Yanfei listened to Ren's explanation, her sharp, legal mind processing his logic. She nodded slowly, a thoughtful, impressed look on her face. "That's a good approach," she conceded. "Using the reputation of an adeptus as a shield is a clever, and very effective, form of personal security. Most people would think twice before trying to cross Cloud Retainer."
Her expression, however, remained serious. Her lawyer's brain had already identified a critical, and potentially dangerous, flaw in his plan.
"But," she continued, her voice taking on the familiar, precise, and slightly lecturing, tone of a legal advisor, "it still doesn't solve the core, legal problem. Your invention's mechanism, the technology itself, is legally… open. Undefined. Anyone with enough skill, and a lack of morals, could, theoretically, decode its principles, replicate it, and then… patent it for themselves."
She leaned forward, the seriousness in her eyes deepening. "And if what you say is true, if the world, and especially the Fatui, are already aware of your involvement, then you really, really, should think about formally protecting the technology. It's not just about money or accolades, Ren. It's about giving your inventions a form of legal safety. It's about establishing, officially, that this technology belongs to Liyue, that its study and its distribution are governed by our laws. Without a patent, it is, legally speaking, a wild, untamed thing."
She looked at him, her advice now a firm, unequivocal recommendation. "You should talk with Cloud Retainer and Lady Ningguang about this. You should, at the very least, look into the procedure for patenting. It's a long, and very complex, process. And it all takes place in one nation: Sumeru."
Sumeru.
The name, spoken so casually by Yanfei, was a spark that ignited a new, and very exciting, fire in Ren's mind.
Sumeru. The land of the Dendro Archon, the nation of wisdom, the home of the great and ancient Akademiya. It was the next, great, and largely unknown, chapter in the grand, unfolding story of this world.
He thought of his friend, Lumine. Her last few letters, delivered by the quiet, efficient network of the Adventurers' Guild, had been full of the final, exciting days of her Inazuman adventure. She had spoken of the foggy Tsurumi Island, of the hidden realm of Enkanomiya. Her time in the land of Eternity was drawing to a close.
He knew what that meant. He knew the path that lay before her. Her journey would soon take her back to Liyue, to the deep, dark, and mysterious depths of the Chasm. And then, after that, her story, her quest to find her brother and to meet the seven gods, would inevitably, inexorably, lead her to the green, vibrant, and knowledge-filled lands of Sumeru.
He looked out from the peaceful, sunlit terrace of Yujing, and his gaze drifted west, towards the unseen, distant lands of the god of wisdom. A new, exciting, and very, very, interesting, idea was beginning to form in his mind. Perhaps, just perhaps, his own journey, and his friend's, were about to converge once more.