 6] [Inherit: Electric] [Resist: Electric, Bless] [Weak: Gun, Ice, Curse] [Strength: 2] [Magic: 8] [Endurance: 5] [Agility: 4] [Luck: 6] [Skills: ⓘ] [Status: 🔴]
● Jack Frost - [Arcana: The Magician] [Level: 15] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Fire] [Strength: 8] [Magic: 16] [Endurance: 10] [Agility: 11] [Luck: 7] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢
● High Pixie - [Arcana: The Priestess] [Level: 11] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Wind] [Strength: 4] [Magic: 8] [Endurance: 5] [Agility: 6] [Luck: 10] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢