"I was wondering why monsters have been constantly puffing out black smoke recently. So they were contaminated..."
Standing on a high ground, Orion stared blankly at the monsters being slaughtered by the Millelith in the distance.
Indeed, it was a slaughter, because Orion used the DMG-less version of Pseudo-Black Hole. Wherever a monster appeared, he would throw a black hole there. After only half a day of effort, he had almost mastered this ability and no longer needed to switch from the DMG version.
"I really didn't expect you to possess such power."
The sound of heels clicking on the stone slabs came from behind. Orion turned his head and saw Keqing smoothing the hair that had been ruffled by the wind, walking step by step toward him.
Looking behind her, he could see Ganyu standing a few steps back. She made no move, just standing there quietly.
This was fantastic. Seeing this pair of sisters standing together was practically tempting him, a Level 100 Keqing player and a Level 100 Ganyu player.
For Ganyu, who works twenty-three and a half hours out of every twenty-four, coming here to assist Keqing was practically a break. She could even listen to others chat and enjoy the scenery, like now.
Orion also looked into the distance against the wind: "This is my Geo element skill. It can create a black... gravitational body that sucks nearby enemies toward it."
Keqing blinked her large eyes and tilted her head slightly in confusion: "I believe I have walked across a great deal of Liyue's land with these two feet. Although I don't possess a Geo Vision, I am quite knowledgeable about various ores and minerals.
But even the strange, massive rock spines in The Chasm have never possessed the property of attracting objects... Could the source of your ability be the Compass Stone?"
It seemed Keqing misunderstood the source of this ability.
Instead of refuting her, Orion demonstrated directly. He extended his right hand toward a group of monsters in the distance and squeezed hard. The monsters immediately fell to the ground, pinned down and unable to rise again.
Orion raised an eyebrow at Keqing: "See, the essence of this ability is attraction, or you could call it gravity." As he spoke, Orion stamped his foot on the ground.
Keqing's eyes widened. Only now did she realize that the man's power was not directed at a specific type of rock, but at the very earth beneath their feet?!
It was a baffling ability, but legend has it that the Rex Lapis, as the God of Precious Metals, could manipulate Celestial Stars to crash into the ground, and even create elemental constructs like Stone Whales and Stone Vultures, made of rock but capable of soaring through the sky—abilities that were equally outrageous.
After all, these are all rock-related abilities. Everyone else's stays on the ground, but you've seized air superiority, so shouldn't that just count as a win for you?
Keqing felt that Orion's ability was equally astonishing. Controlling gravity—wasn't that a bit too much of a cheat?
But she was, after all, limited by Teyvat's current knowledge system and overall cultural level, and she didn't know much about astronomical structures like black holes. Otherwise, she would have been even more shocked.
Seeing Keqing in a daze, Orion took the initiative to speak: "Where is my Director? Why haven't I seen any movement from the WangSheng Funeral Parlor brethren?"
"They're in a meeting. The Cleansing Body Division from your parlor just arrived. They dissected several monster corpses and are currently discussing a governance plan." Keqing enjoyed the breeze, feeling that today was a good day. She had initially thought the arrival of the WangSheng Funeral Parlor would make personnel deployment more difficult, but she hadn't expected Hu Tao to be so professional, or for this consultant Orion to be so powerful!
Orion alone made the deployment of the entire Millelith significantly easier. Now, only a small squad needed to be left behind to clear out the monsters, and the other teams could go protect the Liyue Official Road from monster interference.
Speaking of the Liyue Official Road, there was one more thing that made Keqing and Ganyu feel extremely relieved: about a month ago, the number of Treasure Hoarders coming to Liyue from Mondstadt suddenly increased, mostly gathering around the ruins of Guili Plains.
As a result, also about a month ago, the Millelith reported one day that over a hundred Treasure Hoarders had been completely wiped out by a passing traveler in a single day!
This greatly reduced the pressure on the Millelith, which is why Keqing decided to renovate the Guili Plains area.
It can only be said that from the moment Orion and Lumine, having nothing better to do, cleared out the Mondstadt Treasure Hoarders, it was destined that Keqing would take a different course of action than in the game's storyline. After all, in the game, Guili Plains wasn't overrun with bandits, so Keqing didn't pay much attention to that area.
—If that mass capture of the Treasure Hoarders was truly the work of a passing traveler, they must have been someone as powerful as Orion!
Keqing and Ganyu were both extremely grateful to this mysterious traveler. They even discussed privately that if they could ever find out who this person was, they would host a banquet together and invite him for a few drinks.
—And if Orion wasn't Ningguang's guest, the Qixing would probably have asked Sister Yelan to investigate him thoroughly.
Looking at Orion's handsome profile, Keqing thought to herself.
"Keqing?"
Orion's call abruptly brought the pensive Keqing back to reality. She looked at Orion somewhat sheepishly: "Sorry, I was spacing out just now. Did you say something?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering if you came up here to find me for something?" Orion turned to face her and Ganyu: "You didn't climb all the way up here just to give me a couple of compliments, right?"
Keqing wasn't embarrassed. She put her small fist in front of her mouth and pretended to clear her throat: "Ahem! I only came over because there was one thing I wanted to ask you."
Keqing's gaze toward Orion suddenly became serious: "I want to know, what is your view on the relationship between Adepti and humans?"
Keqing was looking for a comrade.
She firmly believed that Adepti and humans could coexist peacefully, just like Ganyu and herself. She also firmly believed that Liyue Harbor could overcome many difficulties on its own, without needing the Adepti constantly looming over humanity. This was precisely what she intended to prove next.
And the passing of the Rex Lapis officially gave her this opportunity. Therefore, she wanted more like-minded comrades to move forward with her!
Hearing this, Orion looked at Keqing's serious eyes, then at the smiling Ganyu beside her, and immediately understood.
Is Keqing trying to usurp power?
Orion really liked Keqing, but he hadn't deeply researched her early personality. He only remembered that at the game's launch, due to her Horsetail image, his initial impression of Keqing was that she was likely a tsundere.
After all, for early ACG Veterans, Horsetails and tsundere almost formed a Pavlov's Dog effect—seeing one immediately brought the other to mind.
Also in early ACG culture, Horsetail Tsundere could be called the guaranteed winning attribute, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the Triple Crown winner of moe attributes.
Unfortunately, just like some Great Emperors who achieve eternal proof and can affect all timelines, blonde hair, Horsetails, flat chest, tsundere, and black stockings were all winning attributes before, and combined they were incredibly powerful. But just one character, only one character, after she stepped onto the historical stage, the blonde-haired, Horsetail, flat-chested, die-hard tsundere combination became a genuine 'Loser Dog Attribute', completely unable to win. (Cof...Cof...Eriri...Cof...Cof).
Fortunately, supported by many subsequent story quests, Keqing turned out not to be a stereotypical tsundere character, but rather an outspoken and highly responsible excellent woman.
So Orion liked Keqing, but this mainly stemmed from liking the Keqing he got to know through later storylines. He truly couldn't recall what Keqing was like in the launch storyline, only remembering she seemed to be a troublemaker who highly disrespected the Rex Lapis.
This is why Orion had this thought: Is this girl trying to lead the Qixing in a coup?
That won't do. Zhongli is still alive. Just think about this, don't actually form factions, or you'll regret it later when things get rough.
Thus, Orion decided to respond just as straightforwardly.
He tilted his head back forty-five degrees, his tone slightly profound: "There has never been any Deliverer, nor any God-Emperor!
Everything depends entirely on ourselves; we must not beg anyone!
How many heroes, throughout history, were merely fleeting visitors in time.
We must establish a new world. This is the Final Struggle, unite until tomorrow!"
Keqing and Ganyu's mouths were slightly open, their eyes wide. Their hearts were far from calm.
Keqing, especially, repeatedly savored these words in her heart. Finally, her beautiful eyes shone brightly, and she looked at Orion with fiery intensity mixed with a touch of tenderness.
Comrade!!!
-
-
-
-