Victor Wang was jolted awake in his sleep by a surge of energy rapidly closing in.
The mental training session he had forced himself into before bed left a lingering ache in his head. As he sat up, a bluish-glowing stone crashed through half a windowpane and flew inside, only to be steadied midair by his control of elemental power before landing gently beside his bed.
"This timing… could it be Leonard's constellation?"
Whenever he exhausted himself with spirit-enhancing training, rest was crucial—without it, the headaches and fatigue were the least of his problems. The real risk was losing his combat strength for an entire day. So, even though he guessed what this meant, Victor Wang couldn't help but feel annoyed.
He flicked open his pocket watch. It was barely 2 AM.
Outside, the skies were alive with the whoosh of meteorites and the thunder of impact. There was no chance of sleeping through this. With a tired sigh, he put on his mask, draped an outer robe over his shoulders, and stepped out to assess the situation.
A majestic meteor shower swept across the horizon. The streaks of light scattered over a wide area, but most seemed to fall within Mondstadt and Liyue's borders. All of them trailed long blue tails. Despite being woken from his dreams, the sight coaxed a chuckle out of him—it looked just like someone blowing all their wishes on a hundred-pull only to get nothing but blues. His irritation eased at once.
The majority of the rooms in Wangshu Inn were still dark, but a few candles flickered as innkeepers called on guests to evacuate. The manager was in thin sleepwear, the proprietress cloaked in a heavy coat, both rapping on doors and shouting for anyone injured.
"Traveler, please lend a hand. If anyone gets hit while sleeping, it could be disastrous."
At Huai'an's request, Victor Wang took the opposite wing, knocking on doors one by one. To his surprise, only his own room had been struck.
Though the meteors were many, their descent stripped them of mass. Spread across the vast land, they weren't as dense as they seemed.
"What happened?"
He happened to knock on Yanxiao's door. The innkeeper rubbed his eyes, bleary, but then pointed over Victor Wang's shoulder with a start. "That—what is that? It looks like it's coming right at us!"
Victor Wang spun and, indeed, a meteor was bearing down. Still far enough to be outside his perception, but closing fast.
"That's a meteor! Get clear!"
"O-okay!"
Before they could move, another door opened. Jiang Xue stepped out, wielding nothing but the simple fishing rod he always carried. With a casual flick, the line shot skyward far beyond its natural reach. Under the moonlight, the hook extended into a cutting edge of sheer intent. It met the meteor high above, shattering it into a burst of starlight.
"Sword intent? Swordmaster?" Victor Wang's eyes widened, tinged with envy.
Jiang Xue didn't answer, stifling a yawn. "These meteors are strange."
"They're not ordinary stones. They carry some kind of energy."
He cast Victor Wang a glance and added, "Didn't you notice? That last one was aimed right at you."
"…! Both meteors that struck Wangshu Inn fell near me. That can't be coincidence…"
"But it isn't anyone trying to kill you, either. If it were, all those up there would have come down at once. Even the one perched above might not have blocked them all."
At the inn's highest branch sat Xiao, scowling in Victor Wang's direction. With a twirl of his spear, he deflected a massive meteor that had twisted unnaturally toward the southern courtyard.
In the minutes that followed, Victor Wang kept a close watch. Until the shower ended, three more meteors that should have landed near the inn suddenly veered straight at him.
"You've got to be kidding… even meteors get sucked in?"
"Sucked?"
"My cursed spirit-attracting body—now it's dragging meteors too."
"Spirits? Where? Don't tell me it's that little girl from the folding screen again!" Yanxiao's hands trembled so subtly they buzzed.
"Didn't you tell me when I first arrived, 'There are no such things as ghosts, I don't believe in them'?"
"I-I believe now. Don't scare me…"
"You're scaring yourself. I said meteors, not ghosts."
When the meteor shower finally ceased, the inn's guests lingered for a while, but seeing no further anomalies, they shuffled back to bed.
Victor Wang, however, now knew better.
Returning to his room, he found the stone that had first crashed through his window still lying quietly by the bed—untouched, since he'd rushed out immediately.
"Little Wen."
["Here!"]
He unsheathed the Wentian Sword and tapped the meteorite with its tip.
"Little Wen."
["Here! What do you want to say?"]
"You didn't faint."
["Master?! Do you hear yourself?"]
"Did you dream?"
["I wish I could dream!"]
"Having you here really is a relief."
He let the Wentian Sword drop. As it neared the ground, it lifted itself again before it could strike.
["Hmph! I was born of heaven and earth's stone, a spirit of ten thousand years. And only now do you realize this?"]
"Try touching this meteorite."
Though confused, Little Wen obeyed. ["And then?"]
"By your own claim—can you carry this out of the inn?"
["Of course I can!"] Little Wen tottered under the weight but managed to float a full circle.
"Good. Then in one hour, toss it outside. If I'm not awake by then, take it farther—much farther. If all else fails, wait a day or two and let Lumine handle it."
["W-what do you mean?!"]
Victor Wang had already lain down. "This rock… puts people to slee…"
["Hey! Master!"]
This wasn't just for fun. Scaramouche discovered something in Leonard's constellation. How could I not be curious?
That thought echoed as Little Wen's voice grew faint, and his own followed…
A rope can haul you up a cliff; a boat can carry you to sea. By forty, I had braved every domain… save for the Pilos Peak. That mountain ended my adventuring days. A beast without weakness, it is the world's cruel truth—fear incarnate…
Fragments of memory poured into his mind. When he next opened his eyes, he was in a different body—that of a man just past his prime, streaks of gray in his hair, clad in heavy winter gear, a standard Adventurers' Guild pack on his back.
Leonard, The Great Adventurer.
This was before he invented the Wind Glider, when he first faced the peak called "Pilos Peak"—a mountain so tall it dwarfed the Jade Chamber, higher even than Dragonspine. Perhaps higher still than Celestia itself, piercing the heavens, wreathed in eternal snow.
"A beast without weakness…"
Victor Wang muttered in Leonard's voice. To see the mountain himself, he wondered just how much power Venti once wielded, to physically shear off its summit…
"Climb it, conquer it!" Leonard's fractured memories whispered—not as temptation, but as encouragement.
And so, Victor Wang took his first step. Something higher was calling him. Perhaps the secret Scaramouche uncovered lay there.
His pack was heavy but well-stocked: portable heaters, healing salves, food for energy, three coils of rope, two climbing picks, two ice axes, and a pair of trekking poles in hand.
One man brimming with determination, another voice cheering him on—the climb began.
He made steady progress at first, driven by adrenaline. But without elemental power, and sealed of all his own gifts, the body he now wore was strong yet inexperienced. A sheer wall of ice stopped him cold.
Exhausted, hungry, he sat to rest and eat. Then he called into the void: "Any idea how to climb this kind of cliff?"
"Climb it, conquer it!"
Leonard's memory was broken, repeating only that stubborn will.
Victor Wang sighed, checking his pocket watch. An hour had passed.
Yet Pilos Peak stretched endlessly upward, the climb so far barely a scratch.
"Little Wen should be waking me soon…"
Rummaging through the pack, he found ropes useless, poles useless—only the ice axes could dig into the sheer cliff.
"Climb it, conquer it!"
Another ten minutes passed. Still no Little Wen. The encouragement continued like a drumbeat.
"Something must've happened outside… but with Lumine around, it'll be fine."
"Then climb I will!"
Victor Wang clenched his teeth, drove both axes into the ice, and began hauling himself up. The process was grueling—too much force wasted energy, too little risked slipping. Climb, rest, repeat, another hour gone.
"If only the axes were sharper, I'd save so much effort. If I had Anemo, I'd just fly—hah, so many ifs…"
"…Wait."
He tightened his grip, swung the axe casually a few times, and felt it. That familiar current.
"They're metal too. They can channel sword qi. Or should I call it… axe qi?"
"Climb it!" Leonard's voice boomed.
"Then climb!"
With sword qi coursing through the tools, the ice split easily. He aimed for vertical walls, each strike lifting him faster than trudging slopes.
Another hour passed. Below, the world blurred into blizzards. His blood burned with heat, but he felt the tether pulling him back—the meteorite being carried away.
Just as he reached a small ledge, the vision dissolved into haze, and his awareness snapped back to his real body.
["Master!"]
"Why three hours?!"
["Hah! It's been only one! Don't tell me that rock fried your mind."]
"One hour…?" He checked the watch—indeed, only one had passed. "So, time flows differently in the dream… Where's the meteorite?"
["It's gone!"]
"Then wake me at nine."
He retrieved the rock again, gave instructions, and touched it once more.
To his delight, he was right back where he left off.
"The summit—I'm coming!"