"Ugh… pastries… I can't do it… I'm useless," Raiden Ei slumped, dejected.
The Shogunate's rare holiday gave Reisen Riou a chance to cook with Ei. She'd hoped his culinary and teaching skills would make her a chef yet. Reality disagreed—after eight kitchen explosions, Reisen Riou declared the "Raiden Shogun Cooks" plan a failure. Despite following his steps exactly, Ei's dough sparked Electro-Charged reactions with water and Overloaded with fire, uncontrollably. Her innate Electro field infused everything she touched with potent Electro, rivaling rare elemental treasures. Reisen Riou's analysis yielded no answers beyond "elemental contamination." Dough, a mix of inert Dendro and Hydro, shouldn't conduct Electro—yet Ei's instinct defied logic, embedding Electro in everything.
Dry objects like tables shed it; living beings didn't. Inazuma's high Electro resistance and its abundance of Electro Vision-wielders, who broke limits easily, stemmed from Ei and Makoto's ambient Electro saturating the land. Their influence purified Electro Visions, easing breakthroughs up to LV70+ and even LV80+. Unlike Ei, Reisen Riou, who'd rebuilt his foundation as Electro-primary, Geo-secondary during his Great Youkai ascension, only recently gained this perk.
"Cheer up," Reisen Riou said, presenting a tray of pastries—crisp white shells, tart purple jam, and Narukami Grass, Sweet Flower, and flour filling.
"Too exquisite," Ei marveled, hesitating to bite.
"No matter how exquisite, it's meant to be eaten—like you," he teased.
"Like you, gobbled up without a fight," she shot back, smirking.
"When will I climb the family pecking order?" he hammed, thrusting a plate. "Take this, Ei—Dreamless Dango!"
She froze, catching his pun. Before he blinked, the Tricolor Dango vanished.
"Ei! Leave me one!" he yelped.
Khaenri'ah, Archaeological Department
"Progress is dismal, sir," a scholar reported. "Tsurumi and Dragonspine's fog and blizzards stall us. Monsters decimate our teams—knights can't return home."
"Necessary sacrifices," the director replied.
"Fine, but we need more Tillers," the scholar pressed.
"Demand's too high, production's too low," the director sighed. "Tillers don't suit every terrain. Sumeru and Tsurumi—"
"Bad news," the scholar cut in. "Liyue rejected our Dunyu Ruins dig, Inazuma blocked Araumi's ruins, and Mondstadt denied Windwail Highland."
"More?" the director braced.
"Sumeru approved some ruins but demands Academia scholars join us."
"They're leeching our labor and Tillers—damn Seven Nations," the director cursed.
"Refuse?"
"No, agree. No conflicts with the Archons' dogs yet. Divert spare Tillers and Heavy Units to Tsurumi and Dragonspine."
"Thirty days on Tsurumi, and another fiend hits," a knight grumbled. "Elemental potions repelled it, but we lost another Tiller—beyond repair."
Mental strain plagued Khaenri'ahn knights; many muttered to themselves. Scholars' counseling kept symptoms mild.
"Where do we go from—" The knight's throat was slit, blood spraying, blocked by an invisible force.
"You go to hell," Gensei Jirou whispered, retracting his Cryo blade within the Stealth Barrier.
Their fifth kill—three lone knights, one scholar. The Brigade dodged Tiller patrols, striking with one-shot precision, denying flares or whistles. Khaenri'ahns, sensing danger, curbed solo outings. But fractured minds, like this knight's, saw phantom allies. He'd thought a Tiller and comrade were with him—none were.
Bankaku Nisei erased traces. "They're going out alone less. They've reached Moshiri Ceremonial Site."