The days leading up to the departure were a flurry of preparations, filled with Ganyu's loving, anxious fussing. She packed Ren's bag with enough spare clothes for a three-month expedition, enough snacks to feed a small army, and a dozen different kinds of healing ointments and potions for every conceivable injury.
On the final evening, Xianyun, who had stayed in the Harbor after the meeting, had a private conversation with Ren. They sat on the veranda, the communication sigil resting on the table between them.
"The Yuheng is a capable warrior," Xianyun stated, her tone serious. "You will be well-protected from physical threats. However, the world is full of other dangers. Deception. Greed. Be observant, Ren. Trust your instincts. And do not hesitate to use this," she tapped the sigil, "for any reason, no matter how trivial it may seem. This one's peace of mind is contingent upon your safety."
"I will, Master," Ren promised, his heart warmed by her stern, logical brand of affection.
The morning of their departure was bright and clear. The delegation assembled at the city gates, a small, efficient group. There was Keqing, her expression sharp and ready; four elite, stoic Millelith warriors who looked like they could wrestle a Lawachurl; and a kind-faced female attendant named Lingshan, tasked with seeing to Ren's daily needs. And then there was Ren, with his slightly overstuffed travel bag, looking less like an official delegate and more like a child heading off to a very well-guarded summer camp.
Ganyu's farewell was a long, tight hug, filled with a hundred whispered instructions to be careful, to eat well, and to come home soon.
As the gates of Liyue Harbor receded behind them, Ren felt a thrill of pure, unadulterated adventure. Their journey took them first to the small mining outposts that dotted the landscape on the road to the Chasm. These were rough, hardy settlements, populated by miners and their families, people whose lives were as hard as the rock they excavated.
Here, Ren's role truly began, and he shone in a way that left the entire delegation speechless.
In the first settlement, Keqing gathered the grizzled, skeptical miners in the main camp square. She gave a crisp, official introduction. Then, she gestured to Ren. "And this is the chief inventor, Ren."
The miners stared, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and amusement. This little doll-like boy was the genius inventor from the Harbor?
Ren, not the least bit intimidated, stepped forward. He didn't give a technical lecture. He spoke to them in simple, clear terms. "Hello, everyone," he began, his voice carrying in the quiet mountain air. "I heard it gets very cold here at night, so I thought it would be nice to make something to help you all stay warm and safe."
He then demonstrated the heater, his small hands expertly slotting in the electro crystal and turning the dial. As the gentle, smoke-free warmth flowed out, a murmur of wonder went through the crowd. He answered their questions with a patience and clarity that was astonishing.
"Is it safe for the children?" one woman asked, her arms crossed.
"It is," Ren replied with a confident smile. "The outside never gets hot enough to burn you, and there's no fire, so there's no smoke to choke on while you sleep."
His performance was a strange, captivating fusion of identities. One moment, he would be the brilliant engineer, fluently explaining the concept of regulated energy flow. The next, he would be a complete goofball. While waiting for the heater to warm up, he saw a frog hopping by and got completely distracted, crouching down to watch it with wide-eyed fascination until Lingshan gently reminded him he was in the middle of a presentation.
Keqing and the Millelith warriors watched this display with a growing sense of baffled adoration. They had come prepared to protect a child; they had not come prepared for that child to be a super-genius with the attention span of a playful kitten. He would flawlessly debate a skeptical elder on the long-term cost-effectiveness of electro crystals versus charcoal, and then, five minutes later, he would be trying to teach one of the stoic Millelith guards how to play rock-paper-scissors, his face a mask of intense concentration.
The delegation, initially a formal, professional unit, slowly transformed. The stoic Millelith warriors found themselves smiling, a rare and rusty occurrence. Lingshan's maternal fussing became even more pronounced. And Keqing… Keqing was utterly fascinated. She saw in him both the brilliant, logical mind she prized and a pure, uncalculated innocence that she found both refreshing and dangerously charming. They weren't just protecting Ren anymore; they were doting on him.
Their journey continued, from one small settlement to the next, their success growing with each demonstration. They were on the final leg of their trip, travelling a winding, forested path towards Qingce Village, their last and largest destination. The mood was light, the mission having been a resounding success.
That's when they heard the screaming.
It came from a clearing just ahead, a chaotic sound of battle and terror. Keqing's expression instantly hardened. "Millelith, formation! Protect Ren!" she commanded, her hand already crackling with Electro energy as she drew her sword.
They rounded the bend and saw a scene of pure chaos. A small merchant caravan and a few local villagers were being overwhelmed by a large group of Hilichurls, led by two massive, brutish Lawachurls—one Geo, one Cryo. The local guards were fighting bravely but were hopelessly outnumbered.
Keqing and the Millelith charged into the fray without a second's hesitation, a blur of purple lightning and gleaming polearms. Lingshan pulled Ren behind the relative safety of a large boulder, her face pale with fear.
But Ren wasn't watching the battle. He was watching the people. He saw a trader get knocked to the ground, a Lawachurl raising its massive, stony fist for a final, crushing blow. He saw a village woman trip as she tried to flee, a group of axe-wielding Hilichurls closing in on her.
There was no time. Keqing and the Millelith were engaged with the other Lawachurl, too far away to help.
Ren's heart hammered in his chest. His promise to Ganyu, to Xianyun, to be careful, echoed in his mind. But so did his own words to his sister: I just want to protect the people I care about.
And in that moment, he realized that his circle of care had expanded beyond his family. It included these strangers, these innocent people who were about to die.
He stepped out from behind the boulder.
"Ren, no!" Lingshan cried, reaching for him, but he was too fast.
He didn't run towards the monsters. He ran towards the people.
As the Geo Lawachurl's fist began its descent towards the fallen trader, Ren threw out his hand. He didn't envision a simple wall. He envisioned an overlapping, multi-layered dome of translucent ice, its structure reinforced like the arches of a cathedral.
WHOOM!
A massive, shimmering dome of Cryo energy erupted from the ground, covering the trader in a protective bubble. The Lawachurl's fist slammed into the dome with the force of a landslide. A spiderweb of cracks appeared on the ice, but it held. The trader stared, his eyes wide with disbelief, as the boy who had just appeared from nowhere saved his life.
Ren didn't stop. He saw the Hilichurls converging on the fallen woman. He flicked his wrist, and a wave of intense cold shot across the ground. The earth beneath the monsters' feet instantly turned to slick, hard ice, and their charge turned into a comical, flailing pile-up as they lost their footing. Before they could recover, he made a clenching motion with his fist. The ice surged upwards, encasing their legs in solid, immovable blocks of frost, trapping them completely.
He wasn't fighting. He was protecting. He was controlling the battlefield, his every action designed not to kill, but to shield and to immobilize.
Keqing, having just dispatched a group of Hilichurls with a flash of her Starward Sword, turned and saw the scene. Her sharp, amethyst eyes widened in utter shock. The cute, goofy little boy, the brilliant child inventor, was now standing in the middle of a battlefield, single-handedly holding back a monstrous onslaught with a display of Cryo mastery so precise and so powerful it defied all logic.
The liability was now their greatest defense.